Meeting Lucky

Yesterday was the day that the girls have been waiting for for months now. They got to meet Lucky! Lucky is a "pony" (who is rather large for a pony) that Grandpa Dale is borrowing from its owner for the summer, or longer, probably as long as Grandpa wants to keep him. He is 20 years old and very gentle. He loves to eat carrots and apples. Grandma Jo already has him spoiled! Lucky has been rather unlucky as his previous owner didn't take very good care of him and has been neglected. His hooves are so long that he can barely walk! Grandpa is going to ask the Amish neighbors who they get to take care of their horses hooves. We are hoping that is not too late to help him. If they get so bad, there is nothing that can be done for his feet.

In keeping with their personalities, Haley wasn't shy and marched right up and fed him carrots and apples, and Mikayla hung back and had to be prompted to pet or feed him. She eventually warmed up and spent lots of time out in the barn with him. When she didn't know I was there, I "caught" her just talking up a storm to him. And like the first picture shows she eventually got on his back, but that didn't last long, as she was pretty scared. They don't have a saddle yet, but his owner says that he is so gentle you can ride him bare back, therefore we just have a rug thrown over his back.

The girls spent all 7 hours petting Lucky, jumping on the trampoline, checking out the neighbors pond watching the frogs jump, and swinging. It was truly a wonderful day! When we got home I put Haley right to bed (after a bath of course, you could barely see her feet from all the dirt, because of course you can't wear shoes outside in the summer) and she was "out" almost before prayers were said.

We had quite a few storms last night so eventually both girls and both dogs were sharing a bed with me. We are supposed to get more storms today so our plans to go to the pool are off. Tonight we are going to Godfather's Pizza with Kris, Bill and Mackenzie Dawkins and then hopefully if it doesn't rain too much our churches softball game.

Mikayla has informed me that she misses Jenna. She said, "I miss fighting with her!" Oh boy, look what I have to look forward to when Jenna returns on Monday. Jeff and Jenna both return on Monday as Jeff is in Indiana right now (Wed.-Mon.) at a "boot camp" for church planters. Most of the church planters in attendance are either just starting out or are thinking about starting a church so much of the information he already knows, but it is a good refresher. He is exhausted he says. He will drive from Anderson, Indiana (the boot camp is on the campus of Anderson University) to Goshen and pick up Jenna late Sunday night and then they will come home on Monday.

Many of you have asked about an update on Jenna, here is a email that I got from my sister this past Wed. when she went to pick up her son Quinn from camp:

Leah said...
"I had a "Jenna sighting" tonight when we picked up Quinn!! She looked so fresh and clean. I guess all the girls took showers...with their swimming suits on. Jenna said she didn't really think she needed to change into clean underwear though... so she just put her old ones back on. Ha!!! ...seems she's learned a few tricks from Madison (who assured me that she changed her underwear after her shower!). She's happy, healthy and says she's gotten lots of mail and has had to sing at lunch the last 2 days. She said, "My mom must of told every person she knows in the world that I was going to camp!" "

Thanks to all of you that have sent mail to her!

Have a good one!

p.s.-Jeff- The girls say hello and they miss you. At 4:30 a.m. during the thunderstorms here, Mikayla, also in keeping with her personality, was very concerned that you were somewhere safe from the storms! I assured her you were. :)