Puppy Belly

Emma is due in 3 days, her puppy belly sticks out on both sides and when she lays down it looks like this:

After our walk this morning mom invited us all in for breakfast, she had quite a crowd, besides mom and I, Ruth, Ryan, Beth, Sarah, Hanna, and Tim filled up the table. The conversations going around the table were noisy and varied.
I had to head in to work, today was past time to collect the change from the apartments. One out of eight of the machines was too full the rest were about 3/4 full making for very heavy bags of quarters. As I was driving to the shop with the quarters in bags and then in a bucket a corner was taken just a bit too fast, one of the bags fell out of the bucket and spilled. I could hear quarters falling and rolling everywhere. Drove straight to Meister Brothers and spent the next 15 minutes picking up quarters and placing them back in the bag. There were quarters behind the seat, quarters on the floor, quarters on the bench seat, in fact there were quarters just about everywhere. Philip agreed to go to the bank to carry in the quarters, the $1345.50 worth of quarters were very heavy. Karin was waiting for me to get back, she needed the truck and stock trailer to pick up a horse located in Canton, IL and then deliver her to Monmouth, IL for Rainbow Riders. Once the trailer was hooked up she took off. Steven was at the farm working first Valiant, then Evan. Evan is now laying down with a cue EVERYTIME! we are very pleased. We want him to get up slow but he hasn't figure that out yet. The picture below was snapped of Sanna and her filly as he was lunging Valiant.
The whelping box was finished about the time Mark got home from work. He needed to finish the barn before the insulators show up tomorrow. The picture below was taken last night as he was power washing the ceiling and walls.
Tonight he finished putting the boards up, while I got a ride to church with Joan.
We had a wonderful evening, Ken Hoerr had the sermon. How thankful we are that our government still allows us to worship freely. Ruth and her 2 boys got a ride home with us, of course we had to stop at McDonalds for icecream, except when we ordered they informed us they had no icecream. That didn't stop Joan, she knew right where another McDonalds was.

Tom Haefli

Rhonda's brother Tom had a heart attack last week. He had a stint put in but needs another. We are asking for prayers for his healing. His heart needs to be stronger before the next stint.

The Vet Visit

Yesterday afternoon the sky in the West turned dark with thick black clouds. Bright flashes of lightning were piercing the darkness and we knew the storm wasn't far off. The mares needed to be brought in to the stalls before the storm hit so we wouldn't have to work on wet mares. Not knowing if the 3 outside mares are used to stalls, Eliza was brought inside first. Bridgett, the smallest of the 3 was led over to the barn door, she took one look at that and started backing up. It took about 10 minutes to get her to walk through the door, she was sure she didn't belong INSIDE. The other 2 came in a bit better. All was well until the storm hit. I think it would have been better if I didn't have a metal roof. The rain was pounding on the roof so hard we couldn't hear each other. Mattie the big Clyde started going crazy, throwing herself from side to side, smashing into the buckets. Molly was put in the big double stall with her and she settled down both standing quietly while we were watching. Dr. Hoerr arrived and right about then the wind started blowing, the rain was pounding on the roof and he is trying to stick his hands where the mares were sure they didn't belong. He is ultrasounding Bridgett when Mattie the Clyde attacks poor Molly. Dr. Hoerr has to stop so Molly can be rescued and that's when we see a cut above her eye. By the time Bridgett was finished, the rain had almost stopped. Dr. Hoerr took her outside to his truck to give her a shot to short cycle her then put her in the paddock while I brought Molly out to his truck for stitches, that left Mattie inside by herself, you would have thought the barn was coming down by the racket she made. She needed sedating before we even took her into the small stall for the ultrasound. The evening was certainly not boring! This morning for some reason it is hard to get out of bed but even harder to focus eyes that don't want to open. It's going to take 3 cups of strong coffee to get going today.

Molly, Mattie, Bridgett and Eliza

Eliza came back into season, we were very disappointed, her ultrasound was scheduled for Monday. After talking it over, we decided to have Dr. Hoerr out to the farm to do a reproductive exam. Kim's mares also needed to have an ultrasound. Molly for a pregnancy check and Bridgett and Mattie to find out where they were in their cycle and why have they not shown a heat. Hoerr vet clinic was called to schedule for tomorrow but they decided it would be better for Dr. Hoerr to come today late afternoon or early evening. This gave me plenty of time to pick up a few things before heading out of Peoria. Sanna and her filly were in the stall when I arrived, it was hot, terribly hot in the barn and Sanna was panting. She was taken out where she quickly realized it was much cooler in the breeze under the trees.
The message came from Dr. Hoerr with the arrival time near 6:00pm. While waiting a couple of bales were moved into the paddocks. The 4 mares were brought into the barn just as it started raining. Dr. Hoerr arrived with a very cute Hackney stallion along with a Hackney mare and foal. He was on his way to Lindenhill farms to drop them off. The wind and rain started pounding on the barn roof, Mattie, the big Clydesdale mare stated going crazy throwing herself around the double stall. Molly her companion was brought in the stall with her and both settled right down quietly eating. While Dr. Hoerr was giving Bridgett her ultrasound, Mattie attacked Molly, cutting open her left eyelid. Poor Molly, I would have never put her in harms way on purpose. Dr. Hoerr sedated her, cleaned the wound and stitched it up, as long as she was sedated, we pulled her back into the barn for her sonagram and yes she is pregnant, exactly like we though. Mattie was the next ultrasound, she had many small follicles and was given a shot to bring her into season, she should be ready to cover in 5-6 days.
Eliza was the last one to be done. We were very pleased to find she has all the right equipment and all the equipment is in very good shape. She had some fluid in her uterus which could be infection. Dr. Hoerr treated that with an infusion of gentamyacin. She is in season and should be covered Friday morning, then Saturday morning given a shot.
Just as we were finishing up, Spark and Rhonda came over for a visit. We were glad to see them, the cable company is going to be dropping off the cable sometime this week and Meister Electric needs to be hired to lay the cable. Spark was given the cable guy's phone number and shown where we would like the cable to enter the office. After they left it was back to work. Mark is getting ready for Home Comfort, the insulators which are coming on Thursday. The stalls needed to be cleaned.

Emma's X-Ray

The rain stopped in time for our walk, Rachel left her house early leading Sandy over for her date with Raven. She was tied until after we were done. When we started over the dam I happened to look down and my shoe lace was untied, before I could bend down to tie it, Ruth dropped down and took care of that for me, now that's true love!
Right around noon during another rain storm Jarad Plattner from Plattner Orthopedic showed up with 3 of the men that worked on Raven's brace. The rain stopped by the time the brace was on and adjusted. We will remove it for the night and put it back on in the morning.
Just settled down with the last of the library books when Don Kummer from Canton called. He needed papers to register his purebred Friesian filly by Raven out of his mare Zyphur. I decided to drive them over to take some pictures of the filly forgetting he has a 5 year old Raven son out of his chestnut Saddlebred mare, Charming Robin. They call him Buddy and he is amazing, almost 17 hands, black and besides his very sweet disposition he has a fantastic body, and wow his neck is fabulous.
By the time we finished oooing and ahing over him I almost forgot to take pictures of the filly.


Started driving back home from Canton, when Rhoda called to ask if I would bring Emma in for x-rays to try to find out how many pups she is carrying. Her vet clinic was slow and there was plenty of time.

They could count 8 clearly, may see number 9 and just maybe one more underneath so the best estimate on puppy count was 8-10.
The car was needing gas by the time we left for the farm.

Bitterness vs Forgiveness

We have over 100 people in our family, for years we have loved each other, prayed for each other and wanted the best for one another. My family means more to me than anything other than our Creator and Lord, yet lately bitterness has crept in which not only makes for division and heartache it also takes me out of the will of my God. Bitterness is only hurting me, the one who allows this feeling to dwell in my heart. It is like eating poison slowly, it doesn't hurt the one I feel bitterness against it only sickens me, the one who holds the bitterness. So I give everything over to God, He knows 100% what the future holds. He tells me in His Word I am to love. I am to love my enemies, I am to love my friends, I am to love my family, I am to love the unlovely. I am commanded to do good to those who don't deserve good.
If I need to choose between bitterness or forgiveness, I choose to lose the bitterness, I choose to forgive, I choose to love, after-all God loved me enough to send Jesus to DIE for me, He forgave me how can I not choose to forgive.

Miracle or Co-incident

Truly enjoying the display while sitting at the window early this morning and watching the lightning as it streaks across the sky, this time going from South to North horizontally instead of from the heavens down to Earth. Our area seems to be stuck in a weather pattern of rain each day, then hot and muggy.
Yesterday morning the dogs were put outside before we left for church. This is the first time we made them stay out, but company was coming, the apartment had been cleaned and I wanted it to stay clean. When we arrived after church and opened the door, a very strong smell of propane gas permeated the apartment and we noticed a window open and Darcy was inside. Mark was checking the appliances while I tried to open all the windows and doors. Just then a text comes from Karin telling us she stopped in and found one of the burners turned on but no flame, turned off the burner and opened a window. We believe Darcy may have bumped the burner before we put the dogs out. I am so very thankful the dogs had been put outside; more than likely they would have asphyxiated and died if they had been locked in. God IS so Good.
miracle or co-incident that for the first time EVER the dogs were made to go outside on a Sunday, that Karin would stop in hours before we made it home, discover the problem and know what to do, so the apartment didn't explode. We BELIEVE we know the answer. THANK YOU AGAIN GOD!

Father's Day Celebration

Tim Funk had the morning service. Children obey your parents for this is right!, Honor your father and mother as this is the first commandment with promise that your days may be long.
How hard is it how to honor our parents, I only wish my dad was still here to honor and obey. If you still have a father on this earth and you choose not to honor or obey is this a sin? Would God even care? Tim brought up by learning to obey one's father will teach how to obey authority. Research shows that 4 out of 10 children in America have no father. Of course there was much more to this service of love.
After lunch Fred Funk had the afternoon service, starting with reading #55 in the Hymn's of Zion. We sang this earlier and Fred started the service by asking us, is it well with your soul?
We headed to Sam's for steak and dog food after church, arriving at the farm with enough time to cook a delicious meal for the dads. Actually Mark ended up doing the grilling as he is the best. Karin and Rhoda helped with Mike and Diane's company taking them on trail rides. Rhoda rode DaMita and Karin rode Dalia, Mika, Bunni, Sally and Paris finished out the group.
A bunch of the family arrived for the weekly volley ball games after 5:30pm. Tony Plattner of Plattner Orthopedic came over to see how Raven's brace needed to be adjusted and took it home for adjustments. Imagine this service, coming not just on Sunday but on Fathers day. Jared Plattner will bring it back with a couple of his workers tomorrow late morning. After the games the kids took off, mom and I cleaned up the playground then headed in for the evening.

Sarah's Home

Last night or should I say early this morning shortly after midnight Emma wanted out. With the big day yesterday my mind and body wasn't allowing sleep to come anyway making letting her out an easy task. The only problem came when sleep started to beckon and Emma wasn't yet asking to come in. A flashlight was on the table making it easy to go look for her. She was found in the big barn checking for mice, when the flashlight hit her eyes, her eyeshine was bright blue instead of yellow, very creepy seeing two bright blue dots glaring across the arena. She was actually more scared of the light and who was carrying it and ran outside even too scared to bark. Her embarrassed look when she realized it was her owner was actually pretty funny. So much for her big bad guard dog attitude! When Sarah arrived from her Jamaica mission trip around 5:00am, Emma was ready to guard the place with a big bark. Bedding had been pulled out of the storage just in case Sarah arrived in the middle of the night but she decided to head to Chillicothe, over to David and Stephanie's where she is house sitting and where there is peace and quiet. She stopped long enough to let us know it was a good trip. We are anxious to hear more later today. She is going to try to make afternoon church, then come here for Father's day.
If the rest of the kids are coming, we will stop at Sam's after church for steak to grill. Hope they all can make it, living this far out makes me miss my family. (especially the grandkids)

Senior High Girls Camp

We were prepared for the senior high but worried with the weather the time at the lake would be called off because of the storms in the area. As of 10:30am the people in charge sent the call the campers were coming. We loaded 4 horses in Emily's trailer and 4 in the stock trailer and took off driving into a cloud bank that made it look like we were driving towards the mountains in Colorado.
We arrived at the Herman Lake in Norris, IL with enough time to eat the lunch Beth had prepared before the trial horseback run.
Rachel on Sunny and Ruth and Sandy were the first to get into the lake. Emily brought Cindy out of the lake at a canter.



The horses all did so well Mark Herrmann on Larry and Rachel Sauder on her Haflinger Sunny had some fun cantering around the field before the girls showed up.

The buses started arriving and the horses got busy, we were able to give 175 people rides each lasting around 10 minutes, going down a trail, into the lake with a bit of speed as they came out of the lake up the hill. We never had a break taking out 8 horses at a time for almost 3 hours. Below are just a couple of pictures of the groups. Horses used were Sunny, Sandy, Larry, Cindy, Paris, Mika, Bunni and Sally.


We were so pleased with how the horses behaved, no one fell off and everyone did very well. This senior high girls camp was well attended, 200 campers and counselors all doing dangerous things like rope swings, blob jumping, bareback horse riding, high dive jumping, canoeing, water sliding and not a single one of the girls got hurt, in fact the only injury was FEDE, Ruth's husband, falling off the high dock and hitting the low dock with his heel. Now how does that happen, 200 girls at girls camp and the only one hurt is a guy.
When we arrived back at the farm Faith Reinhard came over to play with Emma and Darcy, she was so cute with these big dogs we had to snap a picture.
Once the horses were put away from camp Rhoda and Emily took Dalia and DaMita on the death trails here at the farm. Both mares did so well they decided to take them swimming. Below is Emily on DaMita as DaMita launched herself into the lake.
Both mares enjoyed a swim.
Rhoda and Dalia came out first with Emily on DaMita close behind.


All good things must come to an end and it was time to say good-bye to Emily. Emily doesn't get here that often but when she comes we pack plenty of horse back riding into the hours she is here. Emily is taking Jewel for the summer and Mike was having a tough time letting Jewel go.
Jewel was loaded into the trailer and off they went. What a LONG but very successful day!

No Pictures?

Phil dropped Braelyn off early this morning, she got to go on our walk as he brought the neatest stroller and I forgot to get pictures of it. This stroller worked well on gravel and even had brakes for going down hills. Braelyn enjoyed the walk as much as we did. She stayed with me for the morning. When Anna came to pick her up, we were back outside watching the vaulters practice. Faith Reinhard told me she wants to be a vaulter when she grows up and showed us what she already knows.

Ruth drove up with a half gallon of ice cream for Sarah Reinhard. Sarah got her license today and Ruth helped her celebrate with ice cream, thankfully Sarah shared some of it with the other vaulters.
Steven worked Airiah again, today did not go as well as yesterday. She was more nervous of the saddle moving today. Karin has some ideas to try next with her. She sure has a sweet disposition. After Steven put her away, he helped tease Kim's three mares. Molly has not come back in season which means more than likely she is pregnant but the other 2 have still not even come in season yet.
Rhoda came shortly after the practice and came with me to Middle Grove to pick up Mika, Bunni, Sally, Jewel and DaMita. We fit all 5 of those big horses in the 4 horse trailer by leaving the divider open and just stuffing them in. Mika, Bunni and Sally will be used for Senior High Girls camp tomorrow, Jewel will go home with Emily Ricketts tomorrow after camp, and Rhoda wanted to start DaMita on trails, she has a couple of ladies interested in her. After they were settled in the cabin field, Rhoda came over and vacuumed off both dogs. Neither dog really likes this but for Rhoda they will do anything, even lie still for a vacuum cleaner.

After dinner Karin and Rhoda took Mika and DaMita on the trails. DaMita did very well, even leading in some instances.
Emily Ricketts from Forrest, IL showed up around 8:30pm, she and Sarah Reinhard are staying the night in the cabin and will be here for breakfast tomorrow around 8:00am.

Whelping Box

Mom made us breakfast after the walk today, we always enjoy her great cooking. Steven showed up to start Airiah today. We are so pleased with her attitude. She has the typical Friesian attitude, she wants to please.


We ended on such a good note with her and put her away.
Valiant was the next horse out. He was also saddled and had Steven start adding his weight and then lunged. The pictures below are not the best but shows a bit of his fantastic movement. This boy was BORN to show off.



Tonight after dinner Mark started on Emma's whelping box. He built it 6 feet by 4 feet which should be plenty of room for Emma and her pups. Now it just needs bedding.
While we were working on that, Mike and Diane came over to see what we were building. They were admiring Sanna and her filly in the next stall when the filly somehow someway came up with the bucket hooked around her head. She was so cute waiting patiently to be rescued.

Our Wilson Cell Phone booster came today, Mark hooked it up and our phones will now ring in the apartment and I don't have to stand outside to make a call. What a relief, it wasn't fun standing in the driving rain talking on the phone. I could just imagine what winter was going to be like. Too bad it isn't strong enough to work in the stall area.

Evan's Training

We had 2 and a half inches of rain last night. On the walk we could hear the over flow from the small pond rushing into the lake way before we could see it.
A trip to Meisters to drop off some needed items for Mark meant the grocery store should be visited as long as I was in Peoria. We needed more ice cream for when the vaulters come, that's as good as reason as any to have ice cream in the house. Karin helped bring in the groceries while the kids were warming up the horse. These vaulters are amazing and a few pictures were snapped while they were practicing.


Steven showed up to give both boys some training. Evan was first, he was showing off on the lunge line. What a pretty boy he is.



Valiant was saddled and walked around but no pictures of him. Steven was very pleased.
Ruth, Fedi, Diane, Mark and I met at the playground at 6:20 for our trip in to church. What a great time we have together, the worshiping in church is great but the fellowship with each other is an added bonus. We drove through McDonald's on the way home, Rachel came back with us and had coupons for shakes and cement mixers, we can't let coupons go to waste.

Faith of Our Fathers

My grandfather, David Meister was thrown into prison for his faith. The Apostolic Christian faith believes all life is sacred, even the lives of our enemy and he would not agree to fight, carry a gun or shoot anyone. He was taken to the prison at Leavenworth Kansas. He was twice told he would be taken before the firing squad unless he agreed to carry a gun, and twice he stood in front of the firing squad, blindfolded, heard the guns cock, then heard the guns went off. He was amazed to find himself alive both times this happened. When they realized he would not give in and agree to fight, he was sentenced to life. Life in prison at that time was not easy, he was a young man and the sentence was hard labor for the rest of his life. He was marched to work at a dairy farm every morning early then marched back into the prison at night. His cell was filthy and every evening as he would lie on the cot and the lights went out bed bugs would drop like flies onto the bed and start biting. One of the things he confessed to us later was he that stole some soap powder from the dairy farm and tried to fill the cracks of his prison cell to stop the bed bugs. He always felt bad about that theft. His life was miserable but he told us it wasn’t as bad as what Jesus went through for him. When the war was over, they took him before the judge and told him his sentence was no longer life but he was now sentenced to 20 years of hard labor. He went back to Leavenworth euphoric, thinking someday he would actually be out of prison. It wasn’t long after that, the guards came and let him out. He was then considered a convicted felon and was never allowed to vote. Grandpa Meister grieved over this and for years some of his children and grand children tried to get the federal government to give him a full pardon but this never happened in his lifetime.
Tonight in church we sang Faith of our Fathers, every time we sing this song I remember Grandpa Meister and what he went through. Would we be willing to do the same? Is our faith as strong? How easy we have it today and how lightly sometimes we take our faith. As young children hearing his story when ever he would speak of the prison we would hear the word Leavenworth and cringe. Today we send Bibles and Bible studies to a prison to Leavenworth and each time I see the name on the address, my imagination comes alive, seeing my grandfather as a young man bravely standing for his faith in front of the firing squad.
All you Meister kids and grandkids, Remember what your great Grandfather did for his faith. Do NOT FORGET what a heritage you have. Will you treat your faith lightly, doing the least or will you walk the second mile? What kind of example will you be for YOUR CHILDREN and GRAND CHILDREN? Will you tell them about your ancestor or would you prefer NOT TO REMEMBER. Grandpa Meister was willing to die for his faith.

The Boys

We left by 6:30 this morning to get Sarah’s car to Peoria Toyota, her air conditioner was out and needed repair. They also needed to replace a head lamp. The rain was coming down steady which meant no walk. I didn't mind going in to Peoria early, that put me at work around 7:30am and the time before Eva Jean arrived was spent entering new studies and Bible requests. Once she arrived we were able to get most of the work done by 11:30am.
The car was all finished by 1:30pm, once Mark was dropped off at the repair shop I headed to the farm. Kim’s mares needed another round bale and Dalia needed to be covered if we going to keep her.
After dinner we walked over to mom’s and visited with everybody congregated over there, she had a big crowd and it was good to be together. Rhoda showed up with more pills for Darcy. Rhoda decided it would be fun to work with the boys and brought them out. Mike showed up as we were playing with them so both boys were saddled and worked with. Below are some of the pictures of tonight. They were both so good. After Valiant was saddled, Mike got on the pedestal so he would be above him.

While Mike was working with Valiant, Rhoda brought Evan in and asked him to lay down. She asked him twice yesterday in the paddock without even a lead rope and today was just as good. Steven Marchal has done a wonderful job with him, pretty impressive when a horse will lay down for more than just the one that initially trained him.


Evan was then saddled and Mike decided to ask him to bend, Evan thought he wanted him to lay down, that was rather unexpected.



Mike was going to stand next to Evan up on the pedestal, he brought Evan over and what happened next kind of surprised him, Evan got up on the pedestal with Mike.

Mark worked on replacing some of the boards on the hay shelters while we were in the arena. He is getting this place in shape, I’m so glad we are now living here, this place was really looking neglected. When Rhoda was leading Valiant back he had to make a stop and visit Dalia, Valiant has a very impressive neck.

Rhoda showed Mark what we need as far as a whelping box for Emma. We are pleased he feels he can get it together in time for the puppies.

Mowing Adventures

Such a beautiful day for mowing. The Kabota was picked up after the walk and driven back so the fields could be mowed. My phone was in a shallow pocket where it could fall out too easy, so it was placed inside my shirt, Beth showed us where a phone is always safe and if you want to know where that is, ask HER, then the tractor started. This Kabota runs hot meaning a close watch needs to be kept on the gauges. About 6 rounds into the first field, the tractor seemed to be getting too hot, it was turned off and let sit for an hour. The radiator was filled back up and this time I was able to finish the first field. It was also running low on diesel fuel and starting to warm up on the second field. All of a sudden an alarm started going off, panic set in and quickly the machine was turned off. The gauges checked and still the sound of ringing filled my ears. Finally figured out it was my phone which I completely forgot was in my shirt. Once the diesel fuel was purchased and 5 gallons put in the Kabota along with water in the radiator it only took 3 more times of letting it sit to cool before finishing. Spark and Jay came over to take it back, they needed to move a railroad tie. Once the field was finished, the boys were allowed out of their paddock into the first field. They ran and bucked about 3 laps, settled down to graze, then took off running again. After they had settled down the second time, I went in to eat lunch, came out 15 minutes later and both boys were gone. Had to start calling their names loudly and they come running from the cabin field neighing all the way, run to the gate opposite the cabin lane and ask to be let in. Once that gate was opened, they ran straight into their own paddock. Until we find where they got out they must stay put.
A gentle rain started falling around 5:00pm, Sanna's filly was having a blast running out into the ran, whipping around and barreling back into the arena. Too bad Sangria isn't here with her filly, she needs someone to play with.
A vet appointment was made June 27th for sonagrams for Eliza, Airiah, Kay's mare and perhaps Kim's mare.