Princess Xena

Introducing the fantastic Friesian filly XENA by Raven out of Sandy a quarter horse mare.



Xena is owned by Rachel Sauder and is for sale. Rachel is only asking $3000.00 for this fabulous filly by Raven and the best part is she comes with a reduced breeding fee of $500.00 to EVAN at age 3. She will more than pay for herself with just ONE FOAL by Evan. Xena has the Friesian hair, movement, look and presence. She will make a wonderful family mare for some lucky buyer. Xena has a current coggins, is up to date with worming and shots and is ready for her new home. There are many more pictures on the horsemeister website along with all of her information. If you like her don't wait too long, this one is going to go FAST!
Rachel added that she also comes with 30 days of handling from Steven Marchal. Steven does wonders with the young ones, teaching them to lead and load quietly. And the bargain just keeps getting better!

Monday's Extreme Busyness

The truck needed to be filled with gas before heading to Meisters this morning to pick up the stick painted with different stains to take on our walk. Mark wanted the ladies opinion before having the trim for the office stained. All of us picked the walnut stain, that was an easy choice. The trailer was hooked up before the walk so it would be ready to pull out as soon as we were done. On the walk we discovered the overflow pipe was blocked and the lake had gone over the dam during the rain storm last night. Dan and Spark were called, they will check it out as soon as they are done this morning at the Old School Center. Amy Koch met me at a gas station with a goat she is giving to Emily Ricketts. Everyone on Amy's block along with ALL of AMY'S grand children are SO GLAD the goat is GONE! The drive to Forrest went by quickly, arriving in plenty of time to unload the goat and load up Ciera and still make it back for the afternoon work of paying the bills and running credit card applications for Meisters. There was no food left in the house, so a trip to Aldi's was next, Once the fridge and cupboards were filled it was back to the shop to collect Mark. Rhoda's car was finished and I needed an extra driver to help pick it up. She is going to be shocked at the bill. She had her back brakes repaired, the convertible top which wasn't going down repaired and the oil changed and the bill was OVER $500.00. It was placed on my credit card giving her a month to pay the bill.

Home from Latty

Our trip started with everyone showing up early EXCEPT Willie, he showed up on time but with our choir if you are not early you are late. We told him the last one on the bus gets to say the prayer.
Below is the snowball fight during our lunch stop on the way to Latty. A few of the girls had a whole stock pile of snowballs all ready to throw when Craig Stickling walked by. They were throwing them and he was not dodging but catching them and throwing them back. We were watching from the safety of inside the bus.

What a blessed weekend! We arrived in Latty, Ohio to find the fellowship hall very beautifully decorated just waiting for us.
We took an hour to practice and truly the songs are so uplifting that hour just flew by.
The Latty brethren were so welcoming, first explaining who we would be staying with. As Wayne's sister-in-law Desma, was reading off first the names from Peoria, then the Latty hosts, it seemed like they were either a Stoller or a Sinn, finally after about the third time calling off a Sinn, she says, "I just need to apologize, there is a lot of Sinn in Latty."
They then fed us a dinner that was better than ANY restaurant, everything was so delicious, Wayne started getting worried and kept reminding us we needed room for breathing during the songs for the program.
When the songs were sung with our whole heart, one could feel the Spirit of God in the room. We were singing praises to the ONE, the only ONE worthy to be praised, our Holy Holy Holy Father.
Once the program was over we went with our hosts to their comfortable home. Mark and I stayed with Steve and Joy Sinn and their 4 children. We talked much too long into the night having such wonderful fellowship of a kindred couple.

This morning Steve had coffee waiting for us, not just any coffee but Starbucks coffee, the first time I've ever tasted that and it was GOOD. Joy served us the typical AC visitor breakfast. Two different breakfast casseroles, fresh fruit, then a friendship braid with cream cheese and strawberries inside, along with 2 kinds of fruit juice and more Starbucks coffee, all was just wonderful, Joy is a great cook! Then it was time for the best part of the day, CHURCH!
Craig Stickling had the first service and all of us were wiping tears, even the ministers sitting on the pulpit. Another visitor, Randy Gosser had the afternoon and he had everyone's attention with much food for thought. He talked about how Moses was up speaking with God when Aaron made the golden calf and caused the people to worship. How Moses pleaded with God to spare the people even saying blot my name out of Your Holy book but don't destroy Your people. Randy went on to describe this amazing dialog with our Creator, how marvelous it was. Craig spoke on How we know God is real and also told the true story of the little Chinese girl dirty, head full of lice, working in the orphanage changing 500 babies diapers all day long but was still chosen to be adopted giving us the example of how God chooses us WHILE we are YET sinners. Of course both services were so much more than my weak skills of remembrance.
The Sunday afternoon program was even more amazing than Saturdays program. We really don't have that much talent but God surly blesses us when we make a joyful noise. At one point we were singing, He's Emanuel with all our hearts and tears were running down our cheeks. During the prayer at the end, sounds of sniffing and holding back tears could be heard through out our group. Spark said when he got on the bus, he must have had allergies the entire weekend, his eyes kept leaking.
Karen had to bring her grandson over to the bus before we left, he wanted to DRIVE the bus!
Mark Kieser was our bus driver and did a wonderful job getting us home safe the 6 hour trip through the storm, much lighting, thunder, and sheets of rain.

Heading to Latty

Darcy came bounding into our room just before 5:00am ready to start the day. Before we headed up to bed last night, the thought came what if we over sleep and miss the bus to Latty. Fat chance of that ever happening with Rhoda's dog so happy to start the day she can't even wait until daylight.
Steven has offered to help Mike this morning, they will move in 3 or 4 round bales, then start to work on Mike and Diane's camper which blew off of the stands during high winds while we were on the cruise. Mike has it off the ground and hanging in the air sideways but somehow it needs to be turned and placed back on the stands. They are hoping it won't be too severely damaged, they were going to use it for the IL Horse show a week from today.
Karin is WONDERFUL! Of all the great things she does for horsemeister, one I really appreciate is her willingness to pick up the cotton candy sugar in Galesburg, IL. AND she doesn't even LIKE cotton candy. Thanks Karin, not just for doing that task but I really appreciate you and Rebekah helping out with Autumn yesterday.
I'm going to be doing something controversial, on Thursday we will be hauling down to the fair in the living quarter trailer, Ciera, Evan and Valiant, then in the big trailer, Ribbon, Jenis front, Ylse and Wynne in the back. Now why that is controversial is Wynne's due date is March 23rd. Before all of you horse lovers start in on this, there is a good reason. We will ALL be at the fair, there will be no one at the farm that is horse savvy to watch and care for her, I cannot leave Wynne in a nice dry stall, who would feed her, water her and clean the stall? As this is her first foal, it is so important to have her under surveillance. Almost always a first time mom is fine but there is a chance of a mare rejecting a foal. We've had it happen and will not risk it again. After thinking and praying about it the decision was made, Wynne MUST go with us.

Autumn Sold

As of 3:30pm today Autumn is sold. She will be leaving from Bridlewood on March 12th. Gail the lady that came to try her out today was pleased and I am pleased they make a great pair. Karin took them trail riding Gail rode Autumn and Heidi her friend rode double with Karin on Ribbon. Karin tells them we will slip into a jog and Ribbon breaks into her very bouncy up and down canter. Heidi on the back asks Karin, "is she bucking?" We will be sorry to see Autumn leave, she has been a great horse for our youth groups and camps.
Rachel Sauder emailed this statement about the pictures she took of the boys this morning: you are in big trouble....they're online...good luck. Once I saw them she was right, the pictures are wonderful. I wanted them so badly I told her she could have ALL my money. Of course I didn't have that much in either the savings or the checking but she gets it all! The check was taken over and dropped off at mom's while Gail was trying out Autumn. By the time I got home the pictures are HERE. This is my favorite, the rest of the ones I bought have been added to Evan and Valiant's page on the website. If you want to see ALL of the pictures go to her website, www.momentscapturedbyrachel.com click on on-line ordering then click on the horsemeister boys.

Fabulous, just fabulous!

Morning Snow

We woke up to a little less than 4 inches of heavy wet yet beautiful snow. The trip to the farm took a bit longer even though most of the roads were plowed at least once during the night some drifting had occurred.
Mike was already busy clearing the many drives at the Meister compound. The picture below is as he is taking the skid steer back to the barn.

On the walk we were marveling at the beauty. Isn't it amazing what how beautiful God paints the world for us. The song, White As Snow kept running through my mind.

As the picture above was being snapped Emma came running up and slammed into Diane knocking her into Rachel. When I turned around it looked like Rachel was giving Diane a big hug.

There was so much beauty it was hard to choose where to point the camera.
Below is Heidi, mom's German Shepherd enjoying the morning walk.

Rachel agreed to do another photo shoot of the 2 boys now that it wasn't RAINING and the sun was SHINING! How thankful I am she was willing to give up her usual very busy morning to capture the moment with the boys. It didn't take long to get good pictures of Evan, He is very photogenic, now Valiant, instead of sticking around showing off ran up to the girls. He was not as co-operative and it took a bit longer but Rachel believes she got some GREAT shots.
Rhoda and Monica met at the farm yesterday to work on their Friesian demo for the fair. When Rhoda got home she told me she took both boys out and had them do the tricks Steven is training them to do. She was impressed with how well Valiant is doing the Spanish Walk and Evan bowing. A big THANK YOU to STEVEN, all your hard work over the winter is paying off. You have the boys performing for anyone that asks the correct cues.

Surrender

I read once that there are times when we must sink to the bottom of our misery to understand truth, just as we must descend to the bottom of a well to see the stars in broad daylight. At the bottom of misery I will began to understand that the purpose of living ~ no matter how short or long that life is.. is to surrender to the will of the Father. Taken from pages 410-411 of the book The Truth Teller by Angela Hunt. Today was hard, thinking of and mourning young Jose Antonio Sanjay who lost his life in Guatemala Saturday. How hard his life was and how very short. None of us know the length of our days but I have determined I will do my best to live my life here for my real home later. My dad did not preach with his mouth as much as he preached with his life and I am so thankful for his example and the way he brought us up. When I am down and discouraged, these verses come to mind. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

The Burning Box

While talking to Karin on the phone, I hear sirens and then start seeing flashing lights. Outside our neighbor is running to meet the fireman, one of the firemen goes into the house comes out and throws out a burning box.

The hoses are hooked up and taken into the house where we see smoke behind the glass in the second story window.

It must not have been a bad fire within 30 minutes the fire trucks were ready to leave. Now if Spark's firetruck had been here instead of the farm, perhaps the real fire department would not have been called. Spark missed his chance!

Murder in Guatemala

Email from World Relief:
Judy-
I am so, so sorry to inform you of this but your sponsored child from Guatemala at Community of Faith School – Jose Antonio Sanjay – was murdered. We have had tears over this. We just found out about it ourselves. I will attach the emails from the Latin America office. We also have a picture of him that we will be sending to you. The picture was sent to us a couple weeks ago.
You have our sympathy in this. We know you have prayed for him.
These children live in the slums and are ‘street’ kids without parents and they are garbage scavengers. They go to school on their own because they feel the love of Jesus there through their principal and the teachers there.
We are very sorry and we will keep in touch.
Cheryl Knobloch-World Relief Child Sponsorship
Email from Mariellyn
This is so sad, I'm fighting to hold back tears. Jose Antonio Sanjay from Com. de Fe was killed on Saturday and his body lay in the morgue until someone identified it there yesterday. He had been in the school since first grade and the staff are so sad. Some of the teachers went to the wake with Alba and she says the poverty and misery were terrible--both material and physical. She asks that we pray for the family. The students at the school too.
Next email
Tom told me I should have said that he was murdered, rather than killed. I will call Alba for more details but I'm trying to wait until I'm a little less emotional so I can talk with her without crying.
Last email
Ok, I think I got this right. Alba said that at the wake, a man entered and shot and killed Jose Antonio's cousin, also aged 16 who I believe, is the brother of Sonia Murga, another of the sponsored kids. The mother knelt before the killer begging him not to kill her son but he did anyway.

Mariellyn Hilgeman, M.Ed.
Desarrollo Escolar y Educación Preescolar
_____________________________
Association of Christian Schools International
Oficina Regional para Latinoamérica
Mailing: ACSI Latinoamerica, Section 12016, PO Box 02-5339 Miami, FL 33102
Mailing: Apartado Postal 21-H, Guatemala, C.A. 01911
Shipping: 6a. calle A 20-62 zona 11 Guatemala 01011
Tel: (502) 2472-8507 Fax: (502) 2472-8269

How we are grieving for their families. What a terrible thing to see your child murdered before your eyes! Life is precious, How long will God allow man's inhumanity toward man to continue. Come Lord Jesus, come and take Your children home!
This morning on our walk, mom made the comment she is glad she is old or as Karin would say, at the dropping off point, and heaven waits!

The Search is OVER

We have a vacation home for the week of July 9th-16th 2011! This is on the beautiful sandy shores of Lake Michigan up near Holland, MI in a private area called Castle Park. The house is on the bluff overlooking the lake and near the 2 pools, 7 tennis courts, basketball court, volley ball court, just above the candy and ice cream store about 75 yards from the beach and best of all has 5 bedrooms. There is a castle not too far from the house that serves as the club house with a great library. We agreed to rent this sight unseen but I did get 2 referrals and both said we are going to LOVE this place! The owner is going to email pictures once she is home from Florida but meanwhile will send the contract.
I'm thankful to find something in our price range on the beach we can all easily fit.
The owner called just when Rhoda was helping me check out at JoAnn Fabrics. Each year for the horse fair we buy material to cover the stall fronts. Each year we think, ahh won't need to do that again but each year we take MORE horses and have to decorate MORE stalls. This year we have 10 to decorate. JoAnn Fabrics did not have the sparkly material in blue so we bought the entire bolt of silver, then an entire bolt of another kind of material in blue. Rhoda asked if the check out lady would know who else sells material in the area and were told Hobby Lobby so off we went for that store. We find blue sparkly material and buy what was left on the bolt of that which was 6 yards. Who did we run into but Justin's wife Katy.

Brother & Sister

Below is Mika, the chestnut is out of Grace by a big palomino quarter horse stallion and Jewel, the bay is a 3 year old out of Grace by Raven. This is one brother and sister that get along amazingly well. It was almost like Mika knew she was his sister and has been looking out for her since she was weaned. The picture wasn't the best but showed how closely they stick together and how much Jewel imitates her big brother. For reference, Mika is taller than 16.2, we believe Jewel will be his height or taller when full grown.

Wednesday Church

Time Roecker had the family night service, summarizing the book of Ruth for our Bible study. He brought up the Judges at the time of Ruth and how dark and awful the time period was but that Ruth was a shining brightness in the midst of the dark.
As Tim told us about each judge and what happened to the kingdoms of Israel and Judah during each time period he truly got all of our attention. He read the very last line in the book of Judges, Everyone did right in their own eyes, and then explained how awful that was. Sure makes us think this is the end times. Satan is so sneaky and powerful the Bible tells us even the very elect shall be deceived. I'm praying that is not us or our family and holding on to the promises and directives of the BIBLE alone. I am saved because of the giving of Jesus life and blood, the taking of all my sins past, present and future on that cross with Him, the rising from the dead and being seen by so many witnesses, the promises HE makes that HE goes to prepare a place for ME! Ken Hoerr has held up a BIBLE and tells us this stands for (B)BASIC (I)INSTRUCTION (B) BEFORE (L)LEAVING (E)EARTH. Good GRIEF PEOPLE READ IT! God does not want any lost but if one rejects Jesus there IS A HELL and it's AWFUL. God gives us free will to choose Him or reject Him. Rachel gave a good example of why God gives us free will on yesterday's walk, how much does it mean when you force your child to give you a hug? But when your child comes and hugs you on his own free will how very wonderful it is to a parent.

Moving Mud

The first thing we see this morning on our walk is Ebby trying to drag this old dried out deer pelt around. One never knows what Ebby is going to find next.

Of course this made Emma very jealous and as soon as Ebby got tired she ran and grabbed the pelt as her own special treasure.

Heidi, mom's German Shepherd loves to pick on the other dogs, but Emma is finally getting big enough that Heidi is starting to think twice about bullying her.

During the walk, Mike moved Mika and Bunni from the cabin field over to the farm. They were glad to get back with the others. Mom quits after the first loop and invited me for breakfast. She had it all cooked by the time the second loop was finished. Today was a great day to sit in her warm house, eat a wonderful breakfast and visit, it is gray and cold outside.
Steven got to the farm around 9:00 and was a big help today, we moved in 4 new round bales and cleaned out one of the shelters in the middle paddock. We moved the horses out of the paddock to start the cleaning process and when the mares started to run, I had to stop working and grab the camera.

Ylse is easy to get a good picture and she must know it, she was in most of the pictures taken.

The pictures aren't the best the camera was on the wrong setting and that wasn't discovered until after they all settled down together, oh well, I tried!

Steven finished scraping most of the middle paddock and got the shelter cleared out then stayed around to help to do the most important job of the day, power wash the skid steer!

By the time all was done, we were both wet, muddy and stinky, the car ride home wasn't too pleasant.

Tuesday's Fun

We did it! Eva Jean and I got all the studies processed and all the Bible request filled, almost 200 large print Bibles were sent out to about 30 different states. The stamps were actually purchased before 8:30am, then it was run down to TEMCO, pick up the mail, meet Eva Jean at Meisters and take the 200 Bibles out of her car and put them in mine for the trip down to the loading dock. We were working so efficiently today it was like a well oiled machine, we were on a roll. Lunch today was Dan, Mark, Eva Jean and me with our regular waitress Tammy now gone we had to break in Megan. Megan served us last week and did a very good job keeping our coffee cups full and getting our food to us quickly so she is now the new Tammy.
Choir tonight was awesome! A big group that loves to sing and visit.
When the men were singing their song The Mountains Sing His Praise, I very discretely snapped this picture.
Betty Miller and her daughter Beth served lunch and it was another great one below is my absolute favorite, vegetable pizza hmmmm this one even had olives.

These wonderful pudding cups were brought out and Karl was pleased to help show off these tasty treats.

Crystal got in on the helping also.

The singers were having such a great time tasting everything and visiting with each other no one wanted to leave.

What a great group! The choir is traveling to Latty Ohio for the weekend, we are taking the Berean bus, leaving at 9:00am on Saturday and won't be home until Sunday night late. Can't WAIT for this trip!

The Boys!

This face shot of Evan shows exactly how beautiful he really is.

These are a few of the pictures taken yesterday by Rachel. To say I am thrilled is an understatement!


And my favorite below, the tail puller is Valiant.

Rachel was taking these pictures during the rain and some of the drops show up on the horses. She is an AMAZING photographer, probably the best equine photographer in the whole state of IL. Go to her website www.momentscapturedbyrachel.com to check out some of her other pictures.

Family Vacation Search

Each year the Sceggel family takes a family vacation together and head down to Gulf Shores, AL. Almost every year we go during spring break but this year the breaks are at all different times. There are 2 weeks available in July we can all go together July 9-16th or July 23-30th so decided to drive north instead of South and look around the lake Michigan area. Our budget was $2000.00 to rent either 2 adjoining condos or a 4 bedroom house that sleeps 10. Well after days of searching on the internet the budget was raised to $2500.00 plus tax and cleaning and still we haven't been able to find what we need. Either the place is in our budget but already rented at that time or when we inquire the price is so outlandish we must pass. Does ANYONE know of a place to take our family? We will have 2 brand new babies (human not horse) and a 2 year old with us this year so don't think it is wise to travel more than 6 hours away.
Any help in finding something would be appreciated.
Today the post office must be visited to purchase another 600 dollar stamps 2 rolls of a hundred each 17 cent stamps and 12 rolls of a hundred first class stamps. We want to get the Bibles out the young group wrapped. We will be pushing it today as the mail must be processed also. Eva Jean always says, "Tuesday is my blessed day, with the morning spent at Meisters and the evening spent at choir." I hope after today she still feels that way!

Email from Claudia

Hi Judy, We were at Mike and Diane's this summer. I just wanted to tell you about your blog that I read almost everyday! I truly enjoy it and Isaiah our son truly loves the horses!! But, it is also encouraging on the everyday things in life you blog about. I just wanted you to know it is a blessing and keep it up.

Thank you so much Claudia for the kind words. I remember you and Isaiah!

Valiant and Evan

We had an appointment at 11:00am with Rachel Sauder of momentscapturedbyrachel.com to have the boys pictures taken before the fair. Steven arrived before 10:00am to get them cleaned up when the rain started. We were hoping it would stop and while waiting moved a round bale into Ribbon's paddock, then checked all the other paddocks. The rain was coming down pretty steady when both boys were brought in and tied for their beauty job. Evan's mane is so thick we didn't have time to finish it but did get all the hay out of that and both boy's tails. Rachel was called about 10:45am to see if she still wanted to come and when she gave the ok, we were pretty thrilled. Karin showed up just as we were ready to take them out to the field and was given Valiant to lead. We snapped a few pictures while Rachel was setting up. Below is Valiant looking majestic as always.

And then for Evan, he is such a beauty, we are so excited to see how he turns out.

Both boys are only 19 months old and already look fabulous in our eyes. Both are so well behaved Rachel got some nice pictures. Then it was time to work on the video. The boys were let loose and they played and played, biting each others necks, legs, rumps and pulling tails. Most of this was captured on the video. It was pretty funny, Rachel made the comment they are typical teen age boys, they just can't help the teasing. She would know she has 4 boys.
Instead of a nice video of them showing off their lofty trot and fantastic canter we got the boys play fighting and Evan bucking and Valiant pulling Evan's tail, oh well the rain had slowed to a sprinkle but we were still getting wet so quit.

Csilla's Chimney Cakes

Ruth's sister in law Csilla (Chilla) Barta is starting her own business. Csilla is baking chimney cakes, an old Romanian recipe that is unique and tastes wonderful. Csilla is selling these and if you are interested in trying one her phone number is 309-299-3722. They live on Lancaster Rd near Hanna City, IL, she makes them at her house but also makes them for fairs, special occasions, and the Spoon River Drive. I asked Csilla to build one for the blog.
She first makes and rolls out the dough.

Once the dough is the correct consistency she cuts it in strips.

Each strip is carefully placed on the prepared dowel.
Each cake is then rolled in different ingredients, the one below has been rolled in sugar and cinnamon but one can choose nuts along with different sugars.

Then comes the baking, the chimney cakes are baked over a hand made grill using the best hardwoods for flavor.

Let's get a better look at this delicious chimney cake being baked over an open grill.
They are then wrapped in cellophane and ready for the next customer.

These are delicious anytime but the very best time to eat them is right off the grill. They are warm, sweet, fresh and tastes so wonderful, my mouth is watering just thinking of them.
Csilla is more than welcome to make these at any function such as party, carnival, fund raiser, fair or show. This is a unique food item no one else is selling, only Csilla from her own secret recipe. Give her a call to try these wonderful tasty treats sold very reasonable at 309-229-3722

Words of Truth

Arrived at Nancy's house exactly 9:10am, got her pills, her bags and placed her in the front seat of the passenger side of the car. Once I was in, she grabs me, pulls me toward her and says,"I had a shower, smell me," "What's Mark going to say?""Don't I smell good!" This was not at all what I expected her to say and a big belly laugh came out.
She actually did smell pretty good so they were words of truth from Nancy.
Tim Funk had the morning service, he spent some time on build your house on the ROCK, not anything but the ROCK of Jesus Christ. How much we appreciate hearing the truth from our ministers. David Obergfel had the afternoon service and opened to Ephesians 3 read the first 12 verses and sat down. We sang, prayed, he got up and started on Ephesians 3 verse 13 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; May be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth, the length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now until him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto HIM be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, would without end.
He spoke then of how he and Kathy drove up to Chicago and once there found out Kathy had to have surgery early the next morning. They drove up with only the clothes on their back, not prepared to spend the night but the calls started, one person offered to drive up the 150 miles with what ever they needed, another called to tell them they were taking meals to their children and not to worry. By the time David was done telling us the story of their week we were pretty much all in tears.
Here was Dave and Kathy completely unprepared for what was going to happen but God had prepared the way and did so much more abundantly above all that was asked.
What a blessing our church is and how thankful I am that we are still able to freely worship our Lord and hear the words of truth there.

Nancy

Darcy somehow knew Rhoda moved out last night and wasn't content to sleep in her bedroom, she was feeling insecure enough to crowd in next to Emma by my side of the bed. we have this huge house with 8 bedrooms and all 4 of us are crowded in one room. The night was spent listening to loud snores from 2 dogs and Mark, really just Darcy but she snores like a drunken sailor. I've never actually heard a drunken sailor snore but have heard this saying most of my life and bet Darcy snores LOUDER than one.
Today is my turn to pick up Nancy. I'm so looking forward to being with her today. She is such a happy girl and the apple of our eyes. My turn only comes around once every 8 weeks. By spending Sunday with her and bringing her to church she gets to see most of the family although today there are many missing. Spark's family is in Florida and Diane's family is in Springfield for the Honegger birthdays.
Somehow being with a pure innocent happy sister helps heavy hearts.

Heavy Hearts

Have you ever been told something awful was going to happen but when it actually does happen you are shocked. Today that happened to me. My head hurt, my mind crying no, the tears started to flow, my chest became so heavy and bile started rising. As long as the bad news wasn't official there was still the thought perhaps it won't really happen. This has nothing to do with the farm or horses and it is not really mine to share. God is our refuge and I will hang on to that.
In other news our oldest daughter moved out today, She has so few possessions it didn't even fill up Phil's short bed truck.

She is only moving across town, going to be sharing a town house with another girl and I'm sure we will still see her often, after all her DOG is still with us.
Steven called from the farm, Evan is bowing about 70% of the time with just a small cue, even one of the young girls out visiting asked him and down he went. The more confirmed he is at home the better chance he has of listening to Steven during the noise and crowds of the fair.

The Scares

Mark and I were enjoying an evening at home when Susan, Dan's wife called. Dan had not come home after work, he wasn't answering his phone which would ring and ring. She wanted to know if he mentioned going somewhere after work instead of home. We both talked to Danny today but nothing was said about going anywhere so we weren't much help. This is not at all like Dan, he is a typical Meister ALWAYS on time or early. After an hour more of waiting Susan called back pretty frantic. She still had not heard from him. Mark and I went down to Meister Brothers and checked all the buildings. Kurt Bennett the accounting manager at Meisters lives in Morton, IL so he started driving the interstate towards Goodfield where Dan and Susan live with their 3 children looking for Dan's car while we started driving creek road slowly towards the interstate keeping a sharp eye out for anything unusual. Kurt called Crystal and she remembered that Dan left around 3:15pm for the Old School Center in Farmington, IL which meant for the last 5 hours Dan was completely out of contact with everyone, again not like him at all, so route 116 was next on the list to check. The awful things that start going through ones mind when someone is missing is just not a pleasant experience. We didn't get far on 116 when Dan called, he was fine, he wanted to get the floors scrubbed at the school as a group is coming in tomorrow, the floor scrubber died and needed to be charged, sat down to wait and fell asleep. Too bad the ringer was off on his phone.
The other scare today was that Steven's dog Kylie ate a chunk of rat poison. Steven took her to the vet where she was given charcoal and started on vitamin K.
Earlier today the Bible requests were all entered and printed out, over 200 of them and there were not 200 wrapped Bibles. Samantha Ginzel came picked up 16 boxes and is having the young group over tonight to wrap them for us. How thankful we are for this service. These kids, high school and college age, could be out partying on a Friday night but gave their evening to help our program and have a great time fellowshipping while working together. Another reason I LOVE MY CHURCH!

Aries

The men that bought Pacheron, barn name Aries contacted me to see if we had a full brother to him and if so could they buy him. They are thrilled with how quickly Aries was trained, very excitedly saying, "he DANCES!" I asked for pictures but they are not very computer knowledgeable and don't know how to send them.
We did not breed Sangria back in 2009 so had nothing to sell from 2010, we wanted riding time with her. She was bred in 2010 and is so huge already even though she is not due until April 16th. Her foals by Raven are always so spectacular if we have a filly this year, it would be so tempting to keep. Reminder: Don't get attached to the inventory!!!!

Right in our own eyes

The first time I read this was as a teenager reading the Bible and thought it was actually a good thing. When the Israelites had no king they did what was right, I was focusing on the right and skipping the in their own eyes. Even when read the second time I believed they were good people and did was what right. Only when it was read again with opened eyes did I realize how bad this ended. Americans have no king and have their RIGHTS, we bow to no one and more and more of us are doing what's right in our own eyes. If history does repeat itself we are doomed. We want no one telling us what to do, we want no accountability, no authority figure over us.
But... The Bible tells us God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, It also tells us if we want to be great in God's kingdom we need to be the servant of all. The easiest way to learn to be a servant is to bow your knee to Jesus, let Him be your King, serve Him and by serving Him, serving others will come. If we care and love each other as we should there would be no more divisions, no anguish of splitting families apart, no more divorce. Why is it so hard to be a servant? Why do we fight so hard to be in the right that we won't listen. Why do we say to each other, "you don't have the right to tell ME WHAT TO DO!"

Amy's Cruise Pictures

Amy Koch stopped in today with pictures from the cruise that really needed to be shared here so we can look back and remember. Ahh what a trip!

Amy Koch and Beth Stuber enjoying the beautiful flowers and birds.

Sting ray city is always a great destination at Grand Caymans, if you haven't gone it is highly recommended. Below is Beth holding up a big female sting ray.

And Beth kissing her big sting ray.

Amy and Ken holding up one of the big female sting rays.

Amy and Ken kissing the huge sting ray.

Dave and Susan Huetti on Grand Cayman Island.

Beth's son Trent enjoying the hot tub on the boat.

Amy and Ken at Dunn Falls Jamaica.

Amy is climbing up toward the middle of the falls and Joan is to the right top.