Praise God!

For my last four day break I went to Iowa with Jack and Jim and had an incredible time. We were able to spend time and encourage fellow believers, pray for those the Lord lead us to pray for and we spent time with the Marr's (Augie's family) and Johnson's. These families have taught me so much and it was such a blessing to spend time with them. Then we drove to have lunch with my cousins and their sons, and then to Wildwood Hills Ranch where I showed the guys around. After Ranch we drove to my grandparents and spend the rest of our time with them absorbing as much as we could. Watching other people appreciate my grandparents reignited the love and appreciation I have for them and it all has started making me realize how incredibly blessed I am by the people God has surrounded me with. 


All of this made returning to work at Rawhide difficult. It's not that I don't love my job- I do- but in Ames and Durant it's easy to be loved and love. I generally don't feel opposition about anything. But God didn't call me to comfort and ease, He called me to Rawhide.


These feelings lead to a stinky-stuck-in-a-rut attitude for most of my morning. Fortunately I didn't work much with the guys and my feelings weren't infiltrating their moods but I knew I wasn't glorifying God with mine. Around noon the Lord convicted me to go to prayer with other RI's so I did. Normally prayer has turned into me and Jack but this morning there was four of us there to pray and it was anointed! God used that time to show me to take the focus off of myself and return it rightfully back to Him. Shortly after prayer I worked with the guys in my house and God guided and blessed the conversations- I was able to be used to answer questions about God's righteousness that THREE of our guys had. I was able to be used to encourage one of our guys that is a believer but has been struggling. He was so encouraged he was near tears- it was absolutely incredible to watch God work...and all to think that I could have chosen to be in a stinky mood. 


Praise God His work isn't dependent on my moods. 

Field Trip!!

This afternoon Augie and I took an adventure to Wildwood- what can I say, I can't resist the place! My other motivation for the field trip was that I heard that one of my favorite ranchers, Trayvon, was there. It was absolutely incredible to see the effect that Augie had on these hurting children- they wanted to be his role model, they wanted to take care of him and show him new things! I remember one boy (last year) had no desire to be at camp and was considered a 'code Gump' (runner) for the first five hours and we had to continually chase him and bring him back from the highway and today he was excited to play with Augie, and of course, Augie is receptive to all attention. He had both boys and girls aweing over him and wanting to play with him. Even grumpy Mr. Lynn (Augie called him 'Cowboy') couldn't help but smile and giggle over what Augie was doing. Mr. Lynn offered Augie to ride one of the horses but Augie told us 'not quite yet, Augie's not quite ready' I feel this means we need to make more trips down!

They were teaching Augie how to punt it!

Augie and this boy talking about the lake and the pool

Trayvon and Augie playing catch

The picture on the left is from last year, and the one on the right from today. It's amazing to me to see how much this little boy has grown, and that he remembered me!

Pictures Blog!

Here are some pictures from my recent life:

I took Augie to Emily's fiance's farm for the day. It was a good moment because many of my childhood memories have been spent on the 4020 tractor with my dad 

Checking out the steers

At Reiman Gardens in the butterfly part

My last hangout with B before she went to camp

Ha, she got the swing AND her glove stuck on top and stubbornly asked for help

We were playing Jenga and then had a sculpture contest, of course I won! (His sculpture)

She had Kleenexes in case she got a little emotional over her loss (her sculpture)

Took Jack to Ledges and traipsed through the river

For one of my three days off I went to Wildwood and followed them around while doing staff training

Found a crawdad!

Sasha tried to jump the washout....and ALMOST made it!

One of the grossest team building activities ever- clean out the sludge from the river flooding

The beautiful sunsets at this place are one of the many reasons I love it

All Glory to God

I went to Wildwood tonight for a volunteer appreciation dinner and the entire way there and back I couldn't stop thinking about all that God has divinely lined up for me in my life. I can't even begin to put my awe into words, and the two times that I've tried I've just ended up rambling and screaming (out of excitement.) It's kind of frustrating that I can't share this feeling with others, but I'm also thinking it's pretty sweet that God and I get to have this moment together.

Tomorrow, at 2:30, I have part two of my interview process with Rawhide. Oh boy. This is all happening so quickly! Probably a good thing- God knows I get ulcers.

All of this caffeine and God-excitement is making it even MORE difficult to write my paper for feminist class that I haven't really done much for the entire semester anyway. Poop.

Picture for the day:

Obviously it's not from today, it's from a Wildwood Bounce back I went to in Dec. but this ranch has shaped me so much that I feel it's appropriate.

P.S. If you're reading this (and probably unfortunately being in my head along with me) please find time for us to hang out. I'm feeling disconnected from people.