Week 4

Well, another great week at the Elder Ranch! It is so peaceful being right where the Lord wants you. He shut doors and opened others and led us right here. We are still at the Riverside location and are enjoying all the things we have learned and have gotten to do.

BRANDING: One thing that is fun to see, is how the nearby ranches in the community pull together to help each other out during branding season. This week we got to participate in another branding down the road. The kids LOVE them and it makes a highlight of their week. This one started out cooler, but quickly warmed up and give us all a heavy dose of vitamin D3.

BURNING: We got to experience burning a little bit. There are a few piles of corn stalks that needed to be burned and I was quickly reminded, no matter how safe you are, the weather can change in an instant and cause things to go not quite as planned. Stephen and the kids all put forth a gallant effort and kept it under control. When we were getting instructions on how to burn, it was stressed to “not burn the willows”. Praise the Lord, the willows were not burned! Everything right next to them was toast, but we managed to save the willows! We did about 4 loads of sooty laundry and still smell smoke/fire residue a week later. Even though it was a challenging time of trying to keep the fire at bay, it sure made some good memories! We had our own bucket brigade. We drove the little biggie with kids and buckets of water back and forth from the creek to the fire and they hauled about 200 buckets and did such a great job!

CLEAN UP: Stephen and the little kids got to go clean up the stack yard. It was such a fun day getting to be outside together and enjoy the kids and get work done. Stephen seems to find a good balance of play and work and that day was no exception. He let the kids build a fort with the stacked hay and pallets and they had such a great time. He took the time to teach them things along the way and it is so beautiful to see. Reminds me of the passage in Deuteronomy coming to life. We finished the stack yard project with another big fire to burn the pile of boxes after the feeding of the fries this past winter.

ODDS AND ENDS: Stephen got a new saddle this week! I’m so excited for him! I love making investments in things like this that will be used for years to come! It’s just beautiful and working great so far! They got to do some riding off and on this week as they pushed cattle out to different pastures. Martin and James got to spend a day with Matt (another ranch hand here) and ride all day to fix fence which included a water gap too. They said it was freezing! Every time the kids come back from their days adventures, there are always so many stories and we all enjoy they time together to hear how everyone’s day went.

ROCK LOADS: Another project Stephen tackled with the middle/littles this week was picking up rocks in the pasture and hauling them to nearby areas to drop them off. They worked for several hours and got several loads of rock/branches hauled out of the pasture. Looks great! And of course they had a fun time doing it. I like to send them with snack packs or bring a picnic lunch if they are in the nearby area. I did both this week for the different crews that were here and there.

BIG KIDS WORK: The oldest 4 girls and James got to go work for another ranch one day last week. I didn’t get any pictures of them, but like usual, they came back full of stories and good times! They can pretty much make a good time out of anything and it’s so fun to see them just enjoy life and serving others! They are such a blessing to Stephen and I and it is such an answer to our hearts desire for them to get to be a blessing to others and glorify the Lord with their joy and hard work.

And I guess the last thing I’ll mention is how beautiful the weather is getting! It’s amazing we had snow last week and this week it got up to 95 one day! We got to experience spring back in Texas before we left, and now spring up here in Riverside, Oregon. I’m anticipating getting to experience yet another spring up in Unity next week after we move as they are still colder up there with some snow in the ditches yet. Quite an extended spring season for sure!

Here’s a video with some highlights of this past week! Love y’all!