Coming Up for Air

Whew! The last month has been crazy! We don't have internet access at our house yet, and the few hurried times I've managed to run to the library to pay bills online have not afforded any time for blogging. I miss it! All's going well at our house, although much more slowly than we had hoped. Currently the kitchen is primed and waiting to be painted after Christmas, the living room is missing some wallpaper (although not all - there are six layers to be stripped!), our pots, pans and food supplies are living in the spare bedroom, and we are still sleeping on an air mattress on the living room floor next to our wood stove. But we love having our own home and wouldn't trade it for anything! I promise to post pictures as soon as we get our own internet connection, so that I can upload them from my computer (which is also on the floor in the spare bedroom :-P).

Right now I can blog freely because we are visiting my family in NC. YAY!!!! This is a MUCH needed break for us - we realized a couple days before coming down that we hadn't actually had a full day off since we visited down here last Christmas! This past year every day has been at least partially filled with schoolwork, building the barn, moving, or working at the barn. It's been a crazy, busy, tiring year but wonderful all the same. We love what we're doing and are excited about all the opportunities and blessings God has given us over the past year.

We are also incredibly thankful, for many things: jobs that we love, a house of our own, the luxury and joy of our horses, the opportunity to work closely together much of the time, our wonderful church, good friends, family that loves us and with whom we can rest, relax, recuperate and recharge. But most of all, we are thankful for God's incredible, indescribable, incomprehensible gift of Christ, His Son. Without Him and His grace, abundantly poured into our lives, these blessings would mean nothing. He is the ultimate source of all the joy, strength, patience, love and community we have experienced this year, and words cannot express our thankfulness and adoration. It is our hope that each of you would draw close enough this Christmastime to see and feel the joy, hope and love this babe in the manger, this Savior on the cross brings into the world.

A House of Our Own

Well, it's taken me awhile to post this amidst all the craziness, but we are now homeowners!!! We closed on Wednesday afternoon, moved some clothes and other things over Thursday, and spent several hours this evening trying to scrape old wallpaper off the kitchen and living room walls. We're house-sitting at Camp DuBoff this week, so we won't actually move in until Saturday evening, which is nice because it gives us some time to get organized.

We are also hoping to paint the kitchen and living room before we move in. After tonight, that may be an ambitious goal, but we're going to try! We discovered this evening that the kitchen has not one, but three layers of wallpaper on the walls. And the living room has not three, but SIX layers of old wallpaper!!! Most of it actually started coming off fairly easily in the living room, although it's somewhat disconcerting because it feels like you're taking a whole chunk of the wall off! But the bottom layer is pretty sticky, so we may have to get a steamer for that. We'll see. We don't have internet or anything set up yet, so updates may be spotty for awhile, but I'll try and stay up to date as much as possible.

Draughts and Pearls

I think I mentioned before that Paladin is and Irish Draught/Quarter Horse cross. Although I don't know his QH bloodlines yet (I don't yet have his papers, but I'll be getting them from the breeder), I do know about the Irish Draught side. Here's a little about IDs from the website for the Irish Draught Horse Society of North America:

"Over a century of selection has produced a warm-blooded breed which are very sound, sensible animals with good bone, substance and quality. It is proud of bearing, deep of girth and strong of back and quarters. The Irish Draught is neither as massive nor as heavily feathered as it's name implies and has movement that is smooth and free, without exaggeration, and not heavy nor ponderous. Standing over a lot of ground, the Draught has an exceptionally strong and sound constitution, great stamina and an uncanny jumping ability. In addition, this breed possesses a fabulous temperament made up of willingness, intelligence, docility and common sense."

Here is a little about Paladin's daddy, a purebred Irish Draught named Mountain Pearl:

"Mountain Pearl is one of the Irish Draught world's best known and popular stallions. He is a horse of exceptional athleticism with superb, people oriented temperament. He is 17.1 hh and bright bay. He was foaled in 1989 in County Cork, Ireland and passed performance testing by the Irish Horse Board in 1993. We imported him in late 1997 and he stands stud in eastern Iowa.

His jumping ability and movement speak for themselves:


Even so, the characteristic Mountain Pearl and his foals are most noted for is temperament. When people visit, be they horse people, or children, or grandparents they are amazed at his attitude. He is gentle, kind, and curious, yet majestic. Wow! is the most common reaction from people, then they want to get close and touch him - which he loves."

A Horse of My Own

It may surprise some of you to know that, although I've loved horses as long as I can remember, ridden them since I was 7, trained them since I was 16, and now make my living working with them, I have never owned a horse of my own. There have been several special horses in my life, but they've all been owned by other people.

Now, there are some nice things about that. For one, it's nice to have someone else picking up the tab for board, shoes, blanekts, food, shots, etc. I often joked that I had the best of both worlds - training and spending time with horses I loved, without having to pay for or worry about them.

But, seeing one favorite horse after another get sold and leave the farm gets old and sad after awhile. And there was one special boy I just couldn't bear to let go. Yep, that's right, I BOUGHT A HORSE!!! I'm now the very proud and excited owner of my very first horse, an amazing 4-year-old Irish Sport Horse named Palladin.

I started Palladin this summer and fell in love with him before I ever rode him, but never even considered buying him. He has a quirky, goofy personality that is comical and lovable at the same time. He loves attention and play and turns to mush when you pet his face or scratch one of his favorite spots. But I love most of the horses I work with, and I wasn't looking for a horse.

Then, when I rode him, I couldn't believe what I was feeling. There is absolutely no way to describe this to someone who hasn't ridden nice horses or doesn't ride at all, but Palladin's canter is the most incredible thing I've ever felt on a horse. Most babies are gawky and awkward (and he can be sometimes too!) and need help finding a rhythm, but his canter is the smoothest, most naturally rhythmic gate I have ever felt. It's like riding a waltz played in perfect time by the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

And then we started jumping him.

It was all downhill from there. So I joked about finding somebody to buy him for me, but prepared myself to say goodbye, because I knew he'd sell quickly once we started advertising him. But driving home from dinner with Jamie one night, she mentioned that she knew I loved him and we could figure something out with his price. Luke and I debated the pros and cons, went back and forth, and decided not to buy him - after all, we are closing on our first house next week! But after sitting down and really crunching the numbers, we figured out that we really did have the money after all, and so today Jamie called the 16 people, some as far away as California, that had seen his ads on the internet and were seriously interested in buying him.

It still hasn't quite sunk in yet. I OWN MY OWN HORSE!!! :) I've been trying to post a couple of pictures, but it's not working. There are a couple pictures of him from this summer on Jamie's website, but I'll try and post some new ones as soon as possible. I can't wait to show him off. ;) He's just adorable and stunning at the same time.

So I finally have a horse of my own. :)

The First Snowfall!

Well, we knew it was supposed to be nasty weather last night, but we had no idea it was supposed to snow! We looked outside this morning and saw about 1/4 inch of snow covering the ground and roofs around us.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, as it's typical New England weather - bale 3rd cut hay one day, get snow the next! At least the snow waited til November...

God is Good!

Yay! We keep moving forward towards our closing. Today we had the septic system inspected (it's over 50 years old!) and everything checked out, so we're good to go there. Our lawyer was going to finish the title work either today or early tomorrow and send it to our mortgage company, so we should be able to close next week!

God continues to show Himself all-sufficient and all-powerful through this whole process. Several people have asked us if we need help moving - we thank them, but tell them we don't really need help, because all the furniture we own is a table and four chairs. Then today, Luke's boss offered us a whole living room set - a couch, love seat, and recliner that he and his wife are getting rid of! Amazing! Some other folks from church offered us another recliner, so we'll have lots of places to sit in our new house. :) We are so blessed by the generosity of those around us.

House and Horse News

Well, despite a few hiccups, we're still moving steadily towards our closing, which is scheduled for a week from Tuesday (yep, Halloween!). We've secured our homeowners' insurance, and have sent a flurry of faxes back and forth with our mortgage company, getting all the necessary paperwork completed. The people we've been working with are absolutely amazing - fast, helpful, continually going above and beyond to help us get in this house and understand the process. They work nationally, so anyone who's thinking of looking for a home, let me know and I will give you the names of the guys we've been working with. I really can't recommend them enough.

We do have one prayer request. We've been trying to get the septic system inspected by a specialist, but have so far not been able to find one who will travel out to our area! Even the realtor has been unsuccessful in finding someone to come out. So, you can pray that we will be able to find someone who will travel to this area and is able to come this week, so we can proceed with our closing.

In other news, I took several training horses to a show today along with a couple other girls from the barn, and they were all wonderful! I rode a huge grey quarter horse/thoroughbred cross who is at the farm so we can train him to jump and win. He is very fancy but can also be explosive. Thankfully, he was wonderful and really settled in as the day went on. Galen showed a pony that I started just two months ago. He jumped his first jump last week, cantered a jump for the first time yesterday, and ended up competing in six jumping classes today! We discovered that he has incredible natural talent over fences, and he won ribbons in two of his classes (out of 30 entries!). He was amazing! We also took two other horses that have only been jumping for about a month, and they were both great - very brave to the fences, trying hard for their riders, and doing extremely well for their age and experience level. We'll be going to one of these shows every month during the winter, so hopefully everybody will just keep getting better.

We Got It!

Today we met with the realtor and owners for the house we are interested in, and they accepted our offer! We're buying a house!!! We are so, so excited. It needs new paint in pretty much all the rooms, and eventually we hope to pull up the linoleum and carpeting to get to the wood floor beneath, and expand the bathroom, but it's a great little house with a nice big kitchen, large living room, and two-car garage with a workshop in the back that is perfect for Luke's leather-working and farrier stuff. Both the living room and workshop have woodstoves, which we really like, it has a good-sized yard with excellent gardening soil, and there are blueberry and rasberry bushes in the backyard. Did I mention we're really excited? We're already fully approved for our mortgage, and are hoping to close within a month.

God has answered so many prayers and opened (and closed) so many doors in the past few months to lead us to this point, and we're so thankful. We are overwhelmed by His goodness right now, and also can't wait to be living in our new home! We'll try to take and post some pictures as soon as we can.

House Hunting and Good Friends

Would y'all pray for us? After several months spent fruitlessly waiting for a promised rental to be ready for us, Luke and I moved on about a month ago and have started looking for other places to live. We had waited so long because this place seemed perfect, but the people kept delaying getting work done on it so our move-in date kept getting moved back, then they wanted to charge us more money than they originally said, so after several frustrating months, we are looking for something else. We would prefer to buy, and actually looked at a house this weekend that seems like it would be great for us. But whether this house works out or we find another one, we just want to be in our own place soon. We are incredibly thankful for the hospitality of those we've stayed with, but are very ready to have our own home again!

Since we're house-hunting, we're also mortgage-hunting, and this is where we really need prayer. Most lenders are a little wary, as Luke is self-employed and has only been so since May (they want him to have been self employed for anywhere from 6 months - 2 years!) and I am also relatively new in my job. So we're talking to several different companies and local banks and asking friends in the area for recommendations on good lenders.

Speaking of friends, Luke and I are so thankful for the one thing in our lives that has been stable and wonderful for the past few months: our church. We found it shortly after moving here, and have greatly enjoyed getting to know the people and becoming part of the body at Coila Church. There are several younger couples that we have gotten together with and we all have a lot of fun together. There are also many delightful families and older people in the church, so it's a great mix. We are part of a great Sunday school class on marriage, and are enjoying the bi-weekly "home fellowship" meetings on Sunday nights: a small group of (mostly older) people get together in someone's home, spend an hour and a half in study and prayer (right now they're finishing up The Purpose Driven Life), and then share a potluck meal. It's been great to spend time with smaller groups of people in the church, and everyone has been incredibly welcoming and friendly. Praise God for the members of His body He places in our lives at just the right time! Here's a huge hug and "thank you" to everyone who has been placed in our lives at one time or another as a friend and encouragement to us. We hope to give the same to others. We love y'all!

Fall, Cooking, and Visitors

I love fall. It is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year. The air gets crisp and clear, the leaves blaze into glory and then crunch underfoot, and the last brilliant wildflowers fill the air with a sharp, sweet scent, mixing with slight hints of decay, smoke and cold to create that unique smell which tells you that colder weather is on the way.

Everything about fall days is glorious. The cold, sharp mornings when you can barely see your breath and there's a new energy in the air... horses are a bit more restless, more alert, and everyone's blood is pumping a bit harder; the mellow afternoons when the sun on your back provides just the right amount of warmth, the horse under you is relaxed yet responsive, leaves rustle in the resting woods, and an uphill gallop is the perfect end to a long work day; the chilly, clear evenings when the exquisite sunset fades into a brilliance of stars and bundling up is necesary to stay warm... I absolutely love this time of year.

I also love fall foods. There are still fresh, brightly colored vegetables to be had, but the cold weather also inspires heartier foods such as creamy soups, squash, root vegetables and warm baked goods - cornbread, apple pie, pumpkin bread - yep, fall is the time for me! Although I love cooking, I haven't done much of it the past four months. But this past week we've had soup almost every night - thick lentil and hearty vegetable-barley, which both smell delicious while cooking and warm up a chilled body instantly.

There's a farm stand not far from here which has the best sweet corn we've ever tasted, as well as all sorts of lovely fresh produce. Yesterday afternoon I stopped to pick up some corn and found a novelty: purple peppers! I'd seen green, red, yellow, and orange, but never purple before, so I bought a couple, along with my butter-and-sugar corn (so named for its white and yellow kernels, but which is also very taste-descriptive), some red onions and fresh tomatoes.

Luke's parents arrived last night for a week-long visit from Montana, and so today we cooked a big Sunday dinner. We had my fresh corn on the cob, as well as a lovely fresh vegetable salad. It was such a delight to chop up purple peppers, red onions, yellow pepper, and deep red, juicy tomatoes and enjoy the lovely fall colors drizzled with a simple vinaigrette of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, a tablespoon of sugar, a dash of sesame oil, and a tablespoon or so of lime juice. Mmmmm. While chopping veggies and boiling corn, we simmered rice on the stove and baked biscuits in the oven. The crowning glory was the slow cooker roasted chicken. I discovered this recipe online, and every time I want an easy crowd pleaser, I use it. Today it was lovely to simply stick the chicken in the crock pot before church and return home to a fragrant house and a warm meal for my guests. Here's the recipe for anyone who's interested:

1 whole chicken (the recipe says 3lbs., but any size works - today mine was 5lbs.)
1/2 c chicken broth (or water and boullion)
1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c olive oil
1/4 c honey
1 t Worcestershire sauce
2 t balsamic vinegar
2 t lemon juice
1 t sesame oil
2 T minced garlic

Rinse the chicken, pat it dry and place it in the crock pot. Whisk all the other ingredients together and pour over the chicken. Cook for 4 hrs. on high or 8 hrs. on low and enjoy!

No, I haven't tried it (yes, I'm still a vegetarian), but everyone I've served it to loves it.

So here's a toast to fall, home cooking, warm comfort foods, and time with family!

Apologies and Anonymity

Sorry for any confusion generated by my last post... just trying to keep everyone on their toes! ;) For us, having a new horse and a new car is very exciting right now!

Okay, new rule. NO ANONYMOUS COMMENTS! Even if I don't know you very well, I'd at least like to know who you are. I don't want to change my settings so that only blogger members can comment, but if you're not a blogger member, please at least leave your name with your post. It's a little eerie to know that someone is interested enough in my life to leave a note, but isn't even willing to let me know who they are...

Okay, rant over. Back to regularly scheduled programming. :)

Our Family is Growing!

We have exciting news! This week we welcomed two new additions to our family: Logan, a 6-year-old Morgan/mustang cross, and a dark teal green '97 Saab 900S hatchback.

Logan is Luke's new project horse, which I bought for him as an advance birthday present. He has only been ridden three times - once by me, and twice by Luke. Luke is learning a lot from him and will also be teaching him a lot, such as how to be a good roping horse. Although Logan isn't tall, he's strong as a freight train and a quick mover, so he'll make a great cow pony.

The Saab is my new car, which we bought from a boarder at the barn. I love it and am so excited to actually buy my first car that's all my own. Plus, it's not white! YAY! My first car was a white Tercel that I shared with Daddy. My next car was a small white Toyota pickup that was given to our family. Luke's big Dodge is white. And I've never even liked white cars! Although the Saab needs a couple of things tuned up, it runs well, is in excellent condition inside and out, and is a very fun car to drive. Although Luke has sworn up and down that he'll never be seen driving a car around, he actually enjoys driving the Saab because it's so peppy. I think I may have to hide the keys!

In other news, I've had some exciting rides the past couple weeks. Jamie isn't riding anymore, so I get all the ruffians. ;) I'm being stretched and learning a LOT! This winter will be a huge growing time for me, since I have some awfully big shoes to step up and fill.

My birthday was pretty quiet - Luke and I both had to work, so we stayed home and rested that evening, but went out for dinner with friends the next night. Then, on Sunday, we celebrated by going to a horse show and I rode a slightly crazy horse for four hours straight! But we really had a breakthrough there, and I think he'll be much better now.

Well, it's time for the Cosby Show, so I'm off to watch it and laugh. Hope things are well with y'all!

Camp DuBoff

Well, the drive was long on Saturday but it was uneventful, so that was good. We spent 45min. driving around Brunswick, looking for the church, but eventually found it. The wedding was small, with only 3 or 4 other friends there, and the rest was family. It was very traditional, with Pachelbel's Canon for the processional, traditional welcoming and vows, short and quick. The reception was outdoors at a state park. There was lots of good food, and the bride and groom seemed happy.

But it was still a very long drive. :-P

Currently we are house-sitting for some horse people that my family actually knew years ago when we did foster care for shelter dogs. They call their house "Camp DuBoff" because they have three horses, three sheep, four dogs, five cats, a large house, gardens, and a pool all set on 135 acres on the side of Mt. Anthony right outside of Bennington, VT. It's absolutely beautiful and we are really enjoying our stay here (which Shelli will be glad to hear - she told us, "We want you to enjoy yourselves because we want to use you again and again and again!" They've had problems in the past finding reliable house-sitters). They took the two younger dogs with them, so we only have the older two - "Brisco," a decrepit old Doberman who looks and moves something like an ROUS (from Princess Bride) and "Lucky," a smallish German Shepherd who is very sweet to us but has the bad habit of biting strangers in the behind if they seem scared of her (so don't run away if she starts barking!). Then there are the cats: Lucky (yes, same name for two animals), Sammy, Amy, Sueanne and Fat Emily (who is the fattest cat I've ever seen - she gets stuck if she tries to go through the cat door!). The horses are BJ, Domino and Austin - a Rocky Mountain Horse, Paint, and huge Belgian cross, respectively, and the sheep - Lilly the mama and BillyBob and AnJolie, the twins. The animals all get fed in the morning, and then we get to eat. ;) The dogs and horses also get fed in the evening, and the horses get a bedtime treat. We're having lots of fun. :)

Oh, and the very exciting news is that we sold Annie yesterday! I was prepared to be very sad when she sold, because I've enjoyed her so much, but she was bought by a family who just moved to a farm in VT and are new clients of Jamie's. They will board both their horses at the farm every winter, and Jamie will give them lessons at their farm in the summer. SO, we'll still get to have Annie at the barn every year and keep tabs on how she's doing, which will be so nice. Yay!

A Wedding!

Some of you may remember Beth, my maid of honor at our wedding last summer. Well, she is getting married tomorrow (Saturday) and Luke and I are driving to Maine for the wedding. If you think of it, please pray for her new marriage, as well as safety and alertness for us as we drive the 9 hours round trip.

I'm off to bed now, but will post another update about our fun upcoming week tomorrow evening or Sunday.

Sand is not as soft as it looks...

Well, I was bucked off today for the first time at the new farm (and the first time in almost five years!), so I joined the club. Jamie, Eric, Luke, and our friends Kate and Sandy have all come off in the new arena, so I was one of the only ones left. Still, we've been here for almost 12 weeks, at an average of 20 rides per week, means I made it almost 250 rides without coming off.

I was riding Sundae, the most advanced of the young ones I've started since coming here. He was lazy and easy-going when I warmed him up on the ground, and fine when I got on. Then we started walking down towards the end of the arena, he saw something, leaped sideways and then started bucking. I stayed on for the first four hops, but was already off-balance because of the leap. I came off and landed hard on my hip and shoulder, as well as somehow managing to fill my helmet with sand. I think I'll be washing it out of my hair for days! Sundae bucked three more times, then stopped and walked right over to me. I did a little more work on the ground, during which he was lazy again and showed no signs of wanting to buck at all. Then I got back on and we walked, trotted and cantered around the arena, and he was fine! So I don't know what his deal was!

At first I thought I had popped my shoulder out of joint, but although my arm has felt quite weak the rest of the day, it's fine. My hip is incredibly sore and I'll be limping around for a couple of days, but by the weekend I should be none the worse for wear. I can tell you one thing - he won't ever get me off again!

Other than that, things have been going well here. We only have one more week of Dorset left, and although it's been fun, we're all looking forward to coming home. We got a couple of new horses in - one boarder that will hopefully be here long-term. They seem to be a nice family with a (quite tall) 11-year-old girl and her new Thoroughbred gelding. There's also a very cute pony here for training this week. Next week we have 5 or 6 new training horses coming, most of whom will be here for a month. Jamie's trying to capitalize on the time left she has to ride, because by mid-September she'll have to stay on the ground.

We continue to love our church, and are really enjoying two other young couples who we've spent several evenings with and always hang around talking to after church.

We're still waiting on the house we're supposed to move into. Please pray that things will work out, as the owner and her foreman seem to keep stalling or just not doing anything about it. We're getting really tired of it all and are going to start looking for some other options once the show's over and I have a little more time.

Well, I'm going to grab some dinner, some ibuprofen, and some ice! Take care and let us know how y'all are doing.

Love,
Erin

*Hanging my Head in Shame*

Sorry everyone for not posting more consistently. I could make excuses about our busy lives, but I know the rest of the world is busy too, so I won't even try. I don't have much time left on this library computer, but I'll do my best to compress our update!

July 10-23 we had seven horses up at a huge horse show in Dorset, VT. There are 16 tents with 90 stalls each, plus truck-ins for the day, so each week there are over 2,000 horses from around the country (and some from Euroupe too) at this show. We had a lot of young ones, just getting used to the show atmosphere, as well as some more serious competitors. I showed the first week, placing 6th, 7th and 6th in three of our five classes with a horse who was just coming back to showing after a long break, so we were very happy. Galen did very well on her pony as well as several of the farm's ponies that she rode for Jamie (you have to be under 18 to show ponies). We are going back on Monday for the last two weeks, although we'll only have five or so horses there this time. You can see pictures on Galen's website - click on "Competitions" and then "Vermont Summer Festival."

My job has changed a little bit to focus less on management and more on horses, which I am very happy about. Currently I am doing 25 rides per week, which keeps me very busy, but is a lot of fun. Right now I have five young ones that I am starting. They range in age from 3-6, and none had ever been ridden before. I have about 10 rides on one, 4 rides on another, 2 rides on two more, and the last one I haven't ridden yet, as he's taking a little longer. I'm also still riding Annie and she continues to do well. We thought she was sold, but unfortunately the woman decided not to take her. :( I'm also working with a young thoroughbred mare, "Rosie," who Jamie rescued 1 1/2 years ago off the track. She's very pretty, and we took her up to the horse show so she could just learn how to deal with all the other horses and still be calm, realize she wasn't at the races, etc., and she did very well. We might show her sometime in the next two weeks. There are also several other training horses that I ride once or twice a week just to keep them in shape, and I'm enjoying and learning a lot from the wide variety of horses I get to work with.

Jamie and I also have a whole load of young training horses coming mid-August when we get back from the show, so we'll have plenty to keep us busy. Perhaps the biggest news that I can finally let out is that I'll be doing most of the riding with them, because Jamie is pregnant! She'll be 20 weeks at the beginning of September, so won't be able to ride much after that, so we'll be working together with her on the ground and me in the saddle.

Well, time to get back to the farm! I'll try to be better about updating.

Take care all,
Erin

Fulfilling my responsibilities ;)

Okay Nicole, I'm finally getting around to your tag! Sorry it's taken so long...

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW ME?

Four jobs I have had in my life:

1. Babysitter (imagine that! ;))
2. Horse farm worker (several different farms throughout HS)
3. Summer Missions Program Core Staff (at Gordon)
4. Barn Manager and Training Assistant

Movies I would watch over and over:

1. Out of Africa (Kenya and Meryl Streep... it doesn't get much better than that!)
2. You've Got Mail (daisies are definitely the friendliest flowers!)
3. Emma (I love the hair-dos!)
4. Hmm... it's late and I'm blanking right now. I'll come back and update when I think of something else (which will probably happen when I'm lying in bed tonight trying to fall asleep!)

Four Places I have lived:

1. Nairobi, Kenya
2. Alexandria, VA
3. Williamstown, MA
4. Ndu, Cameroon

Four TV shows I love to watch:

Hmm, this is hard since I don't watch much TV, but junior year when I lived with a bunch of other girls we enjoyed:
1. Friends (borrowing as many DVD seasons as possible!)
2. What Not to Wear
3. Cooking shows on the Food Network (I watched these a bunch while we were housesitting last summer in MT), especially Rachel Ray.
4. Yep, that's pretty much it for me. I'm not much of a TV girl...

Four websites I visit daily:

Right now? I don't even get on the web every day! At school though, these were definite dailies:

1. Exchange - the Gordon email server. This is still my top one.
2. The Generous Wife
3. Go.Gordon - the student info page
4. Blogs

Four places I have been on vacation:

1. Surfside, SC (next to Myrtle Beach)
2. England - London and Stratford-on-Avon (sort of... it was also for school, but felt like vacation!)
3. The Smokies of Tennessee
4. Shenandoah

Four of my favorite foods:
1. Cheesecake
2. My grandmother's banana bread
3. Good carrot cake with cream cheese frosting
4. Anything my mom makes (except fried okra!) - in the summer, particularly corn relish

Four places I would rather be right now:

1. In bed!
2. Anywhere in Europe (particularly Italy, England again, or France/Paris)
3. On a tropical island somewhere
4. On a fancy horse

More Pictures (Finally!)

I've tried several different evenings to post these pictures, and the connection keeps cutting out on me. Ugh, dial up is such a pain after being spoiled by Gordon's fast connection for four years! Anyway, here are a couple more pictures from the show:

Here is Patrick, one of Jamie's ponies, wearing Luke's cowboy hat. He's only been sat on once, but came to the show to hang out and get used to things, since he'll be a fancy show pony one day.

Here's a picture of our friend Kate and her horse Ajax. It was the first show ever for both of them and they did great!

Here's another picture of pretty Annie waiting in line for ribbons to be announced.

I call this picture, "the cowboy and the equestrian." Too bad both Annie and Luke had their eyes closed! Oh well, there's always next time.

This is my favorite picture from the show - the gorgeous girl with her reserve champion ribbon and her kind eye up close. She kept moving her head around, but Galen was able to snap this shot and it's so cool!

We had a bit of a crazy weekend up here when the temperature dropped to 45 on Fri. night and it dumped rain, which wasn't in the forecast. We had a bunch of horses outside without sheets, and they were all shivering Sat. morning. When horses get cold like that it's very easy for them to colic, so we were super worried. Thankfully, we only had one horse get sick, and she wasn't too bad. She was living outside and got chilled, so had a bit of a stomach ache for a couple days, but we managed to nurse her back to health on our own over a couple days. However, it required going up to the barn every 2-3 hours on Sat. and Sun. nights, so I'm beat! But now she's better and she's been so sweet that we've decided to go ahead and saddle her tomorrow and start training her to sell.

I also had a great session with Appy this afternoon, a 3-year-old appaloosa/mustang gelding that was given to Jamie last year. I've worked with him about 7 times, put a saddle on him for the 4th time today, and he was so good that I'll ride him for the first time tomorrow! So that's exciting. Maybe we'll even get some pictures.

Well, it's starting to get late so I'm heading up to do night check and then to bed. I'll try and visit everyone else's blogs in the next couple of days, sorry I haven't been keeping up! Hope all's well with everyone; let us know how you're all doing!

Take care,

Erin

Anniversary and a Horse Show

Wow, it's hard to believe that one year ago today Luke and I got married. It's been fun remembering our wedding this morning. So far we are enjoying a quiet, restful day at home; we're hoping to head out later to do a little shopping and have a nice evening. With all the business in our lives these days, it's so nice to just take a day and relax together. We talked about making plans, or "doing" something, but decided we just wanted to spend some restful time together, which has been great.

We celebrated in a different way yesterday, a way that seems quite appropriate for us - we went to a horse show! It was our first show since we've been married, and my first time competing in over five years. I took one of Jamie's training horses, Annie, who I've been working with a lot since we've been here. She is a sweet, beautiful, Belgian-Thoroughbred mare who just turned 7 and is 16.3 hands tall (she's a big girl!). Jamie rescued her and her sister (who has since been sold) a couple of years ago, but hadn't had time to work with Annie consistently since then. She was skin and bones when she came, incredibly nervous, couldn't be caught, scared of everything, and had only been ridden a handful of times. But she's been progressing beautifully, and has wildly exceeded everyone's expectations. She's been a joy to ride.

At the show yesterday we did the walk-trot division, since we just started cantering her last week. She absolutely loved the show ring and was relaxed and unflappable all day, which is amazing for her! We did four out of the six walk-trot classes (we didn't do the halter or trail classes), got three blue ribbons, one red, and were reserve champions! So it was a great day. Here are some pictures of my wonderful girl:

Galen, an amazing young rider at the farm, took these pictures. She's a great photographer too, and I'll post some more of her pictures tomorrow. Now Luke and I are off to do night check at the barn and then head to bed. Take care and keep us posted on your lives!

WOW!

Sorry it's been so long since an update! Things have been crazy here in Hoosick. Here's a quick rundown:

We visited CBC in Williamstown last Sunday, and it was a lot of fun to see so many old friends. We enjoyed the Youth Sunday service - I can't believe how grown up all the "little kids" are now!

I officially started work this past Monday, although we had been around the farm all weekend. Some of the things I've done this week include: cleaning and organizing the office and tack room, creating new turnout and feed boards, revising the employee handbook, hiring and training a new worker, riding several horses and working with several young ones in the round pen, helping out with chores, taking a couple of horses home and picking up a couple loads of hay on the way back, showing visitors around the farm, correcting employee mistakes, bathing a couple of horses in preparation for shows and demos, and going with Jamie to her demonstration at Dressage at Saratoga yesterday. It's been a busy week!

Luke worked on finishing up the tack room at the end of last week. Unfortunately, he was sick most of this week with some sort of flu we think. He had a very high fever accompanied by achiness and lack of appetite for three days, and stomach pain for three days after that! He is feeling much better now, although he gets tired quickly, has lost a lot of weight (he's bony!) and feels pretty weak. So please pray that he returns to full health soon and is able to start working again.

Please also pray for our friend Jamie. She's going through some stressful health issues right now - please pray for her health and peace of mind, and pray for us as we seek to pour God's love into her life.

Well, it's time to go up and do night check at the barn, so I better close. Tomorrow starts another busy yet exciting week. While the past two weeks have been exhausting in many ways, I also feel so blessed to have a job that I absolutely love. It truly doesn't feel like I'm going to work every day - more like I get to do things I enjoy and spend time with people I love, and by God's amazing grace I get paid to do it! He's so good to me, it is truly overwhelming. I am blessed beyond measure.

Let us know also how we can be praying for you and what's going on in your lives! Although we may be hard to get ahold of right now, we still want to stay connected and look forward to hearing how y'all are doing.

Hugs,
Erin

We're Here!

Well, it was a wonderful, although incredibly wet weekend. Between Friday night and noon on Sunday, 6.5 inches of rain fell, and it was still raining when we left. A disaster has been declared in the area. My parents were staying with friends in our church, and their basement flooded - Mommy stepped down into water when she got out of bed Sunday morning. Jonathan worked an eleven and a half hour shift, and at the end a guy fainted and he had to call an ambulance. When we were coming home from church, two roads were flooded. Just as we were getting ready to leave, Luke realized he had a flat tire.

But, WE MADE IT! We're here, all our stuff is here, I graduated, am all done, and am so excited to be here. I'll try to keep updating as we figure out more of what we'll be doing, where we'll be living, etc. Take care.

ALL DONE

Yay! I finished my paper this morning, so now I'm completely done with college! I'm excited, but that excitement is tempered by the fact that the weather prediction for Saturday has gotten much worse since yesterday. Now there's a 60% chance of rain all day. NO! Not good. Ugh. Usually I love rain, but now is just not the time for it.

Tonight Luke and I are going to a goodbye party that his company is throwing for him, so that should be fun. Since I finished my paper this morning, I've been packing all day. I got all the dishes packed (and that box is heavy!), and now I'm going to go do glasses and mugs, and maybe pictures (in frames) if I have time before Luke picks me up.

It's only two days until my family gets here! We haven't seen them since Christmas, so that will be a treat.

I'm really, really hoping it doesn't rain!

MY LAST FINAL

I'm DONE with college exams! WOOHOO!!! I had my last final at 2 this afternoon, it was tough but it's done! I have one research paper to polish tonight and tomorrow morning, and then I'll be completely done with college. I can't wait! I'm going to go work on it now so I can be completely, totally, one-hundred-percent no-one-can-say-otherwise DONE!

Oh, and it's pouring buckets out right now but there's only a 20% chance of rain on Sat. (and only 10% on Sun., when we have to move all our stuff!) Yay God! Praying that the rain stays away...

Finals Time!

The NAMI walk on Sat. was great!

I'm now in the middle of studying for finals. Both of mine are tomorrow (Tues.) - one at 10:30 and one at 2. I'd appreciate prayer today and tomorrow as I'm studying and taking them... although I feel prepared and relatively confident, my body is doing it's lovely nervous-upset-stomach routine. :-P So peace and calm for both body and mind would be great!

The chance of precipitation for Sat. is down to 40%, so that's good but I'm praying it goes down even farther! Kelly, it's only supposed to be 58 degrees so I don't think we'll have to worry about folks passing out (at least not from the heat...).

Okay, back to studying, I just wanted to give a quick update. 4 days until my family arrives (Yay!), 5 days until graduation, and 6 days until we move! Whew!

Barbecue Night

This was posted by a friend of mine and it's pretty funny. Not that Luke would ever come to the conclusion at the end, but it's still a pretty good laugh. :)

Barbecue Season Is Coming!

After the long months of cold and winter, we will soon be coming up to summer and BBQ season. Therefore it is important to refresh your memory on the etiquette of this sublime outdoor cooking as it's the only type of cooking a real man will do, probably because there is an element of danger involved.

When a husband volunteers to do the BBQ the following chain of events are put into motion:

Routine...

1) The wife buys the food.
2) The wife makes the salad, prepares the vegetables, and makes dessert.
3) The wife prepares the meat for cooking, places it on a tray along with the necessary cooking utensils and sauces,

and takes it to the DH who is lounging beside the grill - drink in hand.

Here comes the important part:

4) THE HUSBAND PLACES THE MEAT ON THE GRILL.

More routine....

5) The wife goes inside to organize the plates and cutlery.
6) The wife comes out to tell the husband that the meat is burning.. He thanks her and asks if she will bring another drink while he deals with the situation.


Important again:

7) THE HUSBAND TAKES THE MEAT OFF THE GRILL AND HANDS IT TO THE WIFE.


More routine.....

8) The wife prepares the plates, salad, bread, utensils, napkins,
sauces and brings them to the table.
9) After eating, the wife clears the table and does the dishes.

And most important of all:

10) Everyone PRAISES the HUSBAND and THANKS HIM for his cooking efforts.

11) The husband then asks the wife how she enjoyed "her night off." And, upon seeing her annoyed reaction, concludes that

there's just no pleasing some women....?

;)

Rain, Rain, GO AWAY!

So, today is the first day that weather.com has had a forecast for next Sat., May 13th, graduation day (see, I haven't totally forgotten about it! ;)). And the forecast says 60% chance of showers! No, no, no, this is very bad. If it's sunny, they hold graduation outside on the beautiful quad and there's plenty of room for everyone to attend. If it rains, they have to hold it in the gym, and each senior only gets a few tickets because there's limited seating. I was able to get a few extras, but I still only have six tickets. So, please pray that it's sunny everyone, so that Luke, my whole family, and my grandparents who are driving up will be able to attend.

NAMI Walks for the Mind of America

This Saturday, May 5th, rain or shine, Luke and I are participating in the annual NAMIWalks Boston, a 5k (3 mile) walk set up by the National Alliance on Mental Illness, an organization which advocates for the mentally ill and sponsors programs for the mentally ill around the US. We will be going as part of a team from a nearby clubhouse (day program) for folks with mental illness, where I did a project last fall. We'd love to have some sponsors! Money raised will go to support programs for the mentally ill around MA, like Pioneer House, the group we're going with. These programs are incredibly important, as they provide support for folks with a mental illness who are seeking to find gainful employment and integrate into the community. If any of you are interested in sponsoring us, there's an easy way to do so! Simply go to: www.nami.org/namiwalks, scroll down to the US map and click on MA, then scroll down and you'll see a box on the right side that says "Support Our Walk!" - click on "Sponsor a Walker." You can then scroll down, find our names, click on them, and choose how much to donate.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!

Grand Opening!

Well, once again we're back from a crazy weekend in NY! We arrived at 8:30 on Thurs. night and unloaded all of our stuff that I had packed the week before. We didn't stay up super late Thurs. night, but we were up bright and early Friday morning and up to the barn by 7. Luke worked on trim in the tack room while I helped get horses outside and strip all the stalls of their bedding. Then several of us started scrubbing the stalls boards to get them clean. We started at about 10:30, and didn't finish until 5pm. Yep, that's 6 1/2 hours bent over, scrubbing. I'm still sore. Luke came out about 4 and helped finish the last few stalls, while some of the other girls and I started putting clean bedding in the stalls that were done and bringing horses in. After feeding the horses we started cleaning the tack room, which was full of stain, varnish, wood scraps, sawdust, horse tack, garbage, you name it. About 9:30pm Jamie's friend Kate and I headed down to the house to start working on flyers for the Grand Opening, giving info about the farm, upcoming events (the schedule I posted last week), and a timeline of the day. We also started working on small signs with names and info to go on the stalls of the horses that were going to stay in because they are for sale or were going to be used in a demo during the day. Jamie came down about 11:00, and we wrestled with the printer for awhile. Kate left and Luke went to bed about 12:30, and Jamie and I finally headed to bed at 2am. We were up at 5:15 taking showers, went up to the barn to feed and make sure everyone had arrived there to get chores done, and then Jamie and I drove around putting directional signs up at some of the tricky intersections while Luke and Eric finished up a few pieces of trim in the tack room and everyone else got the horses out and the stalls cleaned. By the time we got back, tables had been set up in the tack room, and we all ran around putting up parking signs, grooming demo horses, assigning tasks, handing out shirts to the employees... basically whatever needed to be done. The first visitors started arriving about 10:15, and by the time Jamie's first demo rolled around at noon, there were over 85 people there watching. Throughout the day we had around 250 visitors stop by, and some stayed for a good amount of time. Kate's husband James did all the food for lunch and afternoon snacks, and it was amazing! The Grand Opening officially ended at 5, and most everyone was gone by 5:30. Then the employees and close friends all gathered for a champagne toast and celebration with more food in the tack room. It was a great evening, and the day as a whole was a huge success.

We all crashed in bed by 9:15, and Luke and I slept for 11 hours! We left around 10, got home at 1:30, I sang in a concert at 3, got home at 5:30 and went to bed, woke up for an hour at 8:30 for some dinner and got a little work done, then went back to bed and slept until 7:30 this morning! Now it's 10pm and I've been fading fast for the past hour, so I'm headed to bed, still sore and tired from the weekend, but very happy, pleased with how things went, and even more excited about working at HGF this coming year.

Oh, and we met a really nice Christian family and have two new leads on potential living places, so we're praising God and looking forward to seeing how He will provide for us in this new venture. There were some other exciting things that happened today, but I just don't have the energy to write about them now. Sometime soon...

Progress in NY

We got back from a crazy weekend in NY late last night and are both feeling the effects of it today! The weather was horrible, particularly so in comparison to how beautiful the previous week had been - it was cold and rainy all weekend, but that only encouraged us to stay inside and work! Luke did a lot of work on the trim and cabinets in the tack room, and I was staining and varnishing all weekend. It's really looking beautiful, with natural pine walls and cherry-stained trim.

Jamie is feeling somewhat better. It's weird, as she was just talking on the phone Wed. night when she suddenly was in agony. She's taking several prescriptions and is scheduled for some more tests to see what the problem is. Continued prayers would be much appreciated!

I finally managed to get a rough sketch of our schedule for the summer. This doesn't include any clinics by others we might go to, or even most of the shows we'll be attending, but it's a basic outline of the major events for the next few months:

April 29 - Grand Opening! (HGF)
May 13 - GRADUATION!!!
May 14 - We move to Hoosick
May 27 and 28 - Demo (Saratoga)
June 10 - Clinic (Grafton)
July 3-7 - Horse Camp! (HGF)
July 8-9 - Clinic (HGF)
July 10 - August 4 - Vermont Summer Festival Horse Show (Dorset)
September 16-17 - Clinic (HGF)

Yep, we'll be busy! But we're greatly looking forward to the summer and all the challenges and new adventures it will have to offer. Only 19 days until graduation!

Edited to Add: We also found my old chaps and ripped the zippers off of them to use on my new ones. Depending on when Luke's stamping tools get here, we're hoping to make good progress on my chaps next week, and they should definitely be done by the time we move. Yay!

Please Pray!

Please pray for our friend Jamie, who we'll be working with in NY. She went to the ER yesterday because her back and neck were fine one second, in agony the next, and her entire right hand was numb. They shot her up with morphine and she's back home now, I'm not sure what kind of follow-up she'll have. She's not one to slow down, even when she's in pain, and she obviously needs her body for work, so please pray that she'll take the time to heal and take care of whatever's going on. We're going out there this weekend, so I should have more info when we get back. Thanks for your prayers!

Am I a Poet? Or a Cook?

Got this from owlhaven's blog... yeah, the questions are a bit transparent, but I tried to mix it up a bit and it turned out fairly true to my writing style, I think (maybe I should let everyone else judge that, though!).

You Should Be A Poet

You craft words well, in creative and unexpected ways. And you have a great talent for evoking beautiful imagery... Or describing the most intense heartbreak ever. You're already naturally a poet, even if you've never written a poem.

What Type of Writer Should You Be?

I don't think my "poet side" shows up around here much... I think I tend to "craft" more when I get contemplative.

On a different note, I made a new dish tonight that was really yummy, which I was slightly surprised by! It's called "Pasta Fazul" and I got it from allrecipes... I had bought some cannellini beans the other day, curious about how they'd taste, and needed to use them up, so I made this dish with onion, garlic, carrot, tomatoes, and cannellini beans mixed with pasta (we used rigatoni), parmesan, and a little butter. We both really liked it and it was super easy, so I'm adding it to my list of "throw-together dinners" for this summer when I know I won't have any time to cook!

I also cooked buttercup squash in a new way last night that may be old hat to many of you, but was new and yummy for us! Usually I just make a casserole with butter and brown sugar on top on the mashed squash, but last night I mixed the squash with cinnamon, nutmeg, a dash of cloves and ginger, a little brown sugar (it doesn't need much at all), and maybe 1/3 - 1/2 cup milk. It smelled heavenly - like a pumpkin pie - while baking at 350 for 30-40 minutes, and tasted yummy too (except for I bumped the ginger one too many times, so it was a little too spicy!). The satisfaction of pie in a healthy side dish! Yay!

Out of the Funk, Into the Whirlwind!

Whew! Today has been busy, but good. Last night we got our things out of storage - my barn stuff, two suitcases, and one big plastic bin - so that I could pack today. This morning I worked on laundry and packing, and got all our coats and winter blankets into one suitcase (Luke has a lot of coats! :P) and all our books (that I'm not currently using for school) plus a bunch of miscellaneous stuff into the plastic bin. I'm feeling pretty good about the packing, as pretty much all we have left are clothes, kitchen stuff, and breakables. Ugh, the fragile stuff is what I don't like dealing with... pictures, glass vases/candlesticks, mirrors, that kind of stuff I always find a pain to pack up, and I'm not really sure what to pack it in. I'm sure I'll figure something out though.

This afternoon I've been finishing laundry and homework for tomorrow. The homework's done, and I just have one load to fold. I feel like I've had a productive day! I am praising and thanking God so much right now, because the past week or so I feel like I've finally pulled out of this blue funk I've been in since the beginning of the semester. The past few months it's really been a struggle for me to get anything done. I've felt completely unmotivated towards my schoolwork, and learning has definitely been more a burden than a joy. As Luke can attest, my lack of motivation also extended to our apartment, which has been in a pretty sorry state. I wasn't sleeping well, and felt like I barely had the energy to do what it took to get by. But thank God, the past week the cloud has seemed to dissipate, and this weekend my usual motivation is back full force! I've been spending more regular time with God, enjoying the beauty of spring, and getting both school and house/moving projects done in a timely manner. It feels great to be back! :)

On that note, I'm going to go fold my last load of laundry and try to figure out if there's anything else we don't need for the next 25 days that I can pack up to take to Hoosick this weekend! There's a chance of showers, but I'm hoping at least for nice weather on the drive out so that our stuff doesn't get all wet! Once we get there it can rain if it wants to, because we probably need to stay inside and plan for the Grand Opening anyway!

Happy Easter!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Resurrection Sunday yesterday, celebrating Christ's victory over sin and death and the opportunity we now have by grace to spend eternity with Him. What a precious gift our Savior has given us!

Luke and I had a quiet day, which was nice. We had a wonderful church service in the morning, then a special lunch at home together and a relaxing afternoon. In the evening Luke worked a little more on my chaps, cutting out the yokes. Now we are just waiting for his stamping tools to arrive from Montana, as he needs to stamp the yokes before putting them on, and he can't put the belt on until the yokes go on. So we're on hold for a little while, maybe a week or so. But, Luke was able to use some of the scraps to make some nice half-chaps for himself! He is so creative with things like this, able to just look at it for a bit and figure out how to make something that will be both beautiful and functional. He truly has a gift!

This whole weekend has been very joy-filled, as one of my favorite people and good friends got married on Saturday, and the wedding was absolutely wonderful. Both the bride and groom got very emotional during the ceremony, and could barely finish their vows they were so choked up. But the groom managed to recover and surprised his bride by playing (on the piano - he's an amazing pianist) and singing Steven Curtis Chapman's song, "I Will Be Here." The whole church was filled with joy during the entire ceremony, topped off by the bride literally skipping down the aisle, glowing with happiness.

The reception was a lot of fun too. There were a lot of people from Gordon - professors, current students, and alumni - and so it was fun to reconnect with old friends I hadn't seen in awhile. I am just so excited for this wonderful couple! They are both great people who have huge hearts for serving others, and they were obviously so in love and having a marvelous time at their wedding, as were all their family members, which is so wonderful to see. So, we are praising God for this new couple and praying for them as they begin building their marriage.

Now it's back to work! I spent a couple hours this morning working with the data from my study, and have a book to read and write a paper on in the next week. It's only 26 days until graduation, and I can't wait! Thanks so much for all your prayers and support - your encouragment and love is such a blessing to us!

~Erin :)

Spring Cleaning!

Woohoo, it's sunny and 60 degreees outside! This morning I cleaned out my dreser and switched all my winter clothes into a chest and got out all my spring/summer clothes, so I feel happy and excited for the warm weather and like I have a whole new wardrobe! I love changing clothes for the seasons because I find things I didn't even remember I had and it makes me feel like I just went shopping for a bunch of great clothes! :)

There are no classes today or Monday, so I'm having a big cleaning and packing weekend. Yesterday I cleaned our bedroom and cleared off/cleaned my desk and sorted through all my old papers. If you've ever seen my dad's office, you know what a challenge that was, as I'm definitely my father's daughter! I also cleaned the living room, as there was leather spread everywhere. It smells like a tack shop in here! Luckily Luke and I both love the smell of leather.

Yes, we got the chap leather, and Luke already has the legs all cut out! Next he's going to start working on the yokes and the belt. And, I was wrong about what color I was going to get. I wanted a darker brown, but while we were at the warehouse Luke convinced me to get a gorgeous buckskin color instead. The leather is soo soft and beautiful, and I'm so excited!

This evening we're going to find a wedding present for our friends who are getting married tomorrow. They're not registered anywhere that I've been able to find, so I'm praying that we pick out the right gift!

As I was reflecting on Matthew 26-28 for an assignment, I put together a number of scriptures focusing on God's love and Christ's sacrifice for us. You can see them here, on my other blog. What a great God we have, who shares in our sorrows, taking on our mortality to offer us His life. Today is truly a Good day.

Fun Facts from Wikipedia

I saw this on another blog this morning and thought it looked fun. Go to wikipedia and type in your birthdate without the year. Then post three facts or events, two births, and two deaths that happened on your birthday, and include the year they happened.

Here are mine:

Facts:

1504 - Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence.

1636 - A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, today known as Harvard University.

1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape.

Births:

1828 - Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, American Civil War soldier

1841 - Antonin Dvorak, Czech composer (d. 1904)

Deaths:

1755 - Ephraim Williams, American philanthropist (b. 1715)

1949 - Richard Strauss, German composer (b. 1864)

Here are some I picked out for Luke, since he's at work... he may come and change them later:

Facts:

1864 - Helena, Montana is founded after four prospectors discover gold at "Last Chance Gulch."

1938 - Orson Welles broadcasts his radio play of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, causing a nationwide panic.

2001 - George W. Bush throws out the first pitch at Game 3 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium, in what was intended to be a defiant gesture, coming just weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks.

Births:

1735 - John Adams, American revolutionary leader and President of the United States (d. 1826)

And FIVE recipients of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, including, most recently,
1939 - Leland H. Hartwell, American scientist

Deaths:

1912 - James S. Sherman, Vice President of the United States (b. 1855)

1968 - Rose Wilder Lane, American journalist and author (b. 1886)

I also looked up our wedding date, so here's some fun info for that day:

70 - Titus and his Roman legions breach the middle wall of Jerusalem.

1851 - Harriet Beecher Stowe's anti-slavery serial, Uncle Tom's Cabin or, Life Among the Lowly starts a ten-month run in the National Era abolitionist newspaper.

1956 - Elvis Presley introduces his new single, Hound Dog, on The Milton Berle Show, scandalizing the audience with his suggestive hip movements.

1989 - The Unknown Rebel halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.

Births (more than two - some of these were just too good to pass up!):

1493 - Justus Jonas, German protestant reformer (d. 1555)

1718 - Thomas Chippendale, English furniture maker (d. 1779)

1723 - Adam Smith, Scottish economist and philosopher (d. 1790)

1850 - Pat Garrett, American Western lawman (d. 1908)

1883 - John Maynard Keynes, English economist (d. 1946)

1919 - Richard Scarry, American children's author (d. 1994)

Deaths:

1916 - Horatio Kitchener, Lord Kitchener, British field marshal (b. 1850)

1993 - Conway Twitty, American musician (b. 1933)

2004 - Ronald Reagan, former President of the United States (b. 1911)

So, there are your fun facts for the day. What happened on your birthday or anniversary?

We finally set up a time to get leather for my new chaps! Luke has been talking with a guy in our church who works for a leather company, and they have a warehouse just a few minutes away.
When Luke told him we had found some leather online to build my chaps, he offered to give us any leather in the warehouse for a dollar less per square foot! So we are going over there on Wednesday to pick out leather for my new custom chaps that Luke is going to make. I like the stamping pattern on the top left for the yoke, and the chaps are going to have a contrasting string weaving down the side like these chaps on the left. In fact, they'll be fairly similar to these, except they'll be much darker (like the leather in the top picture) and without any fringes or silver conchos. I'm so excited! I can't wait to have them, because the past few times we've been up at Jamie's my legs have gotten all bruised from pinching in the saddle, but these will keep me nice and protected.

On a completely different note, we're excited about going to Vanessa and John's wedding on Saturday, down in Framingham. I'm sure it will be beautiful! The weekend after Easter I have a Phi Alpha Chi Honor Society Dinner on Friday night, and then we're heading out to Hoosick to move some of our stuff out and help them get ready for the Grand Opening, which is the next weekend (the 29th). Our concert of the The Creation is the next day, the 30th, so we'll have to scoot back here in the morning. The last day of classes is May 3rd, my two final exams are on May 9th, everyone gets here for Baccalaureate on the 12th, graduation is the 13th, and the 14th we head to Hoosick for good! So things are quickly winding down.

Oh, one other quick thing. Yesterday at the "Internships and Success Stories" session, guess who I saw? Aunty Gail and Ben! We chatted for a bit afterwards about the summer, our move, and making sure we get down to Williamstown to see them too. So it was fun to reconnect after not seeing them since last fall.

Well, I'm off to finish my reflective journal and do some reading. We'd love to hear from y'all!

Hugs,
Erin

Karmel Timmons

Here are some pictures from an artist we love, named Karmel Timmons. She did the drawing in our profile, and her portrayals of horses and vaquero gear are filled with incredible attention to detail. Enjoy!Buck Brannaman and his horse Pet.The two-rein: the last step in finishing a bridle horse."Cherokee Ace" - Luke's current favorite out of Karmel's pictures.

You can find more of Karmel's prints and originals here, at her website: http://www.karmeltimmons.com/

Hi everybody! I thought I'd try and add my two cents here! I do really enjoy my job here, although I can't wait to move to Hoosick. I am in the process now of getting my own rawhide braiding/leatherworking business started. I will be making custom reins, chaps, bridles, martingales, hobbles, cinches...anything that has to do with horse tack, I'll do. I already have some people interested in chaps and Mecate reins, so hopefully that will take off well. I will be the only person in that area that people can buy directly from; the only other person lives in Rhode Island, and she is going out of business, so that gives me a leg up!
I am also looking into starting my own pole barn building company along with Eric Ziehm. There is quite a market for agricultural structures like that around there, so we should stay pretty busy!
So, lots of big plans, big dreams! Thank you all so much for your many prayers and your wonderful support! We love you all and feel very privileged to have you in our lives. Feel free to stop by anytime and chat. We'll most likely be on a horse, but that's okay. We can still talk, Stirrup to Stirrup!
Sincerely,
Luke

Changing Chapters

Hi everyone! We figured this would be a good way to keep all of our friends near and far updated on our lives, particularly as we move into this new, crazy time of transition. There are now only 27 days till the last day of classes, 37 days until graduation, and 38 days until we move to Hoosick Falls, NY for a new chapter of adventures at Higher Ground Farm. We can't wait!

Luke continues to enjoy his work here, and we'll be sad to leave his wonderful company behind. He usually comes home with a cache of funny stories to tell while dinner's cooking, and will often start laughing during the evening over something else that he forgot to tell me earlier. Lately he's been enjoying watching Buck Brannaman training videos which we borrowed from Jamie, and investigating training techniques on the internet. Who would have imagined that my cowboy husband would ever spend most of his evenings on a computer!?

I am working away on my research project with MKs, trying to gather as many non-MK participants as possible before Monday, which Dr. Phillips has declared the participation deadline. I think we're both wondering if I got in over my head trying to include too many factors in a too-complicated design (it all seemed so simple in my head!), but we're also both looking forward to analyzing the data over the next couple of weeks and seeing if any of the results are significant. Hopefully they will be, because I've committed to present a poster on my research at a student research symposium on the last day of classes!

I'm also currently working on a reflective journal on Matthew's Gospel, and a paper on the integration of faith and mental disorder - my last two papers for college!

Oh, and I was asked to talk for 5 minutes on Monday at a session for accepted students on "Internships and Success Stories"! I didn't even know I had done an internship until I got an email on Tuesday asking me to talk about working on the AME conference with Dr. Cook last semester, how that's helped my research this spring, and what I plan to do after Gordon. One of the other women we worked with is in Admissions at Gordon, and apparently she recommended me, even though Dr. Cook and I were both surprised to find out I'd done an internship!

That's most of the news from the Ferrin basement! We're loving daylight savings time and the weather continues to get warmer, although we did have some snow yesterday, which was pretty crazy. We're crossing our fingers that it will just continue to get warmer and we'll have beautiful weather on May 13th so that graduation can be held outside.

We love you all,
Erin