Facepalm Moment

That crazy moment when you know someone with the last name of Mitten, and you refer to him as Mr. Glove.............

:P

Baby Video!!

So grateful for this filly :) Here's her birth video.....the birth was a little difficult, but so glad to have her here and alive! An amazing, wonderful miracle.

The day after Christmas...

December 26th is normally the saddest day of the year...it means Christmas is over. All the songs, lights, parties...all done.

But this December 26th, we were celebrating!!!!!!! God is so good...

She has a white spot on her butt that looks like a cottontail!!

Lots of visitors today!!

Our best Christmas present....

She arrived a day late, but she's alive and healthy, and I couldn't be happier!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So grateful to God and so in awe of the miracle of birth!

Merry Christmas!

“How many observe Christ's birthday! How few, His precepts!” 

- Benjamin Franklin

Merry, merry Christmas to all my wonderful friends. Praying you all have a very, very special day celebrating Christ and the amazing miracle of His birth! 

Here's some pictures from our Christmas morning :)

It was officially determined that my future home is going to be western brown with cobalt blue accents!! My mama found these amazing glass cups with horses etched on them in my favorite color. They are now in our china closet awaiting the day I start my own family. 

Another gift for the hope chest!! That same beautiful color...this time combined with my other passion...music!

Jess and I got Mom a calendar with pictures of all the horses!! I love it :) And, of course, Annie had to come in and join the celebration!

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men."

Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Do Right..........

First of all, it was a beautiful, beautiful day. There were clouds off and on, rain off and on, and vibrant  colors everywhere. Loved it...and so did my camera :)

Secondly......this quote so speaks to me. So often, I get too wrapped up in the technical and practical side of things instead of looking at what is right and doing it. No matter what comes.

So I combined the day and the quote and got this.

P.S. Close friends are such a blessing! You know if you're one of those, and I just gotta say - I love you guys and don't know what I'd do without you..... ♥

That moment when..........

That moment when......your mother asks, "Is a .30-.30 a rifle or a handgun?"

:P

Workshop Pictures!

I am so thrilled with the shots I got this past weekend. The workshop was absolutely amazing....it was taught by Trevor Dayley - an absolute genius and a very special person. I walked away from it so challenged and inspired, and can't wait to start applying everything I learned!!

For now, here is a peek at some of my favorite shots. To see all of them, visit http://atruefocus.blogspot.com/2013/12/pete-victoria-scottsdale-waterfront.html

Awesome editing song :) :)

Editing pictures and listening to Waylon Jennings' "Mamas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys". ♥ ♥

Workshop fun :) :) :)

See the bright pink sleeve on the left side? 

And see the brown sweatshirt in the bottom right corner?

Those are me!! Learning from the incredibly talented Trevor Dayley Photography.....and getting to take shots like the one below :) :) :)

What an amazing weekend. I am so incredibly blessed! :)

Best Photobomb Ever?

I'm thinkin' so!

Our little big brother :) :)

Christmas Puppy ♥

Our Christmas tree went up today, and look who came inside to see it!!!

Would Ya Mind?

I have this picture in a photo competition.....if you feel like voting for it, I'd love if you'd visit:
http://hisfarmgirl.blogspot.com/2013/12/and-winner-is.html 

:) :) :)

That terrifying moment..........

That terrifying moment..........when you're at home editing pictures, your mother and sisters have taken horses down to the General Store, and you get a phone call from your mother.

She's frantic. Panicked. Yelling incoherently into the phone.

All you can make out is, "Get in the truck NOW and come to Glendale and 174th.....Derby....got away, running down Glendale.......TRUCKS......Jessie got her, oh she's flattened.....in the road.....SCHOOL BUS.......she's going to be a bloody mess........"

Yep. That happened to me today.

I ran to the truck and flew out of the driveway, heading for I'm-not-sure-where, expecting I'm-not-sure-what. When I got there, they had caught the runaway horse and were pulled over on the side of the main road through our town...crying and bloody and shook up.

Derby, the horse Jessie was ground-driving, had gotten away from her, jumped the canal, and headed down main street at full blast, dodging trucks and vehicles. Anna tried to grab her, but Derby kept running - resulting in a very nasty rope  burn on Anna's hands. Jessie then grabbed her, and was not letting go.

Derby kept running, spun Jessie around, and flung her to the ground. Jessie's sudden fall jerked Derby off her feet (literally) and they slid to a stop directly in front of a school bus...much to the entertainment of the school children. Thankfully, the school bus driver was a quick thinker, and she slammed on the brakes, put out her little stop sign, and stopped oncoming traffic! Yay for the school bus driver!!!

Everyone turned out alive, no permanent damage, just bruised and bloody and scared.

And thankful! Thankful that nothing is worse than it is!! But wow, what an eventful day :)

"Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23 They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness."
Lam. 3:22-23

Exciting!!!!!!

Back in September, when I went to Ft. Worth to help the Rowlands at the World show, I definitely didn't get to take as many pictures as I would have liked. But when their 2 year old stallion took the show by storm and won everything out there, there was no way I wasn't going to take a few minutes and snap some pictures. 

This picture is my favorite from the whole show, so when their graphic designer asked to use it, I was thrilled!! She designed a stunning layout that is a full page ad in this next issue of the Miniature Horse World magazine. 

I am so excited to get to see this in print, and am so humbled that they chose to use it!! 

Thankful..........

One of the biggest blessings in my life? These people right here. My best friends.

These crazy, silly, outrageous, amazing, supportive people.

We've grown up together, made memories together.... There's been plenty of times we've all made each other crazy, but we couldn't love each other more. God has seriously blessed me!! This picture is the best thing that happened today...we've never had a single good picture of us all together. 

And this one just for kicks ;)

"Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare His works with rejoicing."
Ps. 107:21-22

A Feast!

Jessie says she's not eating anything today......or tomorrow....up until tomorrow night. Cause she wants to be "good and hungry"!

I can understand - when the menu includes turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, cranberry relish, stuffing, sauteed mushrooms, dilly bread, pecan pie, chocolate pumpkin truffles, chocolate cheesecake, a chocolate fountain with strawberries, angel food cake, vanilla wafers and marshmallows..........

Anyone drooling?

Have a wonderful and super blessed Thanksgiving tomorrow!!

And don't eat too much ;)

An Odd Twist....

....on a popular Christmas carol..........

:D :D :D

Saying Goodbye Hurts

The hardest thing about loving an animal? The inexplicable goodbyes......the unanswered questions....the losses.....

"Dog's lives are too short....their only fault, really."
~Unknown

She brought us so much joy in her short life, and I'll never forget her. 

Why God chose to take her? 

I don't know.

Did He have a reason?
Yes....that I'm sure of.

“Remember me and smile, for it's better to forget than to remember me and cry.” 
― Dr. Seuss

"When you're going through something hard and wonder where God is, remember the teacher is always silent during a test."

~Unknown

"God's plan for your life far exceeds the circumstances of your day."

~Louie Giglio

She was just a puppy....not nearly as  big as other people's losses and problems. But she was very special to us....to me....and I'll miss her.

But God is good.

Boring Men

Guilty as charged.

I mean, honestly, what girl doesn't imagine that ultimate breathtaking proposal...saw this on Facebook the other day and thought it was awesome.

That is, until I read this article. 

The Real Truth About Boring Men - And The Women Who Live With Them

Convicted! As awesome as overwhelming experiences and romance and surprises are, they're not what's important. 

Here's some clips from the article.....but if you have time, go read the whole thing. It's worth it.

How a man proposes isn’t what makes him romantic. It’s how a man purposes to lay down his life that makes him romantic.

The real romantics are the boring ones — they let another heart bore a hole deep into theirs.

Get it: Life – and marriage proposals — isn’t not about one up-manship — it’s about one down-manship.It’s about the heart-boring years of sacrifice and going lower and serving. It’s not about how well you perform your proposal. It’s about how well you let Christ perform your life.

Bright Lights

A few nights ago, we were out coyote hunting with the boys. Now I know that sentence was just plain scary, but no, nothing bad happened...no crazy adventures...it's safe to keep reading :)

I found out that sitting in the dark combined with having to be excruciatingly silent makes a great recipe for some quality thinking time. Avid hunters must be smart men! But anyways, as I was sitting there mulling over some different things, I became increasingly more and more aware of the blindingly bright arena lights a few houses down from where our coyote-stand was. (Like a deer stand, just no deer)

As we sat there longer, my desire for the cowboys to be done roping and SHUT THE LIGHTS OFF grew stronger. They were completely obliterating any night vision I had and were so overpowering that before I realized it, I was no longer thinking about coyote hunting. My thoughts were completely consumed with "How much longer will these lights be on for?!?"

The seconds and minutes seemed to drag, my eyes burned, and everything else became completely non-important. Down the street under the torturous lights, the cowboys laughed, roped cows, and let the lights shine on...oblivious to the misery they were inflicting. And still I sat there, shifting my head to every conceivable angle to try and find some way to block my eyes from the lights.

Suddenly, they turned off.

And blessed darkness ruled the neighborhood.

For a few blissful moments, I sat there completely content...despite the cold and the rather uncomfortable position I was sitting in. All I cared about was that the horrible, blinding, all-consuming lights were GONE! My eyeballs could relax.

That's when I noticed it......the small porch light on the barn across the alley.

No big deal at first, but as my eyes started to adjust to the darkness, the light became more and more of an annoyance. Pretty soon, I was nearly as distracted by the little porch light as I had been by the blinding arena lights.

That's when it hit me.

How often do we do that in real life? Some big, gigantic, life-changing, all-consuming event takes up every moment of our thought life. Maybe it's something good.....maybe something painful....but all the same, the rest of life gets put on hold as we focus so intently on this one thing. Small annoyances and distractions become non-important in light of the enormity of the situation before us. 

Then it disappears. 

The relationship heals...

The sickness is overcome...

The wicked, harmful person moves away...

The vacation is finished...

The amazing Scriptural revelation starts to diminish....

The wound gets better and the scar fades....

.........and life goes back to normal.

For a few days, weeks perhaps, we're changed. We're more thoughtful, more caring, small annoyances don't bother us as much. We live in the moment, enjoy people more, love harder, laugh more often, are more thoughtful and grateful. 

But then, as we adjust, the little things start to grate on us again. 

The dog still barks...

The sibling still does that irritating habit...

There's still parts of the Bible I don't understand....

The headaches still come...

......and we go back to the same person we were before.

Don't stay the same. Don't go back - go on. Go on and find what He was trying to teach you, where He was trying to send you, and how He was trying to grow you.

When God is gracious enough to give us a life-changing experience, we would be wise to let it actually change our life.

Fly Away Home

Maybe I'm silly....or sappy....but this movie makes me cry every time....and this song never fails to give me chills. 

Feeling nostalgic tonight....

Siblings {photo contest}

Entering this in the "Siblings" Photo Contest being hosted by Kelby over at His Farm Girl. Click on this link http://hisfarmgirl.blogspot.com/2013/10/photo-contest_27.html to enter or see the other entries :) :)

Letter To A Horse-Skeptic

My Dear Horse-Skeptic,

I'm not entirely sure I've met you before, but I've met many others like you....you look at us Horse-Nuts and scoff, saying, "What good is a horse? What use? The age of horse drawn carriages is long past." Or maybe you say, "Sure they're pretty and fun, but I have more important things to invest my money in."

Well, I have something to say to you....bringing me up around horses was one of the best things my parents could have invested their money in.

Let me enlighten you....

My sisters and I learned how to ride shortly after we learned how to walk.

Many of our free hours were spent on horseback...and if it was too hot, we were inside playing plastic horses and building miniature barns :)

The majority of our weekends were spent as a family at horse shows...

But it was hardly all fun and games.

Growing up with horses taught me patience. Horses don't always do exactly what you'd like, and they're certainly not going to do it if you're impatient. For a young person, that's an extremely hard thing to control, but it is of absolutely necessity if you're ever going to get anywhere. 

Growing up with horses taught me perseverance. When I was 8 years old, I fell off and broke my arm. Very traumatic experience :) It took me months to ride again...months of tears, of fighting, of terror, and of defeat. But the day I finally went out to the arena by myself and screwed up the courage to ride again, the feeling of triumph and accomplishment was not something I quickly forgot.  

Growing up with horses taught me respect. When you work with a horse, you're working with a creature literally 6-7 times bigger and heavier than you are. If that doesn't instill some respect into a person, I don't know what will! He will be much more liable to work with you and perform his best if you treat him well....even when he doesn't deserve it.

Growing up with horses taught me about unconditional love. You can push a horse a long ways before they'll ever stop loving you. 

Growing up with horses taught me about work. Hard work. Back breaking, exhausting work. But it taught me that work is good, and to be grateful for it. 

Growing up with horses taught me about responsibility for someone other than myself. Horses require commitment with no days off, and for every hour or two of fun, there are days of drudgery that have to be sludged through. Regardless of weather or anything else, I am still responsible for those that I have been given stewardship over. 

Growing up with horses taught me that outward appearances don't matter....all they care about is your heart. Literally. Age, sex....none of that is important. Only your character and your personal actions are what matter. 

Growing up with horses taught me the value of money. "A penny saved is a penny earned" and boy is that true with horses. While horses can give you a desire to work hard to earn money to spend on your next show outfit, they also teach you to learn to prioritize. As tempting as it may be to sink $10,000 into colic surgery to save the dying horse in front of you, you are forced to look realistically and practically at the situation and make the hard decision....against everything your emotions are telling you.

Growing up with horses taught me about communication. Ask for what you're wanting in a way clearly understood by the opposite party...you'll always get better results.

Growing up with horses taught me about the joys and tragedies surrounding the creation and birth of a baby. I learned how they were made, planned for, and sadly, sometimes die before they come into the world. And I learned that the sleepless nights spent waiting and watching some crafty broodmare can result in one of the most beautiful things on this earth.....the birth of a true miracle.

Growing up with horses taught me about sportsmanship and competition. The ribbon isn't what matters at the end of the day....what matters are the things you learned, the people you met, and the memories you made up till that point. Everyone who competes fairly is a winner, and those who cheat in the ring are likely to cheat you in other areas of life. I learned that healthy competition drives one on to a higher standard. The harder you have to work, the better a job you'll do.

Growing up with horses taught me to plan ahead. The choices we make today effect the things that will happen down the road. The investments we make cannot be cared for without savings to fall back on. Boring things like land and vehicles and buildings suddenly become important. Caring for your truck can make all the difference between a safe, fun trip to a show, or being stranded on the side of the road with a four horse trailer in the middle of Phoenix's summer.

Lastly, growing up with horses taught me how precious the fun times are. You never know when a horse will get taken from you, when life will change, and when those times are over. Cherish the present, love what you have, and enjoy the life God's given you.

Looking back, Skeptic, I can't say that we've "wasted" a penny spent or an hour invested in our horses.

I have no regrets about the time I've spent at the barn, and nothing I wish I could change.

All I wish, is that more children could have the opportunity to learn from these animals before they are faced with the responsibilities of adulthood.

Sincerely,
A Horse-Lover