Oh Can-a-da

Dear Barnsie,

I wanted to congratulate you and your fellow countrymen on your win in the gold medal hockey game. Who knew I loved hockey so much? Who knew I could scream so loud when the goal was made to tie the game? Man my throat hurts! As sad as I was for Team USA, I could sit back and be delighted for all of you. Yes, we know, hockey is your sport. We've been told time and time and time again. Bask in your victory, but be watching for those boys in blue four years down the line. They'll be ready.

I'm glad you, Lisa, and the kids got to go to your hometown to be a part of the Olympic experience. Please thank your country for hosting such wonderful games! Talk about your beautiful locations! Breathtaking. I can't wait to see what souvenir you bring back for me.

Love,

Michelle

P.S. Tell Clint I think he looks a lot like the guy who scored the winning goal.

P.S. again--Hey Krista, tell your boys congratulations too.

Max said he wishes you guys would have lost. He would have enjoyed that tremendously.

The end.

Overly Obsessed Olympic Observer

(Lisa, why are you in Vancouver right now instead of reading my alliteration-filled titles?)

Toots needs antibiotics. Her leg decided to swell up today, so back to the vet Max went. Poor girl.

In answer to a question from the other night, she came to us with that name. We loved it and never thought of changing it for a second. She is also called Tootsie when we're feeling formal and fancy.

Max had to change her bandage. As bad as it looks, she was a perfect angel while he worked on her. Talk about your sweet dispositions. He reports he found the area that got her. Part of the horse fencing was pushed (by those crazy equines) slightly beyond straight. It is now wired back to the proper spot.

It's been bitterly cold at the ranch. Amen and hallelujah jury duty is over for that handsome cowboy of mine--who really wants to hear me griping about my frozen fingers? He ended up only having to go twice. Isn't that crazy?! He was on call for three weeks. When I had jury duty, I was on call two weeks and had to go about every other day.

I've already begun my mourning process for the impending ending (poet and didn't know it!) of the Olympics. Truly and without a doubt, I should get a life. I get so wrapped up in it all. So you know, at least two of our children are fairly convinced that they will one day be in the Olympics. They are weighing their options--just what is the best sport? We'll get back to you in about ten years on how that's working for them. I'm a little nervous about their skiing prospects being that they've never gone. Could be problematic. I can say that my nerves could never ever handle having a figure skater on Olympic ice. I gasp and choke anytime a fall happens for other people's children. I might be safe in this department. Real. Safe. Indeed.

Max is a little huffy with a few of the commercials airing. P & G is being very, very kind to mothers. His question--do Olympic athletes not have fathers?! The big baby.

OK, gotta go back to the TV. I just heard an award ceremony playing as I typed. Time to rewind and cry happy tears for the Canadian who won bronze just days after her mama died. Incredible!

Random Reading

I got nothing.

Wait, I have this picture of my brother-in-law, my nephew, and my niece before they took a ride at our family cattle ranch.
They're good people. I love them. You should know that.

Have a fantastic day.

Oh, and I'm so sad for the speed skater who lost his medal due to a coaching mistake. I'm also equally horrified for his coach. That poor man. I bet he needs tons of prayers. I can only imagine the grieving he is doing over that mistake.

Whew--got that off my chest.

Poor Toots

Gross leg wound pictures alert! Stop if you're squeamish.

When Max went out to feed this morning, he discovered that Toots had a rather nasty cut on her leg. Poor girl! She has also had a couple cuts on her face over the last few months. Max has theorized for some time now that her vision is failing. He looked all over pen but could not figure out how she could have cut it. He said with a wound that big, it should be something fairly obvious but no luck. The other horses in the pen have not been hurt at all.

Doesn't it look terrible?! Max whipped out his cell phone and snapped a couple shots for the blog. What a guy.

He loaded up Ms. Limpy and headed to the vet for some stitches. Sure enough, the vet confirmed our sweetie pie has some pretty severe cataracts. He said she won't be going blind any time in the near future, she just has to contend with blurry vision from now on. That's the bad news. Good news is that her leg should heal nicely. In the picture below you can see her tendon exposed--just terrible.

We're hoping Toots can still end up being a valuable asset to the herd. She is a beautiful horse with a very loving nature. Now that she and all those crazy boy horses have calmed down (go ahead and read here if you want to be refreshed on my immature side),we hope to be able to use her more and more. She went into heat too many times last summer to be used much by our participants. What a difference a few months make. Trish and Melissa used her the other day with their daughters to give Toots a little work and the girls a ride. She did very well.

I'll keep you posted on her healing.

Pipe Dream

Before I told you about a most generous family and their most generous gift to GGYR. If you'd like to be refreshed about their fine act of kindness, read here. Another post I bragged about one of those family members and his gentlemanly ways. Go ahead, read here.

In typical Matt fashion, he went off and did something wonderful again. He did, he did!! He called Max one day and told him that he knew of a company willing to donate 1500 feet of 2 1/2" pipe to Galloping Grace. Yes, you read donate correctly! If I'm remembering the story right, Matt approached this company and let them know a little about the ranch and our needs for a new horse pen.

I need to find out more about the wonderful people at Black Hills Corp. I mean really, how nice they must be to donate all that pipe to people they've never met for a ranch they've never heard of! I can tell you one thing, they are a generous bunch with giving hearts!! Thank you so very much, Black Hills Corp. (I'll put a link to their company once I have the correct website.) The pipe you so kindly donated will be used to rebuild our horse pen. The one we have now has seen better days. We want to get it replaced so that our fencing is more sturdy for the horses and children alike.

Matt not only orchestrated this donation, but then offered to deliver it to us. (Keep in mind Matt lives about two and a half hours from us--huge favor!) This Saturday was drop off day. Here's the horror of the situation. Max and I had wonderful friends, Jeff and Stacy, in town from Clovis. We have had a lunch date planned with them for a couple months now. Jeff had business in town all day Friday, so Saturday was the day for us to finally get to see them after a year. (Stacy and I did see each other Friday where we had lunch and saw TWO chick flicks.) Matt offered to bring the pipe Friday, but Max stayed home with Garrett while he recovered from tonsil/adenoid surgery. Saturday was the day. Max couldn't even be there to thank him in person.

Cue Tim. You know Tim, right? He's that super swell volunteer who has given countless rides at the pumpkin stand and Christmas Corral. The one who helps do whatever needs done. The man on our board. Friend extraordinaire. Tim came to our rescue once again. He volunteered to not only feed, but to meet Matt out there and help unload the pipe.

Since Tim wasn't doing enough, I asked if he'd pretty pretty please take his camera to get some pictures of the event. He said yes. Here you go--Tim's pictures from Saturday.

Nice guy Matt unchaining pretty pipes.

Nice guy Matt unstrapping pretty pipes. Nice guy Matt walking off trailer now empty of precious cargo. The pretty pipe hanging out waiting to fulfill its destiny as a horse pen.

Because of Matt, Black Hills Corp., and Tim, we now have enough pipe to do the posts for our new pen.

I absolutely love nice people. We are blessed!!

Let the welding begin.

There is another Matt we love to pieces--our nephew! That little turkey went off and turned nine years old today! How dare he? When we called him, I asked him to slow it down a bit. He flatly refused. Oh well, what's an aunt to do? I guess I'll love him until he's too big and stinky to stand any longer then I'll love him some more. Matty, Happy Birthday!

Do You Believe In Miracles???!!!!!!

Well, do you?

Shout-out to my dad who highly encouraged me to watch the USA vs. Soviets hockey game back in 1980. Also for waking me up in the wee hours to watch Princess Di's wedding. History

witnessed by my juvenile eyes. Thanks, Dad. I have fond memories of both events.

Oh yeah, back to the miracle that occurred at the Wade household today.

I uploaded all remaining pictures to the GGYR Christmas Corral photo site!! Oh happy day! Now that all the people I promised to provide pictures have forgotten that they ever came to the stand, I am done and done! Oh sure, many shots are over-exposed and/or blurry, but by golly, they now exist. I tell ya, I'm one camera malfunction after another. Here they are.

My life's mission is complete.

During my uploading ordeal, I found these three images that made me smile.

Santa Chase is clearly a funny dude.
But what did he have to say? We may never know.

In tomorrow's post, expect to read about huge favors by great friends.

Happy new week to you.

Throat Boy

Garrett is now a tonsil/adenoid free child. All went well. The doctor said his tonsils were really quite large and embedded--much bigger than he thought. "He will be really sore." He said he had teenager tonsils. He also mentioned he had a sinus infection. "There was green stuff running down the back of his throat." Lovely.

(blurry picture from my phone--didn't embarrass him with big camera)

Besides being very disturbed that he couldn't leave the recovery room immediately upon waking up from anesthesia, he's doing as well as could be expected. When we got home, he was feeling sick to his stomach and looked really pale. Fingers crossed and big prayers said, he holds it all down (not like there's much in there) tonight.

Thanks for all the prayers. I love you, blog readers. :)

Big shout-out to my young friend Nicole for her recent comments. Nice to see you on here, cutie pie.

Brainiac

With age, did not come wisdom.

As we were driving to dinner tonight Claire announced that she thought it was about a quarter till six. She couldn't see the clock from the back of the bus so I told her it was actually six till. Max then pipes up, "Claire, do you know what a quarter till means? It means twenty-five till."

That, folks, is why we don't homeschool.

Trish and Melissa, thanks for offering to feed as a birthday present to Max. What excellent chicks you are. And you scooped poop? Birthday presents don't get any better! Please tell Phoebe and Kaley thanks too. Max enjoyed his morning off. Kasey, I'm sorry I missed meeting you again. Thanks for showing up and pitching in. Another volunteer to love!!

We finally saw Avatar in 3D thanks to my mama watching the rascals. I must admit, it was a treat.

Sorry I haven't filled you in on Garrett's health woes. I need a chunk of time to explain. Tomorrow he is scheduled to get his tonsils and adenoids out. We'll go from there. If you're the praying type, pray away. If you're the well wishing type, we'll take that as well.

Back to Olympic coverage I go.

Old Geezer

I can't believe my luck--Of all the cowboys in the world, I happened to marry the cutest, sweetest one!

OK, so sometimes he smells like horse poop, but I'd say he's worth it.
Happy Birthday, honey.

Seven Degrees

Quick, cool story for you.

Max's cousin Michael's wife Kristen (catch that?) called me a couple weeks ago. We were having a nice chit chat about what was going on in our lives when she told me an interesting little tidbit.

They live in a town in Minnesota. They are very involved in their church. Michael and Kristen are currently teaching a class about financial freedom from debt. She called one of the ladies signed up for the class to give her some information about the class. Kristen said she was happy to talk with her because the lady is brand new to Minnesota. When Kristen realized the lady was from New Mexico, she told her how they had come to visit us and spend some time at our family cattle ranch a couple years ago. OK, here's the part I thought was interesting. Ready?

When Kristen told her our name, the lady said she knew who were were and had come to the pumpkin stand where her child rode a horse for the first time ever. And guess who took pictures of that child and then emailed them to her??! Yep, me! (The fact I actually emailed the pictures is a miracle in its self--I still haven't uploaded all the pictures I took for families at the Christmas Corral. I am a loser of epic proportions!)

I find it incredible that the two meet up in MN. Kristen said when she told her our names she never in a million years expected to have the lady know who we were.

I told Kristen she or the lady had to guest post about the whole thing to share with all of you. I suppose they are too busy handling their money and visiting with each other to give a hoot about me and my desires to provide quality blog material. Hmmph! Don't they know I have figure skating and curling to watch? I mean really!

Kidding about the curling. OK, truth is I'm such a junkie I'd watch the curling just because of that ultra cool Olympic music and the special feature story they're bound to do about an impoverished athlete rising above, missing out on entire childhood experiences with their family to hone their skills with the little brooms and odd ball thingy.

It's a small world after all.

Crashed

In honor of Valentine's Day, a sweet image--Grant and Hank bonding while the rest of us watch the Olympics. Please excuse Grant's hair cut. Max specifically asked them NOT to give him bangs. AHHHH. I ADORE the Olympics so very much. Fun times.

In GGYR news, Max spent large chunks of time Friday, Saturday, and Sunday moving around copious amounts of poop. The man was pumped. Not only did he get to drive the tractor, but he also got to plan and think about worms and composting. Mike, thank you so much for the use of your tractor. The horse pen now looks so much better! Also, thanks to Tim for helping Max Saturday morning. Your muscles were most appreciated.

Kaley K., Happy 5th Birthday to you!! It's official--you are now five while Grant is only four. (I don't know how we're going to get by until October when G can claim the same old age.) Enjoy being such a big girl.

Heart Warming

Trish sent out a nice newsletter email with some testimonial. Included in it was a little blurb by Max. A week or so letter we got this response from a mother of a child who rode at the pumpkin stand. It is too good not to share.

Hello,

This email just blew me away, so I had to reply. I am thrilled that our family has had the opportunity to meet you guys at the Pumpkin Stand and the Christmas corral. You guys are amazing.

I was plenty impressed by the folks who assisted the children riding horses. I emailed my thanks for Max who was able to win over the trust of my 6-year old daughter, Jayna. That is no small feat, believe me! But, I have to tell you that I had no idea that they shared a much bigger connection than overcoming Jayna's fear of heights/horses. Jayna has been praying for a friend who is also a heart patient. It looks like she found one. Thanks for sharing your story Max! Jayna was born with the heart defect Tetralogy of Fallot. She underwent open-heart surgery when she was only 2 months old, which repaired all her heart plumbing. Jayna is in need of another open-heart surgery this year. She needs a valve replacement....a new pulmonary valve. The timeline we are facing right now is surgery in May. It was a great blessing to be able to show Jayna this email and tell her that her cowboy friend also had a valve replacement surgery, and look at how well he is doing now!

If you get a chance, will you please share with me how long it took to recover well enough to be back in the saddle, riding a horse again?

Have a great day,
Kristi

God puts the neatest people in our lives. Kristi, thanks so much for sharing with us. Jayna has been added to our prayers.

Max got a call from the engineer today--the water line plans were approved! Now we have to decide on our contract and meet with the city for a pre-construction meeting.

Progress!

Hey, sweet readers. We sure could use your prayers. We are going through a hard time right now with our son's health. I'll explain more another night. You all helped through Max's crazy heart problems last year. Thanks for that. Thanks for any prayers now. I know our whole family appreciates it.

Queens and Boots

Doing a rodeo recap from last Saturday night has me intimidated. Instead of give up completely from feeling overwhelmed, I'm going to break the fun into chunks. Gotta love chunks.

I guess I should take a minute and explain that we (Galloping Grace) were asked to put on "some type of kids rodeo thing" before the big rodeo started. Max and the Dustin, the man putting on the rodeo, decided that rides for children and some type of roping activity would cover it.

Max loaded up portable panels, four horses, saddles, and helmets and headed to the Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho. Meeting us there were several dedicated volunteers. Seriously and truly--our volunteers are the best! What giving, caring people. I'll save gushing further about them for another night. On to the royalty.

The rodeo queens (and princesses??!) were a big hit with all the kids. It was so cute seeing little cub scouts going up to shake their hands or ask them for a picture. All three ladies were so friendly and willing to help out.

Two of them gave roping lessons while another fit helmets--probably the happiest I've seen children while getting helmets plopped on their heads. Dear sweet queens who probably will never read my blog, thanks for your help.

Phoebe, Claire and Miki posing with the ladies.
Later during the rodeo I heard the announcer talk about Galloping Grace Youth Ranch and Max Wade. I thought he was just discussing the riding activities from earlier in the evening. I didn't realize my handsome hunky hubby (Lisa--that alliteration was for you) was in the arena receiving an award until Deborah, a volunteer, pointed him out to me.
He was nominated for a Standard of the West award for his work serving children. (Something like that--just don't quote me.) He didn't receive the grand prize, a trip to the World Finals Rodeo, but he got some nifty black boots with a special embroidery. On Dan's blog he wrote that Max was a finalist in a national rodeo humanitarian program and that he came in second in the nation. I don't know his sources, but it sure sounds impressive.
Congratulations, honey.

In case you're keeping track, Max had to report back to jury duty today. He was not selected for the jury because he knew the man on trial--a former baseball coach of his brother Roy. Roy, last week Terry provided the out being a big wig in the FBI--this week you came through. Brothers are the best.

This is Max's last week serving unless he gets selected. Tom, be prepared for Max to throw you name around as well. He has no qualms doing so.

You'd Say What Exactly?

Help me ease into this week--caption or name this photo for me.I'd like to hear from you, oh creative ones.

Max begins week three of jury duty. So far that's meant him having to go to the court house one day. I'm crossing my fingers and toes hoping he won't be picked for a long, drawn out trial. Resting comfortably in his pocket is his "my brother Terry his second in command of the FBI office here in Albuquerque" card. Terry, thanks again for working in law enforcement. Max thinks that was one of the main reasons he got excused from the first jury selection two weeks ago. Terry, would you consider escorting Max in tomorrow morning, maybe flashing your badge and pointing out the potential perps in the room? Your little brother needs that kind of guidance from you.

Heading to bed. The energy my body is requiring to digest the massive amount of food I put in it watching the Super Bowl is making me sleepy.

Have a great new week.

Hey Brynn--Happy Birthday, sweet girl. Claire had the most excellent of sleep overs at your house. Thanks for inviting her. We love you!

One Man's Poop. . .

Just an FYI--Max's worm obsession is reaching epic proportions! Let's just say he might now know absolutely everything about composting, worms, maggots, and heating water with compost. Look for great things from the man, all poop related.

Tommy Boy!

I am breaking my weekends off rule (it's a new and slightly fake one) to wish Max's big bro Tom a most great day! This is a special birthday, folks. I won't tell you how old he is, but I'll tell you he is no longer 39.

Tommy, Happy Happy Birthday to you and many more.

Update

We got to see Trish yesterday. She seems to be healing nicely from her surgery. She sent the following message to all of you:

This past year started out a little rough with a great friend having open heart surgery (thanks a lot Max) and ended rough with my surgery, I am healing well thank you. But the middle of the year with the opening of the 2nd season of Galloping Grace Youth Ranch was a huge blessing and tons of fun. Okay so I was exhausted by November but I truly loved seeing the kids and volunteers at the ranch, Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Corral. I really feel like my family has grown expedientially this past year. I could not imagine not being involved in the ranch and not meeting the people I have because of the ranch. The ranch does so much more than just connect kids with horses. It connects people and families together as well. I am excited for the rest but am also really excited about May and seeing everyone again. Thank you all for your well wishes and thank you for putting up with me this past year and my fumblings in trying to figure out how to schedule everyone to come out to the ranch.

By the way if you have comments or suggestions on how to make scheduling run smoother this next year drop me a line.

Trish

Yes dear Trish, I have a suggestion--why don't you add guest posting on a more regular basis to your duties! No more than three times a week would be great with me. See--I'm not greedy. I will do four days, you do three. Win/win situation.

Oh no. I just reread what you asked. If we had any suggestions to make scheduling run smoother. Well, the offer still stands.

Folks, any requests from all of you?

Dan did a post about the rodeo we all attended Saturday evening. Check his out.

Ah Shucks!

Trish put together an email update with a few testimonials from the 2009 season. Here are a couple:

God brought GGYR into our lives through a pumpkin. In 2009 our family of 5 was in search of 'the great pumpkin, times 5' and we drove by the pumpkin patch. But wait, there are horses? And so it began... our daughter, 11 years old, and missing her best friend and her two horses after a cross country move was intrigued. After a guided horseback ride, we were introduced to Max Wade and the mission of Galloping Grace. The door was opened to this ordinary family to provide a way for our horse lover to actually work with horses. GGYR provided riding opportunities and interactions with their strong and beautiful creatures, and ultimately, Kylie was asked to train to become a youth mentor, working with the younger children who come to the ranch to ride. We were privileged to come all summer and ride and work. Horse lessons are beyond our financial reach, but this beautiful ministry from a beautiful family and staff of volunteers touched our lives in ways we could never fully say. Thank you Max, Michelle, Trish, and the countless other volunteers for your sacrifices to bring pure joy to children. Our daughter has been blessed and changed because she sees her dream of having a ranch someday as more of a reality, and she's made a true friend in Cochise, the horse.
Bryan and Kristin

We absolutely love Galloping Graces Youth Ranch! We love the teachers and staff. They are so great to the kids. I love that they teach the kids how to care for the horses and have them work before they ride. We have a daughter who is legally blind and had heard of the benefits of having her learn horseback riding. She has loved going over the summer and looks forward to going again this spring. It has boosted her love for animals and confidence. Thanks so much GGYR!!!!!

Trish, thanks for doing that. Nice people, thanks for your kind words.

Soggy Cousins

Tonight I was working on a couple other things besides blogging --now I am exhausted! I feel bad I cannot muster up the energy to talk about the rodeo and the wonderful volunteers who helped. My eyes keep closing. Soon. Real soon.

Because you stopped by, photo gifts for your viewing pleasure. Please stop thanking me in your head--it's just what I do.
I saw these shots just sitting there on my desk top. Above we have Claire, my niece Jessie, and Brooke enjoying a rainy summer day at our family cattle ranch. Memories are made every time we go out there. We're blessed!
Jessie and Brooke--couldn't decide which picture was cuter so lucky you get them both.
And then the rascals. . .
Yes, I know boots don't go with shorts. I can't help loving the look with my whole mama-heart.

And there, folks, is the most random post ever. Have a great one.

If These Scarecrows Could Talk

They'd say what?

Jester, My Middle Name

We got a couple new horses to GGYR this past week. Max spent the greater part of Saturday evening trying to break 'em in.

He had a little tricky trouble, but we think those flashy equines will turn out to be lovely additions to the herd.

We should have children on them in no time.