here&there

 i sit. with the view of our pool. i sit. surrounded by the ranchers and another mentor. i sit. i feel the breeze. how do you view life? what is your perspective? do you love to create magical moments in ordinary settings? 

september 18- 22 -  we took our big van to therapy. it was so fun to drive. ms. tiff and i laughed. 

on the way home, we continued listening to "chitty chitty bang-bang". our ranchers had been talking so much about books that i told them there would be no more talk of books for the rest of the week. i started having school on wednesday afternoons. so far, it has been getting ready for our backpacking trip. we watched some of a danny silk video on being a powerful person. each of the girls wrote what they learned. the next morning, we talked about it for book study. mr. doug asked, out of the ranchers, who do you think is a powerful person. each of us authorities and girls had to answer. then we went around again and said why we choose that person. to me, it was group therapy. it was such a good time together. i started packing my car. MS. KATIE ARRIVED BACK TOTHE RANCH! we greeted her in the driveway and had hugs all around.. 

september 23 - happy birthday to my mom. 🤍

a weird day. i was around the ranch. i finished packing my car. in the afternoon, i worked at school and then took the drive to my new home. i  moved in my things. in the evening, i went to volleyball.. and i really liked that all of the mentors were there too :)

september 24 - sunday. i helped janell cook lunch.. in the afternoon, i went and practiced songs with the youth for the youth rally. in the evening at youth.. we had good conversation. :)

september 25 - 27

a ranchers parents came and stayed at the ranch. one evening they cooked some very good mexican food. 

i took some of the outward mindset training. 

on tuesday, i took one of the ranchers to therapy and then took her shoe shopping. i wanted to recreate what going shopping with mom is like. we stopped and got coffee at 7brew. she got a nice pair of hiking boots and she said she was so excited about the hiking trip :) yay.

september 28 - trading post and authorities meeting. in the evening, we hiked to the waterfall at tanyard creek. there were pictures being taken in front of the waterfall so we didn't spend any time there. we hiked up the creek. it was so much fun. then we went to blowing springs park for a farewell picnic for ms. anna marie and a welcome for mr. doug's and the mentors. when we got to the park, ms. katie called a circle up about the girls talking with one another and no mentor being within earshot. feelings were shared.. i only joined for the last few minutes. when supper was over, the mentors took the girls home and the rest of us had board meeting.

september 29 - i cleaned the upstairs and then got a couple beds ready for company. off to the ranch to have art :) the youth rally started that evening. we got there early to sing through our songs. i had such a fun evening of playing ball and chatting. there was a rush to get on the court since we only had one net and 120 youth :) we kept 4 kids plus alicia was home🤩

september 30 - october 1 : these days were spent with people. listened to some really good lectures. it really made me think about how i live my life and how spend my time. am i being quiet enough and listening to the still small voice? are the things i am allowing how i want my life to be?

sunday evening i zoomed to fredonia for a reception .. it was to see a former rancher that was going to be there. :)

october 2 - up and out of the house around 8. i had to finish getting things together for my school day. we had school all day and no horsemanship. in the afternoon, ms. tiff's parents arrived. a funny thing with that.. i was reading to the girls. and then a couple of them were really looking outside. i jumped up and told them we all better go see what was outside... low and behold, ms. tiff's parents were pulling up🙈 guess they had a welcoming committee. we went back in and talked about how it made them feel when i did that. we did some deep breathing to help them regulate. we had art inside at the dining room table so my rancher, that has to get her hair done, could be part of it.. then it was time to head for cherokee road. after supper, i went with david and janell to look at this pond that a gentleman has been working on. they want to build a house there when it is done.. i went to bed very early this night.

october 3 - my alarm rang at 6. too early. ha. i was out the door and on my way to the ranch at a quarter to 7. today. i tied on my mentor hat and have spent the day here so ms. tiff could be with her parents. ms. sam took 3 of the girls to see ms. lora. i stayed home with 2 of them and we baked some coffee cakes for parent seminar. we sat on the porch for abit together.. played uno dare.. and cooked lunch.. the girls did a super job with getting the dishes done from all the messes we made.

this afternoon i decided to create 'coffee shop' life. bring what you would to a coffee shop. and our back porch table was soon occupied with  5 girls and 2 mentors.. all bringing something to entertain themselves with. books to read, math, watercoloring, coloring... it was very fun to make normal something special :) oh, we can't forget the iced coffee 😊

*lately i have been reading the book "in the grip of grace" by max lucado. i realize how much i try to earn God's grace or my salvation. here are a couple things i liked:

-God loves His children and hates what destroys them. This doesn't mean that he flies into a rage to loses his temper or is emotionally unpredictable. it means simply that he loves you and hates what you become when you turn from him.

-knowledge should stir wonder. 

ok. that's all for now.

xo,

ms. brooke