Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Friendship

I just got home from a trip to Kentucky.  It has been 14 months since I packed up my truck and horse trailer and headed south to Texas.  I was able to stay with my dear friend Lori.  This is a photo of the room I stayed in and yes, all those gifts were for me.  She spoiled me beyond my dreams. I opened a couple everyday and stretched it out over the three days I was there.  A 90 minute massage was pure bliss.  I am so grateful that she came into my life when she did.  She loves me. She makes me laugh.  She is wise and makes me think. She encourages me to be the best I can be.  I want to be that kind of friend. I KNOW that she is a gift from God.  
  
So now that camp is over I have 9 months of "normal" to work on life goals.  I want to work on getting to know people in the community and making friends, healthy exercise and eating habits, working on my art everyday, becoming a better rider, knowing God's character and hearing Him better. So that means structure, discipline, routine.  I have written out a schedule and will have to adjust it as I go.  Most of my goals are measurable but as long I spend the time working toward them I will be moving in the right direction.  I have a half marathon in March that I am registered for.  I have horse hair bracelets that need to be made and marketed.  I will join a bible study group.  I will find a trainer and take some dressage lessons.  I really hope to look back on this year and see that I have made efforts to improve and become closer to the person that God intends me to be.

As I listened to the iBloom calls tonight I thought about the qualities I admire in a friend.  
A good listener that is wise
challenges me to grow
uplifting and encouraging because they believe in me
thoughtful in word and actions
someone that has Godly values and walks them
they want to work toward their goals
like to laugh and have fun. 

I have so many friends that are all of these things.  I hope that I will always be striving and learning to be that kind of friend to them.  I have lived with 10 college girls this summer and that was a fun experience.  I look forward to the coming years and the opportunities I will have to be a friend to the people that cross my path. I hope they will see some of those qualities and feel loved and encouraged to be all they can be.

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

An idea is born

These are a few of the horsehair bracelets we made this summer.  I got the idea that it would be a meaningful gift for the Wranglers to make from the tails of their favorite horses.  I researched how to make them and bought the hardware.  We made thick ones, thin ones, one color, three colors.  They encouraged me to make it into a business so I am going to give it a try.   I would like to market them at horse events and have competitors bring me the hair from their horse and I would make the bracelet in about an hour. Hopefully, it would pay my expenses and I'd make a little extra too.  I would enjoy being around horsey people.
This is the final week of camp.  We are pulling shoes on some of the horses and moving them to the front pasture.  We wormed 30 of them yesterday.  It is hard to believe that this time next week this place will be still and quiet.  It has been non-stop activity since the middle of May when the Wranglers arrived. These young campers are so easy to entertain.  They say the cutest things.  Yesterday one of the boys noticed the brand on one of the horses and another camper said "that shows where the horse is manufactured".  They all got to ride in the pony cart today and loved it.  They got to meet their horses today and groom them.  They love just touching and loving on them.  Tomorrow will be their first day to trail ride.  I can't wait to hear what they have to say about that.
I am looking forward to going to Kentucky next week.   It will be so good to see the boys and friends.  I feel like I live in a bubble in my own little world.  I am so disconnected during the summer.  I don't mind missing the politics and news but I do miss being with the people I love.  It has been a good summer meeting all the campers and living with these wonderful Wranglers.  We have spent the last three months working long days in the heat, living together, eating together, we are like family, we know each other well and I love everyone of them. What a blessing and help they have been.