First Pony Ride!

I realize I am months behind on actual stories about our lives... but when you have a 10 month old, some times a quick photo or video is the easiest way to put up a post! Claire has continued to grow leaps and bounds. She's been walking for a month and is doing it by herself without prompting, which is so cute/wobbly. She still has 6 teeth and is giving me more bruises these days from "love bites."
Her newest 'milestone' was her first pony ride. Our church had a Western Night (chili tasting, s'mores making, etc.) this Sunday. At first I just wanted to get a photo of her on the horse, since she has been around them (at my mom's old stables in NY) and been pulled by one (in MN). But she was petting it's mane and really happy, even started giggling; so we decided to let her go for her first ride. Growing up around horses myself, I couldn't have been more thrilled:) Enjoy!

Calling in the Reinforcements (p.s. don't read this if blood/guts gross you out)

Bless my little Pug's heart, but he just doesn't have a ferocious bone in his body. Usually we appreciate this about him, and b/c of Los' being bitten by Pit Bull's, etc. in his youth, that's why we chose a super friendly breed... BUT lately I've been seeing more bunnies than usual in our back yard. We used to have 10 baby bunnies (not by our choosing) in our backyard, and encouraged them to leave asatch (as soon as they could hop). Since then, we've barricaded every possible entrance point to our yard. Except one. Our gate, which we built ourselves, goes to where the grass used to come to, when we had grass. But since we built the flagstone path, there's now a few inch gap in that space, and believe me, a few inches is all bunnies need to get through. It is amazing how flat they can make themselves.

Luckily for us, we don't have a ton of plants that bunnies like to eat. Our neighbors have had many plants destroyed by bunnies, so they have more reason to be frustrated. What we have, however, is a lot of good hiding spots for bunnies, so after they get their fill elsewhere, they seem to think it's okay to come over here and hang out, and disperse their pellets, if you know what I'm saying.

This is not cool. Especially, and most gross to me, because then Burly will eat said pellets, and vomit. SO- I've been trying to teach my dog to hunt the rabbits. But let's be honest, he has no hunter in him. So my second thought was just for him to chase them, and scare them away. Yeah, that's not working out so well either. Hate to say it, but they are way smarter than him. When I let him into the yard, he could be 5 feet from one and not sense it; a byproduct of having a smashed nose, I suppose? They have zero fear of him. By the time he does see one, and makes his jolly attempt to bound after it, they're well on their way to safety at another home, under the gate. I don't know if he even realizes it's another animal, and intruder at that, or if he just thinks they are like a moving tennis ball. He loves playing fetch, maybe I should spraypaint the bunnies bright chartreuse?

Anyway, so yesterday I had had it! So after seeing 4 bunnies in my yard, I decided to bring in the reinforcements. Burly's two best friends are our next door neighbor Lab and German Shepherd Gwen and Miss Parker. They are all fun and games when it comes to hanging out, and they have sleepovers with Burly, etc. but when it comes to hunting rabbits, they mean business. One time (super gross), Miss P brought in a dead rabbit and laid it the feet of our neighbor while she was iChatting on the computer. You can imagine how grossed out Joelle was:) I'm actually amazed that Miss P didn't devour it immediately after seeing what went down yesterday!

So, they came over and Miss P immediately began hunting the little varmint. I had to sacrifice some hostas and my bell pepper plant in the hunt, but they were worthy casualties of war. After 20 minutes of futile effort, I saw the bunny hiding under a geranium right by the gate. So I went over to the gate and called Miss P, she swooped in from one direction, and like athletes executing the perfect play, Gwen covered the other angle. When the bunny came out, it had no chance, as Gwen pounced on it. It all happened within 3 seconds, but it was like watching those nature shows on tv, or the Planet Earth series, where they show slow motion of beast on beast. Gwen had it in her mouth and Miss Parker came over and ripped the bottom half off of the bunny off (to share with her sister, naturally). One second I saw guts hanging out, the next, the bunny was gone, just like that. I'm pretty sure they didn't even chew!

Meanwhile, my little dog was biting the heel of Gwen, naively thinking that they were playing a game. Little did he know that a small victory had been won in the great battle of the garden. If these dogs could high-five, I would have high-fived them right then, proud of their accomplishment. But I sure as heck wasn't going to allow them to lick me! Thus ends this chapter of the garden bunny saga.

Animales Part II: Sheep- Leaving the Many for the One

The animal we have seen the most of are sheep (ovejas en Espanol). We have frequently seen a couple of men on horseback (though one guy was on a dirtbike, awesome) moving large packs of sheep to one place or another.
But one time sticks out to me the most. As we were driving in the park, Cara (with her eagle-eyes) spotted a sheep crossing the road, and took a photo of it. I made the requisite joke, why did the sheep cross the road? I wasn’t trying to anthropomorphize, but as we passed, the sheep seemed frantic, worried, or upset by something. Dismissing that as my imagination, we drove along… and about two miles later we came across the hugest herd we’ve seen our entire time in S. America (on in my entire life, really). Hundreds, thousands of sheep were moving en masse along with at least 10 herding dogs and lots of men.

That’s when I realized that the one sheep we’d seen before made sense to me. I have never really understood the Biblical story of the ‘lost sheep’ (Matthew 18) before, and this vivid image got me thinking. Why would the ovejadors go back for that one sheep, when they had so many with them? That wouldn’t make sense, it would almost seem like a waste of their time, not worth the effort.

But on the contrary, Jesus isn’t like that. For whatever reason, we inevitably get distracted from our goals from time to time (e.g. my blog about the hike). We get lost, we stray. We may think one path is right for us, but we’re really deceived and blinded from the truth. At times we have tunnel-vision, and by the time we take a breath and bring our head up to look around, we are in unfamiliar, maybe dangerous terrain. We are independent, stubborn and don’t want to ask for guidance. Yet, we can’t always find the way on our own.

And Jesus says he leaves the 99 for the 1 who was lost. We may feel far from him, but could it be that at that very time, we could also be as close to him as ever? He pursues us. We are worth the effort to him. We are valued, not a waste of his time. In a new and profound way, that makes me overwhelmed with gratitude, because I know what it is to be lost. And how good it is to be found.



My husband likes to run, apparently:)

Animales Part I: Foxes, Horses and Llamas- oh my!

I’ve never been one to crave going on an African safari, but I think this park has changed my mind. Seeing the Guanacos (who look like llamas) in their natural habitat was amazing. Cara spotted the first two, as they ran down a hill in front of our car and were fighting with each other. They bounded away with surprising speed, we later learned they are a relative of the horse, so their galloping became less shocking. As we drove through the park we saw huge herds, mamas and babies. So cute!