Yes, you read the correctly, I wrote “horses.” This post Beautiful wanted dedicated to her hairy boys. It was not that long ago we had none. In fact, my bride did not care much for animals at all. They are messy, smelly, and germy (I realize that is not a word, but you get to read it anyway). She is, or was, all about neat, tidy and clean. She is now the embodiment of a 180. Yes, she still likes her neat, tidy and clean, but she also appreciates the meaning of Proverbs 14:4
“Where there are no oxen, the manger is clean, but abundant crops come by the strength of the ox”.
While we are not talking about crops or oxen, were are talking about animals and benefits. Yes, animals are messy and a lot of work. You can avoid all of that work without them, but what benefit they bring! Without them, we miss sooooo much in life. Give me a dirty trough any day! We will take the work and the joy and you can have your clean, sterile spaces. So without further ado, here are the boys, in order of appearance:
Oreo
He is the first hairy boy added to the family. Oreo is a rescue that was severely underfed when he was rescued. Princess found him and they bonded pretty quickly. He loves to please, but he is also a lazy boy and don’t even think about getting between him and his food. That is serious business! He has some training, but he will benefit from more regular work, once we get things started (more on that later).
Sundrop
He was a gift, and a princely one at that. We cannot ever repay the kindness we were shown when he was gifted to our family. He brings Beautiful so much joy it is a blessing to see. Sundrop is a Tennessee walker and he loves to do anything but walk. He will make sure you really are serious about wanting to ride, when you try to mount, but once you are up, he is a big show off. He loves to run but he loves to please as well. The whole barn knows when Beautiful has arrived and is NOT at his stall, because he will let EVERYONE know. The boy has serious lungs!
Ferdinand
A mini, and the latest addition to the family. He is co-owned with two other families and it has truly been a great experience. Co-owning anything can be a “challenge”, but everyone has been fantastic and I honestly think it as brought the ladies even closer together. More importantly owning a mini is a bit of a gamble. Like dogs, horses can have attitude in inverse proportion to their size. Not Ferdinand. He is very much like his namesake Ferdinand the bull. A sweet, quiet boy that will put up with just about anything. His first month at the barn seemed like it was the opportunity for grown women to play “dress up the doll,” but with a horse. He was, and is a great sport and puts up with it all. This boy is something special.
Beautiful’s Week
One of the things I love about my bride is that, just like her mother, she always makes life about others. Despite what she is going through, and it is a lot, she continues to remain steadfast in her desire to make like life about others. She constantly helps me reorient on what is truly important in life: people. It is truly amazing to press on with our efforts to build a therapy farm, despite this trial. I don’t know many that would continue to take on this ministry when their own needs are so great. The world needs more people like her.
This was a different week for my Bride. One of the issues with Chemotherapy is a condition known as Peripheral Neuropathy. Essentially, that is the drugs doing damage to the nerves in fingers and toes. It can be a subtle as tingling or as severe as the inability to use the fingers for simple things like, buttoning buttons, etc. Cooking is completely out for obvious reasons, which are not so obvious until someone mentions that cooking is out. Fortunately, hers has not been too bad. The pain was manageable and the numbness not severe enough that she cannot function. Because it is not debilitating, and we are getting close to the end, the doctor recommended we press on, and so we did.
This week was also special because my Beautiful had another birthday. I know at our age, they seem almost silly, but we don’t take anything for granted. It was a joy to celebrate her birth again. We look forward to as many the Lord will give us! She was able to enjoy her favorite cake and had a visit from Sweetness and the grandkids, and Princess. It was a great day for all!
Celebrating another week with you all, while we celebrated another birthday of life is a tremendous honor. We look forward to sharing about next week.
Seven on Earth 