Merry Christmas!

Hi, Everyone!

It's finally Christmas Eve! Rusty and I and my family want to wish you and your families and your horses a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!

Jesus is the Reason for the Season and He's the Greatest Gift of all!

God bless,

Pam

Winter Fun

Winter is here! It's time for bundling up in layers of clothing, driving on snowy roads to the barn to see my Wild and Woolly critters!!! I just LOVE Rusty's winter coat! It's great to sink my hands into that thick hair. In this picture, Rusty and Eclipse (his best bud) certainly know where the treats are! What great friends horses are!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I have so much to be thankful for! While we were having our pumpkin pie today, each of us mentioned one thing we had to be thankful for. We went around the table many times and did not exhaust our blessings! God is so good to us!

Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving! May you never run out of things to be thankful for!

Happy Birthday, Doug!

This is my wonderful husband who celebrates his birthday today! I really have a lot to be thankful for. God has given me a partner for life who understands me (and my "horse obsession") and loves me anyway! We've been married 28 great years. He's my best friend.

Happy Birthday, Doug! You are so very special to me!

New Saturday Night Services at the Orchard

I want to take a moment and post my thoughts about our first Saturday night service at the Orchard last evening.

I was on Welcome Team last night and I saw a lot of new faces! We were all praying for a big turnout but we got more than we expected. We set up rows of new seats to help take care of the overflow! God did exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think -- just like He said He would if His children would pray. We also saw people returning to the Orchard that stopped coming because their work interfered with Sunday morning worship. It was wonderful to see those people come back!

Personally, I like the new service. Pastor Scott calls it the "Guilt-free" service because you can sleep in on Sunday morning, go golfing (or horseback riding) without missing church! So, that's exactly what I did today. I slept in (just a little) and went out to spend time with my horse. This could be a great arrangement!

Getting closer to the Dream

Today was quite a day!

After coming home from work and having lunch, my husband, son and I loaded our three cars and started moving boxed items to our new storage locker. What a job! It took the three of us three trips to move the boxes we had packed. Our home is a lot less cluttered now which is important for potential buyers to see.

I must tell you about a strange happening during the move that could have been a disaster! On my second trip to the locker I had forgotten that Doug had placed the KEY to our locker on top of my car and drove all the way there. After entering the storage facility, I remembered the key had been on top of my car! I was very upset with myself and hoped the key had fallen off in our driveway! But, Lo and Behold, when I stopped at the locker the key was STILL ON TOP OF THE CAR!!! I could hardly believe my eyes!. My son, Al, was also flabbergasted by this. All I can say is "Thank You, God, for looking after such a scatterbrain as me."

More Thoughts on Waiting

Today I was impressed with another thought about what it means to Wait on the Lord.

Rusty and I work on an exercise where we trot a figure-8 pattern. When his balance is right, I cue him to canter and we canter a larger circle and then come back to the trot and do it again. Once we've done this a couple of times, Rusty says "I know this!" and starts to anticipate my canter cue. It's like he's saying "We canter now, right? Right?" When he does this, I bring him back to the trot and we continue the figure-8. Each time he gets ahead of me I need to check him. Once he is listening to me, then I can cue the canter and we get a balanced, beautiful canter!

I can so easily get this way with God. I say, "This is it, right, God? Right?" Then He pulls back on the reins and says "Not yet." Just as Rusty must learn to wait for my cue, so I must learn to wait for God's OK. As I've said before, this involves a lot of trust. God has shown me over and over again that I can trust Him. What I think is right may not be His will for me. BUT I can trust and know that His will for me is the best thing I could ever have!

I keep my hand in His and He keeps His Hand in mine and we get there together.

I want to thank Janet R. for her insights that led to this post. You are a blessing and an encouragement to me! P.