Special Olympics

We are boarding two extra horses, whose owners pay enough to cover the hay for all of our animals. This has been a true blessing. The owner of "Diego", a whitish half Paso-Fino and half Arabian mare, is somewhat disabled after a car accident years ago. Steve has severe seizures & even has a dog trained to help him realize when one of the seizures is about to begin. Because of his disability, Steve is able to participate in Special Olympics events. He asked if we could transport Diego to the Missoula Equestrian Park for one of those events this past Friday. (Diego is the horse standing just in back of the water trough in the photo.) I had never driven our Yukon pulling the horsetrailer, but was willing to try. So I asked the Lord to help me drive carefully & was treated with safety and a wonderfully up-beat day. The weather was absolutely glorious in the high 60 degrees with clear blue skies. Steve was one of 50 or 60 very special people there, whom God gifted with extra-difficult physical or mental needs. Oh, but most of them were so open with their friendliness and their delight in being helped to ride loaned horses through gates, over bridges, etc. in the trail portion of the events. The whole atmosphere was gilded with helpfulness and caring. The volunteers included teens, retired ranchers and cowboys, YMCA workers & a couple of ambulance attendants. I see & feel that same type of caring whenever Louis & I go up the hill to a resthome called "Kathy's Place". We go on Sundays after church and spend an hour or so singing old hymns with around eight of the dear folks who call it home. Margaret, in her mid-90's, is the most mentally alert and best singer. Ruth will hum with us if we spend a little extra time encouraging her to do it. Others show their appreciation by swinging their feet to the beat or just wanting to be helped to the main living area where our singing takes place. We find that taking time for others in these ways always enriches our lives. I did flatten one of our flower barrels by our gate while attempting to drive back into our driveway with the horsetrailer. Guess my mothers' day gift is a given this year. We have three large geraniums that we nursed through the winter for our gateway barrels. One is now without a container.