Horse help, church, egg sales

On Saturday we attended the graduation for the students at the Bible Baptist Translation Institute. All in all, two single ladies, one single man and six couples graduated from the nine month study. They will now go on deputation to get the financing to go to their various works. The pastor they got to speak the commencement message was phenomenal. We felt like we had been to church. Afterwards we went to the dinner they had – fried fish and lots of fixings. We really had a great time. I learned some about the function of the institute and got to talk with the director at length. It is a ministry we will find a way to connect to.


A man from East Side Baptist Church, Wes, came out after the dinner and helped Mama and I with some saddling lessons. We were sorely unprepared. The bridle we had at the farm was way too large for this horse and the binding straps for the cinch were way too long so we were not able to put the saddle on Toi where we could ride her, but he went through the exercise of reacquainting us with the process. Toi did wonderfully through out the process.

After we let Toi go we got the filly and pinned her in the chute at the calf barn and got the bridle on her. When we did the fight was on. Wes had the lead rope already attached when he slipped the bridle on and he let her find the end of her rope pretty quickly. She pulled. She flipped and flopped – literally. At one point she came down on her side so hard that I though it knocked the wind out of her, but she scrambled up and continued the struggle.

I handled her for about n hour and learned when to give in and when to control her struggling. We had her on the lead rope for about two hours. She was a sweaty mess when we finally let her go to her mama. Rain, her mama, had pretty much ignored her through the process of getting her used to the halter and lead but after several hours she was ready for her baby to nurse. Wes gently went through the process of slipping the bridle off then back on to help convince her that there was no ham to her in it. When she finally relaxed, he slipped the bridle off and let her go. It was quite a learning experience for me and Mama.

He is supposed to come back this evening so he can work with Victoria to help her with the filly and with Toi. If that all works out, it will be very instructive for Victoria. We have had a difficult time getting the right kind of help, but we may have gotten there finally. The institute has multiple horses to ride and we have an open invitation to take them on the many trails they have designated for just that. I could be great fun for the kids and grandkids this fall.

We went to a church in Decatur yesterday. I had stopped by the church Friday evening on my way home but the pastor was not in. I spoke to the youth director/school principal while I was there. At the graduation on Saturday I pointed him out to Mama and after the service I introduced her to him. While doing so, he pointed out the pastor of his church so we introduced ourselves to him also. His name is Pastor Horton. Since we know several Horton’s it should not be difficult to remember.

We had a great time at the church yesterday –Immanuel Baptist Church. By the time Sunday School was over Victoria was ready to join. It is a little more than thirty minutes from the farm and Grandpa has pretty much dismissed the idea of attending there (based on the fuel cost) but Grandma went with us last night and she really liked it. Many of the students from the institute go there so there will always be a way for Victoria to get to church if she does not feel comfortable driving herself, but I have a feeling she will work it out since she liked it so well. Mama and I won’t look back. We will go there when we are in the area.

Mama got a voice mail from the lady at our church in Amarillo. Mama had left her two dozen eggs to sell as well as giving her a dozen for herself. It seems she was able to sell the two dozen very quickly and had to sell her dozen to meet the demand. She has orders for five dozen more and would really like a dozen for herself. Mama was laughing so hard as she listened to the message that she could not tell us what was being said until some time later; Charlotte has a funny way of expressing herself.

We are taking all the extra eggs back today but it still may not meet the demand.