Summer is G-O-O-D

So today starts the first full week of summer vacation. I am so excited! We have a young lady scheduled to come out to visit this evening and then another tomorrow morning. I have also scheduled another girl for next week and have two phone calls out for two others. We don’t have all the paper work in place yet but I refuse to wait any longer. There are children out there that need to know they are loved and to have a place to feel connected. I am going to do what I can where I can with what I have regardless of paper work. I figure Jesus didn’t have any papers, but of course He was the son of God so I don’t think he needed any papers.

I do have someone ready to put together our web site and it will cost less than I had originally anticipated. I will put a link here as soon as it is up and running. It will probably be another month. Got to get the money, time for the design and the wonderful woman who said she would do it for us is gone for the next 2 - 3 weeks. Ah patience isn’t it grand. J

One thing that we do need is a name. I need some help here. We have the following options.

Pastures of Peace Youth Ranch - -
Pros: I believe that at the ranch one can find peace from all the hardships in life. It is the one place that nothing bad can follow me, and maybe it can give that to others. Also, the name kinda came to me while I was
Crystal Peaks and it seemed as though it was meant to be the name (felt right at the time).

Cons: The more I think about it, the name just doesn’t seem to fit. I want people to not have a preconceived notion of what the ranch is before they come. I don’t want the scope to be limited by a name. Also, it now sounds like a cemetery or retirement community. I don’t want that.

Three Hawks Youth Ranch - -
Pros: Three is a great number. It is strong, it represents the three of us that
are working together to build this outreach. It also represents the trinity.
Hawks are very present in our area and we could have the tag line “ . . . where spirits soar . . . It also would not immediately let people know that we are Christian based and therefore not turn anyone off. All would be welcome and feel comfortable coming no matter their beliefs. It would also have the same initials as our 4-H club which would be nice if we shared resources that are personalized.

Cons: I am not sure if it is a strong name. I can’t quickly think of an interesting brand that could be made from the name. It is ambiguous. Also, there is a Three Rivers Winery in our valley as well as many resident subdivisions that have the work hawk in them. I don’t want it to be derivative.

So what do you think? Is one of these the right name or are there other suggestions that would be better. Come on comment and let me know what you think.

Well, I started writing this, this morning. I have since had the young lady out and am including a picture of her. God’s timing is PERFECT. She came out and helped pick rocks out of the arena. While she picked with my two daughters I had a chance to talk with the girl’s mom. They had come out once before in the fall and had not been back since. I called in April and let them know that they were welcome to come again, just to call and let me know. I ran into them at church on Sunday (I haven’t seen them at church in months). It was as if the stars aligned. They came to church, we had the time and all that we have to offer are meeting a need for this young girl. She was all smiles and felt so good when she was able to get the horse to do what she wanted. Oh, did I mention that the girl speaks very little English. She moved to America less than a year ago and I believe that it was nice for her to be able to communicate with the horse without using words. Although I did tell her that the horse needs to learn the word “ho” to mean stop. She seemed to like that she could teach the horse “English” even though hers is limited.

The girls quickly figured out it was much easier to work together to carry the large pail of rocks than to let one person do it alone. Team work what a great learning and sharing experience.

After rock picking our special guest got to pick which horse she wanted to ride and she chose Andy. She was ALL smiles as you can see.

I should probably also mention that while I was finishing with our guest my two girls had to leave to go to the 4-H office where they had the distinct pleasure of examining their horses poo for parasites. I know it doesn't sound glamorous and it wasn't but it helped them meet a requirement to be in 4-H. Fortunately both our horses came up CLEAN! We are doing a good job of worming them which means they are healthy.

Here the girls got to look for worm eggs. Both their horses got the all clear. As a matter of fact all our club members' horses were clear of all parasites.

Anyway, I am so very excited about all that summer is bringing already. We have another young girl coming tomorrow morning. So until then . . .