Today..

..a riding arena flooded with two feet of water..

My sister Mary and several volunteers frantically digging a trench to drain it..tiny teenage girl volunteers with nerves of steel..a fifty-foot long trench through the arena, roundpen, pasture..

Sporadic rain from ominous grey skies slowing their progress, most of them barefoot, up to their knees in mud...

Prayers lifted to God from many people asking for the weather to clear quickly..

Determined but weakening diggers rescued by a godsend with a Bobcat who carves a deep trench through the mud...for the next two hours the volunteers use shovels to keep the water moving through the trench..

A long pipe is found and laid in the trench, covered with gravel, packed with dirt, creating a permanent solution to the arena's chronic flooding problem...

more students arrive..

staff directing as horses are bathed, manes combed, tails braided, coolers carried down, the information tent is set up, sound system checked, fences are mended...

more rain..

more prayers..

a hole in the clouds forms above the farm, the sun comes out in brilliance, a strong breeze dries the damp ground...

the arena that was too dangerous to ride in is finally ready for the students to practice, and they do - quickly..

soon the hill is dotted with a dozen people, then scores, finally 175...

True Vine Equestrian Center's Annual Outreach has started.

Two trumpets split the air as a flag drill is seamlessly executed by two of the student volunteers who were earlier covered in mud...

The star of the costume parade is "Miss Dottie White", who is painted all over with brightly colored polka-dots, ridden by her young owner and TVEC student, also painted with dots..

Kaylie, Lauren stun the audience with their riding skills as they glide over three-foot jumps on Paco & Murphy..

Courtney makes the audience gasp as she finishes her cloverleaf drill on Pepper at a dead gallop and he bucks..they don't know that's normal for him, or how fearless Courtney is..

a reporter & a photographer from the Kalamazoo Gazzette covering the event..

each student gets introduced, praised as they show off what they've learned this year..

Justin gives his best demonstration *ever* with Duke and Aslan, using them to communicate truth about God and us..

Kids riding the "bucking bronco", a blue barrel with a western saddle that has become a legend in town..no way can you stay on for eight seconds..

kids hurled off the bronc into big piles of hay..laughing

lassos flying, landing empty..teenage boys showing each other up..

dozens of children waiting to get their faces painted..spiderman, turtles, butterflies, horses..lots of horses..

at the end of the day, tired/exhausted/completely happy people sitting around the bonfire talking about what God had done..

but He wasn't done.


Justin and I have been car-less for weeks. It's been stressful, unavoidable, ill-timed. Generosity from great friends who have lent us their truck made it workable..still stressful.

Justin walked up the hill to help one of the True Vine board members jump her battery. One of Mom's best friends, she also attends our church. Five minutes later, he had started her car, and she had given us one.

A red sports car. It needs work, but *much* less than our other vehicles need. It is beautiful. I've never had a car you could call beautiful. We went to her home to see it, and her husband gave us 18 eggs from his free range hens..and venison..and vine-ripened tomatoes from her garden..

They didn't know we needed food. This week was tight, and payday's tommorow, and those were exactly the staples we needed. God takes such good care of us.

In the middle of the event, I turned to see two faces I have missed for almost two years. Brian Kopps and Angie Erickson were two students from our youth group in Muskegon. We were so close, those kids stole our hearts and it was incredibly painful to have to leave them. They surprised us with their visit, and it absolutely made our day/week/summer! Brian & Angie, if you're reading this(and you'd better be since I gave you the address), we loved seeing you today - you still have our unconditional love!

Visits from long-lost friends are the *best* kind of surprises.
And red sports cars aren't bad either.

Today was like a present from God, starting with a catastrophe(flood) that became a blessing(drain field), stacked with countless more before the day was done...thanks, Daddy.