India Reports

As part of our adoption agreement with India we are required to send in child reports for the first 5 years that our kids are home. Grace has been home for 7 years so we are done with her reports, but Micah has only been home for 2 1/2 years. It gets interesting to write a different response to the same questions of physical and intellectual development, sleep habits, and family adaptation over and over again. How do you tell these people in an office somewhere in a foreign country how this child is an answer to your prayers and years of paperwork and heartache and longing and you love them more than you can imagine and how God ordained this very little one to be your son and you wouldn't care how naughty he was or what physical ailments he may have or how the bonding and adjustment is growing every day every moment in both of you all while trying to keep the peace of the nations by responding with what they want to hear to keep the adoption doors open so that others may follow in your footsteps all in a little 1"x8" space? Ahem.... and then there are the pictures. Now as I was looking for 4-6 photos to send in this quarter all I kept coming across was pictures like these.....

Or there were all those pictures of my sweet little dumpling working the farm.

I'm not sure that the BB gun would be the best one either.

Or the one of this sweet little boy in a freezer.

Ummm..... standing next to the edge of an open barn roof..... nope.

There's always the classic all time favorite mud picture.

I think I just may have to get him all spiffed up and take some cutsie pictures to send so they think we are normal people who really are worthy of taking care of this "naughty little boy who talks a lot". Maybe Traci was right!

Training~ Day #3

What a great day with the new horses! We went down to do the chores this morning and spent some time playing with and petting Nika and Rootbeer. Trent wanted to try to put a halter on Rootbeer so we slowly introduced it and slipped it right on him without him even flinching. After Nika let us pet her and she calmed down we were able to put a halter on her easily as well. I attached lead ropes to their halters and let them out into the big pasture for the day, figuring we could catch them easier with the lead ropes dragging. Several times throughout the day the kids walked out to catch them and pet them. Trent has Rootbeer so trusting that he can rub him all over.

And Rootbeer is even rubbing him back.

He hasn't found a spot that he doesn't like to be rubbed.

Trent has even taught him how to pick up his front feet. Just look at that sweet eye, low head, and quiet demeanor. I think he is loving the attention as much as Trent is loving him.

They worked on leading and did very well.

Alexis has pretty much taken over Nika. She was really excited to work with her and has done a great job as well. Today we started with lots of petting, some pressure work, and got a halter on her very easily. After a couple of sessions of petting Alexis went back out this afternoon to work with the lead rope.

She rubbed her all over with it, wrapped it around her and swung it around. Nika did very well. She has finally gotten to the point were she will let us approach her without too much fear. She still has that leary look in her eye, but slowly she is beginning to trust us. Lots of hand feeding and 4 leaf clovers have helped.

She worked quite a bit on leading as well.

And lots more loving and petting.

Mr. Solomon has been pretty much ignored this week since those new horses came to the farm. Good thing he is such a good boy already.

After supper we decided to ride the horses out back as Grace's little mice died this morning and she wanted to bury them in the special place she buried her kittens last year. All of the horses were in the back pasture so we had to walk out to get them.

Alexis wanted to lead Nika out back and Trent wanted to lead Rootbeer for their first trail experience.

Alexis tied a saddle bag on Nika's back just to see how she would respond~ she did just fine. Before we left the pasture we even sprayed flyspray on everybody and the two new ones did better than the old horses that forgot what it was from last year.

It was a beautiful night to take a ride.

The other horses were so mad that we left them behind.

The horses and the kids did amazing! Nika and Rootbeer just plodded along with us and didn't get scared of anything.

I know the pics are blurry but they were the first ones of Nika and Rootbeer in the corral so I couldn't delete them. Grace and I quickly buried the little mice before the mosquitoes ate us up and we headed back home. What a great ride! Grace always says "I think that was the best ride we ever took!"

Trent's Sunset Pictures

Wonderful Mighty Steeds

The kids and I decided to get out and ride the horses this morning before the weather got too hot again. By the time I got my shoes on and made it down to the barn this is what I found when I got there.....

Trent standing in with the new yearlings petting Rootbeer. Just yesterday we couldn't even get close to these two.

I figured if Trent could do it, so could I, so I slowly reached across and started petting Nika's neck.

For as scared as she was it was interesting to watch her reaction to me. She continued to turn her ear towards me, but stood there pretending like she couldn't see me. I didn't push her too hard, just a little bit of petting and rubbing on her neck and face. I started ever so slightly with some pressure to drop her head. She stood stock still until I walked away, then she did allow me to come back and pet her again several times. I am still in awe that these 2 yearlings are in my barn. By the end of our little session both horses were standing quietly allowing us to pet them. Rootbeer enjoyed it much better than Nika, but she tolerated it. Quite a transformation from yesterday.

We took out the other mighty steeds and headed up the hay field.
Woody has appreciated coming along with us.

It dawned on me just what a gift God had given us in bringing home 2 horses. Trent has been riding with us all spring and really needs a taller horse. I decided to let him have Rootbeer to help train for his mighty steed. He was thrilled! The connection between them is already fun to watch. Sassy has a little issue with rubbing Grace off under the pine trees. Without saddles today Grace had an extra hard time staying on. I wondered by the end of the trail, tho, if it was as much fun to slide off as it was to practice jumping on again. Of course the time I got rubbed off under a pine tree was not for fun.

I love being out on the horse trails with these kiddos.

And... she's off again.

Oh No! The woods of doom! It never fails that I lose Solomon through this tight patch of pines. A little bit of grooming is needed for these new trails.

Hallelujah! Today we made it through without even losing him. He is learning to pony along really well, even if sometimes he forgets who is getting ponied.

Sassy~ no Grace, again!

It was so hot out already this morning that Trent thought Woody might like to walk across the pond.

Woody didn't mind getting wet at all.

Since Woody liked the pond so much Trent thought he would try Solomon.

Oh No! No way! Nadda!

So we put the horses back and picked a couple of pails of clover for the new wonderful mighty steeds who will be locked up for a while.

There's nothing like lots of lovin' and lots of good food to win over a horse or two.