This post is for my friend Rachel <3 Today is her 21st Birthday. I miss her very much and I wish I was back home in MI to give her a big hug !!!!!!!!

Over the years I have lost many friends, and Rachel has been one of the only ones to always stay steadfast, no matter what comes our way. I thank God for Rachel, she is a great inspiration to me, and I greatly admire her sweet, teachable spirit.

I love you Rachel!!!! may God bless you richly in this coming year!!!


Happy Birthday!

Love and hugs,
~Nique

This is JoJo, He is a 23 yr old Thoroughbred gelding. I've been working him once a week for my boss, JoeMike Johnson at Triple H .

This is Nickers, she belongs to Mr. Krause . She had some bad training a little while ago, and
he brought her back to Triple H to get some rehab. She is a sweet girl :)
These are my littlest ones <3 Rusty & Stoney. (nickers stuck her head in for fun)
Rusty and Stoney are Clydesdales.
They love visits and carrots.... Carrots mostly ;)
And this is my Z! ZiZi is a Percheron/Quarter Horse mare. Her owner is Mrs. Peggy Krause.
I ride Z for Miss Peggy.
She is working on taming her "Free Spirit" to be content with being a quiet trail horse.
Zizi is amazing to ride, she has so much heart.

This is JoJo today, at the end of our riding session, giving me a beautiful collected trot
with counter bend. This takes great skill and patience. JoJo is trying so hard!
JoJo always gives me a little YEHAW!!! Evry time we ride, just to make sure I don't get bored ;)
The key is to stay calm, and wait for him to put all 4 feet on the ground again (literally)
No matter how tired I am, I always end on a good note. Its well worth the extra time:)
Anyways, this is just a glimpse of a few of the horses I work with.

Adios!
~Jill

This post if for my awesome brother Ryan :) Today is his 15th Birthday!! I am so proud of the way he chooses to follow God, and how he is always so encouraging to me. This passage is for you Ryan!! Keep up the good fight!


Proverbs 3

¹My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments:

²For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee.

³Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:

⁴So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.

⁵Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

⁶In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

⁷Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.

⁸It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

⁹Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:

¹⁰So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

¹¹My son, despise not the chastening of the LORD; neither be weary of his correction:

¹²For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.

¹³Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding.

¹⁴For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold.

¹⁵She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her.

¹⁶Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour.

¹⁷Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.

¹⁸She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her.

¹⁹The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

²⁰By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.

²¹My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion:

²²So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck.

²³Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble.

²⁴When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet.

²⁵Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh.

²⁶For the LORD shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken.

²⁷Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it.

²⁸Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee.

²⁹Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee.

³⁰Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm.

³¹Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.

³²For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

³³The curse of the LORD is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.

³⁴Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly.

³⁵The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.

Happy 15th Birthday, little (taller) brother!!!!

Your sis,

* Sparkles*

hey everyone!!!!

2 Fridays ago we had our monthly hymn sing with a few families from BCA. (Boerne Christian Assembly) Some of the little boys discovered the giant basket of Lincoln logs... This is Josiah Hyslop and his log home I built.


Ah, I dearly love a cottage, complete with 2 horses of course! This is the house I built for myself :) I was Josiah's nearest neighbor. He had my little cowboy dude over for some burgers. MMMMM!!

Behold Isobella Grady, infant phenomenon! Someone gave her a violin,and I grabbed a camera!
Josiah is my little buddy <3 onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJzsLSCnRRUV5LvAngabtBpkBdw4KbR2H_8RaEbRyjJzSNL6cdoTp2_lsOYI2GYSVcroOnCEIueCAJy5niDtUTq9_1_47DQweC1SJ0t3sGesUEx1GtyCh03IegXRs0PvHvsUzXk-Mxow/s1600-h/IMG_7380.JPG">And this little one is Gracianna Hope Hyslop. I held her when she was a newborn :) I can't believe how much these precious ones grow :'(

So, there's a post 2 weeks late :)

laters!
~Jill

So, I dug myself into a nice huge crater the size of Alaska a few days ago by telling my Grampa during his hospital visit "If you're good for the doctor, when we get home I'll make you a strawberry rhubarb pie!" That is his favorite kind. My word!!! I don't bake pies!!! Unless sorely provoked... The last pie I made was also a strawberry rhubarb pie, and that was in September 2 years ago, after my Grampa had major cancer surgery.

Rule NO. 1
If all else fails, Grandfathers can always be persuaded with pie... Actually any guy can (I think...)

LOL! Anyways, yeah! So, the only problem with telling my Grampa that, was that I forgot rhubarb actually has a growing season... which starts around July...
And it happens to be April.

Instructions for use:
Put foot in mouth. Bite down hard.

Rule No.2
NEVER... I mean ALWAYS check to make sure pie filling of choice is in season before offering it to a man.

So, Annick's free spirit brain begins to spin "how in the world am I going to get out of this mess..." Here I promised my Grampa something that isn't even growing yet. That is really bad! it will break his heart if he doesn't get it.

Weyall....
I started wondering if it was possible to substitute something for the rhubarb, that was similar in taste, texture, etc.

(snicker)Heh heh heh... Guess what I came up with?

Yep, CELERY!!!!!
Peeled really well, boiled in lemon juice with a few strawberries, until it turns pinkish... then drained and mixed with the strawberries and some sugar. Tada!!!! It really does look &taste like rhubarb... I think (not that I really know)

So, the humor of the situation is that my Grampa is legally blind. So, I'm hoping he won't be able to tell the difference between rhubarb and what-annick-decided-to-put-in-the-pie. Yes.

Now, I'm just hoping that my Grampa will just eat the pie and say "It's good..." Just like usual. What I'm dreading is this " why does the pie taste weird?"

Oh brother... This is going to be bad... Perhaps I should not give up my day job. For real!!!!

Guess I'll tell you later what happened ;)

Until then,
Don't fall off the edge of your chair!!

~Jill (I'll post a picture of the scary pie later...)

Greetings, my fellow Americans :)