Overwhelmed

Overwhelmed has many different meanings. It can be the feeling a new mother has as she deals with that new baby. It can be a person who doesn't know the meaning of the word "no" and gets themselves involved in 20 different projects. It can be the person facing a major event or undertaking, perhaps a widow who has never done the bill paying in her household. I am feeling overwhelmed, but not for any of the above scenarios. Mine is different. It is my children and the maturity I see in them each day.

Suzanna has a major project due very soon at school. Despite the nasty weather and no school last week, she continued, without being nagged by mom, to work on it and it will be completed well ahead of the due date. It is Kathryn, with her tenacity in practicing piano. She is faithful to sit and practice at least a half hour nearly every night. The improvement in her ability is obvious. Finally, and the one who really overwhelmed me last evening, is Thomas. Hubby has been putting in some long hours over the past few weeks. Last night I told Thomas he would be working late and that Thomas would need to take care of the chores. Without rolling his eyes, mumbling under his breath or putting it off, he immediately went to the phone, called his dad, and got instructions on what needed to be done. Wow, I was stunned. To see him take the initiative and take care of what his dad asked of him, left me very overwhelmed.

It is amazing to see our kids grow up and mature before our eyes. And to see something you are trying to teach them, responsibility, being put in action by all three kids leaves me proud and willing to continue mothering and teaching them as they continue to grow.

I don't want to be a mama!

Kathryn is our nature lover. All things furry are her friends. Mom has a number of porch kitties and one of last years batch is wild. However, she decided that moms porch was the best place to have her kitten....and leave it. After waiting 24 hours for her to return, Kathryn and mom decided she had abandoned it. They fixed up a batch of kitten formula, put it in a bottle and worked to save the life of the kitten.

So far, so good. BUT.....Kathryn has had a huge dose of what it is to be a mother of a newborn. And it isn't easy! The kitten sleeps in a box beside her bed and as all newborns will do, it doesn't sleep for long before it is demanding yet another feeding. This morning, after being woke up at 2, 3 and 4am, she informed me that she really likes this kitten best when it was sound asleep. I told her that was when I liked her best at this age too! She wondered why it was so hard for the kitten to settle down. I told her it is a baby and doesn't know what it wants. Sorta like she was as a baby.

Kathryn was a tough baby. I think it was at least 7 months before she slept nights. Perhaps a bit of payback in the form of a small grey kitten??

Simple Pleasures

There is a saying about simple pleasures being the best, and I guess I have to agree.

I will share a few of my simple pleasures, starting with a beautiful, sunny, spring morning. The view from my front window is pretty special this morning as well. The kids are on break this week and the Great Lakes Spring Holstein Show is coming up in just a couple weeks. What fun to see Thomas & Kathryn out in the pasture this morning, "capturing" their heifers for a little practice time at the halter. I can hear Lydia the lamb, who really isn't just a lamb anymore, hollering for attention from her pasture. The guinea hens just finished breakfast, cleaning up what the steer left around his feed pan. The goldfinches at my feeder are showing the faint signs of yellowing up and the robins have been hopping around my backyard.

Spring always returns....... Thank you God, for the promises of renewal that comes in Spring!

Letting go or holding on

A missionary that our church supports passed away yesterday after a very short illness. I didn't really know him, he and his wife obviously spent most of their time on the mission field. Despite that, I am struggling a bit with sadness at his passing. I think I know why. I can't imagine being as strong as his wife has been as she faced the possibility of his passing.

She kept their supporting churches up to date on his condition through e-mails, which our Pastor forwarded on to the rest of us. In each e-mail, she spoke of her willingness to "let him go to Jesus", or that she held him up to God in her open hand, or that she knew she would be reunited with him in Heaven.

I know that my husband is headed for Heaven when he dies, as I am too. BUT, I don't know if I could be as brave as her. I am sure in her dark moments alone, she fought the desire to keep holding on. But isn't it amazing that God ultimately gave her a peace, which allowed her to be an amazing testimony to me! The first picture I have in my mind when facing such a moment is with my arms wrapped tightly around the waist of my husband and my legs woven around his legs, forcing him to drag me along as he passed from this life into Glory. Perhaps instead, I can recall the testimony of Louise Barnard and recognize that the Lord gives us the strength and ability to face the dark moment of saying goodbye to the love of our life.

Obviously, I pray that such a moment is years and years away. Hopefully, in my VERY old age, I can recall the lesson learned from Mrs. Barnard.

Missing the forest for the trees....

Age-old proverb, but how true it is in our lives.

There have been some changes in my horse business in the last three months. Most took tons of prayer, thought and more than a couple tears. Now that the changes are in place, I am learning a new way of looking at my business. In the past, my focus has been getting these horses into the show ring to showcase their quality and eventually make that perfect connection that leads to a successful sale. This focus was taught by the horse trainer we were using.

So as we switched to a new trainer at the beginning of the year, my focus was once again on the show ring. To the point that I was ready to do a second switch to yet another trainer in an effort to keep costs to a minimum. As I discussed this decision with the current trainer, he moved my focus to a completely different direction. Why was I worrying about the show ring and all the expenses that go with it??? Because that was where trainer Mike's focus had always been, was my reply. Well, Lee is switching that up. We are now focusing on turning out a great product, advertising it hard and getting him sold so that someone else can take on the expenses of showing "their" horse in the show ring.

How many times are we out of focus? Confident and committed to a notion that is not the ultimate direction we should be heading? It doesn't matter how committed you are to that idea, if it is the wrong direction, we need to rein it in (pardon the pun) and rethink what we are doing and why we are doing it. Lee described what he was "hearing" from me and quickly assessed what direction I needed to be heading with my horse business. And he was right, no matter how much fun it is to have your horse in the show ring, as a breeder, my focus needs to be on getting these horses sold as early in their career as possible. The same goes in my Christian walk. I must be constantly assessing where I am and where God wants me to be. And not be afraid of changing my focus when God shows me a better way.

Non-resolution Resolution

I am not a New Year's resolution maker, but I did decide that I needed to revive my blog from the total neglect it has suffered for the past 5 months. Okay, I got taken in by the simplicity of Face book. Do you know how easy it is to post a simple one or two sentence statement about what you are doing, how you are feeling or where you are headed is? Easy!!! The world is all about easy isn't it? But easy isn't always good. Although most of my blogs are simple fare, notes about the kids, horses or some other part of life, occasionally I have put serious thought and idea to the keyboard and come out with something I am pretty pleased with. And to sit still long enough to create something a reader might learn from is good for me. So here I sit for a few minutes.....and hopefully I will do this more often.

Dog shows, lamb training, horse conditioning and back to school

Busy days continue here at the zoo. Kathryn and Emma competed in the State 4-H Dog Show Saturday. They are now full-fledged 4-Her's and actually get placed in their classes now. It was the first time Kathryn had ever done showmanship and they placed 5th in their class. They also did agility and obedience, but didn't place in either class. We got lots of good hints and know what they need to work on between now and fair week.

Kathryn has been working with her lamb, Lydia, too. Considering the first time she ever put a halter on the lamb, it fell over on it's side and laid there like it was dying, things have definitely improved. She can now lead Lydia the traditional way of having a hand under her chin and one at the back of her head. The other three lambs we got to replace the lambs that were killed have tamed down a lot and Kathryn can actually pet one of them. She is the animal charmer.

I have been working our filly, Annie, in preparation for the Michigan Morgan Futurity. I hauled her up to Mason yesterday so that Horse Trainer Mike can take over and finish her halter work. The show is this weekend. Storm will be showing as well. She has grown up and filled out a lot over the course of the summer. I really could see the difference since she has been gone all year.

Finally, the girls and I are heading to town to get school shoes. Yes, like it or not, they head back to school on Thursday. Thomas wasn't in the mood to "shop", so he went to work with his dad. I will still need to run him to the local Shoe Show store and get some dress shoes. Parent-Teacher orientation will be tomorrow night and then back to our routine on Thursday. Summer where did you go?? And just in time for the "dog days".