Addyson

It is 10:15pm Sunday night, there are fireworks going off around us. We are tired from the long day. Mark hears something out the back door, the door that goes into the stall area of the barn, he starts to open the door and something pushes hard trying to desperately get inside. Mark is holding the door shut exclaiming "quick help, a horse must be trying to get inside!" instead of helping I run for the camera and get prepared, then tell him to let the door go and in runs mom's dog Heidi. Heidi is very afraid of the booming sounds of the exploding firecrackers and bottle rockets going off near by.

Heidi will spend the night with us in this little apartment, we now have 13 dogs and 2 adults inside a 900 foot space. Are we crazy? of course 10 of them are only 8 days old. Below is report of the rest of the day.
Lunch went well, there was plenty of food, the chicken salad great, and the fruit was sweet juicy ripe and delicious. There was enough left over to pack up for the group at the Herman lake. We were actually done with everything in time to go in church for the second service. For anyone needing to hear the TRUTH, I highly recommend getting on line and listening to both the morning and the afternoon service. Craig Stickling had the morning and Dave Obergfel had the afternoon. The time here on earth is truly short, life is like a vapor. Is there anything more important than our relationship with our heavenly Father and each other? Both of these men know the Bible, have studied the Bible for years and can teach so much if your ears will just be opened.
Ben, Taunya, Addyson and Jack were already at the farm by the time we arrived home.
Addyson was having such a great time playing with the puppies.







The pups were ready to nurse and Addyson needed to give them a break so she went over to play with Darcy. Darcy is so big and Addyson is so small and yet Addyson has the best time playing with her. My grand daughter is going to NEED a puppy someday.




Taunya needed Addyson to hold her little brother Jack who is almost 7 weeks old already. Where does the time fly? Addyson wasn't too thrilled, she wanted to play with the puppies instead.

Finally it was time for Rhoda to give Addyson a ride on Cindy. It was hot out, we wanted to quit after about a half hour but every time we tried to take Addyson off Cindy, Addyson would start waving her arms and saying, "no, no, NO!"

After Rhoda got on Cindy and trotted a bit Addyson was finally ready to come back in. Below is Addyson playing with Emma, the pups mom.

The kids left for the fireworks at Glen Oak Park but for some reason Mark and I were kind of tired.

Lunch Anyone?

For lunch at church today we are serving 70 pounds of chicken, 500 croissants, 6 heads of lettuce, 35 six ounce bags of veggie chips, 6 large honeydew melons, 10 sugar sweet cantaloupes, 16 pounds of strawberries, 6 large pineapples, 8 pounds of blue berries, brownies, 6 pounds of snack size candy bars, 35 dozen assorted Krispy Kreme donuts, coffee, tea, milk and water. SO YOU ALL come on down. Lunch is served at 11:00am.
My family is just amazing! They are leaving the gorgeous Herman lake in Norris, IL to drive in to Peoria to help set up and serve. What a sacrifice and yet they OFFERED!
Have I mentioned how much I love my family?

Cuba Rod and Gun Club

Nate Herman asked Horsemeister if we would provide some horses for the morning today at the Cuba Rod and Gun Club. We were given directions but used the GPS which took us to the middle of nowhere. Both Mike driving the stock trailer and I driving the living quarter trailer tried calling and texting Karin Meister and Nate Herman but they didn't have cell service out there. We drove back to Dollar General and asked a man coming out if he knew where this was, he didn't but said he knows someone that works there and has his contact number on his phone. He brings the phone over to me, gets the name and number up and shows me Nate's phone number. I had to explain Nate is my nephew and I'd already called him. Mike was able to get the directions, we were only about a mile away. The pictures are of the trail riders, trial rides and the swim rides. There are a lot as Nate was busy cleaning fish for the fishermen instead of taking pictures.



























The cotton candy machine was hauled out for this party. The guests had fun making it while waiting turns for the horses.


After the trail rides were over there were a few of the ladies that wanted to swim with the horses. Below are those pictures.











By 12:30pm it was almost unbearably hot. Mike took his load to Middle Grove while I took the three in my trailer to the Herman Lake at Norris, IL. The truck and trailer were left along with the horses for the thousands of kids there. Mark picked me up, we drove to the farm to hose down Sanna before leaving for the next thing on the list, Sam's Club to pick up food for the big lunch. We spent $215.00 on strawberries, croissants, brownies, and lettuce, then headed to church to start cutting up fruit. By the time we finished cutting the melons and strawberries it was dinner time, we drove through McDonalds right behind Kathy Huthmann.
This was a long hot day!

Faith and the Puppies

Braelyn fell asleep around 9:00am and slept soundly even with all the vaulters coming in to play with the puppies. She stayed asleep until 12:30pm and woke up happy, she is such a beautiful baby girl and an easy baby to watch and I'm not at all prejudiced. Rhoda showed up to help replace the bedding in the whelping box but she couldn't stay too long she was picking up David and Stephanie from their month long visit to Mexico. We won't see them for a bit though, they are leaving for a short vacation with the Kiesers. Faith Reinhard came in while her sisters were practicing with the team and played with the puppies. We were able to snap a few pictures of her with them. I think they are all adorable. It is hard to pick which picture should be posted.




Phil showed up to pick up Braelyn and gave me a ride to the shop. The Horsemeister truck needed to be picked up along with the cotton candy machine and snow cone machine plus all the supplies for both. We are heading out with 7 horses to Cuba, IL for one of Nate Herman's customers. Karin and Mike will give guided trail rides on the private property while Anni and I help match the riders with the horses and mount them up. Once we leave from there we will head to Norris, IL where the family is camping at the Herman lake.
Mark and I need to pick up the croissants along with the strawberries, lettuce, and brownies from Sam's Club at 3:00pm on Saturday and take it all to the church. We plan on staying there and cutting up and arranging the fruit. The church has lots of refrigerator space so it won't hurt to do this job one day early.
Three more loads of round bales were dropped off, that is now 42 of the 175 ordered for the winter. We need 50 alfalfa and 125 grass to get us through the year. Sure hope we sell another horse! Mark stacked them in the arena tonight while I drove over to Ruth's to pick up Larry for the trail rides tomorrow. Steve their pet deer was tangled up and couldn't reach the water tank. So thankful I arrived when I did, he was thirsty and the Davidovics are all gone for the weekend. It is almost unbearably hot and humid.

Hot Heat Humidity

Today will be hot, very hot. The weather man is calling for heat indexes of 110 degrees. This is the first of July and the Hanna City farm first cutting of hay has STILL not been cut. We have had 5 days of no rain but the farmers are desperate to get their own fields done. The Middle Grove hay is finished so hopefully the weather will hold while the equipment is brought to Hanna City for the 9 acres by Rachel's and the 15 acres here. In the past I use to worry about getting it up quickly and dry, worry about how we were going to feed the horses through the year but God has ALWAYS provided. They are His horses anyway. Worrying just doesn't help, it can't even add one inch to my stature so why worry. Early this morning while drinking good strong coffee gazing out the window at the sun breaking the horizon, my heart is filled with thankfulness. We have such a nice place to live. I thought it would be hard moving from Pleasant Home in Peoria, leaving the big house with so many memories, where stores are only a few blocks away, TSC a couple of miles away. At first life was too busy to grieve and now that we are settled there is no reason to grieve. How wonderful it is to be here in Hanna City with family around. Why if this place looks like paradise in our eyes can we imagine what heaven will be?