Good and Bad

A lot has happened since my last installment. September 6th, we celebrated our 5th anniversary by going out for dinner in town. Nothing too fancy but a nice steak was great! Hard to believe that 5 yrs has come and gone so fast!

The following Friday, we drove to Worland, WY. We had gotten a promotional flier in the mail about a car sale and we had won a prize, so we went down to claim it, hoping it was the grand prize of $30,000. It wasn't but we did get a $300 gas voucher. Oh, and we bought a new car! Something we both didn't really plan on doing, but we knew that our sunfire was going to need some much needed, expensive repairs and eventual replacement. So we took one for a test drive and went in to check prices. We walked out twice and every time they came back with a better offer. (of course they would) So we walked out of there with a great deal on a 2004 Chrysler Pacifica with 50,000 miles! Yes, it looks like a small mini van but they call it a "sports wagon". We've gotten some jabs about the new "family car" but you know what? It's roomy, comfortable and in much better shape than the previous. What's really funny is that on paper, they "gave" us $8500 for our car that had 183,000 miles and was only worth $900! So good bye little sunfire!

On a sad note, Jason had to put down his horse on Monday. I went to check on them and he was sweaty, rolling and kicking really bad. A sign of colic that can be deadly. We don't know how long it had been going on but it was a not a pretty sight. I got him out to walk him around and he would keep rolling every so often. Jason got there and I told him he needed to do something because he was suffering. He said it was the hardest thing he's had to do. It's always worse when it's your own instead of someone else's.

If you'll refer to 3 stories down, Jason was given another horse in case Cole didn't make it. So Saber has joined our little remuda with Emma. Saber is twice the size of my little mare and just a big goober. He's kind of the goofy kid in class and just a giant! We took him on a ride with our friend's Quin and Tracy and their son Gavin. Gavin was riding infront of Jason and pulled on a branch and most of the dead tree fell down in front of Saber and he just stopped and stood there! It didn't spook him at all. He's only had a couple of rides but he acts like he's dead broke. Jason just needs to fine the gas pedal on him, he's not too fond of running yet.

And thanks for all those that have been praying for us. Jason has had an abundance of work lately which has been an answer to a lot of prayers. The biggest job so far is to trim out 3 houses for a subdivision for a company from Casper. The division is 2 blocks from our house. They are behind on their schedule and still have 30 more homes to build. Hopefully everything will go well and they'll keep him for the rest.

This weekend I head to Billings with some women from church and friends from Meeteetse. We're going to see Beth Moore, she writes a lot of bible studies and we're doing one right now on Daniel. It should be a good time.

A Wet Labor Day Weekend

This last weekend was pretty uneventful for us, but it was nice to just hunker down at home and say warm. It was a cool and rainy weekend for the holiday. Saturday, we went down to Western Frontiers (CWAM) to take some of the new students in the DTS (discipleship training school) up to a deserted town in the mountains, called Kerwin. It's an hour drive on some rough roads and we had maybe 10 people in our pickup. Yes, we piled them in the back of the truck.
To drive to Kerwin, you must pass through Meeteetse. Labor day is the big party weekend for Meeteetse and with that, there is always a crowd of people driving/4-wheeling up to Kerwin. There were quite a few vehicles in the parking area when we arrived. We got out and walked around and showed the students some of the abandoned buildings and the mine. Had some lunch and decided to find some water falls that friend's of Jason, found on his DTS 7 years ago! Where has the time gone. We head off along the river, and I followed the 2 track road, but then was coaxed to follow the group along the river. Having to cross the river and soak your shoes is not the best feeling but we made it. We kind of had to find or make our own path up in the brush, not even knowing if we were headed in the right direction. We did find the falls after a couple of minutes. Some of the kids, (when I say kids I mean late teens, which I'm not anymore) climbed down the steep sides of the mountain and crossed to the other. Jason and I tried another route and came to a shallower crossing. Trying to not get too wet, Jason jumped and got soaked to his knees. He told me to jump and held his hand to catch me. The river was wider than my leg span and I knew I was going to get wet. I jumped and slipped on a slimy rock, twisted in the air and landed on my back in the middle of the river. I was soaked up to my chest and in not a very good mood. Wet jeans are not the most comfortable to walk in. Every garment I was wearing was wet. I was not impressed. I headed for the truck to wait out the group. They caught up and we found some wild raspberries and currants to snack on. My mood was slowly changing as the breeze started to dry my clothes. At least Saturday was a nice weather day.
We headed back to the base and Heidi Lancaster made us some spaghetti and we hung out with them for the rest of the evening. There was a rumor going around that there was a street dance that night, so the students wanted to go to that, only it was Sunday night and not Saturday. So we went out with Kurt and Heidi to a local hangout.
Sunday, was a the first time in a long time that we skipped church. We got home late the night before and slept past 9. Jason didn't want to go to church so we opted to stay home. Our friend's Jon and Sheila called us and said they were cooking prime rib, so we had them over for supper. It was really good. Monday was a cool, rainy day. One of those days you don't want to get out of bed or out from under the covers. I was in a chili and soup mood, so that's what I made and we curled up on the couch for a very long movie.

Whether it was raining out or I was falling in the river, it made for a "refreshing" weekend.