Wayward Pony

My youngest daughter decided to purchase a new pony the other day.  After much searching she found a little gelding with similar breeding to the mare she currently rides and successfully competes on.  Her mare is now six and we have toyed with the idea of breeding her in the future, which means that she will be out of competition for at least a year.  Therefore, Kaitlyn is planning ahead to the day when she will need a replacement for her prized mare. 
Ace, the new boy, is a cute red dun gelding which we picked up from a breeder in Montney. He is a yearling and cutting/reining bred.  Not a runner according to his papers, but as with Kaitlyn's mare he could still turn a can and beat the timer faster than the big runners she has gone against in the barrel races.  At this early in the game, we can't say what his future holds, but he is well built and has a kind eye.  Kaitlyn is infatuated with her new boy and I am glad that this is the kind of boy she is pursuing!
So, day 1 we decided to take out Ace, brush him down and give his feet a little trim.  We wanted to see how much sacking out we needed to do and how much (or how little) handling he has had.  The wind was blowing insanely and it was hard to find a safe place to tie him.  We managed to find a spot along our sheep pen to do some grooming.  Ace was really good considering our Billy goat kept being a pest and checking out what we were doing.  It was obvious that Ace had never been around sheep or goats before, but he was trusting and curious.
Next Evan brought out his yearling stud colt out to introduce the pair and to compare builds for curiosity sake.  Israel was quite taken with Ace, and then the squealing began!  When Evan took Israel away to let him run in a small field, Ace kept his eye on him and called for his new friend.  We thought maybe we could let the two boys play for a while in the field so we set them free.  We did leave Israel's halter and lead rope on in case we needed to grab him quickly if he should not play nicely with Ace.  So, the boys quickly broke out into a lope, with their tails blowing behind them.  They ran around a corner and Ace ran right through our electric wire fence, and kept running up into our back field.  He ran and ran until we could not see hin any longer!! The prized new pony simply ran away!  We couldn't believe our eyes! 
So what did we do?  We chased after him, following his prints in the ice and snow.  We ran until we tasted blood in our mouths.  Beyond our fields and neighbours field lies the highway!  We had to find our pony before he hit the highway.  When I reached our neighbour's house, I asked if he had seen our runaway, but he had not.  Before I left his property he yelled out to me that the pony was seen on the highway and had run into another neighbours field a kilometer down the road across from a busy intersection.  We were happy to hear that he was found, but the challenge to catch him was now on!    For two hours we tried to lure that pony in with grain.  We cornered him several times and he would cut out and escape.  Finally, I was able to get a hold of our good neighbours and ask for some extra help.  With another experienced hand around, I was hoping we could get this pony caught as we were burning daylight.  I couldn't imagine what we would do once night set in...
About 20 minutes later we got that stinker pony cornered again and with the help of my steer wrestling son he wrangled that pony in and Kaitlyn haltered him up.  It was done!  With a great sigh of relief, thanks to our neighbour and great thanks to God we had our pony back.

And as I drove my vehicle home with the emergency lights flashing the picture I saw before me was a vision of when one of God's children come home.  There in front of me was a picture of Greg (father) holding hands with his daughter as they lead the pony home.  What a feeling of complete joy we all had on a job well done to bring the wayward one home again. It is a picture I will never forget.  The father holding his child's hand as he leads them safely home.

Simple Pleasures

Somedays I feel like we are experiencing a chapter from "Little House on the Prairie".  Living in rural Northern BC is always an adventure: extreme weather combined with unpredictable farm animals equals a life of constant suspense. Help isn't always willing to travel 25 minutes out of town, and so we have relied on our neighbours' experience, ingenuity and way of just making do.  
Today was one of those Pioneer experiences, the winds started in the morning and progressed to nasty gusts over 50km/h.  It wasn't long after we got home from school that the power went out.  A certain wave of pleasure rushed over me as my day's chores simply became much shorter without power.  The daylight was waning and so my girls and I gathered up candles and lit the woodstove fire.  We realized that we didn't have much food resources for supper without power to cook it up.  A quick text  to my hubby and I informed him of our dilemma.  He assured me he would bring home take out  which we could enjoy by candlelight.  The girls and I gathered together near the woodstove and read by candlelight. It was a cozy Little House on the Prairie moment.  An hour later, the big truck pulled in and soon the scenario changed to hustle and bustle.  My superhero hubby began wrangling extension cords, bumbled around in the garage, dusted off his virgin generator and fired it up on the front door step.  He was home to save the day! He came dancing into our living room and  quickly plugged in the TV set! 
And so we enjoyed KFC by candlelight and watched a talent show on tv.  Not quite the picture I had envisioned, but a modern simple pleasure nonetheless!

At the Well...

It was a windy, dry, and sunny day.  I was tired, thirsty and the lineup was long at the local watering hole.  Before me were several men waiting their turn to bring water home for their families.  One of the oddities of rural Dawson Creek life, is water hauling.  Most pickups running around town have water tanks, some small about the size of a large dog house (I call it a "why bother") to very large (completely filling up the truck bed).  Now that my husband works out of town, I now have the priveledge of hauling water as I pass the water station on my way home.  We'll see how convenient this new responsibility is  in winter and -40C!
Today, I resigned myself to enjoy the quiet time before embarking the journey home and all that awaited me there. It was good to reflect on  the day's productivity and God's grace to get me through a task that I didn't have the skills to complete. He provided the help that I needed to get the job done.
When it was my turn to get my tank filled, I succesfully remembered all the steps to fill up without giving myself or other unsuspecting people a cold shower.  When I went to get in the truck, I realized I had locked myself out.  Fortunately, I had enough of an opening in my driver's window to stick my arm through and unlock the door.  Hallelujah was I ever happy!  Yes, little things such as an unlocked door, and a full tank of water showed me God still meets people's needs at the water well. 

Priceless!

  Today was a special day as we were celebrating the 10th anniversary of our Pastors service in our church.  That is pretty cool considering that the average tenure for a North American Senior Pastor is 7.7 years according to Ellison Research in Phoenix.  Maybe because we are Canadian the statistics are better, but I like to think that we have some pretty special people in our ministry.  we dearly appreciate all the hard work and dedication our Pastors have put in to our church (and we've only known them for the last year and a half, nearly since we moved to Dawson Creek).  Our Pastors definately have a shepherds heart: hurting when we hurt, joyful in our victories and the roller coaster in between.  But the one thing that is constant is their unwavering support and love of their congregation.  That kind of love is invaluable and priceless.
  I was also reminded today during our communion service, the great love and sacrifice that Christ gave up for us.  It almost made me laugh during scripture reading as my mind compared my previous nights blog about my crazy obsession and "huge" sacrifice I made to have the object of my affection repaired and restored for further acts of service (see blog "My Crazy Little Addiction").  My "love affair" with the green Miele is a rather nudnik comparison.  What was I thinking at 12am this morning!!
  This morning, I have a renewed and contrite heart for all the sacrificial contributions our Pastoral staff have made, both for me personally, the congregation and the long term vision they have for our community.  To have friends like these are truly without value and "Priceless".

My crazy little addiction...

  It's Saturday and my alarm went off at 5:30am.  I was up like a shotgun and heading down the highway at 6am.  Wait...rewind.  This is Saturday and I should be enjoying a nice leisurely morning, up at 8am, kids sleeping in and me enjoying a cup of coffee with devotions in my favourite kitchen window.  But not this Saturday; I am off on a mission.  To what great appointment?  Wait, hold on, are your ready for it?  To get my vacuum cleaner repaired.  Yes, that's right.  I am driving 2 hours and losing an hour too as I cross another time zone to go to Grande Prairie to get my little vacuum cleaner repaired.  Yes, I know.  It sounds absurd.  Wouldn't it be cheaper to buy another? And the answer is no.
I have a very sweet, quiet, lightweight, Miele vacuum that I absolutely love! It cleans like no other.  My 9 year old neighbour says I am a real city slicker, cleaning my house all the time (and cleaning my horse paddock too---another blog story), however, that doesn not deter her from spending time at our house.  In fact, many weekends do not go by without overnight company.
  The truth of the matter is, I have a bit of a Martha's heart. I like to be prepared for unexpected company and go all out for those expected.   Cleaning and vacuuming is part of the stewardship plan: taking care of what God has entrusted me with, and so I can share it with others.
  Yes, it may seem crazy to drive 2 hours to get my vacuum fixed, but it also gave me some quiet time to  reflect on the past week and to give thanks for His many blessings---especially to have my vacuum safely returned to me (and at a fraction of the cost to replace it)!

  We all have some crazy little addictions, mine just happens to be green!

Clearing land...Indian style.

  Last weekend while clearing some land a burn pile got out of hand and took off up the hill out of control.  With the recent wildfires burning down the town of Slave Lake, it became a very near panic situation on our rural farm.  We pay dearly for house insurance because we do not have fire protection  outside city limits (we are 26Km  from downtown Dawson Creek---the rocking metropolis).  However, what we do have is amazing and perceptive neighbours whose farm house looks down to our 1/4 and saw the smoke arising.  We now call this the dinner signal! 
  One quick phone call to our neighbours resulted in a full on fire fighting crew: Mom, Dad, 2 kids (under 12), nephew, Grandma and Grandpa came running over with buckets, water pump, hoses and water bottles.  This was a crew who has fought a fire or two or more and knew how to fight for their lives!  We are ever so grateful to their quick thinking and expertise.  In just over 4 hours we were able to successfully put out the fire. I think it worked out to about 1 hour an acre.  Now this is quick land clearing!! Our neighbours informed us that this is how the Indians used to clear land.
  Once the fires were doused we sat down to a mighy neighbourly smorgasborg quickly put together by our teen girls (so glad we had a large roast in the oven and a full fridge for the neighborhood fire fighting crew).
  Yes, we are the new neighbours and the proverbial "city slickers"  on a fast learning curve to Northern rural living.  Our family is used to the more wet and temperate climate of  the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island (our old stomping grounds). Fires do not become a problem on the wet coast until the dry days of late summer.  I shiver to think of what could have been, had our neighbours not pitched in.  I was on edge for 3 days after this wildfire worrying that the smoldering remains would somehow reignite.
  One week later, I am surveying the "damages" of our charred acreage and am absolutely stunned by what I see.  Grass, saplings and all kinds of greenery is poking through the black soil. New life quickly has started. In a burn pile, a red breasted Robin has made a nest and has laid her delicate blue eggs... it reminds me of a passage in the bible in the book of Mathew about worry.  Why do we worry when God looks after the birds of the air and they do not worry about what they will eat or wear.  Are we not more valuable, that he would look after us??
  Another Northern escapade that has taught me well about God's mercy and grace.