The Help

I just watched "The Help" tonight and I definitely put it as "must see" for many reasons.  What struck me quickly into the film was just how recent this behavior in America took place.  This wasn't set in the 1800's or even the early 1900's.  This took place in 1960-the decade my parents graduated from high school, a mere 12 years before my brother was born, when JFK was assassinated.  The behavior disgusted me and astounded me that one could put themselves so much higher than another.  I'm not going to give away the movie because you should see it.  But what follows are my thoughts during and after it.  I hope you can reflect on this as well.

Partway during the movie, I began to feel, not guilty, but maybe ashamed of how people with the same amount of pigment in their skin as I treated those who had a different amount.  I choose these words carefully and deliberately.  Why?  There are no different races of people.  There is only one race-the human one.  To categorize someone based solely on their outward appearances goes against everything God ever intended, yet we do it and sometimes without thinking or realizing.  The amount of DNA that sets a person of a darker skin from a lighter skin apart from one another is LESS than the amount of different DNA that sets a person of blue eyes apart from a person with green eyes.  Put that way, it's preposterous to treat someone of darker skin as those they are less than you because you wouldn't make a green eyed person use a different bathroom or ride the back of the bus simply because you yourself deemed that blue eyes were better.  Man choose to make "white" better than "black", certainly not God.  Just remember that Jesus wasn't "white", He was "olive" skinned.  But I cannot be ashamed of how people of my similar "color" treated others more than I can be ashamed that my ancestry has a lot of German lineage in it and that the Germans and Hitler massacred so many because of a difference, not in DNA, but in religion.  (Although Hitler did want the fair skinned, blue eyed German look, if I remember correctly.)  That wasn't my fault anymore than white people deeming themselves better.  What would be my fault is if I choose to believe it.  If, when I noticed someone, I noticed their color first and started to make assumptions.  That's my fault.  Or I see someone struggling, down on their luck, or perhaps "challenged" in some way physically or mentally and choose to make assumptions of them.  Or I think I'm better than someone else and talk about them behind their back.  That's my fault.  My behavior, choices, and attitude are all mine and all something that I can make a difference with.  "It is as I make it."

Skip ahead into the movie a little bit and I'm struck by the fact that those same people who are so fiercely proposing that every house have a "negro" bathroom or that no person of a darker skin should sit at the same table were also the ones who were very willing to discriminate against their "own".  Quick to abandon a "friendship" if someone opposed them or talk about someone behind their back after being so kind to their face.  While how they treated "the help" was much worse, they had it in them to treat their "own" just as bad.  Reminds me of something my mother once told me.  If someone is willing to mistreat an animal, they are just one step behind mistreating a human.  I'll let you see if you see the similarities in the two.  I'd rather be friends with the friendless than be a pretend friend to the most popular person in town.  I know one of those two is much more likely to be loyal and to be a true friend back.  I was never going to be the "popular" one in school, but I sure hope I was the best friend I could be to those I was close to.  But I digress as that is another subject entirely!

Lastly, I realized that this movie isn't about feeling sorry for "the help", being ashamed of the past, or going out and fighting for civil rights.  At least, it wasn't for me.  I don't think that the ladies in the film wanted you to feel sorry for them.  (Sorry don't feed the bulldog.)  They wanted to know that someone cared and they wanted a change.  People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.  It's about what I do, every day, and how I conduct myself.  You don't feel sorry for a cause or situation or person and leave it at that but you have the courage to stand up and say, "Something needs to change.  This isn't right.  Let's do something about it."  Maybe it isn't a big thing that will impact the world or at least you can't tell at the time that it'll change the world.  But you can change the world each and every day.  You reach out and help someone.  Take the time to assist someone, ask them if they need help, or just give them your ear for 5-10 minutes out of your schedule.  Help them become a better them.  See a need; fulfill a need.  Lift up a child and help set them on the right path.  Love others.  Give of yourself.  Be a beacon of light in a world of darkness.  Do what Jesus did.  He didn't sit in the temple all day preaching.  He went out among the masses, talked with them, showed them He cared.  The lasting impact of Christ's ministry went well beyond His 33 years.  People are still talking about Him thousands of years later.  Me?  I'll never be famous, I'll never make lots of money in the job I have.  But the one thing that I think I'll do is change the world, or least a very tiny part of it.  So how do I believe I'm helping the world?  What's my difference maker?  To each and every camper who comes into my barn-I will try my best to make time for them.  To show the love of God to them and make them feel special in that one moment in time, in that "one-on-one" time.  They will leave knowing that at least one person in this world truly cared for them, listened to them, and wanted the best.  It's saddening but I know that many of these kids don't get it at home.  And they come from "good" homes, ones with money.  But they lack love.  They lack attention.  So if they go out into the world knowing that at least one person cared for them, I know that's going to help them, to help them change the world around them, and maybe make the world a little bit of a better place.  It's hard sometimes and tiring oftentimes and I know that some kids will be missed and maybe I didn't get a chance with them.  But it's not me doing it for them, it's God working through me and everyone else around me. I'm trying, in my very limited earthly ways, to make a difference.                                                

Be a difference.  Be THE difference.

 "Be the change you want to see in the world."

"If not now, when?  If not here, where?  If not me, who?"

Always an Adventure with Amie and Me!

Today, Amie and I were amazing.  She'll tell you it was me; I'll tell you it was great teamwork.  Yeah, so this may not be very "humble" of me but I sure wish we had had a video camera.  Amie and I make a great team but it does seem as though it's always an adventure.  Today was no different.  We wish we'd started writing these adventures down earlier.  I think it's the animal component that makes everything an adventure.

We were trying to catch the momma kitty and her kittens that had taken up residence in my garage.  They were wild, very wild and I had never been able to get close to them.  So I fed them until we had finally caught up with a lady in Remington who was going to take all our stray cats that had taken up residence at camp.  The kittens were relatively "easy" to catch despite being very very mad to be caught.  Then it was on to the momma cat who was currently laying in the rafters, in the little overhang.  So I climbed up on the freezer and attempted the first of many tries to catch her.  Unfortunately we found out that she could run along the "overhang" under the rafters on the sides of the garage.  She ran back and forth along the rafters from one side of the garage to the other side as we attempted to trap her in one section of the overhang.  At one point, Amie decided that an overturned bucket on top of my cooler would make a good "ladder".  So everywhere the cat went, we dragged our "ladder" to where she was and I climbed up and attempted to block her.  Unfortunately, my ladder wasn't exactly tall enough to get me a good angle on her since I had to reach up and then down into the overhang.  But that didn't stop the two of us.  She had a fishing net to nab her if I was able to shoo her out with my broom.  A few back and forths across the garage and we finally had her in a corner near the door.  I had tried shoving my wreath into the overhang to prevent her from going under.  I was standing on my step stool and decided to try to make a grab for her (wearing my extra heavy winter gloves).  I tried, she ran under the wreath, and I lost my bucket.  In a move you normally see in the movies, I grabbed onto the rafter with my left hand and was left hanging as my bucket fell and cooler slid away,  (I would have loved to seen a picture of this!)  screaming Amie's name because she was following the cat.  I don't remember thinking, "It feels like I'm falling, grab onto rafters".  I just....did.  Just like in the movies when the hero is thrown off the side and they somehow grab onto something at the last second to keep from falling.  I didn't think you could react that quick.  I don't remember seeing the rafter....I just grabbed.  Anyways, that's not the whole story.  After I got back to solid ground and thanked the good Lord for quick reflexes, we were back to catching the cat.  She, by now, is on the garage door side of the garage and the next few minutes find me going from rafter to rafter, using the door to put my feet on, monkeying around the garage trying to find out where in the overhang she was.  I located her, almost caught her again, but she got by me and Amie *almost* had her with the fish net.  So close again....but we missed.  Fast forward a few more minutes and I had her back in the same corner where I almost met the concrete.  This time I stuffed the wreath and a coffee can into the hole.  I decided to forget the broom, forget the towel I was going to wrap around her, and make one last attempt to grab her with my hand.  (The other hand was holding onto the rafter!)  Whenever I popped over the ledge and saw her face to face, I prayed she didn't attack my face.  Anyways, I wait for it, wait for it, and then reached over and grabbed her by the scruff of her neck.  I had her!  Now what?  She is very mad and Amie was screaming at me, "What do you want me to do?  What do you want me to do?  Tell me!"  As I held onto the cat, steadied myself on the bucket, and held onto the rafter, I yelled at her to hold out the net.  I threw the cat into the net, she flipped it over so that the opening was now against the ground, and I grabbed the towel and jumped on top of her and wrapped her up.  Amie and I gingerly carried the cat/net combo to the truck and to the dog carrier.  We finagled the net into the carrier, dumped her, and then wiggled the net back out without her escaping.  Whew!  We had a done it.  Not without frustration, near injury, and choice words though, but we captured her.  It took about 1/2 hour to do so.  Not bad in my book.  Then we were full of laughter and cheers and lots of high fives for one another.  Always an adventure....always.  (Combine that with yesterday's run through the woods to try to cut off runaway ponies).  I wouldn't do it with anyone else though.

A best friend is someone who, when you have a crazy idea, says, "Heck, why not?!"  

Christmas Video

Each year, I make a Christmas video for the camp Christmas party.  I think I started in either 2007 or 2008.  (Whatever year was my last year of having a desktop which made the project much harder.  Laptops are awesome!)  Program folks (OE, Retreats, TLC, EQ, and Directors) at camp get noticed more and are more in the "public eye".  Public here meaning campers and guests.  But the program folks can't do their job as well as they do it if there weren't a whole team of people behind them getting everything done (plus their spouses behind them).  Everyone from maintenance to housekeeping to office to kitchen staff are so needed that their value is priceless.  If we had to worry about getting cabins cleaned after each group, taking phone calls, or making meals, we would never get to running the programs.  This is where we are blessed.  Other camps have so few full time staff that their staff has to do "double duty", doing multiple jobs around camp.  The summer staff get a video at the end of the summer but there is nothing for everyone who makes camp go all year long.  I wanted to recognize them while also remembering all the events of the year.  If you step back from the year, there are so many little things that happen day in and day out that we forget about and there are so many changes and events that happen throughout the year that help us remember where we've been so that we can be grateful for where we are now.  This year was a little rough from time to time.  Storms and other issues made the day to day a little harder.  It never affected the experience, it just took its toll on those giving the experience.  God made it evident with each passing day that it wasn't us, but that He was using us to do His work.  When work got hard, He picked us up and carried us in His arms.  And that was how this video went for me.  It wasn't easy this year.  It was tough to even get going on the video and I did it in a short amount of time.  I questioned if people even wanted to see it or if they got tired of it.  Tonight reaffirmed that I don't do this for me, I do it to glorify God for our year and for our people (who told me that they look forward to it).  So I guess I have the job for a while.

While this year's video will need a few edits before it goes viral (some stuff was just to be between camp people ;-)  ), I can post last year's video.  As I looked back on the years, I can tell that I've gotten better at the whole video thing.  Thanks to folks for some of the pictures including our "technology" staff from the summer, "stolen" face book photos (I asked!), Vince, and then my own stash of photos.  Thanks to our entire staff at camp for doing your job like it's more than just a job, for giving of your time and energy to serve others, and being there for one another day in and day out.

Christmas 2010 Video

Tolerance, Politics, and the Muppets

It should come as no surprise that I am conservative.  I am not a liberal in my ideals and beliefs.  So what do I believe in, politically speaking and how does this relate to the Muppets?  (I'll answer the first question now, the second in a bit.)  I believe in small government.  I don't want the government to be meddling in my affairs and I don't want the government to be handing out "benefits" left and right, bailing out companies and handing out welfare checks to any Tom, Dick, or Harry.  I say Merry Christmas and God bless you.  I believe that our country had every right to go into Afghanistan and Iraq and hunt down those cowards who attacked our country 10 years ago.  I support the right to bear arms and would cringe if law abiding citizens were denied that right.  I don't think that health insurance is a right.  I think it's ridiculous that citizens of this country who pay taxes, work hard, and earn a honest living pay for, well, everything of those who are not citizens, don't pay taxes, or live off of the government.  We are all to be "tolerant" of every other religion, system of belief, and lifestyle choice but it seems to me that Christians are the least tolerated out there.  There is no public outcry when the Koran is taught in class but God forbid we "meet at the pole", say "Merry Christmas", or try to talk about the Bible.  Christ was the most tolerant of those who walked the earth.  He reached out to the Jews, Pharisees, Sadducees, the prostitute, and the tax collector.  I'm not talking about religious fanatics preaching doom and gloom to all.  I'm talking about those who realize that all of us are sinners and none of us are perfect and we are just trying to live our lives the best we can and we aren't tolerated for what we believe in.  I believe in absolute truths, not relative truths.  So yes, I believe that not all ideals are equal but I don't go around yelling at all those who don't believe the same way I do.  This country was built on Christian principles and Thomas Jefferson didn't want religion to be totally separate from government; he just didn't want a government run church.  That was what our founders had fled. They wanted freedom to make their own choice. So let the nativity go up in the town square next to the Santa who's next to the menorah.  Let "In God we trust" and "One nation under God" stay.  Put up a Easter bunny in your yard and a witch in your tree at Halloween because I don't care if you do and it certainly does not offend me.  Just allow me to put up my cross, my nativity, and don't raise a ruckus.  That's true tolerance.  But I digress......

Being that I am conservative and believe more so in the ideals of the Republican party than the Democrat, I vote for the "right".  I don't like Obama and so far the only thing about him that I agree with is re-opening the horse slaughter plants (read earlier post).  He doesn't support Israel, refuses to put his hand over his heart for the pledge and anthem (who doesn't do that?!), and, well, I just don't agree with anything that comes out of his mouth or he stands for.  I know that many made fun of George Bush's way, his personality, his intelligence but I respected this man for his political beliefs just as much as for his religious beliefs.  (Remember that it takes about 8 years for an economic plan to reach full potential and he was simply trying to fix what the previous president had set in motion.)  He didn't do everything right but he led this country during hard times.  I look at the current pool of candidates and I'm not impressed.  I see democrats and republicans setting laws into motion that they don't have to abide by (Health care?), trying to fix the economy while making sure that their retirement pensions are fine (serve one term, get that salary for life?  What!?), and being above the law (just read about several accused of insider trading from all parties).  I don't see selfless, giving politicians concerned for the welfare of their constituents.  I see selfish, greedy, politicians doing whatever they can to do absolutely nothing but find themselves not seeing the big picture.  They think they do us good by giving us more "rights", welfare, etc but they aren't solving the underlying problem.  Don't treat the symptom, find a cure.  I'm looking for a visionary.  Someone who can truly fix this country's woes by inspiring the people to take responsibility for their own actions and not have the government bail them out.  Someone who will force businesses to also take responsibility.  You know what?  If I don't have money, it's because I spent it all.  No one else should bail me out of my mistake.  Maybe I'm not looking for one person, but I'm looking for a team.  One who's the visionary, another with financial prowess, another versed in constitutional law, and so on and so forth.  I just want someone who'll take us back to the basics, the foundation of this country.  But where is this person?

I am a huge fan of the Muppets.  I watched the Muppets show growing up and the Muppets Christmas Carol is the best Christmas movie ever.  Watching the show was a surefire way to get a deep contagious laughter or a case of the giggles from me.  Listening to the old guys make fun of the rest of the Muppets, the facial gestures that conveyed so much, and the little one liners......ah, I love it.  I can't wait to see the movie.  I read an article this morning that said that Fox analysts were declaring that the Muppets were brainwashing our kids against corporate America.  Huh?  Their reason?  The "evil" guy in the movie is a rich Texas oilman.  Really Fox?  I like Fox News because it isn't as frustrating to listen too as those other networks (CNN, MSNBC) which, in my opinion, are biased too heavily to the left for my liking.  (Yes, Fox is biased too but being that I like how they are biased, I like it! :-)  )  But really?  Every movie has to have a big bad evil guy that the good guys have to rally against.  Are they brainwashing our kids?  Are they biased against corporate America?  Whatever.  It's a movie folks.  Get over it, enjoy it.  And if you are letting a child's (and big kids too!) movie sway your beliefs or believe that a 2 hour movie will brainwash your child, then maybe you really shouldn't be watching it.  That just means more seats for me to choose from when I go watch it.  My closing thought?  I don't think I have a clever one liner to end this.  I've said my peace.  I don't talk politics because people get too emotionally charged over it or get offended if you believe differently.  So there you have it.  I'll sign off for now.  After I see the movie Saturday, I'll let you know if I've been brainwashed.  Although if I've been brainwashed, will I know?  I'll never know.........                                                                                                            

1000 people!

This is a quick post just to say that, at this moment, 12:08 pm on Tuesday December 6th, 2011, 1,000 people have read my blog.  :-)

Tribute to a Friend

Love you buddy

Today, in a word, sucked.  Pardon the language, but sometimes the word fits.  My friend to pay tribute to?  Tuff, a 20+ year old grade gelding, exited this world and went to the heavenly pastures.  Over a month ago while on a trail ride, Tuff's right hind leg appeared to lock up and he could no longer move on the ride.  The rider dismounted and, after some encouraging, I finally got Tuff back up to the barn.  He was in obvious discomfort and we had the vet out a few days later.  He said that Tuff had probably incurred a chip to either his hip or knee cap and that chip was floating around, causing his pain.  A week of banamine to see if there was a chance for the chip to move out and be reabsorbed was our only real course of action.  I crossed my fingers, but I knew that there wasn't much of a chance that this would work.  I knew that he would never be ridden again.  While he could still walk around (with some difficulty), it was becoming obvious that life would only become more difficult for him.  After much deliberation and heartache, the gut wrenching decision was made to put Tuff down.  While it was the right decision, it was extremely hard.

Tuff and Cupid-Best Friends

What made Tuff different?  Tuff came to us in August of 2005 from a Wyoming ranch along with 4 other horses. He was the last Wyoming horse left at camp.  One became extremely lame and had to go, one died of colic, another of a rare liver disease, and the other grew too tired of camp life and had to find a new home.  He was the last of his friends.  Tuff fit right into the routine of camp right away.  He was an equestrian camp horse by summer and trail ride horse the rest of the year.  He even led out the 2nd string rides on 30 horse weekends.  I never saw anything ruffle this guy's feathers.  He never did anything silly or stupid with a camper or guest on him.  While he had his annoying little quirks at times (deworming wasn't easy and he was a slow eater), he never did anything stupid period.  What will always stand out to me was an incident a few years back.  I was holding onto the gate hook of the electric fence trying to let part of the herd out into the pasture as Tuff was standing close to the opening drinking out of the trough.  A particularly stupid horse was running around and got a little too close to me and caught his back foot on part of the electro-braid.  To keep myself from getting tangled up, I threw the gate rope away from me and as the horse ran into the pasture, the gate rope got kicked up from the horse and wrapped itself completely around Tuff's neck.  What do you think Tuff did?  Nothing.  He stood there at the water trough and looked at me to come help him.  Any other horse would have freaked out and ran off, damaging the fence and hurting themselves.  He didn't.  He was unflappable. Amazing in my book.  From then on, he had me.  He had my heart.  I knew I could put anybody on him and nothing bad would happen to them.  As close to bomb proof as I would ever call a horse.  From the way he and Cupid demonstrated a relationship that most humans would be jealous of to his slow and patient way with beginners, he was a horse with no price tag.  Earth lost a horse, heaven gained an angel.    RIP 12/5/2011

Deer Season

Today was the end of shot gun season for deer hunting.  And that, my friends, is a good thing.  For two weeks, our mighty hunters have traipsed out into the woods nearly every day, waking up before dawn, studying their movements, and occasionally asking Amie or myself to try to scout out certain areas.  Right after deer season began, Ben got a young buck (button buck) that we quickly processed and made venison burger and steaks out of.  But since then, between Forrest and Ben, they hadn't been able to down any more deer.  It was not for a lack of trying or from a lack of deer.  I saw a beautiful 10 point buck in the pine forest (the protected part of camp) that played it safe by staying in the lower part of camp along with his "harem" of girls.  But there were plenty of deer everywhere else.  But today was the end.  After feeding in the rain and cold, I get a text to help scout out deer in one of the woods.  So, since I'm already wet and dirty, I head back out to "help" the mighty hunters.  While I was successful in finding the deer, the boys (rather Forrest) was not successful in finishing the job.  After an hour of running through the woods, I called it quits and headed back to Amie's to change into dry warm clothes and sit down.  After an hour or so and after starting our lego project, Amie decided to take hot chocolate out to the boys while I watched the 3 ornery kids and proceeded to make sense of the lego mess.  Amie stayed out to help the boys a bit more as the natives grew restless back home.  Just towards the end of the day, Forrest finally hit paydirt as he took down 2 deer (one large doe, another button buck).  They succeed in dragging the deer out of the forest and into the truck but the check station is closed for the evening.  As the boys arrived back at the house, it looked as though they had been through a war.  Wet, bloody, and muddy and with clothes that may never be worn again.  Our (Amie and mine) afternoon and evening that was supposed to be spent together playing with legos and making dinner turned into one of us watching kids and the other helping with the deer.   One trip into Delphi to grab subway sandwiches for the adults later, two deer gutted, and one laundry room cleaned and bleached (and I bleached every door knob they touched as I followed their trail from the house to the deer) and our mad day has come to an end.  (By the way, Amie and I still got an hour with the legos.)  I know that 2 deer are awaiting us within the next 24 hours to cut up and that it will be an extremely long night doing it.  It's not just the cutting and processing but it's the clean up.  Cleaning the garage, cleaning the kitchen, cleaning the knives, and everything else too.  But our freezer will now have 3 deer, one lamb, and soon, one very large pig.  We will eat well.  But thank goodness it's over!!

Funniest thing of the night as chaos is erupting all around us as the hunters have returned and decisions are being made:
I'm sitting at the table as Gavin came in asking relentless questions and I commented that I had lost my sanity and could not answer until I found it. He asked where I lost it. I said it was with all the legos (the lego project being a very frustrating one, plus dealing with the kids and their moodiness).  He then said he knew where it was (I'm not sure if he knows what sanity is), ran to the toy room, came back into the kitchen after a minute and pronounced he had all of it in his cupped hands.  And I quote, "It was all over the room but I gathered it all up for you." He held his cupped hands to me and I took my "sanity" back.  Best moment of the day!

Life around here cannot be explained, only experienced.  And it's always an adventure!

Horse Slaughter in the US

Why I am FOR horse slaughter in the United States:

What?!  Did you read that right?  Yes, I am completely for horse slaughter and would like to see it legal again in the US.  I do love horses.  I also believe that there is an overpopulation of horses in this country because we see them as pets.  We also think that just because a horse can be bred, it should be bred.  That's irresponsible breeding to breed an animal without having any good reason other than you can do it.  Not only do we breed everything with a uterus, we also are unwilling to accept that there are horses out there who shouldn't be alive.  Perhaps they were mistreated, abused, never trained, or never trained correctly.  Never mind their background, if they are dangerous, they don't need to be alive.  Also there are lots of older horses out there who have lived past their prime and ending their life is the kindest thing to do (although I'll touch on this later).  The problem with these two groups of horses is that having a vet come out to put a horse down will cost a MINIMUM of $200 and the fee of the truck to come remove the horse is $200.  That's $400 to put down a horse that will benefit no one.  That's a lot of money to fork out, even for us at camp.  Our "sympathetic" nation full of people who value their pet's lives as much as their children's lives decided that horse slaughter plants needed to close.  Guess where all those horses are going now?  Either they are being abandoned, mistreated and neglected, or are going to Mexico.  How is that for "humane" treatment?  Have we sent horses through slaughter auctions?  Yes.  We also barely get any money for them because we are paying for them to be hauled out of the country.  (For those horses that have simply put in their time at camp and done well and have years left as a pasture pet, we try to retire them and find them a good home.)

Do you think that Mexico holds the same slaughter plant standards that the USDA maintains?  I doubt it.  highly doubt it.  The USDA regularly inspects slaughter plants and they are required to maintain a certain standard.  IF we had horse slaughter plants in the US, the USDA would ensure that the horses were well cared for prior (not so in Mexico) and killed quickly and effectively (not so in Mexico).  Is it nice to think about horses being slaughtered?  No.  But neither is thinking about pigs, lambs, calves, goats, chickens, etc being run through the slaughter process.  I know that horses are magnificent animals and I believe that God created them to be different from the other livestock animals.  They are built to carry, to pull, to have a relationship with.  Horses are God's gift to us.  I'm not suggesting that we eat them.  I'm just suggesting that there needs to be a place to take dangerous horses that will get them out of the general population but will still serve a purpose.  Then, perhaps, educating people on smart breeding practices.  Then again, those who keep dumping unwanted cats and dogs, puppies and kittens, just show me that we probably aren't ready to practice smart breeding.  It's not fair to the animals and I'm sorry that they have to pay the price.  Until people are ready to pay the price, it's going to have to be the animals.Maybe someday.

And to all those who are against horse slaughter, do we have your permission to put every dangerous and sick and old horse on your lawn for you to take care of?

Food for thought.....no pun intended.

Thankfulness

What I'm grateful for each and every day of the week:

1.  My Lord and Savior, with whom I have a personal relationship and the many blessings He continues to give me.  Without Him, I am nothing.

2.  My freedom and the soldiers who gave up their freedoms to ensure mine.  I support them and am humbled by their sacrifice every day.

3.  My family-my mom and dad, brother and family.  My parents love and support what I do.  I have 4 awesome nephews who have 2 loving parents that would move mountains for them.

4.  My "other" family-Amie and crew.  There aren't enough words to express my thankfulness to her after meeting her 9 years ago.  She helped change my life and give me more than she will ever know.

5.  Camp Tecumseh-it's the dream job I never knew existed and in times of hardship around the country, we are continuing to grow and instead of getting less, we get more.  Despite all the attacks by Satan this year, we have defended what God has put in place and He blessed that.  And the family I work with-it's a culture you couldn't begin to understand!  And it gave me a house with all I need to live in and then pays me enough to have stuff that I just simply want.

To complain is to be ungrateful.  You can always find something to be thankful for.   

Be in the Now

What does it mean to be "content"?  Recently I posted a status on how the fertility rate of women over 30 starts to drop dramatically.  I had a lot of responses, much to my surprise, as I wasn't expecting much.  Too clarify the situation, I am not "not content" with my current situation.  But that doesn't mean that I still can't have dreams.  Ever since I was in school, I envisioned my future with a husband and kids.  I did not have career aspirations.  I wanted to be a mom.  Obviously, there were steps that had to be taken in order to even get to that point.  Meet guy, date guy, love guy enough to marry him, and have kids at least 9 months after wedding. :-)  I have yet to make step 1.  Hahaha

It might seem like I'm digressing from the point of my post, being content, but stay with me and maybe you'll see where I'm going.  I went to college to get a degree and even though I wasn't sure what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to love what I was doing.  I started off in physical therapy but switched to animal science after a year.  (Little did I know that all my years of "What do I want to do with my life?" would take me to the best job ever!)  Think back to when you were in college.  Did you ever spend a lot of time thinking about the future and biding your time before life would finally begin?  Life didn't start until you had a degree and a job and a house and a family?  Were you constantly thinking, "Once I'm out of college, I'll......"?  I'll serve God once I'm out.  I thought some of those things.  I told myself that I'll have more time once I'm out of college, that I couldn't wait to find a guy and get married and "get started" on life.  But I had a light bulb moment about halfway through college.  Why are we waiting for life to begin??  Life is NOW.  Life is happening right now.  Why are we wishing for the future and wasting the time that we have been given now?  Is this what it means to be content?  To be content where we are right now, not wishing for a future time, not the absence of dreams, but the willingness to take what we've been given now and use it.  Don't live for tomorrow because then you'll miss out on today, the present.  And you're never guaranteed tomorrow.

I still want to be married and have kids.  I love being single and being free to do what I want, when I want, and not worry about who I left at home.  I can be a great help and support to my friends and co-workers and I can give all to my work, my ministry.  I appreciate each year I have been single and if God's plan is for me to be single, He will help it to be okay.  But while I have been a support to others and am surrounded by good people all day long, I do go home and there isn't someone there to give me a hug, ask me how my day went, and someone I can tell my stories from the day to.  If I didn't have the great family I do at camp, folks I'm around daily, I'm sure that the longing would be strong.  As it is, that longing is just one that happens every once in while, usually as the holidays and cold weather approaches.  I just want my dream (of kids) to still be a possibility if God decides that's His plan to have me marry.  But God has surrounded me with great folks and I am truly content where I am right now.  Truly content and happy.

"For I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content."

10,000 miles later.....

Oops, after being so diligent in recording my Yellowstone adventures, I slacked off and neglected to write about my next two adventures.  My bad!  After arriving back home about 2 am Monday morning after safely making it back across I80 (and not being able to meet up with Amie in Iowa due to trailer lighting issues), I got back on the road less than 12 hours later.  My body was NOT ready for the return trip to NE on I80 but we got to Bassett, NE about 7 am the next morning.  The ranch we were on is a working cattle ranch on at least 10,000 acres with over 1,000 cows (not including calves and bulls, I think) and is almost an hour off the "major" road into Bassett on gravel and dirt roads.  These are the sandhills of Nebraska!  We go to bed early each night (8:30/9pm-awesome after a week of travelling!) and wake up when we want (usually 8:30 am).  We rode a few days, gathered up cow/calf pairs one morning, went to a homecoming game, and played lots of Blokus!  The best part of the week was the second to last day when we got to go to a branding.  Life out here is way different than anywhere I had been.  Neighbors come and help out.  Everyone gives a hand, everyone has a job, and all is done with a minimal amount of words.  Early in the morning, well before the sun came up, we got up, saddled up the horses, and headed to the fields.  The first order of business was to round up the cows which is more difficult when it's dark and the cows are black.  But they were rounded up via horseback and we herded them into a round pen.  The cows were shooed out and calves were kept inside. The noise of the cows and calves bellowing to each other was almost deafening.  Add into that noise was the sound of the propane tank heating up the branding irons.  Soon after the sun came up, a caravan of truck and trailers appeared over the hills and cowboys stepped out ready to help.  Trevor went to each one of them and asked them to do a particular job whether is was to rope the calves, hold them down, or brand them.  They rotated through the jobs as they grew tired, once again with a minimal number of words.  Amie's and my job at this point was to keep calves from following the roped ones out.  About two hours later, over 120 calves had been branded and reunited with their moms.  We took a small break, drank some soda, and then we were off to the next location to brand.  This was another neighbor of Trevor's who had about 200 calves to brand, vaccinate, deworm, ear tag, and castrate.  The cattle still had to be rounded up but by the time we were in the saddle, most had been brought in.  At this point we had the brand new, more exciting, fast paced job of ear tagging the calves.  We were in a small space with several other cowboys as three were dragging in calves, two guys each held down a calf, one guys dewormed, two were vaccinating, and Amie and I were darting in and out of the crowds ear tagging each calf while looking out for the hot irons, horses coming in and out, and the guy with the big needle!  Lots to look out for but it was amazing!  After doing about a hundred or so calves, we had to move to a different pasture.  Here we were actually able to ride out into the hills and bring in the cows.  Part of a real live cattle drive (small one).  Another set of calves branded and tagged later and we were done.  The boys picked up all the panels, had a few beers, and off we drove back to the house to eat.  And boy were we ready to eat.  I'm not sure the last time I had eaten so much.  I learned more about ranching, the family traditions involved in it, and felt a real sense of community among those men.  Amie and I were supposed to start driving back that afternoon but we were pretty beat after working all day so we decided a nap, some TV, another good meal, and a bed were in order before we left.  It was just so amazing the experience we had and something that isn't too easy to put into words.  The culture, community, and lifestyle were different that what we had experienced and it was thrilling to be a part of it in the branding.  After 2 1/2 weeks away, I was home....at least for a little bit.

After a week and a half at home, it was back on the road. This time, we were driving down to Oklahoma City to pick up camp's new trailer.  We left late evening of Halloween.  After picking up the trailer the next afternoon, it was on through Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona.  We reached California after two nights on the road and thus began the day long trek to get from southern CA to northern.  It was a lot of nothing to look at, the southern route.  It took from mid morning until 2:30 the next morning to drive up to Anderson, CA.  It was so amazing to lay down in a bed and then take a shower.  There was no real agenda while in CA.  Just a chance for Amie to catch up with friends, spend time with family, and relax.  We did all those things!  And a trip to Cassie's, Amie's hairdresser friend who is amazing, ended up our trip.  A little color here, a little different cut here, and voila! we don't look so ragged from all our travels.  :-)  We pick up her friend Amber's horse and two minis and we are ready to depart.  A week after arriving, we are off again, loaded to the hilt.  With a loaded truck and trailer, we aren't going to break any land speed records but we are determined to get home within 3 days (absolute worst case scenario is to be back by Saturday morning in time for trail rides) if not less.  After a brief stop in Reno, NV to eat dinner with Amie's grandparents, we hit Salt Lake City by sunrise.  We keep driving, making as few stops as necessary, and hit Nebraska by late evening.  We stopped a few hours each night to catch some shut eye at a rest stop and finally we make it to Indiana around 9 pm Friday night (we left 10 am Wednesday morning).  And my journeys, which began October 1st, consisted of 10,000+ miles, three separate trips, was now over on November 11th.

A journey of 10,000 miles begins with the first push of the accelerator.  

Full Map of Travels

The Incredible Series of (Un)Fortunate Adventures

Lawful Bison

Wow....what can I say about the last 3 days?  Let's see, where do I start?  The plan for Thursday was to leave our "Teepee" lodge and head back into Yellowstone and see a few last sites at Yellowstone Lake and West Thumb before heading back south to the Tetons for the rest of our day.  As we are heading back into the park, it begins to rain and we are warned by the ranger that snow is coming (and to watch out for wildlife on the road).  We knew that it was expected to come later in the afternoon by which time we'd already be back in Jackson....or that was what we thought.  On our way to Yellowstone Lake, we have a bison walking in the opposite lane in our direction (at least he was following the rules of the road).  We see some beautiful scenery around the lake despite the rain.  Yellowstone Lake is the largest high altitude lake in North America (20 miles by 14 miles).  We see a few more geysers and decide to hit the south entrance for the drive to the Tetons.  As we approach the road that would head to the south entrance, there is a line of about 10 cars sitting there with a ranger and a closed gate that read, "Road Closed."  I believe my heart dropped right about then as I knew what this probably meant.  It wasn't snowing yet but you could tell that the drops on the windshield were beginning to turn.  As we sat there, I got a head start on my gut feeling that we were going to be exiting the park a different way and explored the atlas looking for the best possible way to get out of the park and back to Jackson.  It looked like heading back to the west entrance, up to West Yellowstone, Montana and then hitting major roads down through Idaho and back around to Jackson.  Everyone was just sitting there as I decided to drive up to the ranger, ask what was going on, and what would be a good course of action.  He said that the road was at least closed temporarily due to accidents on the road and that the snow was already falling there with an expectation of a foot of snow.  In his opinion, that entrance was probably closed for good.  If you know anything about Yellowstone, you know that there are only 4 entrances (north, south, east, and west and they aren't close together).  He agreed that the best thing to do was to get out of the park somehow and find major roads where the DOT would be better equipped to handle clearing the roads.  So I drive back up to Old Faithful for some gas and some confirmation of our idea to get back into Jackson.  By now the snow is really coming down. We hit West Yellowstone, Montana and begin our trek to Idaho Falls.  Snow is still coming down and the roads are horrible.  Turns out we were now in the Targhee National Forest and the roads are just two tire tracks in front of me and a visibility of about 1/4 of a mile, going 30 mph.  I keep praying to God to keep me safe, keep the car on the road, and to keep the idiots away from me.  :-)  After taking about 4-5 hours to travel less than 200 miles, we finally hit Idaho Falls.  Now we have a decision to make.  Without having a clue as to what was going on in and around Jackson and uncertain if we could even get through there, we decide to head south to Park City, Utah to see Ben and do something for the day.  Back to the car again!  Finally the snow turns to rain and eventually it turns to.....nothing.  No precipitation, or at least not much.  I pull into Park City, tired and sore from all the intense driving and spend the night at Ben's.  

Our Day at Park City

We wake up Friday morning and decide to go see the Olympic Park, one of the sites for the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.  (Guess what?  It's snowing again.)  Spent a few hours in the museum reliving the moments of the 2002 Olympics.  Afterwards, we drive on into the historic part of the city.  It's a very neat quaint town.  Definitely full of the western motif and every building and house is unique in both style and color.  I saw houses of bright blue, yellow, purple, and everything in between.  Utah is a very "environmentally friendly" place and that was also evident everywhere.  And in the words of one (new) local-everybody's fit, everybody has a dog, and everyone has either bike rack or ski rack on their vehicle.  :-)  We walk down main street and head to Park City Mountain Resort to hike a few trails on the now dormant ski slopes.  We use a mountain biking trail and begin the trek up and once again, feel the altitude change.  Once we entered into the forest, the view was absolutely gorgeous.  Snow on the trees, snow falling from the sky, and a layer of autumn leaves on the ground provided an absolutely beautiful quiet scene.  Only wish the pictures captured it.  Almost a mile up and then a mile down gave us the exercise we needed after a day in the car.

We met up with Kenton and headed to Squatters Pub for our evening meal and good conversation.  Then we headed back to Ben's place for the evening and to prepare for the long haul back.  If only we knew that our snow adventures were not over yet.

After waking up and packing up our stuff, we head out from Park City, UT on I80 headed to Cheyenne, WY.  Our destination?  Just past the Nebraska border.  It was supposed to be our "easier" day of driving.  I drove in mostly snow up through Rawlins, WY but it wasn't too bad.  Had to be careful going over bridges with the temperature hovering around freezing but otherwise I could go mostly the speed limit.  Keith took over driving around 100 miles from Cheyenne.  So close to our goal....or not.  About 34 miles west of Cheyenne the snow picks up but the traffic does not.  Traffic on I80 has come to a stand still.  The reason?  They've CLOSED I80 due to the snow so after sitting in traffic awhile we are turned around back to Laramie.  A quick check of the atlas reveals that the only way around is to take 287 down to Ft. Collins, hop on over to 76 which will take us back up north to 80 west of North Platte, NE.  So on we go.  Snowing like crazy.  Seeing a tractor trailer jackknifed on the road.  Thinking to ourselves, "What more?"  Tired and sore from being in the car a lot longer than anticipated, we decided to make our stop for the night Ft. Morgan, CO...about 2.5 hours away.  It puts us 11 hours away from Iowa City.  Definitely not making our next day of driving any easier.  We've encountered 4 unplanned states and two detours off our intended path.  After sleeping on a concrete floor the last two nights and needing a shower, the Days Inn off of I76 is a welcoming sight.  A good nights sleep and it'll be back in the car.  I know tomorrow will be long for both of us as Keith will head back to IN and I will turn around and go back to Nebraska.  I can't believe where our adventures have taken us.  It's been a crazy ride.  Can't complain too much, although I think my body is complaining about the hours in the car and sleeping on the floor.  We've been kept safe throughout all of this and everything has eventually worked out.  Thanks to the Lord for the protection and we pray for continued protection across a few more states.  :-)

The (Mis)Adventures of Yellowstone

Struggling to breathe, can't get enough oxygen, what's going on??  Oh, it's okay.  It's just adjusting to life at 8,000 feet!  I'm not even trying to exert myself, just climb up that ramp, and I'm huffing and puffing like I can't get my lungs filled with that precious O2. But enough about that!  Let's get on with tales from my adventures in Wyoming.

Sun peeking through the steam at Midway

Tuesday starts off with us venturing from the Tetons to Yellowstone.  A much longer drive than I anticipated.  Once you get to the northern edge of the Tetons, it seems like the drive to the entrance of Yellowstone is always just out of reach.  The temperature kept dropping as did the rain drops as we drove north.  The radio stations dwindled to just one....102.9 which plays an unknown style of music and cell service drops to "No Service".  That's my phone's way of telling me, "I ain't even trying anymore.  No use searching."  By the time we reach anything in Yellowstone, it's around 1 pm.  Grant Village is closed and we have to drive all the way down to the marina to find a bathroom.  Once that first mission is accomplished (and one that will allow me to fulfill all the rest of our missions) we head to Old Faithful.  Along the way we encounter our first bison.  Old Faithful erupted a mere 20 minutes after we arrived (average time between eruptions is 91 minutes).  It's almost anti-climatic but still, it's a "must-see".  We walk a couple mile loop around the rest of the geysers and read up on how they are formed and what's going on under the surface.  I realize that we are on the continental divide as my breaths don't seem to be bringing in much air as we climb the 1/2 mile to Solitary Geyser.  We take it slow and easy and I find that breathing through my mouth gives me just a little bit more air!  After taking in the sites of the Old Faithful Inn and the gift shop, it's off to Midway Geyser Basin which was so beautiful despite it's "ferociousness".  Under the boardwalk was a fragile thin surface filled with the little bacteria and micro organisms that fed off the hot water erupting from the geyser basins.  Steam everywhere.  The sun trying to break out from the steam and clouds.  I turn to my left and what do I see?  A FULL rainbow.  Never have I seen so full a rainbow that was so bright and clear as it entered the ground.  I turn on my camera trying to somehow capture the brightness when a SECOND FULL rainbow appears.  I can't help but smile.  I almost tear up.  God-thank you for that sight.  It already looked like You were trying to come out from the clouds as the sun tried to fight through the steam.  Then You show me your promise as clear as day.  Awesome, wonderful, breathtaking.

Norris Geyser Basin

By the time we investigated a canyon, another falls, and encountered two female elk, it's time to find a place to sleep.  We go to the Madison campground and pitch our tents under the big Wyoming sky.  It's only 8 pm and the temperature is falling fast.  I won't sugarcoat this...it was one of the more miserable nights I've ever had due to the cold.  Even in my three bottom layers and four upper layers PLUS a sleeping bag rated to 20 degrees, I was shivering.  I think I needed more padding between me and the ground.  My calves were so tight the next day due to the constant fetal position I was sleeping in to stay warm (although my sleeping bag made bringing my legs up to the rest of my body pretty difficult). I started off fine but I woke up a few hours later to find myself pretty cold.  I woke up every 2 hours (I know I dreamed) and by 5 am I needed to go the bathroom (I looked out for any signs of bears before I ventured out) and it started raining once I was back in my tent.  I contemplated going to the car for that had to be a little warmer, didn't it?  Well, I braved it out in the cold and was "awake" (was I really asleep?) by 7:30.  Still raining so we got ready and took down the tents in a cold, cold rain.  Oh no, a very low tire.  Where do we go?  Rangers don't have air compressors by the way.  A kind gentlemen pumped up the tire for us and we headed off to West Yellowstone, Montana to get that leak fixed.  Still cold.  Still raining.  Two hours later we are finally back on the main loop of Yellowstone off to Norris Basin.  This basin's springs are much more acidic than the alkaline ones found at Old Faithful (although those ones smelled too).  The sulpher smell is strong and the landscape of  Yellowstone changes into a barren wasteland.   Not barren but not like any other place we'd seen at Yellowstone.  And finally I begin to feel warm and the sun pokes its head out, for like an hour....or less.  After Norris it's up to Mammoth Springs.  Home of more springs and geysers and the old Army fort.  We eat a quick lunch and map out the rest of our drive.  Hark!  More Buffalo!

Bison

Now we begin our trek from the northern edge of the park to the eastern side.  Along the way we encounter more rain (surprise), a bison blocking the road (two of them in fact), and some beautiful falls.

Panoramic View of Falls Canyon

 Our ultimate destination is Canyon Falls, the home of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone.  It took us a few hours to get there making all our little stops along the way to get out of the car to take pictures.  But it was well worth it.  We hiked down to the lower falls (and hiked back up the switchbacks.....yikes...yet I saw several "older" married couples making that trek, they just stopped to rest and I was proud of them) and I took video of the falls there.  The noise was deafening!  Then we hiked the northern rim only to find that the end of the trail had been washed out.  So we hiked BACK to the middle and hiked the OTHER way of the north rim only to stumble across the Grand Canyon.  Well worth the hike!  Gorgeous.  Beautiful.  Magnificent.

Grand Canyon

Lower Falls of the Canyon

Now it's on to find dry warm lodging.  On the way out of the park we encounter a herd of elk....

and a moose taking a swim.....

and saw Yellowstone Lake which is 20 miles by 14 miles....largest high altitude lake in North America (no pictures yet).  We drove the east entrance all the way to the bustling building of Pahaska, WY.  No kidding, the town shuts down next week.  This "town" consists of one building with a restaurant, gift shop, bar, and service station and several "teepee" huts behind it.  No frills lodging (no TV!) but a slow wireless, an actual bed, a warm shower, fulfilling food, and dry clothes are all it takes to make me happy.  Good night world.  (FYI-2-3" of snow are expected tomorrow)

Now if you have been thoroughly entertained and now want some "deeper" reading, read on.  Otherwise, just exit out.

Something that has struck me in seeing these geysers and springs and such is that all of this was made because of sin.  Why you ask?  The earth was never in such tumult in the Garden of Eden.  Everything was at harmony.  Canyons, mountains, geysers, springs, volcanic creations......all a result of a world no longer perfect.  And we find these creations to be so awe-inspiring and captivating when it's actually the result of destruction, a world in conflict, of pressure needing an outlet (Old Faithful).  Many of the sights we've seen recently are also the result of patience.  Water, fire, wind, pressure didn't do all of this in a day, a year, or even a decade.  Over the thousands of years that this earth has been rotating around the sun, these systems have been at work.  Rarely forcing it (sometimes yes in the case of floods, volcanic eruptions, etc) but letting the river flow and make a new creation.  Isn't that how we should be?  Not forcing the issue, pushing the river, or trying to take matters into our own hands but rather letting God work through us, in His time, in His way and just think about the creation He'll make in us.  It takes pressure to create beauty and sometimes He'll allow some pressure in our life to create something much more beautiful.  Next time you see a picture of a crater, a canyon, or even Old Faithful, remember a few things.  First, all came as the result of sin entering the world but yet, a beautiful creation can still be made.  Secondly, it didn't happen overnight and God's work in you won't take overnight but He'll keep working on you till the day you die.  And third, what an awesome God we serve!  He created a world so awesome and beautiful not for us to worship it, but to point us to its Creator.  Wow, just wow.

Jenny Lake

Day 1 of our adventure began in the Grand Tetons.  While on the highway, winding our way through the countryside, we saw the sign for the National Forest and when we went around the corner, I saw some of the most breathtaking sites.  Mountains reaching for the skies, a sky that was bigger than I would ever see in Indiana, and a view and altitude that took my breath away.  Trees that seemed like they were reaching for God.  And that's what we should be doing.  Reaching up for God.  We, in and of ourselves, can never reach God just like those trees will never reach the sky.  But they never stop trying and neither should we.  Never stop reaching out to God.  And God will reach down to us and bridge the gap that cannot be bridged by us.  But I digress... :-)

We walked about 7 miles around Jenny Lake, which is about in the heart of the Tetons.  It took us about 4 hours to make this trek up and down a very rocky terrain.  By the time we had finally made it all around the loop, we were done ourselves.  A short drive back into Jackson, WY and finding a motel were on the agenda.  Tonight it's a good rest and headed up to Yellowstone for the next 2 days.

Not a man made sound to be heard at Jenny Lake.

Are Horses Smarter Than People? A Childhood Memory From Cowboy Titus | Faith Church Blog

Are Horses Smarter Than People? A Childhood Memory From Cowboy Titus | Faith Church Blog:

'via Blog this'

This is something we talk about with the kids all the time.  Lew Sterrett introduced this idea to us at Miracle Mountain Ranch.  Good job Titus!

Control, Alt, Delete Your Life

Sometimes we just need a reboot.  A chance to stop, get away, and recharge.  Get away from the hustle and bustle of this life and drive away all the distractions.  Clear your mind.  Let the frustrations melt away.  It's good for the mind, body, and soul.  And that's what I'm going to get to do in a few days.  Get out of IN, head to the mountains of the west, get away into God's Creation, get a little closer to God and hear His still voice.  A friend and I are headed to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for a week.  It's going to be an awesome experience and I know that the views will be breathtaking....more than words can express.  So long, see you in a while, and good bye flat lands.

You Don't Have to Be the Hero Tonight

To those I'm closest to in my life, I think I play the supporting role the best. I will do what I can to help you out, to do all the little things that make you look good or allow you to go on and do what you do best.  The little things that don't really get noticed when they are done, but are noticed when they aren't.  The role is hard.  It's hard when the things you do don't get noticed and it's only noticed when the task doesn't get done.  In my selfish ways, I want others to notice when I'm gone.  You may not notice me when I'm there, but I hope you'll notice when I'm not.  That there's a void, the support is gone.  I want to be the hero, helping those around me without much fanfare (but sometimes it'd be nice :-) ).  But who's the superhero's hero?  Superman's superman?  To someone who plays a supportive role, it is hard when no one appears to be your support.  Who do you go home to and talk to when all it is is an empty home?  Who do you rely on when you're weary of others relying on you?  When you're dependable, it's easy for others to expect it of you from then on and to not be dependable may seem like failure.   Sometimes you want to shout, "What about me?"  "What about what I want?"  It's not like that's why you do it and you shouldn't be doing it for yourself.  You do it out of the love you have in your heart.  You do it to serve those like Christ served us.  You do it to put God first, others before yourself, and yourself last.  God is your support, He is the best support for all.  But lastly and most importantly, you don't have to be the hero tonight.  It's not your job....it's not my job.

Good song for all you heroes out there.
FFH Undone

Don't Be a Cougar!

Since I began working at camp, I have learned a lot about behavior, both human and horse.  Why not?  I'm constantly around both of those groups every day and they are always changing (at least the humans are always changing!) so I can observe and study both groups.  It's actually a fascinating subject and here are some thoughts.  

Horses are magnificent animals.  They reflect our emotions and are a mirror to our own soul.  If we are feeling frustrated, nervous, scared, or distracted, they will reflect.  On the flip side, if we are calm, confident, and at peace, the horse will be a relaxed confident mount.  We may not even know exactly what we are feeling or dealing with on the inside and a horse will bring it to the surface.    A horse can also sense what may be “different” about a rider and can take compassion on them, take them into their “herd”, and take care of them.

Horses cannot lie.  They cannot hide their emotions, hide their feelings, or deceive us.  Humans, on the other hand, are constantly suppressing our true feelings, lying with our words and actions.  While our words may lie, our body language usually does not.  It is difficult to fake one’s body language yet it appears to be something that we rarely clue into.  Horses communicate only through their body language whether it’s in their stance, their ears, or their body position, they tell us exactly how they feel.  Often times, humans in our predatory ways ignore body language in both animals and others around us.  We have often seen a young child excitedly run up to an animal only to have that animal run away.  Once that animal runs away, we often see that child chase it to try to catch it.  They don’t understand that the animal is running away due to fear and that chasing a scared animal will, more than likely, not involve them catching it.  We don’t recognize the subtle clues that both animals and our fellow man tell us.  What would happen to communication if we were to clue into the non-verbal side?  What would happen to our relationships?  Think about how much more observant, connected, and intuitive we would become.

Horses are followers by their nature. Every herd needs and has a leader, usually a boss mare, and the herd will follow their leader without hesitation. This is key to their survival.  A good leader is fair and consistent.  The leader is not aggressive, mean, or overly dominant but assertive.  They need to trust and respect their leader.  Horses naturally will follow as they don't naturally desire to be in the lead but in the absence of a good leader, will take over that position themselves.   As we work with a horse, we need to assume the role of the leader in the relationship.  If we can prove ourselves to be a fair and competent leader without dominating and causing fear in the horse, we can build a relationship based on trust and respect.  What is amazing is how we can change our ways from predator (ex. getting a horse to move away from you) to prey (ex. softening our body position and "asking" the horse to come to us) and the horse, who lives in the here and now, will respond to you based only on the body language you now present.  While a minute ago you were telling that horse to "go away" (aggressive body language), you can now soften your stance and position and ask him to "come to you" and he will.  They don't hold onto the past.....why do we?    (I've titled this post after a saying that Amie and I have around the kids, "Don't be a cougar" = "Don't act like a predator, act like a partner.")

Likewise, as humans, often times we want to have a strong confident, yet not dominating, leader that we can follow.  Thankfully, we can have a “boss horse” in our relationship as well.  God can be our leader.  He is fair and just, yet demands respect.  Just as the horse who follows their competant and confident leader, we need to follow our Leader.  We can have faith that our Leader will never fail, will always have our best interests at heart, and is completely trustworthy.  It is complete and udder freedom to have that relationship.  It's not a prison, confined by rules and "Do nots" but a liberating experience.  That may seem like a contradiction to have "rules" and "freedom" at the same time....but it's not.  A horse that trusts it's boss mare/leader can be confident that someone is watching out for the herd, trust that they only have their best interests at heart, keeps them steered away from danger, and will take care of their needs.  It's safe.  Likewise, we have freedom as well.  Not freedom to do whatever we want, but freedom to do as we ought to.

In closing, I challenge you to observe those around you, listen a little less to the words and a little more to the body language, and be clued in to your own language.  Then take a look at your relationship with your "Boss Horse" and experience the freedom that comes with it.

       

Why Camp? Why not?

This isn't targeted to Camp Tecumseh but the accreditation service for camps is the American Camping Association (ACA).  This is a you tube video they've put out.  It's a great reminder as to why we do what we do and why we put in the countless hours we do.  It makes a difference.  It can change a life.  It's an experience that can last a lifetime.  I've heard countless stories from campers and it was neat to hear from actors/"famous" folks.

Because of Camp

Teach Me to Number My Days

Blink by Revive

This is most definitely one of my favorite songs....listen to the words carefully.  Ask yourself tomorrow, "What have I done with my life?"  Then ask yourself, "What will I DO with my life?"  Remember that there may never be a tomorrow for you.  People 10 years ago and today went to bed not expecting that it would be the last time they went to sleep, spoke to their loved ones, or hugged their children.  Make the best of your time.

Where Were You?

Where were you 10 years ago?  The day your world stopped turning?  

I remember that day and the days that follow with clarity.  So vividly do I recall the events of 9/11 that I still choke up, my eyes fill with tears, and I feel those emotions all over again when I see the pictures, hear the stories, or see the video.  It is a day that will forever live in me.  I see 9:11 on the clock and think of that day; I see $9.11 and it hits me.  That date is forever in my mind.  It's also a day I don't want to forget, to push aside, or erase from my memory.  I came from a family that valued patriotism and a love of country and a desire to see her continue as the home of the free and the home of the brave and I pray that God continues to bless America.  Do I think I live in the best country?  Yes.

It was a Tuesday morning and I had been up early to work breakfast at Shreve Hall.  My shift ended and I had gone out for a quick run before hitting the showers.  I only had two classes that day-American Indian History at 12:30 and Animal Science Senior Seminar at 4:30 (like I said, that day remains in clarity because I can't remember anything else of my schedule during my years at Purdue).  After my shower, I did something I don't normally do....I turned on the TV to make noise in the room while I got ready for the rest of my day.  CNN was on and images of a burning World Trade Center were on.  The ticker at the bottom read of "Plane hitting WTC" but few other details.  I checked a few other channels to find that it was on every single channel we had.  This was big stuff.  As I sat and watched footage, I began to realize that my country, the country I loved, was under attack.  I watched the news until I had to leave for my class only to get there and see that class had been cancelled.  I went back to my dorm and continued to watch TV.  Folks in the hallway were all talking about it.  "Have you heard?"  "Can you believe it?"  "I don't understand."  "Do you know anyone?"  Having lived in a country, isolated from any combat on our own soil since the Civil War, that was now being attacked, and in the most coward of ways, I had never felt vulnerable.  Now I did.  And I did not like the feeling.  I went to my second class and, of course, they were all abuzz with the news.  I don't remember how much lecturing went on but I know we did try to get down to business.  Wednesday's classes went on but with a more somber feel to them and with a somber mood all over campus.  A candlelight vigil at Slayter Hill brought hundreds if not thousands.  I remember hearing a plane go overhead during that vigil and everything and everyone stopped and looked up. Fear were in some eyes.  Hearts beat a little faster I'm sure until that noise went away.
Everything in America had seemed to stop.  Stock market, sports games, flights, etc.....silenced for now.  What do you do?  What do you say?  How do you not hate those around you who might believe in the same book the terrorists did?  I certainly did not hate, but I did not trust.  Nor do I still in some ways....but that's for another time.  Friday I gave blood.  Just a little something I could do.  Wore a flag on my backpack (that remained there throughout the rest of my years) and gave money to the Red Cross.  Went to a memorial service at the Elliott Hall of Music with all of campus as classes were suspended so that all could go.  That Friday night was my first contact with the folks from my Bible Study/church.  While I had been in shock most of that week, I was an emotional wreck when I saw my friends.  Fear came out.  Fear that my brother, who's unit had been activated, was off to fight a cowardly enemy, one who had no rules, no boundaries.  Mostly my faith in the safety and security of my country had been shaken and it showed me that there was truly only one thing in heaven or earth that could be completely trustworthy and faithful....my God and Savior Jesus Christ. People asked me, "Where was your God on 9/11?"  I said, "He was right in the middle of it.  Giving our firefighters and first responders the courage to go into a burning building, He was with co-workers working to save another's life, and giving those involved a peace and calm in the midst of the most troubling of circumstances."  God created us and He also created courage, bravery, and heart.  All things that were seen that day.  So that's where my God was.  And He still is here, with every service man and woman fighting justly to preserve our way of life.  Giving up their freedoms and comforts so that we could be free.  I pray that we don't forget the events or try to erase them from our minds.  Let us never be complacent about our past.  Our past can make us stronger.  The farther away from an event we get, the more likely it gets watered down in our minds.  May this never happen to you.  It won't happen to me. I have moved on in my life since that day 10 years ago.  I don't live in fear anymore, but rather living in freedom both of this world and out of this world.

To the true heroes of this world....firefighters, policemen, our military....willing to give of themselves, to sacrifice and pay the highest price for someone they have never met, to give up their freedoms so that we could have ours....I salute you and give you my solemn promise that I will never forget what happened, what you are fighting for, and I will always honor and respect you no matter the task you have been asked to undertake.

9/11/2001  

Never Forget....The Home of the Free only as long it remains the Home of the Brave