a new year.

hi. 

hello. 

i hope you are loving life. 

our girls arrived back the 20th. most of them came back with ms. lora. she stayed a few days at one of our rancher's houses. we took it easy the rest of the week.

IT SNOWED ! my heart was so very happy. it even stayed a few days 🤩

dec 22 - in the evening, we took the girls to school and played volleyball. it was so much fun! it is really good to do things like this with the girls.. and not always have to be talking about deep and hard things. mr. todd, mia, and ms. sharla joined the ranchers and ms. katie and i . afterward, we went to mr. todd's for soup. :)

dec 23 - 2 oclock came and the ranchers and all the authorities were gathered in our living room. we each drew three names, except mr. todd. then he matched a rancher up with an authority and we all headed to walmart. we each bought three gifts, having the budget of $10 for each gift. once we got to walmart, we had 45 minutes to shop. :) we came home, did horse chores, showered, and wrapped gifts. then we got to sit down to steak, salad, baked potato, bread, and candy cane tea (this tea is something they make each year). for dessert, we had left over christmas goodies from the program that we had put in the freezer. then it was time for presents . w o w ! the excitement levels were very high ! by the time they went to bed and things were cleaned up. i was done. tired. finished.

dec 24 - 25 - i had the weekend off. on christmas eve, i went to coffee shop and finished a book, stopped at an indoor flea market, talked on the phone ... and later in the day i went to mr. todd's and spent the rest of the day with them , as well as christmas day . 

christmas day - i really loved going to church with them and even going to sunday school:) ms. regina's family, the ranchers, mentors, and ms. anna marie came to mr. todd's for christmas dinner. we did some singing after lunch before the ranchers and mentors headed back to the ranch. i stayed and hung out the rest of the day. 

we started back to normal life and a normal schedule :)

dec 29&30 i took a drive to oakridge to see my uncles that were visiting my cousin and his wife that live there. they just had a little baby so it was fun to see and hold her :) i loved spending time with family. especially my cousin ashley. 🤍

dec 31 - mr. todd's were on duty. they want a mentor around to help out ... so this satuday evening was my turn. ok. if you know me, you know i love to cook and food is important to me. a food that we have with my dad's family each year is vernika or perugga. i got to spend the afternoon in the kitchen making supper. along with veranika, we had ham and a green salad. this is a food that i grew up with, but did not like. i didn't start liking veranika until i was in the unit in edmonton. guess i grew up then. ha.  i loved sharing this special meal with the people around my table.

2023 

HAPPY NEW YEAR ✨

alot of emotion is happening around our house. the girls have been writing an impact letter to their parents. this is a letter sharing with their parents how their parents have impacted their lives. 

i am working on writing one to each of my parents. i have asked if they would write one to me 🙂

some random side notes:

-i had a really rewarding horsemanship working with tris .  

-it's so neat when you see someone in a coffee shop reading the Bible.

-one night during circle prayers, i had an overwhelming love for the ranchers ... God must have sent that, for the next day ... one of them really tried my patience. 

-i listened to this song that talked about standing in miracles. i really love that thought that i am standing in miracles wherever i am . what kind of miracles are we standing in today ?

i thank each of you for the prayers 🤍

xo,

ms. brooke