A Day In the Life...

I've been meaning to keep a journal of my daily activities at camp this summer but it hasn't happened yet.  I thought I would recap what I did today on my blog.  I have been walking at 6:15 every morning with Joan Croome, a camp mom I met last year.  We became good friends in just two weeks.  She loved the finches I had and went back to Houston and bought some for her anniversary.  She now has 4 and I have none.  The last one I had a camper let out of the cage.  Anyways, it is a great way to start my day because we walk over the big mountain and turn around and we can see the sun rising over the mountains in the distance.  I get to see God's awesome beauty in this place.  When I get back to the barn around 7 the Wranglers and I begin feeding the horses, we walk to the dining hall for breakfast and I usually have a meeting with them about our plans for the day.  I attend a leadership staff meeting at 8 a.m.  Meg told me the surveys are coming back from first term and horseback is getting great reviews.   I led the 2 hr. trail class on Indira this morning and Lily Lou came along too.  I had to get off and put her up in the saddle with me when she got tired.  At lunch today, I drove one of the Wranglers into Kerrville to get a new radiator for her truck.  We stopped at Hometown Crafts and I bought some jewelry clasps and beads.  I had the idea that all the Wranglers can make a bracelet from the horse hair of their favorite horses.  I hope to send them home with many happy memories and a momento. When we got back to camp I had a Wrangler ask me for advice on giving the sermon this Sunday.  I gave her my devotional book, Jesus Calling.  The Wranglers and I judged the crew yell, cleaned a slimy green water trough, picked up a dead dear on the I Spy trail, drove a injured camper to the health lodge.  Now I am sitting in my barn apartment while 4 Wranglers are watching the movie A River Runs Through It and a group of campers are downstairs touring the barn and listening to someone sing to them on the front porch.  It is 10:25 and it has been a long day full of lots of good things.  Speaking of good things one of the campers lost her Father in September and she has really bonded to one of our horses named Arrow.  I told the Wranglers that what we are doing goes so much deeper than just working with horses, we are blessed when we get to see little glimpses of God's greater plan.  Lonehollow is a special place to many many souls.

This is my job.

So I was moving a mare and donkey to the front pasture this evening and had the funny thought that this is my job. This is what I do. I feel like I live in a bubble sometimes and the rest of the world is out there somewhere running a million miles an hour. One of my Wranglers posted this on her FB page and I had to copy it because it really describes well what my day is like..
So tomorrow begins another day of hoisting children onto horses, answering questions like "why is he named speedy if he's so slow", tugging on horses to make them trot, and repeating phrases like "pull back to your hips", "kiss to him" "kick with both legs" and "look where you're going, not at the horse"; all in the hot Texas sun, and loving every second of it!

Little town with a BIG show!

The little town of Utopia put on a BIG show last night.  It was better than the Bellagio in Las Vegas.  One of the new Wranglers is from Denmark and I was so glad that she got to see such an impressive show.  I drove into town with Shanna, Peyton and Nina and we were surprised to see so many people.  There were people from Uvalde, Leakey, Camp Wood and other surrounding towns.
I love that Utopia is a beautiful town tucked away from the fast pace of the world.  It still has a simple innocent lifestyle.  This is the part of Texas I love and I get to enjoy it everyday.  I have a hard time believing I live here.
The last two evenings have been so beautiful because the moon has been full.  We rode down to the river yesterday at sunset and took the horses swimming in the river.  It was dark when we were riding back to the barn and the moon lit the way for us on the road.   It was so bright we could see our moon shadow.  It was one of those moments I hope I will never forget.  The warm Texas breeze blowing on us after swimming in the clear river.  The sound of the horses hooves walking along the road.  I am so blessed to be able to enjoy the simple pleasures of the country life.