Pay it Forward

Our Amish friends are gone. On one hand we were sad to see them leave, but on the other hand...well...it's quite nice to be getting back to some sense of "normal!" Word is getting out in the local horse community that we have a new barn. We hope everyone understands what it's truly about and that children and adults alike will come to use it.

This barn is not about a business venture; it's not about profit or gain; it's certainly not a selfish desire to have a place for our kids to ride year round; and quite frankly, our family didn't have a stock pile of money sitting around needing to be used. It's all about the Lord and His desire for us to serve others.

Lindsay, Emma and Lily have everything they could ever need or want (though they may differ with our opinion on that point!). They have knowledge of the Lord and His work in their lives, loving parents and grandparents, influential mentors and friends, and HORSES! They have guidance in the home and a 24-hour counselor in the barn! Very few children have all of these things...sadly, many children don't have even ONE of these things.

Which brings us to our point....

PAY IT FORWARD! That's what it's all about. We are here to serve others. Period.

Since the barn is practically done, we will soon have a meeting of the minds to lay out the final details of our services. This ministry is not "OURS," it is GOD'S, and He is obviously directing its workings through imperfect human beings (us!), therefore, we realize our services and plans will continually change.

We would appreciate ideas from our blog readers. If you have thoughts about our services, or big (or small) ideas that we can implement to make it fun and unique, please share by clicking on "comments" at the bottom of any of our posts.

Finally, an update!

A friend commented this morning that we needed to post an update on the blog, and we're very happy to finally be able to do so! Work has been slow until today. The crew didn't work last week, but they have been here every day this week and we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! TA-DAH!!!!

There is not much left to be done on the outside -- one more concrete pour, one sliding door and two overhead garage doors to be installed, and gravel in the parking area.

On the inside we need to complete the electric wiring, install doors on the stalls and in the hay loft, and complete the final touches in the tack room.

The view in the photo above is from the center of the riding arena facing the stall area. The stall area features a concrete aisle with a tack room in the center and three stalls on either side of the tack room. A four foot knee wall divides the stall and riding areas. Above the stalls is a large closed-in hay loft with access from either end of the aisle. The hay loft also features two outside sliding doors to aid in unloading hay from wagons directly to the loft.

We'll soon be making plans to add students to our roster...we are SO excited to offer this beautiful facility free of charge to the community, and we pray that the Lord will use it to reach little ones in need!

Progress is slower

It has been a while since we posted. Progress on the barn slowed tremendously last week and will be slow again this coming week. Bad weather and excessive mud slowed things down a little, and the Amish crew had to leave us for two days last week (barn raising) and will be gone for three days this week (weddings).

Most of the metal is now in place on the outside:

And Brian has done a lot of work on the inside:

Our next step is to begin the process for obtaining non-profit status. We understand that the process can sometimes get difficult, so we're hoping it goes smoothly. We would appreciate your prayers in this matter.

Our New Look...at home AND on the web!

If you've visited our blog before you'll notice we have a new look. Brian wasn't satisfied with the black background (he thought it was too difficult to read) and Sandy wasn't satisfied with the logo (it needed refining), so a bit of a transformation was in order.

As for our "little" (?!) construction project...it is getting a new look too:

Progress the past two days has been hindered by a couple of things - late delivery of materials yesterday and rain today - but when the rain finally decided to move out, the crew certainly got down to business! As you can see from the photo, we decided on two colors for the siding, clay and stone, and a white roof.

As for the RIDING portion of this adventure, the messy construction site did not deter our little trooper, Ellie, from attending her weekly riding lesson last night. Ellie has the distinct honor of being our first official student, and she is a horse lover for sure! She likes to muck stalls and groom horses almost as much as she likes to ride. She began riding with us in July, and she is just as excited about the new riding facility as we are. Two other students, Josiah and Aliyah, had to forego lessons through the winter due to scheduling conflicts, but we look forward to welcoming them again in the spring. We are certain the Lord has more students for us, and we look forward to greeting them in the new barn in a few weeks!

Friday's Progress

Friday's action was fun to watch!
Here's a photo journal of the day's progress:

What a difference a day makes!

We left home at 7:30 yesterday morning with the construction site looking like the photo in our previous post. We returned at 8:30 last night to this:The feeling we had when our headlights beamed across this sight is indescribable! Our noisy conversation and laughter first became silent...then turned to a collective gasp...followed by a myriad of "oh my...wow...and cool!"

Today will see the completion of the wall framing, and concrete will be poured in various locations. HOW EXCITING!

Further Progress

If we had posted around 11:00 this morning we would have proclaimed today as a "no action" day...boy, would we have been wrong! It started very s-l-o-w-l-y, and we were convinced that our plans to attend Quarter Horse Congress tomorrow would have to be postponed. But alas, we should never underestimate the power of "The Crew!" Shortly after 11:00 our friend the excavator arrived with his backhoe and in short order had the backfill complete. At 3:00 our builder arrived with a work trailer and six members of his crew. It may not look like much got done, but many things that can't be seen in the photo were completed (concrete forms, knee wall posts, door headers, pre-cut lumber for walls, etc.). As we watched these things progress, Brian casually mentioned that the truss system would likely be delivered by the end of the week...ahem...WRONG! He no more than finished that statement when a semi loaded with HUGE trusses (72 feet in length) stopped at the end of our drive! The kids watched wide-eyed and open-mouthed as the truck pulled into our back yard and dropped the trusses to the ground. Tomorrow should be a very productive day. It will be hard to leave in the morning; we don't want to miss a minute of these exciting moments! But we look forward to returning home tomorrow evening to a whole new look!














This photo really puts it in perspective. After the builders left this evening, our children, their three friends, and two of our dogs spent some time playing in the sand. The area in which they are playing will be the 72' x 100' riding arena (you can't see the stall area in this photo). In the foreground you can see about a third of the massive trusses (this is only a small portion of them). In the background you can see our horses, who are quite perplexed by all of the action taking place in their living room!

Only the beginning...

Changing weather made it apparent that an indoor arena would be necessary. With God's guiding hand we quickly and efficiently organized the plans for a 72' x 120' building. From ground breaking Sept 26 to finished block foundation in the morning hours of October 5, the landscape has certainly changed.


A hard-working crew set this block foundation in 14 hours!

The History of the Vision

After owning and loving horses for five years, and experiencing the growth those majestic animals provided us emotionally, we felt a calling in 2004 to use our animals to help children with various needs. It was also important to us that this service be provided free of charge. As is common with most single income families of five, time and budget constraints always seemed insurmountable, and our vision was put on the back-burner with good intentions of seeing it through "when and if..."

Still present in our hearts and minds earlier this year, we began experiencing more urgency to put our vision into motion. Invited to attend a motivational seminar in May, we were repeatedly impressed by the recurring theme each speaker presented of God's grace and our duty of service to others. As the day wore on, we felt more and more as if the time to begin was "here and now" rather than "when and if," and at the end of the day, we marveled that the Lord had spoken directly to us through that seminar. It was as if we had audibly heard His voice saying, "Enough is enough guys, now this is the plan, listen up!"

In July of 2007, we began sharing our vision publicly with family, acquaintances, and trusted prayer warriors. Through prayer, counsel, and meetings with officials, further details unfolded quickly, and on September 26, we were blessed to witness the groundbreaking for a new indoor riding arena in our back pasture. PRAISE THE LORD!