Updates

Thank you for your prayers concerning Rev. Clark. He has decided that the Lord desires him to stay where he is. He is supplying the pulpit for a small church that he feels led to stay at for now. However, good news came from this week's consistory meeting.....4 new names of men that may be interested from the Orthodox Presbyterian denomination. We're a small denomination (Reformed Church in US) with a dwindling number of pastors (due to heavy retirement in recent years) and so we are faced with some unique challenges. However, God is faithful and sovereign and we know that he has the right man out there for our congregation...and I know it will happen in His time, not mine! Anyway, please continue to pray with us as 2 of these men come in the near future to preach in our church. Pray that our congregation will be open to hearing what the Lord would have us do. Thank you again for your prayers and I will keep you posted!:)

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Emma fell off her horse during her riding lesson on Wednesday. Basically, the horse tripped and (because horses are stupid) then panicked and started jumping around and she came off. She's fine, but it was the first time she's ever fallen off....which means it's the first time my heart has ever jumped out my chest and the first time my feet ran before my head knew what they were doing. :-) However, I fought the overwhelming urge to jump the fence, scoop her up, shoot the horse in the head and go home. I let her instructor handle it.....who later told me she had all the same inclinations that I did, but fought them back for Emma's sake! Funny how moms all think the same! :-) Anyway, she got right back on and other than a little rope burn from not letting go of the reigns, no permanent damage! Plus, dad is super proud, high-fiving her and acting like a typical man about it! He has told all of his clients and friends and they all act like she's joined some kind of club and can now be accepted as a real cowgirl.....and he's been giving her pointers for telling other people, "Say you got bucked off, not fell off....it sounds better!" (Insert me rolling my eyes here!)

My Second Love, Cayucos

I absolutely love living in the country.....the solitude, the room to roam, to plant gardens, keep animals, all of it! However, if I couldn't have country, I would take Cayucos! I know, I'm such a sacrificer! :-) For everything that I love about where we live, I love Cayucos for one major difference. We don't have to get into a car the entire time we're there.....we walk (a real novelty for us country folk) everywhere: the video store, the grocery store, my morning coffee at the bakery, the park, restaurants, the library. Sometimes we walk when we don't need to...just because we can!

Seriously though, the thing that I appreciate the most about being at the beach is the way that it restores my soul. It is the one place that I can go and just be, if that makes sense. I don't have to run errands, clean house, feel productive. The girls and I go downstairs where they play for hours and hours with no complaining, arguing, screaming (except when a dog runs past Lauren) and I sit in my chair and read, listen to the waves and the girls' giggles and soak up the sunshine (or the clouds if it's overcast, I don't care). Sometimes I just watch the water and think, how can anyone doubt the existence of our Creator? "Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them" Psalm 69:34. I think of God creating the ocean, standing back and saying, "It is good" and all the while knowing that we would be created and would daily fail to recognize the beauty of it, to recognize Him in it. Thank you Lord for your creation; it is good...it is very, very good!

(Top picture: Taken from the living room where I was watching Emma play - she is the little object just above the aloe, down on the sand holding a big piece of seaweed)

Riding Lessons

Emma has, in the last several months, taken a great interest in riding horses. Emma is the kind of kid who likes to try just about anything (soccer, gymnastics, swimming) and has a great time doing whatever, but has yet to really find that one thing that she's truly passionate about. Until now. Jacob is only too happy to oblige her. He bought her a horse and then last week signed her up for riding lessons with a client of his. Today was her second lesson and she has been giddy all afternoon. She rode the instructor's horse and an English saddle (no saddle horn to hold onto) for the first time. Now she wants the outfit to match! :-)

And what did Lauren (my perfectly happy to walk, rather than ride a horse daughter who is just like her mother) do during this lesson? Feed (ahem, throw leaves at) the weanlings. Good times for everyone!