Summer of 2013

July 12th - 14th was our 4th Annual Horse Camp.  This year was a little different because we did not have a contributing chuck wagon, aka rented RV, offered by a family who gave up their weekend to feed all of us.  So instead, my volunteers were designated food providers and preparers leading a group for 2 meals each day for all.  Amanda provided desserts and I provided lunches.   The food was amazing and everyone really helped out.  There were about 60 of us campers!!

It was also the first time that we got stuck out on a ride during a down pour.  I wasn't sure how that would work, so after having lived through it and all the horses did great, I will no longer make such a big deal out of the rain, NOT wanting to be out there when it did.  We only got rained on about 2 major times during the weekend.  We have really great pictures that I'll post here.    We have way too many to post, so I'll just post a variety.  Mike Nickele also brought up his archery set and Amanda brought up her canoe for our Saturday afternoon trip to the lake.   For some of us, we did get stuck on I-17 with the horses for about 8 hours on the way home due to a traffic accident .   That was a big bummer, but we still made it back on Sunday and everyone got home safe and sound.

We did get a new horse donated named Sophia a couple months ago.  A 12 year old bay quarter horse.  She's amazing.  Super sweet, great ground manners, and easy to ride.  I've already put a kid on her.  She goes in the same category with Buddy and Tigger.  I have a picture posted here of her too.

The summer is finally over!!!  We made it.  Summers are interesting for the ministry living in Phoenix with 115 + temperatures.  We continued to have sessions throughout the entire summer and only had a few families take a break due to the heat.  We did have a lot of family vacations, however, so attendance was a little sporadic but we kept the consistency going.  The horses all did really well throughout the summer too.  In fact, the horses are doing so well that the ministry felt that we no longer needed a full time horse trainer/live-in caretaker.   We have a good amount of horses to carry us through several months with the ministry as we continue to grow.   The ministry has 13 horses, one leased horse, one we can use owned by our landlord's son in exchange for feeding him and then one that we get to use just for the sake of exercising him.   Gene has taken over all the feeding and all the ministry participants have stepped up to do a little more with cleaning around the barn and help with keeping everything up to our normal standards.  Our volunteer base continues to grow and get stronger and stronger!!!

Breehia is currently 4 1/2 months pregnant and we confirmed (at least 75% sure) that we are having a filly.   Her name is Destiny. 

The Word is being taught before every session and I also have a couple really good healing videos posted.  Praise the Lord!!!  We are so thankful!!!
 

 

 

 

God's Glory

Since my last post, so many exciting things have happened and it's only been 3 months!!  The first big turning point for me personally is that I started preparing and delivering a short message before we do our Code of Excellence.  This week is my 6th week and the response has been great.  God has been confirming these messages constantly so I know I'm right on track.  Thank you Holy Spirit!!!  I love it because it forces me to spend more time studying the Word.  So, not only does it benefit our participants, it also encourages me.  God always has a way to push us out of our comfort zone and in to where he wants us to be.

I also video taped a testimony of a healing at the barn for the first time.  I want to be able to encourage people to really understand who they are in Christ by demonstrating His power at work through our laying on of hands.   John 14:12, Jesus says "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father."   That's you and me!!!  And because the Lord is using this ministry to demonstrate His power, I felt that we better at least be recording it for the masses to see.  Let's reach the world for Jesus!!!  People came to Jesus by the masses because He was healing the sick.  Miracles were seen.  People were drawn to Jesus.  By His stripes we are healed!!!   I inserted that video here for you to be encouraged.   I'll get better at these recordings as time goes by!!!!

The next really big exciting news is that Breehia is now officially pregnant!!!  The stud, of course, is Rio.  I included below his picture again so we all can remember what he looks like since this is our third season of breeding her so the picture of him dates way back to May of 2011.  The post when I first talked about Rio is Chapter 19 - Rio dated January 11, 2012.    The due date for the foal is May 5, 2014.   We are believing for a filly, so "her" registered name will be Predominate Claim.   We have plenty of time to come up with her nickname.   In fact, we should probably wait until "she's" born to name "her" since "she" may have something unique that helps us name "her."

The whole Breehia pregnancy thing was truly a miracle.  We attempted to get her pregnant when we first noticed her coming in to heat this season, without the vet,  but to no avail.  We knew that the reason she wasn't able to get pregnant over the last two seasons, was because she had excessive fluid in her uterus.  Then, with the vet intervening, we were able to get her pregnant.  When the vet came to do the ultrasound at 17 days in, she ended up being pregnant with twins.  When the vet saw this you could see that she had regret in her face.  She told us about the twins and on the ultrasound you could see them stuck together.  If she had caught it by 10 to 12 days in, the embryo's would have been floating around and you could reduce one a lot easier.  She tried to separate them on her own, but to no success.  She gave up for a little while and then decided to "go in" again.  If we were unable to separate them, she was going to terminate the pregnancy since she has never seen a full term twin pregnancy successful.   So, knowing who I am in Christ, I commanded the embryo's to separate and sure enough, right on the ultrasound monitor screen we saw the two embryo's separate.  Reducing one went very quick.  We couldn't see the remaining one clearly because of all the fluid from the other one, so the vet scheduled another ultrasound for the following Monday.  That Monday came and the embryo was evident but the fetus wasn't.   Our vet was still concerned, since by that time, she normally can not only see the fetus, but also the heartbeat.  She scheduled another ultrasound for the following Monday.  That following Monday we were able to see the fetus and the heartbeat.  I have included a picture of the ultrasound below.  Glory to God.  I had prayed about what God really wanted for us in concern for the baby and I heard Him clearly say, "I will bring forth a baby."  Since I never speak that way, I knew it was Him.  I was really at peace coming in to that ultrasound appointment.  It would have been way too disappointing to hear bad news after the sad event that had occurred just 2 days prior to that appointment.    This is when you have to make a decision in your heart.  Do you allow Satan to bring fear or do you trust entirely in the Lord and His Word?   Choosing to trust in the Lord and His Word, is where true peace comes from that surpasses all understanding!!!

The sad event was that Cowgirl passed away on Saturday early morning.  She was lying down a lot on Friday and not eating so David called me to tell me on Friday evening that we were probably going to lose her.  We moved her in to the empty cow pen so it would be easy to get her out if that did happen.   Another miracle is that the week before, I was asking the vet (after Breehia's appointment) about euthanizing and the normal procedure.  She gave me a ton of information, which I needed to know.  I had also, about a couple weeks prior to that during a volunteer meeting, brought up this same topic.  I really do believe that the Lord was preparing me in advance.  I was NOT unprepared!!!  I certainly had some what of a plan.  A picture of Cowgirl is below as tribute to her.  She was such a good horse for the ministry.  I know that in one of my blog posts I mentioned getting her and that she really was a confidence builder for the kids.   One of our kids, Kaitlyn, actually rode her just the Wednesday before out on a trail ride.   This picture was taken just the Saturday before, when a new horse was donated to us named Smokey and she was curiously looking at him.

Smokey just happens to come one week before losing Cowgirl.   He's now Shiloh's new pen mate.  This is the pen where we add joint supplements to their feed.  Perfect place for Smokey to go, where Cowgirl used to be.  He's actually very beautiful.   The pictures below speaks volumes.  He's 20 years old and really sweet.  We've already had him out on a trail ride and he did great!!!   The timing of getting him is another miracle from the Lord.  

Until next time....... enjoy the pictures!!!!

 

We're Ready Lord

Since my last post after Christmas, I can honestly say, Rein of Faith Ministries in 2013 is in such a good place exceeding any vision I could have ever imagined for the ministry.   We have a core group of extraordinary women, who put there heart and soul into the ministry and have the same vision and passion as I do making this journey such a huge blessing where people can just feel the power and love of God and His Holy Spirit through us when they are there.   Being around women who care as much as I do, not only for each other, but for the horses, and the participants confirms the reason why this ministry was born in the first place.  I also know that as time goes on, this core group will continue to grow strong and in numbers.  We are ready Lord to take on the next phase; bring us to another level of serving You and Your precious children!!   Ephesians 3:20 "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us".

In January, we got a new horse named Dakota. A picture of him is below with Molly and Becka.  He came to us pretty spoiled and in great need of Camp David!!  He was donated to us by a friend of one of our volunteers who no longer had the time needed to develop and train him to be a safe and reliable horse.  After 3 months of daily, consistent training by David, we know for sure that in no time we will have a horse that will meet the requirement of the ministry.  It is so very important that all of our horses serve a place in the ministry. We always want to make sure that we are good stewards of the financial blessings we receive from the Lord to operate.  We will never put the ministry at risk financially and take horses that serve no purpose. Every cent we spend is prayed upon first!!  Sometimes we need to make hard decisions on what to do with horses that don't serve our need.  We definately are not a horse rescue.  We just can not be.  That was never the purpose of the ministry in the first place and I have to be careful not to wander away from our purpose.

In February we had planned to participate in the Fred Rathbun Memorial Special Olympics once again, but it was cancelled due to rain.  They have rescheduled for November 2.  The great thing about planning for this event, however, was the desire to have t-shirts printed in order for us to have a cohesive, recognizable group for the event.  Even though we did not need the t-shirts for this event, I still went ahead and put together an order form to see what the interest would be for the t-shirts.  Almost everyone ordered one.   I have some extra for sale if any one wants one depending on size, so just let me know.

March 30th was our 2nd Annual Car Wash Fundraiser and Bake Sale, so I made sure we had the t-shirts in time for that event. The fundraiser was a huge success again, earning us over $1800.  Before we got started, when we were all in our circle to do the Code of Excellence, I put in a demand to the Kingdom for $1500 or more and sure enough, God delivered. It's what His Word says!!!  Philippians 4:6  "Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God" and also Luke 6:38 Jesus said  "Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”   So it is because of His Word that we can ask for such things!!   Amen!!!

With the money from the car wash I bought six, six panel fencing to replace the sad fencing that we currently have.  I also bought fresh rice hulls which we will use in our stalls.  With summer coming, I want to make sure that we keep the unpleasant urine odor to a minimum and the rice hulls do a great job at that.

Also, one of our mom's/participants took some fun pictures on a Saturday so you can see what a typical Saturday looks like at the barn.

Enjoy the pictures!!!