In Jail Again

The choir was scheduled to sing at the jail this morning but my car hadn't been returned from Bloomington yet so mom picked Mark and me up at 7:15 am. We actually made it to the jail by 7:30 am. It is different on 116 on a Sunday morning early, there is no slow traffic. We didn't have long to wait until the group started showing up. The funny people were Greg and Heather. Greg was down to preach and Heather was doing the driving and must have left just a tiny bit late. The doors lock at 7:45 am so it is very important to be at the jail before that time. Well Heather found herself speeding then made herself slow down realizing if she would be pulled over how is she ever going to explain to the police man they are in a hurry to get to jail to get locked in!

Greg had 3 amazing services keeping everyone's attention, although the jail is the one place he has a captive audience. 

After the 3rd service we have just enough time to make it to Peoria church just before lunch. Ken Hoerr was having the service there speaking on Revelations 19. We will have to get the cd, Ken is such a knowledgeable preacher on Revelations as he has studied it extensively. 

After lunch Mike Rieker had the second service speaking on Isiah 40 then Matthew 11 which contain my 3 absolute favorite verses in the entire Bible the 28th, 29th and 30th.

Funny how the jail services and the afternoon service all seemed to fit together. Almost like someone (me) needed to hear how God thinks about us from the time we were knit in our mother's womb until the time our job here is done.

David, Stef, Israel, Phil, Anna, Braelyn, Taegan, Sarah and Nolan all joined us for dinner. Mark got the grill going then grilled delicious tender perfectly done steaks. A special thanks to Savannah for giving us those home grown T-bones! 

The kids were playing nicely together outside after dinner and of course the camera had to be taken out. Now if you are just reading this for the horse part you may want to skip down a bit, but... these kids are so cute you may find these enjoyable. They sure are to me and I'm not at all prejudiced. 

 Above Israel is running up the driveway hill and below Taegan has found a wonderful hat. This hat has been used to put oil in the car so her hair is going to be nice and lubricated tonight. 

 I'm sure her mother will be thrilled when she tries to get this off her curls. 

 Israel kept pointing to the field and didn't take long for him to cross the driveway to the fenceline.

 Mark swept the rocks off driveway after church and Braelyn was so good about spreading them all back on to help grandpa keep in shape. Grandpa enjoys sweeping the driveway. What a great helper.

 They soon found the swing and settled down playing nicely.

Playing nicely until we realized Braelyn was no longer with the other 2. About the time Philip was heading out to look for her the phone rang. Diane was calling to tell us Braelyn was at her house. She walked over, opened the door and came right inside to play with Ebby, Mike and Diane's dog. Braelyn is not yet 4 years old. That was kind of scary.

Mike was at Middle Grove. He went riding to check on all the mares. The mare I was most worried about was Prissy. Prissy is due April 7th and this is her first foal. We usually like to have the mare here a month before she is due but last week was just too busy to haul. Mike snapped the 2 pictures below which relieved my mind a lot. The first picture showed her baby bump, she is obviously still pregnant and the second picture showed her udder which is not yet filled up.

Those were perfect pictures for me to receive, better than words. I see by those 2 pictures we do not have to worry about her delivering within the next few weeks. Emily and I will head out tomorrow after Emily gets home from school to drop off Ribbon and Whitney and bring back Lily, Prissy and Sangria.

A neat picture came in from Cynthia, Olivia's owner.  Cynthia writes, "I introduced Olivia to clippers tonight to trim her jaw beard off, and was able to trim under her jaw with no problem at all while holding a treat in my other hand... I have never seen a breed so easy to train! Anyway she got a saddle on tonight with no complaints at all, and I put some weight on her back, and it has been several months since we were able to do that, so I was impressed how good she was! Her tail is just past her fetlocks now, but I have it braided up in this picture. She is 2 1/2 now. You can see Sunny in the background there.  He is such a good boy. And, he has such big, pretty brown eyes. We really enjoyed the Friesians at the horse fair. They were beautiful and performed so well!"

Thank you Cynthia for the update and pictures.