Some Horsin' around!

Updates and Prayers

Well, since we have been horrible about keeping up via email, blog, pictures etc, I am making a commitment to do better with all of those things. For now, however, I wanted just to give you all a quick family update. We are all doing well. Thoroughly enjoying summer time together! We are playing and visiting fun places and just spending time being together...

Bailey is going to be 12 on September 1st! Where does the time go? She is growing into this beautiful young lady. I truly find her amazing! She is an amazing pianist and cowgirl...does that actually go together? Well, for her it does! She has been helping our family out at a Christian Ranch Ministry http://havenofhoperanch.org/ and she has found her passion...Riding...fast...with her hair flying and dirt on her face....who would have thought? She has found her permanent smile when she is riding a horse named Bear at the ranch. She is an absolute natural! She is leaving for Christian camp at the end of this week. This is always the highlight of her summer. She truly enjoys her friends and always comes home with a deeper relationship with the Lord. She will be gone for a week. The last time she went to camp was around the last time I posted....eeek that was a year ago! (Sorry everyone.) She went up on this repelling thing that was soooooo high, only 2 other people at camp went to the top. She did it! I couldn't believe it when I saw her on the video. I cried. She was so brave! If I had been there, I wouldn't have let her do it! It was way to high! (I guess that's why parents aren't allowed to go to camp with their children.) They need to spread their wings....

Gracie is going to be 6 on August 16th, and I can't believe my little girl has actually graduated kindergarten and is going into 1st grade! I have no more preschoolers. This is very, very strange. Let's just say I tried very hard to hold it together at her Kindergarten graduation. She is the spitting image of me. I know my mom prayed I would have one just like me. She's determined, stubborn, goofy, talks up a storm, and is the reason I have to say, "No" at least 50 times a day. But she has a heart for babies, children and all animals. She is a horse addict and cries when she has to get off the horse. She loves sugar and life and laughing and Heaven. She says she wants to go there for her birthday. I told her I would like her to hang here with us for a while if that was okay with God. So now her new desire for her birthday is to jump a pony and have her birthday at the local toystore, Hopscotch. A few minutes ago she woke up from her nap and told me she named the fly on the couch, "Sucker." Only Grace....such a funny girl.

Ryan...bless his heart is having surgery tomorrow. He is very nervous. He will have his tonsils and adenoids removed and tubes put in. The doctors have been telling us it needs to be done. I will be glad to have it over. He is handling things like a pro. Today he had to get his blood drawn, and he barely cried. Well, once I told him I would get him a chocolate milk shake, he dried it right up! Amazing! That kid loves chocolate ice cream and shakes like Jesus loves us! I also offered to borrow a Playstation 2 for him to play for the next week while he is recovering. (Since he doesn't have one b/c he would be the kid who never quit playing, this is a VERY big deal.) So, knowing that video games will be waiting for him and his favorite popsicles are waiting for him in the freezer, surgery doesn't seem nearly as bad as it did originally. Grandma, Gracie, and I also went to the Library and got him a big bag of books to give him when he's ready and feels like reading with mommy, daddy, or sissies. I just hope no other kids come looking for wildlife books at the Library, because they will be extremely dissapointed when they realize all but three have been checked out.

Scott is doing so well. He is working very hard as this is his busy season. Some of you may not have known this, but we were suppose to be moving. Scott was offered a job in Montana and looked at another in Texas. As we prayed during worship one morning at church, we told God we would go wherever He wanted us to go. Our hearts, however, were settled here in Mcminnville. Ten minutes later, we went down to the children's church to pick up our children when a man came up to Scott and offered him a job here as a surveyor and he offered Scott the same pay. We prayed for a few days and he took the job here. He works very hard. His muscles have gotten very big, too! He brings me flowers about once a week and thanks me for all I do for him as a wife. He wrote on my hand the other day (In church) that I "was one hot mama." He works hard to make me feel special, and I love him for that. I am starting to think that the 11th year of marriage is the best year. But maybe I will think that every year...
Scott also has our yard looking better than anyone else's on the block. He takes pride in his garden, and I love that he keeps my flowers alive! He's my hero...in so many ways...

Jessica (Me) I am relishing in taking care of my family right now. I love making homemade dinners and doing laundry. I know it sounds crazy...it's just that during the school year it is just so busy! I love being able to plan healthy meals and clean out closets and make Scott's lunch for him at 5:00 A.M. I just love the fact that I get to be a mom and a wife, and that during the summer months, nothing else competes for my attention. Lately, I have found my niche in life in addition to being a mom and wife. I love the ministry that God has called me to at Haven of Hope ranch. It's a non-profit ranch. I get to combine my love for horses with my love for children, adults and God. This ministry uses horses to minister to people. Sometimes I get to teach riding, sometimes I talk to parents while they watch their children ride from the fence, sometimes I just work with the horses. I, of course, love the riding, but I tell you...this girl is out of shape! My legs are killing me! (Of course I smile as I say that.) Last night I got to do something so amazing! I got to teach dressage to a friend and her sister on their draft horses! Wow! I am in love with draft horses! They are amazing animals! I look so forward to our next session! I have never ridden such an amazing (and huge) animal! I have met the neatest people through Haven of Hope. I praise God for His ministry! It is so wonderful to combine His work with a passion He puts into each of us! (For me that just happens to be horses.)

This video tells about Michelle Nash the woman who started the ranch and the mission for the ranch. (Use Caution and make sure to have tissue handy!)
Click on the Link below, it is so worth your time even if you're not a horse person....

http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=fvpJa8ZRIqI&rel=1&eurl=http%3A//havenofhoperanch.org/&iurl=http%3A//i.ytimg.com/vi/fvpJa8ZRIqI/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskI2QyrwiQmn0o425LkgyU3L

So much for a "Quick" Family update....But you know me... Never short on words...just the way God made me I guess!

Take Care and I will write again soon!