Another Beautiful Day At Gulf Shores

We were blessed with another warm sunny day. Mark and I went on a long walk on the beach this morning after breakfast. There are quite a few fishermen out and they were catching things but not all of them were fish.

 We made it back in time for church on mom's balcony. The fun schedule's next activity was volley ball.

 From there we migrated down to the beach. Nancy was enjoying the sun shine.

 Someone got a new chair for her birthday this November. She tried to lay on her tummy and the chair collapsed. These must not be made for sitting backward. Of course instead of helping the camera was grabbed.

 Sarah had her skid board out and was flying down the beach.

 Faith, Sarah and Berlica were catching coquinas and later made soup with them.

 Next on the fun schedule is beach foot ball. The games were very entertaining to watch.

 Diane and I decided to head down to Ruth's hot tub. The foot ball players all went boogie boarding in the Gulf but no one took pictures. They all hiked over to Beth's for hot tubbing and visiting with Bethany and Bill who had arrived this afternoon. Ruth invited our condo over for dinner this evening. Below are Steven and Ryan showing us their very large decorated balcony.

 Fedi and Nolan went fishing on the pier. Fedi hooked the fish below but had Nolan reel it in.

This was the only fish of the evening they were able to bring up. The rest of their catch the shark were getting before it could be pulled out of the water.Fedi and Nolan were only able to fish for about an hour.

 Dinner was fun and delicious. It helps that we played hard all day and came with a big appetite. Our plates started out full but sure didn't stay that way. By the time everyone was done there was nothing to clean off. From Ruth's we hiked across the street to Beth and Greg's condo where they had a camp fire going. Joan's kids were roasting marsh mellows while the rest of us sang, visited or played games.

 Bethany brought Joshua out for great grandma to play with

 The fire was nice but it was a long day and time to head back. The younger adults all went weetee golfing and were not back yet. The moon is almost full. The picture below was taken off mom's balcony. The moon is lighting up the city of Gulf Shores.

 The rest of today's pictures were placed on the Facebook page. If you would like to see them click HERE.
Emily was able to get her car out of the impound lot today. She sent this picture of it. That car will be driving no more. She really is thankful to be alive.

The other news from home is Hadassah's filly is now at her new owners home. Mitchel came in and helped Emily get her prepared for her new owner. These people are repeat customers, they bought Lily's colt earlier.  They were pretty thrilled and sent this text tonight:
We are SO happy with our horses! looking forward for next years colts. Thank you! merry Christmas and happy new year. They also sent a picture but I don't know how to take pictures from text and get them on to the computer.

ACCIDENT & So Much Fun in the Sun

We were getting ready to leave last night about 6:00 pm when sirens started howling, lots of sirens coming from all directions and stopping for someone close. We got the text from Nolan and Sarah, left to pick them up when the phone rang. It was Emily calling to report she had been in a bad accident and was being taken to the hospital. Emily was coming home on Lancaster a pickup truck coming from Lake Camelot ran the stop sign right in front of her and she hit the truck going 55 miles an hour. The impact was so bad her car was twirled completely around and ended up facing the wrong direction. In the pick up truck was a man, his 8 month pregnant wife and a couple of children. I believe all were taken to the hospital including Emily. Her car is totaled and the truck looks like it is also totaled. Emily thought she had a broken left hand and her chest was very sore. At the hospital she was checked out and told no broken bones and allowed to leave. Although the last time a hospital told Emily she did not have a broken arm and it was probably just a sprain they were very wrong. Her right arm was broken in a spiral break and Emily had to have surgery on it and have it in a cast for what seemed like months. So until we hear from a radiologist we don't know what to believe. Emily had been left in charge of everyone's animals so Sarah wondered if we should delay our trip down to Gulf Shores but Emily told us not to worry, she had Laura (her sister) coming to spend the night with her and would get her brothers to come help if needed. Have I ever mentioned how thankful we are that this family ended up in Peoria?
We decided to keep driving and drove all night arriving in Gulf Shores around 9:30 am. After a short nap some of us needed to get outside into the 81 degree air and into the gulf water. The waves were huge and so much fun. Below are a few pictures of our day. Nancy enjoyed riding the boogie board.

See the rest of these pictures were placed on Mark's facebook page, to see them click HERE.
When Sarah and Nolan woke up from their 4 hour nap they also went boogie boarding with Karin. Then we all hiked over to Ruth's hot tub and heated pool for some relaxing hot tubbing and water football.

 Below is Miss Molly patiently waiting for mom to get out of the hot tub.

To see the rest of those pictures click HERE 
Mom and I left to come back to the condo to get dinner prepared. Mom is just an amazing cook. We had a gormet meal this evening with a most tender beef roast served with plenty of au jus, rice, a crusty hot bread, fresh green beans, salad with all the fixins then icecream and cookies for dessert. Mark mentioned this would be a $50.00 plate meal at a restaurant. Ruth, Fedi, Anni, and Nancy joined our group of Karin, mom, Sarah, Nolan, Mark and I. After dinner a quick game of scrabble was played then a bunch headed over to Diane and Mike's condo for more games. Since we drove all night and played most of the day we are skipping that and heading to bed now. What a good fun day in the sun.

Merry Christmas

Wise Men STILL Seek Him

Such a wonderful Gift for all man kind is celebrated this day.

What a beautiful Christmas day, bright sunshine and warm weather. We didn't even miss the snow. Mark had kind of a hard morning, he thought he was ok but each time he got too far from the bathroom the cramps hit and he had the runs, I mean he had to RUN!
We decided to skip church and listen on line and honestly everyone from Peoria should be thanking us. We listened on line to a touching Christmas service by Tim Roecker. The singing was beautiful. After the first reading the hymn Oh Holy Night was given. What a way to remember the birth of our Lord.
By noon Mark was feeling a bit better. We joined Gertie and Dennis, Sarah and Nolan and Ben and Taunya's family over at Phil and Anna's for a steak lunch of which Mark grilled but didn't eat. He told me later he was afraid to eat.
The girls were thrilled to show us their Christmas presents. Below is one of the more popular ones. A bubble machine.

After a nice visit Mark and I left for home. We still needed to pack for our trip. We are leaving in about an hour for Gulf Shores, AL. Mom, Nancy, Ruth and Fedi left early this morning and have already arrived. Tim Reinhard left last night and made it down. Joan and the rest of her family are just now leaving, Rachel and her family left a couple hours ago. Beth and Greg, Spark and Rhonda, and John and Beth will be leaving later. We should all be down by tomorrow evening. That is all of us but Dan and Susan's family who are not going this year. I wish we could fly them down for a few days.
Emily is holding the fort down for the entire neighborhood. She could be the only human walker on the walks joined by the neighborhood dogs,  2 of mine, 1 of Karin's, 2 of Rachel's and and 1 of Diane's. Hopefully she will invite her brothers and sisters to stay there is plenty of things to do even if it is winter and we are all gone.
We here at the Horsemeister Farm would like to wish everyone a blessed Christmas.

Sceggel Christmas

We had kind of a short walk today, mom and I needed to leave by 8:15 to pick up the Berean mail and still get to the office before 9:00 am. Turns out we didn't need to rush, we were the only 2 that showed up until after 9:00. Edie arrived first followed by Marie with Laura, Megan, Timothy and Justin. Chuck showed up not too long after that and then JulieAnn, Marie's sister-in-law's family arrived from Tremont. Chuck, Edie, Laura, mom and I were working in one room working on the studies and letters while Marie and family worked in the other room stuffing, labeling, and packing Bibles into Mark's van for mailing. To see pictures of today's workers click HERE.
Emily and Mike left for Middle Grove early to work on building a road from the blacktop across a ravine into the field. This year with no freezing temperatures moving bales has been a nightmare. The roads are impassable which means a long walk. This new road should help. Below Emily is heading to the blacktop walking over the new road, in the background is the massive bull dozer Mike and Spark bought which was used to move the tons of dirt.

 That dozer isn't just for moving dirt, the bales can be moved too. They put out 8 bales which should last plenty long until we all get back from our trip to Gulf Shores next year..actually we will be home Jan 2nd, 2016

Emily reported the mud is pretty bad, glad the bales were scattered up in the fields. 

Tonight was the Sceggel Christmas at Ben and Taunya's. Taunya made a delicious taco soup while Stephanie made and brought a creamy chicken and wild rice soup. Both were delicious. The other girls brought toppings and of course dessert. Sarah made this plaque for me for Christmas and gave it with some other neat home made things. She used the Horsemeister Friesian horse logo Ben actually designed WAY back in 2002. I was pretty impressed. 

The rest of our children got together and gave us a leather rocker recliner. Well almost, we just have to find it and order it but it is paid for. 

Below is a short video of  the chaos with the gift giving when it involves 7 children.

Mark and I left for home around 7:30 pm, we are leaving for Gulf Shores tomorrow evening and still need to finish the laundry, clean the house and pack. Well I guess if the laundry gets done packing can be done tomorrow and is cleaning really that necessary? My muscles and bones are longing to lay down. 

Meister Christmas 2015

Today was the much anticipated Christmas party for the Meister family but before that is written about the rest of the day must be detailed.
We awoke to heavy rain with lightning and thunder so no walk. Emily and I went to Berean leaving at 8:00 am and finishing by 11:00 am. From there it was straight home to wrap gifts except Mitchel arrived and of course if there is horse training going on I want to be up at the barn instead of down in the house. Emily brought Rosaleigh out first. After a quick round pen session she was ready.

 Above Emily had been mounting from each side just hanging on the saddle. Below she is up on the saddle and we were thrilled how well Rosaleigh is accepting a rider.

 Next Mitchel worked with her. He is doing what he calls the human curry comb. He is hanging off her side, swinging his legs front and back then swings up on her back,

 He finishes by sitting up on her bareback. This is a wonderful training method to get the horse used to not just weight but a person on board without a saddle.

We never would have thought it was a problem going from a saddle to bareback except we had one horse at Bridlewood that just couldn't tolerate someone on his back without a saddle as Rachel knows. She jumped on him bareback and he violently threw her.
Rosaleigh was very good. Next out was Roxanne. The same routine was done with her with the same results, both mares were great. I am so so thrilled with how their training is coming along. I'm sure Emily and Rhoda will be riding them this coming year.

I finally went down to the house to down load the pictures, turned on the stall monitor and saw Hadassah's filly try to jump out of the stall. She took three tries, the first try she knocked one board down, the second try she knocked another down and by this time she could see over the stall. She gave one more big jump, cleared it with her front legs but got hung up with her back legs and was left hanging upside down unable to free herself. I jumped on the golf cart, flew to the stall and with adrenaline only was able to pick up her back end and flip her into the next stall. She was fine and led back into her stall, the boards were put back on and then I waited in the other stall behind the wall she tried to jump.  The next time she tried I was right there yelling at her. She tried a few times then realized each time I go over there something really scary pops out, I think I'll stay on the other side. I'm thankful we have the stalls monitored both at the house and on the phone. I was able to check on her during the evening. She settled down and is fine. Mark and I left to pick up mom for the Meister Christmas at 5:20 pm. When we arrived at the fellowship hall that place was buzzing with the sound of excited children. Below are a few pictures of the evening.

After the meal comes the favorite part of the evening for the kids. Truly this is even more anticipated than the gifts. The kids get to perform with the microphone. Below the crowd is watching and waiting to applaud.

Our first performers were singers, starring Mercy, Tess, Mae, Ava, Willow and Ariya.

Taegan took a couple of turns.

Even Israel sang a song for us.

Below is Spark reading the Christmas story and every mistake he makes in this reading is caught by half a dozen kids are more. 

Then comes the traditional singing of Heirlooms by the nieces. 

Nolan was the newest inlaw and was coerced into playing Santa. 

Below mom is opening her first gift of the night, a salad spinner. Every wedding shower she attended this year the bride was given one of these and at every one mom would state, "I used to have one of these and lost a part." 

The rest of the pictures of the party are placed on Mark's facebook page. If you would like to see them click HERE.
Brian and Rebekah announced they are expecting in August. Kari is due in 2 weeks. The family just keeps growing. There are now 130 direct descendants from our parents Paul and Rhoda Meister which don't include the 3 in heaven and three more babies coming in 2016.
It is just amazing to us how the years are flying by. Another Meister Christmas is now in the past.