Meet Sadie

Meet Sadie, Shane's new horse. After Merlin didn't work out, Shane was very sad.  He had hoped to develop a relationship that would allow him to go riding. Merlin was not interested in this idea and it quickly became apparent that Merlin required way more skill than Shane had. So the search for a new horse began.

Just before Christmas Shane went to look at a large draft horse but, upon seeing the older animal, he knew immediately that she was not right for him. Unfortunately (and fortunately) his desire to ride and work with another horse caused him to begin to search in earnest Craig's List and local classifieds to see what was available. Sadie was located in Benton City and he wanted to see her right away. So in the dark, Shane went to meet her. He took to her right away.

Something that he noticed immediately was that she worked very hard to keep him on even though he was wobbling all over. Another was that she could be ridden with nothing more than a halter and lead rope. What caught his attention most was her ability to stand still while people got on and off her, even when they were less than graceful.

Jen and Shane went back a few days later to double check that the initial feelings were the same in the daylight. Shane also wanted to ride her with a saddle. She did great. She is a child's horse who can carry Shane's weight. They also learned that Sadie didn't start at chainsaws and several dogs running around under her feet.

The Monday after Christmas, Sadie was brought home and Shane has been working with her or riding her whenever possible.

Sadie has become wonderful therapy for Shane. He enjoys going for little rides around the local area. He talks with her and soaks in the calm spirit she provides. Sadie seems to have a great deal of patience as he learns to be a good horseman.

So Welcome Sadie to Desert Haven Farm!

Normal Life For Maya

Life has been extremly boring lately, but there has been some highlights for me.
First, it's now 2011 and 7th grade for me. School is unbelievebly tiring, pre-algibra is hard, history is quite easy, literature is simple, spanish is entertaning, science is normal, and P.E. is exersizing. School also has a sort of make-shift choir. As for the horses, thier alright. Copper is a pain and Moriah has a cold that makes her cough and sneeze all over the barn wall ( I'm not looking forward to scrapping it off the walls).
Not much os going on because of christmas break, all I've been doing is reading books, playing with my horse, and playing video games. At the moment I'm writing seven books, but only one is progressing from the first page.
I can't wait five days till christmas. The presants under the tree don't even fit under it any more because their so big, the biggest one under the tree is for me, the next one is Liara's, and then the last biggest one is Arianna's. Like I said " Not much has been happening,"  I kind of want to read more of my book and make more cookies, so thats all for this month.

Chillin under a tree

A Christmas Carol

I love watching plays, I love the fact that every performance is different, I love being apart of the audience; encouraging the actors and actresses; and I love being able to meet them after the show. But this year I got a bee in my bonnet and spent a good portion of the year watching play after play trying to build up the courage to actually audition for one. Finally, back in September, I did. I auditioned for a role in the Prosser Community Theater's production of A Christmas Carol (arranged and directed by Rick James). The auditions where nerve-wracking, I only knew two people there and everyone else where complete strangers. I thought I looked like a complete idiot, but luckily A Christmas Carol requires a large cast and a few days the director called and said that I was going to play one of the Charity Solicitors and Caroline. For those who don't know who Caroline is (I didn't at the time), she is in the Spirit-of-Christmas-Yet-To-Come's section, she is married, has two small children, is heavily in debt to Scrooge and is overjoyed to find out he died because he was going to throw them out on Christmas day.
On the first day of practice I met the guy who was going to play Caroline's husband; I had never seen him before, he looked 19 or 20 but was actually only 17, played football and when I asked his religion he said he was an Atheist (this pretty much struck terror into my LDS heart and I probably gave him a look like a deer in the headlights, he gave me the same look when I told him I was a Mormon). Then came our scene... there are three things this scene calls for that I have never done, been in, or felt, the first is: I have never been married and I don't intend to get married for at least another five years. The second: I have never been in debt so I don't know what it feels like to be so. The third is: I have never hated someone enough to be ecstatic when I find out that they have died. It also calls for a hugs, hand holding, etc. O_o
Before this play I had hugged about two boys to my memory (I kept count), I know I'm weird, but I just don't do hugs, I like to say that I respect people's personal space. But this scene called for not just any old hug but a dear-where-have-you-been-I-am-worried-are-we-going-to-be-thrown-out-what-about-the-kids? running, resting my head on his chest sort of hug *shiver of horror*. When the director told us this he may as well have been speaking German for all that I could understand (which was absolutely nothing) and for the next 4 practices or so I yo-yo'd between football tackle hug and EEEWWW-I-really-don't-want-to-touch-you hover hug.
Before you even get to the subcategories of hugs the three main ones are: the tall person hug (given by a tall person obviously, this hug is used when the receiver of it is shorter than you are and/or in need of comfort), the friend or stunt plane hug (so called because your arms are diagonal in preparation for hug, one arm is over the receiver's shoulder, the other underneath; this is given when greeting friends no matter how tall or short they are, unless they are really short) and finally the under the shoulder hug or I need comfort hug (the name supplies the explanation). I had to re-learn how to give a hug because as I am a taller person I usually gave the tall person hug or the friend hug but give a guess which one I had to do.
I ask you, how does one practice that sort of hug? Because the first 10 to 50 or so tries where horrible and could do with some outside practice and I can guarantee that none of my friends would be all that willing (or they would and I wouldn't).
Yes, this hug business is a big thing, can't you tell?
Anyway after the initial "What have I gotten myself into?" it turned out to be a blast, everyone was really nice, I loved working with the little kids and hanging out with the adults. The other Charity Solicitor and I had a tradition that every time Scrooge said his line about "boiled in his own pudding and buried with a sprig of holly through his heart" he and I would fist bump back stage.
I really miss the friends I made during the play and I intend to start being in other plays as well. :)

Healing Gifts for the Holidays

Symbols are all around us during the holiday season, but many forget that there is something greater than Christmas trees and Candy Canes. Some things, even though they may not have started off as a powerful symbol, can become one in your life through your experience or understanding.

The Gift of Olive Oil:
Hanukkah, The Festival of Lights, dates back to the dedication of the Second Temple in Jerusalem. After expelling the Assyrians, the Jews set about purging and purifying the Temple. Part of the purifying rituals involved the lighting of the eternal flame and having it remain lit for eight days. With only one day’s worth of olive oil, it was only through faith that the flame could remain lit for the full eight days.

The Atonement and the repentance process works very much the same way. We  purge false gods (pride, greed, lust) out of the temple (our bodies) and reignite the eternal flame (our spirits).  There is no way our spirits can be eternal without the healing mercy of Jesus Christ.
Rededicating the Temple involved purifying the Priests. For those who attend temples, performing Initiatories is similar to the ancient dedication of Priests to the Most High God. For those who do not attend temples, let this be a time to rededicate yourselves to God and seek to clean your temple. What better way to prepare for the celebration of the birth of our Lord and King than to clean and rededicate our bodies?

The Gift of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh:
The Feast of the Kings (Magi), celebrated on Jan 6th, is known and celebrated more in other countries than the United States. We sometimes overlook this holiday’s importance. It appears that the magi started moving when they saw the star and traveled for around 2 years to find the Jesus. They brought three gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh. “Gold was the symbol of kingship, frankincense the offering of priests, and the oil of myrrh—“known as the ‘dew of resurrection’ —had anointed the royal high priests after the order of Melchizedek and transformed them into sons of God.”1 My understanding is that the magi were announcing to the world that this child WAS the Anointed King and High Priest through their symbolic gifts.

The Gift of Jesus Christ:
The birth, life and death of Jesus Christ presents us with the bridge to immortality, the example of how to live a completed life and the sacrifice to pay for the sins we have committed. This gift gives us the opportunity to not only live beyond this life but the means to return to our Father and live in His glory.
Each of the above gifts can be used for healing. Olive oil for the blessing of the sick, frankincense for washing the body and myrrh for calming the stomach. Gold (money) is for giving hope to the poor. The gift of Jesus Christ cannot be symbolized in any one thing and, while we can proclaim the Healing power of Jesus Christ, it is only He that can offer this gift to you.
So it is my hope that you may take these gifts and heal yourself and others from the pains that this world may put upon you.

1: Line Upon Line: Adam, Eve, and the Three Wise Men of the Nativity by Jeffery M Bradshaw PhD

Winter Ball 2011

On Saturday I went to my first formal dance!
I know it's a dumb dream, but I've always wanted to go to a school dance and have that experience so I could say "yes, I did it and I had fun," and I actually got to do it!
Winter Ball is a girl-ask-guy dance, so way back in October I asked Kaleb (sitting to my right) if he would go with me. A plate of cookies was left in his car with the message/invitation on the plate. He replied by leaving a balloon filled with shaving cream in my car, which contained a little note that said "Yes!"
Alana (on my left) was on board with this whole plan so there was lots of giggling and girl talk about how fun it would be. She later asked Bradley (far left) to go as her date and the four of us would go together.
I made my dress during the week leading up to the dance. (I actually just barely finished about a half hour before leaving for dinner...). It did not turn out as flattering as I had hoped but it was really pretty all the same.
Pinning on the boutonnieres and corsages was certainly entertaining. I got his on all right but it took forever to get mine on, and it was so funny watching him struggle to pin that silly little thing onto my dress. I'm currently in the process of pressing mine so it will last.
We started by having dinner at Alana's house with Lance (far right) and his cousin (2nd right). This was simultaneously very formal and romantic-like--Christmas music in the background, candle-lit table, waitresses in matching aprons--and hysterically funny because of our adorable waitresses (Alana and Bradley's little sisters) who were super serious about the whole thing and wanted it to be perfect, and the fact that regardless of the setting, we are still ourselves and therefore talked about random and pointless things like what would happen if you puked while skydiving.
The dance itself was alright. They played a lot of both rap and gangster music which was weird (yes, they were two different kinds) and hard to dance to. But, we made the rest of the people there hate us or love us by secretly clipping clothes-pins to them while they were not paying attention. Towards the end, Lance was crowned as one of the senior princes and then we all went back to Alana's house to have desert and play games.
At the very end of the night's activities Alana and I took our dates home (which I know sounds strange but her parents felt that because it was girl-ask-guy we should be the drivers). I gave Kaleb a goodnight kiss on the cheek; he was not expecting that but he grinned and seemed to like it. Everything we did that night was a first for both of us: first date, first school dance, first time a girl ever kissed him, first time I ever kissed a boy on the cheek. It was a great experience and I had an absolute blast!

Service at Jubilee

For the past month I have volunteered at Jubilee Ministry for three hours every Tuesday. Jublilee is a multi-church organi-zation that sells second hand donations to help support a food bank.


I started volunteering as part of a treatment plan I wrote for myself last year. But I really do enjoy helping the older ladies with hefting boxes and loading furniture into cars.

I have to confess, though, my favorite task is doing "pulls." This is pulling items that have been on the racks for three months or more. It really satisfies my sorting needs and it is something that doesn't appear to get done often.

I think the lady volunteers like me being around to do the heavy work mostly.But after a lady tried to steal a table and I was able to show a rather LARGE presence they seemed to like that too.

Of course it is also very fun to find different items for great prices. I got this great clock for $1.50. We didn't know how to work it right away and thought it was broken. But then we found out what we were doing wrong and found that it is a wonderful working tick-tock clock.

Christmas Lights

When Shane get into the Christmas spirit, he doesn't think the season is complete until he buys at least a hundred dollars worth of lights and extension cords.

This year's additions were colored lights around the tops of the barrels lining the driveway and lighting the barn, complete with star.

Who knows? Maybe next year we'll have lights on our bridge or even along the pasture fence.