Summer Monsoons

They start in the morning looking like this....big beautiful fluffy white clouds, and deep cobalt blue skies.

In the afternoon, the skies turn dark and foreboding....

And then it rains!!! And leaves us with lots of water everywhere :)

For the love of a milkshake....

Where I live, it's dry....seriously dry. In fact, it's so dry that the cows give powdered milk.

Well tonight, out here in this parched and barren wilderness, we had a rainstorm. This was no common rainstorm, but the worst in the history of my little home town.

What do the girls and I decide to do? Run to the store and get a milkshake!! (Now, you must remember we live out in the boonies, and it's not like we drive around the corner to the store. No, the store is quite a few miles away.)

On the way to the store, we admired the beautiful storm clouds, and as we came back out of the store, we were thrilled that it had started sprinkling. But as we hit the main road, we were thrilled no longer.

In just a matter of seconds, we were in a full-out flash flood. Completely flooded roads drug our car wherever they pleased, the lines on the roads were utterly gone, fallen trees were everywhere, lightening flashed uncomfortably close, the windshield wipers kept an ominous beat, and I began one of my most terrifying drives ever.

At the measly pace of 10 miles per hour, we crawled home with emergency flashers on. According to Jessie, it was "movie-worthy!"

I personally expected Thor to come down and land on my windshield....just sayin'.

Definitely an adventure......but next time, someone else can drive ;)

To Be Someone.....

"I was made to be distinctly someone, and so were you. In the mind of God, in His vision for the world, in His idea for the universe, He made you to go in it. He had in mind a particular you. A true you. An authentic, accurate expression of Himself....."
- Emily Freeman, Grace For The Good Girl

Such a beautiful reminder - I don't have to be ashamed of who I am or how I was made. Each one of us was made perfectly to fit into the role God has for us...and He had a plan for our past as much as He has a plan for our future. All we have to do is trust Him, and submit so that He can work through us and in spite of us.

Sad morning

Sad, sad day....one of my favorite of our mares, Justine, lost her baby this morning. Beautiful little silver filly with four white socks.

It started with what we thought was an intense colic, but after about an hour, she started contracting. Baby was a full breech and the cord was twisted around her neck. It took us a long time to get baby out, but thankfully, she wasn't full term, so baby was smaller and easier to deliver.

I'm super sad about this....really, really wanted and was excited about this baby. But very grateful that Justine is healthy and alive. I think after Nationals, she'll become my project mare for next year. I just love her.

"To sit up all night with a newborn colt, watch it die, and say, 'Well, maybe next year'.......so God made a farmer..."

Life In A Small Town

You know you live in a backwoods/redneck/hick town when you're down at the barn early in the morning, and a cowboy goes by in a golf cart chasing a zorse down your driveway. Yes. I said "zorse".

:P

Nationals Bound!

As many of you know, we leave in less than a month for Tulsa, Oklahoma......for the National Miniature Horse show. Our only big vacation of the year, this trip includes about 21 hours in the truck one way (crew cab pickup truck with 5 girls, 4 of which are over 6' tall, and a 90 lb dog), a week of camping in a barn, lots of junk food, LOTS of hilarity, hundreds of horses, and many wonderful people. 

Preparations are speeding up quickly as the ETD looms ever closer.....and we're getting excited and terrified. Just have to keep reminding myself that we're doing this to be a witness and to bring Him glory no matter how our horses perform. 

I've been designing some banners to print on big canvases for each horse's stall. 

Here's Beamers (Mom's stallion)

Sam (Jessie's mare)

And my Treasure!!

"Rest Easy"

Right now, this is my newest favorite song. Now, that tends to change fairly often, but for the past week or so, I've been rather stuck on this one.

It is such a beautiful reminder that nothing we do can ever make us more or less acceptable to God. He's taken us just as we are...awful, broken, and ugly - but worth so much to Him. 

In which.....I become an earring-wearer

I did it. Bit the bullet, took the plunge, and had holes pierced in my ears. 

Been wanting to do it for over a year now, and, in all honesty, I've been mortally terrified of having it done. Totally freaked out. 

I walked into WalMart today with my heart racing. The lady in the jewelry department made all sorts of nice small talk, and then did the deed. 

Huh - not bad at all. Really, truly quite easy. All the anxiety for nothing!!

Why did I do this? So I could have big dangly fun earrings to show horses in! Not much of a jewelry girl, but I am a sucker for a cute pair of dangles. And yes, my dear friend-who-is-the-well-known-queen-of-earrings, I was thinking of you ♥ ♥

Even though it's Monday.....

xoxoxo
Lisa

The Question

If someone came a'courting, and you didn't know them very well at all.......what would be "the question"- or questions- that you feel like you would have to ask? (aside from the obvious must be Christian, willing to homeschool, have as many kids as God blesses with, no divorce, etc.) I'd *love* to hear any and all thoughts on this!!

P.S. Although this is coming from the girl's view, guys are more than welcome to give their input.

P.P.S. I must apologize for the overabundance of relationship-themed posts lately. Just been doing some thinking.