A Bright Interruption

 We interrupt these posts of consecutive long past events to bring you a recent sunset... 

I hope you enjoy it half as much as I did!

The sun is such a magnificent part of God's incredible creation. It's dangerous, yet needed. Without it we couldn't live here, and God in his infinite wisdom placed us at just the right distance from it, so we could do just that. Live on this planet Earth.

The sun though, as with most things God created, isn't purely useful. It's beautiful. God is a person of beauty, and I believe He created us to appreciate, emulate and live out that beauty, especially as he expresses Himself in Creation. And the sun, when it touches things with it's warm glow, can make them look more beautiful, or really, make us appreciate the true beauty of them. And the sun does that most poignantly when it is setting, slipping out of view beneath the horizon, yet highlighting the beauty of the world it is leaving behind. 

We should do the same. 

I recently heard someone rant about people raving about sunsets and how the colors were simply an optical illusion; that they weren't even really there. And how this person didn't understand, and was slightly frustrated with people who would "lose their minds" over a simple optical illusion.  Well, I really don't know the whole scientific explanation behind it. And maybe I'm simple and naive, and like to pretend that it's actually God (or maybe angels) that paint the sunsets. 

But if that is true, that it is really an optical illusion.. Wow. I'm speechless, and all the more stunned! If the colors really aren't there, I am all the more in awe and astounded at my God, that not only does He cause the sun's rays to hit off the clouds as it's setting in such a way to reflect off them to our eyes.. but that He somehow created our eyes to receive that and translate it into awe dropping beautiful masterpieces of color?!?! 

Either way. That's something worth "losing my mind" over.

The Evening is such a lovely time (I might just prefer the 1/2 an hour right before dawn,,, but it's close) There's something peaceful, tranquil and reflective about it, if only we let ourselves feel it. If we stop and breathe for a second and let ourselves realize what's happening, the setting sun might just  let us glance back at the day, and help remind us to finish well. No matter what's gone before. 

It also has Biblical significance, this "cool of the day". It's when God walked with Adam and Eve in Eden. We might not live in Eden, and our world might be fallen, yet there still are little pearls of order and beauty to grasp. 

 We might be busy, and might not have the time to spend a half an hour wandering the woods watching the sun set like I did (for the first time in months!) but we can take a moment, and we can think, and commune while we are busy. We may not even have a woods to seek refuge in, the sun can be just as good of a reminder reflecting in our rearview mirror. And truly just as breathtaking. 

So let the sun remind you to finish well, and walk with God, as your day sets.

There. This reflective interruption is over! We will return to your normal programming of the past happenings/catch up of the Sauve's and their Liberty Oak Farm as soon as possible!

I hope you all are enjoying this lovely milder weather!

God bless!

~Chs

Banbury Happenings

I'm gonna jump back a few weeks chronologically from the last post and share some of the fun events Faith and I helped out with at Banbury, the therapeutic Horse barn we volunteer and work at.  In August, Banbury has a Day camp for three days which is, oh so much fun!

Each day includes a rotation of Horse back riding, Crafts, Barn management, a fun group game, and everyone's favorite time - Special guests!

Each day the 45 min riding time is different and fun. If it was nice outside we went on lovely trail rides, and on the rainy days we did fun horse back games and obstacle courses in the indoor arena.

On Monday the special guest were my ducklings! They were around 3 days old, the perfect age, cuddly, sweet, adorable. The "campers" and staff/volunteers alike loved holding them, and we also got to let them swim around in a horse trough to show off!!

Marcia, one of our amazing co-volunteers, does a fabulous job with crafts every year! This year we had decorated frames (with a photo of them with their horse in it!) boxes, decorated pots with flowers in them, and much more!

For the second day our Golden Retriever, Miss Shine, came to visit! Shine lived at Banbury with Grace when Grace was the Barn manager there, so a lot of the campers knew and loved her and were so happy to see her again! Shine's birthday was the following Monday, so everyone sang Happy Birthday to her and colored "birthday cards" for her! :)

On one of the days the activity, after doing a fabulous job sweeping the barn floors, was getting to color whatever the wanted with chalk on the floor. There were some pretty wonderful pieces of artwork decorating the floor!

The last days special guests definitely took the cake!!! And were the favorite. Our friends the Thompson's brought their Husky puppies. So much cuteness! I think the volunteers were just as thrilled as the campers to get to play with puppies.

So another fun Banbury Day Camp in the books!! 

The next activity at Banbury was the annual Horse show.

This year the theme was the Detroit Tigers.  It was a warm wonderful day! At the Horse Show the riders get to show off their accomplishments to their family and friends. They each get a trophy and a ribbon, and it's such an exciting day for all involved. 

And there you have it. I think I have concluded with August happenings now! On to September!!!! We're going to get there! :)

~Chs

A Trip Down Memory Lane

For this post I'll take you on a lovely trip down memory lane.. and a long trip it is! All the way down to Virginia and back. Actually twice. Us girls went down the end of August, and then Mom and Dad went down the next weekend. Following is a brief overview of our girls trip down to visit Josiah down at Polyface farm, where he was interning over the summer.

It was indeed a looong trip. 11 hours! We took my little car, Cubby, who was a champ going up hills... up big hills... up bigger hills... up mountains. Of course the best part was whizzing down the other side of the mountain (book reference not on purpose..) followed by Semi trucks and trying to stay out of their way!!

Finally after many curves and corn fields we arrived at Polyface farm!

It was wonderful to see "the boy" again! We made it in time for dinner, and had a wonderful time meeting all of Josiah's friends, eating a wonderful meal, and getting to listen to a talk by Joel Salatin. After dinner we headed back to Staunton (the nearest city) to rest up after our trip, and be prepared for the day of touring the farm with Josiah the next day!

The little motel we stayed at had a lovely garden in the courtyard. The owners were from India and he showed us some of his favorite plants from there that he was able to grow here.

It also had an elevator with Mirrors on both sides.... made for a unique view......

Driving to the Farm was always fun.. Lots of back roads, quick turns, beautiful scenery, roads just wide enough for wiggle room, but thin enough that you really hoped you didn't meet someone coming the other way. And then the road that the Farm was actually on, was dirt with some lovely potholes, but you didn't dare swerve to avoid them too much, cause the other side... 20-30 foot drop off! So much fun!!

This is the "Hunt camp" where the Guy interns lived. It actually is a very nice house, with a full kitchen, laundry, and a big loft room upstairs, and 2 smaller apartments on the side. Josiah got the reputation of being quite the cook while there. He made biscuits for the guys, pancakes, not to mention Jams and Jellys from fruits harvested mainly around the farm!

Please meet Mr..... Yep that's it. That's his name..  The Cat was Mister, and one of them had a dog named.... wait for it...

Girl.

After breakfast, made by the boy himself, he took us on a tour of the hub of the farm, through the store, the packaging room, the greenhouses etc. All the while he kept up an informative commentary. 

We spent a looong time at the outdoor butchering station looking at their set up, and discussing ways to implement certain things into ours back home.

We stopped by their enormous Brooders and talked to the thousands of little chicks scratching around inside. We also visited the starter pig pens, and got to walk through their cattle sorting "chute" (made after Temple Grandin's model).

One of our favorite places was the "Rakin" (Rabbit/Chicken housing) I mean just look at these little faces!!!! In fact when Josiah came home in October he actually brought home a pair of Salatin Apricot colored Rabbits for Faith to add to her "warren."

One of the many other things done at Polyface is harvesting lumber and planing it into boards. Josiah became the professional stacker while there.

After lunch Josiah took us up the mountain!! This was our mode of transportation. Faith and I got to ride in the back. It was quite the ride!

I don't know the exact point of elevation we got up to.. but I will tell you this. It was a loooooong way up! Along the way we saw Turkeys, the feather net for the chickens, the cows, their many pig pastures, as well as the multiple ponds they had dug for help in water control. It all was very fascinating and beautiful scenery.

We concluded the farm tour by visiting the broiler pens and sitting around in the grass discussing plans and ideas. Afterwards we went back to Staunton and visited the "Duck park," a delightful little place with a large pond full of waterfowl!

Dinner found us at an Intern favorite (though a first for Josiah.. he didn't take time to go out to eat much) New town Bakery, which had THE best Wood Fire cooked Pizza's ever!!!! We finished off the evening strolling down town and walking past it's many unique shops and restaurants and ended up at the Split Banana, a Gelato shop - Delicious.

The trip was wonderful, and the time spent with Josiah fabulous. But like all good things, it too came to an end.

We were able to go to church with Josiah and got to meet the Pastor and his wonderful wife and daughter, and ended up going to their home with the rest of the interns for dinner! 

After that it was homewards!! This time a lovely sunset accompanied part of our journey, and we arrived home late (well technically early).

And there is a little glimpse of what Josiah has been up to! I hope to get him to do a guest post with more details soon! We shall see.

~Chs

A Summer Birthday Party

 Since, it's kind of cold out I thought my first catch up post would be waay back in August. If you all can stretch your minds to that time when the sun didn't set till after 9, and it was "chilly" when the temperature dipped into the 50s, I'll share with you the Birthday party we did for the Oldest and Youngest in our family at the time ie. The Grandpa and Grandson. 

 I decided to go Farmer theme for the party. We had a fun time picking food that either resembled or had something to do with Farms and animals! :)

Everything from "Chicken Feed" to "Hay Bales" (the round variety) and a "Compost Pile" (also known as layered bean dip!!) 

Cheese & Quackers anyone?? :)

The chickies were probably the cutest thing there! 

Desserts consisted of "Piggy Mud Puddles" "Goat Pebbles" "Cow Pies" and cake. :) Doesn't that all sound delicious!! Farm humor.... they're all replicas of course. :)

A meal fit for a farmer! 

Hmmm... this farmer looks familiar! :) A mini Farmer Paul. Dad has been such a huge help around the farm. Originally a City guy, he loves animals, and being a former accountant is really good at remembering times and schedules.. so sometimes if it wasn't for him the animals might wait a little longer than normal for their meals! 

Celebrating 65 years and 1 year all together!

This little munchkin actually finished his first revolution around the sun on July 20th but his daddy was gone around that time, so we decided to wait till August 1st and combine the celebration with his Grandpa! He has become quite a smiley happy little fellow, and at this point of his life called everything "Doggy".

Birthday guests included Aunt Carmen and Uncle Tim, Mr. and Mrs. Eddy, and Shawn and Laura, Grace and Dad's Aunt Bev!! (Who we were thrilled was able to make it, as she hadn't been up to see our new farm yet!)

Opening presents is an exciting but daunting task when you're 1! So Auntie Grace helped out. 

We are so grateful for both the oldest and youngest (at the time) in our clan! That is a glimpse at our Summer party! Hopefully it warmed you up. ;)

~Chs