August 2010

Click HERE for the prize list to our August 7 horse show. Remember to enter by noon on Wednesday. The show will be in memory of my wonderful husband Chuck. August 7 is his birthday.

I was just reading the July and August diary from last year, 2009. WOW - it is interesting to see what can happen in a year. It's interesting to see what can happen in a minute. Our lives can change so drastically. We need to always be grateful for what we have at that moment.

Hope is a powerful thing. Hope in God will get you through any challenge you face and though life may take you through disappointments, it will never leave you there. Problems and trials help us develop endurance and character. This week Joel Osteen wrote about hope. He said that "no matter how much faith you have or how good of a person you are, sooner or later, something or someone is going to shake your faith to its foundations." He said "that's why it's important to realize in advance that disappointments will come, so you can learn how to go through them instead of allowing them to be the end of your story. The Bible says to "rejoice" whenever we run into problems and trials. It doesn't mean to love the problems. It means that problems give us opportunity to go deeper in our understanding of how much God loves us and how powerful the hope He's put in our hearts truly is. Living without hope threatens your future. You must make the decision to move on. God wants to do more than you can ask or think or imagine in your life. He wants to overwhelm you with His goodness. But you must put your hope in Him. Simply ask God to fill you with hope today."

The Middleburg Classic timetable, entry blank and donor list is posted on the web site at www.middleburgclassic.com.

Several new horses and ponies moved into the barn this weekend. We have a couple more moving in in a few weeks. We are almost out of stalls. PRAISE GOD !!!

Keep Sally, her son Nick and his two children in your prayers. They do the concession and smoothie stand at our Amazing Grace Stable horse shows - and some of the "A" shows. They were in a terrible car accident on Route 58 near Franklin yesterday. I just spoke with Nick and it sounds like they are blessed to be alive. Apparently the driver of a car heading the opposite direction lost control and ran into them head on. Nick said that if his mom hadn't swerved out of the way that they would have probably all been killed. So praise God for that protection. Sally got the worst of it with a broken wrist, broken ribs, a head injury and I think Nick said a punctured lung. They all had some sort of injuries, but fairly minor compared to Sally. So please send lots of prayers their way. I am totally speculating here - but I wonder if the driver was text messaging. PLEASE DON'T TEXT MESSAGE WHILE DRIVING. It is sooooooo dangerous.

I'm at home today, feeling a bit under the weather. And - speaking of weather - we got some rain today, praise God !!! Boy has it been dry.

Boy did we have a terrible storm last night. It came out of no where. We even had a tree down across our driveway at my house. Hunter and Wheeler had to come move it out of the way. And rain - lots of rain - thank God. I'm hoping we are going to be able to have the horse show because the ring sure took a beating. But we'll make a decision around noon today.

Welcome to the world baby C.C. - Lucy's little brother. He was born yesterday, around 5 or so. The last couple of months of being pregnant are hard enough, but poor Sarah had to deal with this ridiculous heat we've had this summer. I felt so bad for her. But that didn't slow her down a bit. She even had an amazing garage sale last weekend. We were blessed by it and bought all sorts of wonderful things. So CONGRATULATIONS Sarah and Lucy. I know little Mr. C.C. is going to be a total blessing to everyone.

We are postponing our show until next Saturday - August 14. The storm last night made the ring a "little" too wet so we will be better off waiting. So we hope to see you then.

1 Peter 5:7 I will cast my cares, my anxieties and worries on him. For he cares for me affectionately and watchfully.

We have been so blessed at the barn with the wonderful people in our lives. Brittany and Agita have been living with me now for almost a year and I love having them here. They are wonderful. And now Barb, Lettie and Shawn are here and they are a blessing as well. Barb cooks something yummy for dinner almost every night, and the kids are a major blessing out at the barn.

Ryann and Hunter are excited about their new house. They are buying a condo at Eagle Harbor, about three minutes from the barn. They will hopefully close and be able to move in around the first of September.

Sally's son Nick called tonight and gave me an update. Sally is doing a little better and they are moving her into rehab for a while. Nick's son has some brain damage that the doctor's are expecting a full recovery from. Poor Nick has sure been through it. He is such a nice young man. Then - to make matters worst, they have to move out of their house on August 28. I feel soooo bad for them. So, it's possible that it will work out for them to move into the house trailer when Ryann and Hunter move. Isn't God's timing amazing. Please keep them in your prayers.

Summer Camp #2 started today and the kids all had a blast. It was "hard work" from start to finish - and quite warm outside. This camp is geared more to what goes on at a barn each day - from grooming the horses, riding, tack cleaning and yep - stall cleaning !!! Hey, that's what gets done - everyday at the barn.

I got some sad news today. Jack Schock, one of the founding board members of the Middleburg Classic, passed away. Jack was quite instrumental in getting the Middleburg Classic started - and even though he was no longer on the board, I often credit him for many of the wonderful things about the show. It was Jack who convinced us to get the white peak patrons' tent - which in my opinion is one of the beautiful parts of the show. He sponsored the scoreboard the first year we had it. He also helped get many of the beautiful trophies donated to the show. I am sorry to hear this sad news.

"In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before You and wait in expectation"
(Psalm 5:3, NIV).

TODAY'S WORD from Joel and Victoria

In the Bible, David was called a man after God's own heart. He knew God and saw incredible miracles throughout his life. But notice in this verse what David did. He set the tone for His whole day by spending time with the Lord every morning. It didn't matter what was going on his life, David had his priorities set. Even though he was mistreated by his family, manipulated, made fun of, hunted down by King Saul, and even made some major mistakes on his own, David realized that each morning held the promise of new hope.

Just like David, if you'll make spending time with God a priority in your life, you will see Him move mightily on your behalf. Make it a habit to seek Him first every single day. No matter what is happening, seek Him in the morning. Let Him set the tone for your day and set you on the course for victory in every area of your life!

A PRAYER FOR TODAY

Heavenly Father, I choose to put You first in everything that I do. I choose to set the tone of my day by starting it with You. Draw me close to You and empower me by Your Spirit to fulfill the dreams and destiny that You have placed within me. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

We have the neatest group of kids at Summer Camp. As I said earlier, this one is more geared to taking care of the horses and the barn. And they LOVE IT !!! Plus we are having Bible Studies and we spend a few minutes each day talking about God and Jesus.

Today Jessica (one of the councilors) gave the Bible Study, and at the end she had all the kids say something nice about the person next to them. It was a great way to get them thinking about being kind. Then - one of the little girls asked "how do you talk to God?" WOW - what a great question and what a great door opener to talk about prayer and how powerful it is. With that, Ryann told the wonderful story about Reese. That is one of the most amazing stories about answered prayer.

Ryann's first experience with God answering her prayers was when she was three years old. We lived in Yorktown, and our dog Sophia had wandered away from the house. Sophia was old and she was a very special dog to us. She was an Italian Greyhound, and they are very thin skinned with little hair. She was usually cold and slept in the bed under the covers. It frightened me to death to think about her being outside at night. For five days Chuck and I searched the area. We had reward posters up everywhere. The game warden and all the vets in the area knew she was missing. It was terrible. So, when I had pretty much given up hope, I was laying across the bed crying. Ryann came in and asked me why I was crying and I told her because I was so worried about Sophia. I told her to pray and ask God to help us find her. With that, she got down on her little knees, and said a very simple, childlike prayer for Jesus to please bring Sophia home. Five minutes later the phone rang and it was the game warden calling to say he had a call that may be about our dog. The rest is history, and Sophia lived another three years or so. Answered prayer - from the simplest asking of a small child. God is soooooo good.

Before lunch, Davian offered to say the blessing. It was heartfelt, and bold. Ryann and I told him how blessed we are to have him at our Summer Camp and how God was going to use him in amazing ways. He is a precious young man. It takes a lot of courage for someone to pray in front of a group, especially a young man. Damian touched all our hearts today.

I am so grateful to our wonderful God for all the blessings we have in our lives. I am surrounded by the best friends anyone could ever hope for.

Please let us know today if you are planning to show on Saturday. Right now we don't have enough entries to justify holding the show. We will decide this afternoon.

The Middleburg Classic prize list is posted on the website at www.middleburgclassic.com. It's a big file and takes a few minutes to open. If you would like me to mail you one drop me your address in an email at middleburg@aol.com.

I can't believe that summer is almost over and the kids are getting ready to go back to school. We have the greatest group of kids at the barn. It's a busy place. And an amazing place for them to spend their days. What a great atmosphere for kids to be in, and wonderful role models for them to be around. Kids today have soooooo many negative influences in their lives. From the music they listen to, to the television shows and movies they watch, to all the horrible things they have easy access to on the internet. And when I see these kids spending their days at the barn, with the wonderful horses, in a good wholesome environment, it just does something to my heart. God is sooooooo good. We are so grateful to Him for all He does in our lives everyday. And it's always exciting to see what each day has in store.

This is the last day of Summer Camp 2 and all seventeen of us are in the lounge while Jessica is leading Bible study. She is talking about about how "our friends can change, our circumstances can change, but God never changes. He is always the same. He will never fail us. God will always provide stability in our unstable, temporary world. Jesus is the strongest foundation in the universe." She read and gave scripture, and some of the kids had their Bibles and their own scriptures they wanted to share. It was WONDERFUL !!! Todd from "What's Cookin" brought us his delicious Bar-B-Que and he blessed us with a little inspiration and encouraging word. He told the kids to "always try to stand out in the crowd and be the kid who does the right thing. He said to wake up each morning and put on the armor of God and to do what is right and not what the rest of the crowd is doing.

It has been a wonderful day and a wonderful week. Thank you God for our amazing blessings.

There will be a memorial service for Jack Schock on Thursday, August 19 at 11 am at Emmanual Episcopal Church on 105 W. Washington St. in Middleburg. A reception will immediately follow at The Blackthorn Inn & Restaurant, 10087 John S. Mosby Highway, Upperville, VA.

Wow - I can't believe how long it's been since I've written here. It has been busy, busy, busy.

Last Friday night Brittany, Ryann and I went to see Joel Osteen at Norfolk Scope and it was AMAZING !!! I watch and/or TIVO Joel every Sunday morning and I absolutely love him. He is so positive and uplifting. He is the preacher of HOPE. He is so annointed and such a wonderful man of God. Well the whole night was beyond our expectations. It was truly amazing. It was similar to the TV show but with a lot of extras. Their Praise and Worship group is incredible. The whole night was incredible. I'm soooooo glad we were able to fit it into our ridiculously busy lives. Oh - and when we got to Scope we were GIVEN the tickets. It did not cost us one dollar to get it. God truly blessed us.

Praise God for "Doc", Shawn and Barb !!! They are such an amazing blessing to us. Doc is the true example of diligent !!! And he's the true example of answered prayer. There are a few things around the barn that need "tending to" that are too big for Ryann, the kids or me. They are "Chuck" projects. So - the other day I prayed that God would bring someone to help us. A few days later Barb told me about her wonderful friend Doc, and he has been an unbelievable blessing to us. And Shawn has been his helper and a wonderful blessing to us as well. God is so faithful. And Ryann and I are so grateful.

may the LORD turn His face toward you and grant you peace." Numbers 6:22 - 27