She's 8

Tomorrow Layla turns 8.  She's beautiful inside and out.  She's fiercely courageous and has an amazing gift of mercy.  Her feet are firmly planted.   She thinks ahead, she's organized...and quietly very competitive. Her favorite thing is when the 4 of us are together...doing anything  She loves to read and write stories.  She will try anything at least once and her number one dream is to be a mom.  She's a mixture of indoor and outdoor girl, of tomboy and girly girl.

What an amazing adventure it is to parent her.   She's extraordinary.

Layla on Grace this summer

Ice fishing on our pond this past winter

One of her first stories.  She wrote on her 7th birthday.

Layla on Buddy in December

First Day is in the books!

Yesterday was the first day of school for our kids. I am happy to report that we all did great!  Cooper came home wound for sound and Layla came home relaxed and happy....and that all lasted about 2 hours before they both started showing signs of a stomach bug.  A slightly rough night, but they seem to be on the mend today.  It's not so bad having day 2 of school off, sleeping in and watching movies all morning.  We'll just ease into this school thing!

When we got to school yesterday some older students, the principal, administrator, and mascot were greeting the kids.  What a joyful distraction for all of us!  The kids walked themselves in and Dave and I drove away with a few tears in our eyes.

When I have to deal with something hard, I push through it and deal with the emotions later.  Yesterday morning, I just put a smile on my face, a spring in my step, and pushed through the process of my baby starting full time school.  Dave, knowing that it was a hard morning for me, took me out for coffee after drop off.  I then went to the gym for a very long work out and spent the rest of the day catching up on a lot of admin for The Pumpkin Ranch.  It was a good day.  Thanks to all who prayed for us and checked in on me yesterday!

Little Answered Prayers...

About a year ago I started praying that God reveal to me our kids' gifts and interests so that I would be able to nurture those areas of their lives.  Since Layla was 3 she's loved horses, but what little country girl doesn't, right?  Since praying that prayer, God has brought us 2 more horses. Hmmmmm, maybe I should start paying attention to what God is revealing!

At the beginning of the summer we received a call from a neighbor who knew of an old 4H horse who needed a new home.  The kids and our horse expert friends rode her.  She was dead broke and it was a done deal.  No one knew her name.  Immediately, without thought, Layla picked Grace.  Well, in my mind, there were surely more unique, fun horse names than Grace, right?  No, Layla was stuck on Grace because of it's meaning in her life....God's unmerited favor.  Can't really argue with that!

In July we received another call....a horse was in need of a home.  I wasn't sure about Creek...the call came from a trainer...a race horse trainer.  He's a Thoroughbred...a race horse...retired due to injury.  Do you understand all of my concerns?  Well, we rode him, fell in love with him, and he came to live at our house.

And, of course, Buddy is still here ruling the roost!  And, ALWAYS getting into the burs!  He's in the same pasture as the other 2 horses, yet they stay clear of these nasty, pokey, hard to remove, little nuisances!. This is how Buddy looked when he greeted us last week.  Yes, he got a haircut.  There was no hope for removal!