It's warming up!

December 11th
It's been cold here! The last few days have been around -25 to -33 C. A couple of days ago Ellie, I, Jesse, and Martha were riding for three hours. We all got a bit of frostbite and decided to save anymore longer rides until spring time. :-) I was riding Robin, he did really good for it being his 5th ride. He doesn't know to watch his path for holes and trees so when we would get to cantering it would get pretty interesting. LOL! Ellie was telling Mum about our ride and I heard her say, “ We're riding along and then behind me I hear a thunk, and then Lydia says, 'Robin! That was a tree!'” He had slammed his leg right into it.
On the 9th us four oldest girls went and sang/played for ½ an hour at the hospice in Preecville. It went well. They really liked it when the younger kids came up and sang some kid songs with the hand motions. :-) The kids are always a hit! :-)
Last night Peter W called and told us that Gabby is in the hospital, she had surgery and a couple of things removed. She needs prayers for healing, and that God would draw the whole family closer to Him through this ordeal. Pray for the boys too, we aren't sure if they are saved or not, so they need our prayers as well.
Thank you for praying! Take your burdens to the Lord, and leave them there. :-)
~Lydia~
December 12th
People talk of the times when training horses isn't fun anymore, it's work, but you still need to stick to it and get through it. I wonder if they weren't just talking about when the horse is not responding but also when it's -35* C and the wind is blowing. Oh man, it's so cold! Even when I was in a three sided shed, out of the wind. I didn't ride Robin because he was being jumpy and crazy and I figured that today would probably be the day that he would go to bucking, and I have heard that things (like bones) break really easy in this cold of weather, (I've never broken a bone, and I'm not too eager to 'break' that record), besides, I just didn't feel like riding when I was that cold. :-) LOL! Are you confused by now?! J/K!
Youth last night went really well. We played a bit of street hockey, some four square ball game, and then had a lunch a the lesson on forgiveness. It was a good lesson. :-)

G'day to ya'll! Try to keep warm! :-) ~Lydia~

December 14th
I'm not really looking forward to going out and training Robin today. :-( It's so cold out there! But if I ever plan to get 30 days on him then I guess I'll have to put up with the cold weather. Wendy called yesterday to see how he's coming along and to tell me about the four new horses she got. :-) I love hearing about new horses as much as I like bragging about them. LOL! Any other horse owners out there would probably say the same thing. :-) She was telling me about this black and white weanling paint filly that she got that is going to turn out huge, and I'm thinking about how different our likes of horses are. She loves big huge horses, and I'm looking into the small wirey Akhal-Teke and Marwari horses. I also would like to try out the Andalusian horses which are built pretty big, but that's about the only breed of horses that I like that are big. I don't think everybody needs like the type of horses that I like but it's funny how many different 'tastes' people have, I guess that's why we have so many different breeds of horses, cows, dogs, etc. :-) I may be slightly odd in my tastes anyways, the Akhal-Teke and Marwari horses are both built rather odd, ( I like them for their endurance), and not just odd in my tastes for horses, I like Tarentaise cows (French milk cow), and Jack Russell Terrier and Basenji dogs. Don't ask me why I like these breeds, I just do. :-)
Sunday morning we couldn't get our van started (-36* C), so we weren't able to go to church. But we were able to have Steppan's over for lunch. :-) After lunch, we kids were getting bored so we started doing accrostics on the chalk board. After that we had carmel corn and then decided to play 'spoons'. That was fun! Right when Brad went out to start the car we started to play it elimating the people who didn't get a spoon. Instantly we all got really serious. It was too funny! Ellie ended up winning. :-) During the game to spice things up we started to play backwards, and when somebody would get four cards of a one number they would have to call out, “Snoops!”, then of course everybody dives for a spoon. :-)
I guess I should go and brave the cold and work with Robin. :-) ~Lydia~

December 17th
Well I started part of my dream yesterday! I bought a Tarentaise heifer. She is to calve out next spring for the first time. I'll have to try to take a picture of her and post it sometime, I'll probably put one or two on facebook, so if I don't get one on here then check out my pictures on fb cause there might be one on there. :-) Dad got three Dexter heifers from the same person as well.

December 19th
I think I got called away for something when I was writing the last post. :-) I decided to name my heifer 'Caresse' (Saressa). It's a french name so I thought that it would be fitting. :-) It warmed up yesterday to around -17* C, it was really nice! :-) Today has been overcast and then it started snowing while I was out riding Robin. But it was still around -15*C, so it was pleasant to be out.
Singingly yours~Lyddy~