~Your Heavenly Father

My Dear Child,
  I love you. Do you know that? Sometimes I have to wonder. Like when you look at yourself in the mirror and frown at the reflection. Or when you mess up on something and call yourself names. Do you realize I made you? I created you? I love you? And I glory in you even with your failures! I gave you your strengths to bless others with. But I also gave you weaknesses so that they will reveal your need for me and point you to me. I want to be your strong tower, your refuge! I love how I have made you! I never make mistakes. So can you trust that I have made you just right? Can you thank me for it?
  Love,
Your Heavenly Father

~God loves you

Does God really love me?

I'd surely like to know

Because in this world of fear and pain

I don't know where to go.

Does He care?

When my heart is broke in two

When all around dessert me

And I don't know what to do.

Does He see?

When I'm beaten and abused

When I have no one to trust 

And I'm totally confused.

Does He hear?

When I'm crying out in pain

When I'm living in rejection

And I try to hide the shame.

To be honest, I can't relate to this poem. As far back as I can remember I've never questioned God's existence or His goodness. I don't know what it is to be rejected and alone. I don't know what it feels like to be broken hearted and have no idea what to do about it.
So I Really don't know why God prompted me to write this poem, and I really didn't know what to do with it. I can't reach out to you girls that are hurting like this and put my arms around you and say "I know what you're going through."
But here is what I can tell you; God knows how you are feeling. He knows what you are going through. And He loves you. He cares about you. He sees your tears. He hears your cries. He wants to hear your voice. He wants to see your face turned up to Him. He wants to put His arms around you, and comfort you. But it's really up to you.
God has plans for you. Plans to give you hope and a future; if only you resign all that you are over to His will and care. He is the only one to supply your need. He is the only one who can fill the empty place inside you. Without Him...there is no hope.
God loves you.
He gave His Son to die for you.

Now what are you going to do about it?

~Sheika

Let me introduce our newest member to our horse collection- "Sheika aka Sissy"

 She's 3 and has absolutely no training. When we went to pick her up I had to teach her to lead.
Her coloring is cremello and she has really neat light blue eyes but she has the pink around them and the nose, which I'm not real crazy about.

 She does have pretty blue eyes though.

 She's really quiet and she loves to follow me around. I keep forgetting how green she is when I'm around her. I pretty much treat her like all the rest when I should be watching her more. How quiet she is, is really why I got her, because we figured she would be a good first trainer.

So as I said she is my first horse to start and train on my own. In some ways it's intimidating but in other ways simply challenging. I did four sessions in the round pen with her so far. She is doing great and I plan to finish her up in there soon. She is a very fast learner and just wants to please you.

 I love how calm and laid back she is except when she doesn't feel like moving much. Then you have to work to get her motivated. When we first led her over to the fence to meet our other horses she marched right up and stuck her nose in their faces. Obviously she isn't intimidated by other horses! She squealed at them a little but hasn't been silly like some mares are.

As you can probably tell, I'm really happy with her. She is pretty photogenic too. Except she likes to come right up to see what you're doing. Silly girl! I've never had a horse this color to take pictures of before. But it's really fun because she stands out so much.
 My dad recently got me Clinton Anderson's "the Fundamentals" kit and I am planning to use that completely on her. Let me just say "the kit is amazing!" Totally worth the money. Clinton does an extremely thorough job at explaining and making sure he doesn't miss anything.

  

I wanted to get a picture of her next to the boys to show how little she is but it didn't happen. Anyway I'm so glad she's finally here!

~Hey I'm back!

Hey Y'all!

  I know it's been a long time! (Yes I'm still alive!) Life has been rolling along and God is good! (Just have to add that, because He is!) 

  My family and I just recently got back from a trip to visit my dad's uncle in Arkansas and then we stopped in Illinois to pick up {another} horse. 

  All in all we had a very good trip and God blessed us with safety the whole time.

While visiting at my uncle's {I call him my uncle even though he's my great uncle...in more ways than one ;)} I got to practice working with a neighbor's horses. (Her name was Katy) It was very good experience for me and he appreciated the time I spent with them. I really enjoyed riding her and would love to go back and do it again. Maybe next year? Oh that sounds so far away!

We got to meet lots of new families and put faces to the names we had heard. One of the highlights was getting to meet two sets of twins (from different families) and spend two days with them. We went ice skating, in which I caught my pick once and fell ker-splat on the ice. Neither graceful nor ladylike! I got a pretty good bruise on my knee and the wind knocked out of me but nothing that a little rest couldn't fix. I was up and skating again pretty soon but more careful of my pick this time! 

While out there we played a lot of volleyball. And it was hot! But for some reason we played anyway! ;) My cousin played his guitar with me playing my violin several times, and we all enjoyed just singing together too. 

Also Tash and I got to meet a blogger friend of ours while we were out! That was so neat! 

It was hard leaving, knowing that you wouldn't see everybody again for a long time. I can't wait to go back out again!

Stopping at our friend's place in Illinois is always such a treat for me! Randy trains amazing horses. I mean AMAZING! I never rode one of his horses that did't have an awesome stop. Pretty much all of them can spin. And I mean SPIN! They do rollbacks that are fast enough to throw you if you're not watching, jogs and lopes that make you feel like you're not even getting anywhere. He always has a bunch he wants me to try out. One 3 year old I just rode had the disposition of a 20 year old. I love that horse! Another 15 year old gelding I rode probably had been around the block twice and was downright amazing. He is probably the best horse I have ever ridden. I think I rode him the longest out of them all. Every time I go there I learn so many new aspects of training and riding that I wonder how I will remember them all. {Video cameras are awesome for that!} 

So we got a new mare there too. My family has started calling her Sheika, but I call her little girl or Sissy most times. To see more about her click here.

  So yeah, that's what I'm up to. Cooler weather would be greatly appreciated right now! I have a lot of work to do with the horses and I'm not feeling very motivated in this heat!

Me riding Katy

Our new girl Sheika!