My Dear Sweet Patches. . .

Patches was my dear sweet horse that I practically grew up with.  He  passed away on Easter Sunday.  What a day to go.  He was nearly 40years old and as my sister reminded me he only had one bad day in all  those 40 years.  My sister and I grew up riding horses and showing all the time.  That was a family thing with us.  We have shown everywhere.  We always ended up in Raleigh at the State Fair.  My Daddy always joked that Patches was the only horse he knew that would get a check every year from the Fair.  When Janice and I showed we usually earned some money in some of our classes.  We figured up one year back in the 80's that Patches had paid for himself several times over with all the money we had won showing him.

He was a great horse.  He wasn't much to look at but man could he ride.  He had the slowest jog of any horse ever.  He got so used to riding and showing that he knew when to jog, walk or lope  when he heard the crack of the PA system.   He has beaten horses that were professionally trained and shown.  He has beaten horses that some folks were ashamed to admit how much they had paid for their horse.  He was like a big ol teddy bear.  You could do just about anything with him.  We used to carry the flag in the local parades with him.  He never offered to bugger or balk at anything.   They even used him to let the preacher at one of our shows ride in to the ring and give the opening prayer.  Patches felt he was a little long winded so he began creeping toward the gate.  I will give it to that preacher he kept praying until the cord from the microphone ran out. 

We rode him on trails a lot.  He liked that and he knew his way around.  You could feel him going just a little faster when he was headed for the barn.   If you ever got lost you always  knew Patches would find his way to the barn or the trailer.  
My Daddy has been offered a great deal of money on many occassions for Patches, thank goodness he never accepted.  My Sisters' husband wrote a great Epitaph for Patches:

                                                              "Son of Patch"
                                                Waiting Patiently at Heaven's Gate
                         "When you get here, climb up in the saddle and drop the reins, I know the way
                           to the barn."                   Patches

Youth Retreat. . .

I went on my first Youth Retreat the other weekend.  It was an eye opener to say the least.  This is my first retreat as an adult.  I went on youth retreats as a kid in the Church I grew up in.   We went to our Church camp and stayed in a cabin more like a dormatory.   The ride up was very twisty turny and made me a little weak in the knees.  I don't do well on buses.  Once we arrived we unloaded the bus and picked our rooms.  I decided that the kids and I would stay in one room together.  There were four beds to a room.  I won't make that mistake again.  My kids talk in their sleep.  Jack was screaming in his sleep that first night.  I think he was fussing at Thomas but I am not really sure.  Thomas grumbles and groans in his sleep.  They were both so loud I did not sleep much.  We got up the next morning and two of our adult leaders had begun breakfast.  Now Moravians know how to eat.  They were fixing:  bacon, sausage, biscuits, sausage gravy, and cinimon rolls with a variety of cereals and fresh fruit.  Now is that a breakfast or what?   After everyone had stuffed themselves completly we were off on our mystery trip.  We drove to the Mass General Store.  If you have never been to one you should go.  It is a really neat store.  They offer a wide variety of candy at $5.99 lb.  You would have thought my kids had a blank check.  They walked in and began filling their buckets full of all sorts of junk.  They came to me and said we're ready to go, each with a bucket full.  I pulled out a few items they could keep and I told them the rest would have to go back.  What were they thinking?  We went up the road a ways and had a picnic in a park with swings and slides.  Fun was had by all.  Once we got back to the camp some of the kids  wanted to go on a hike to a grave yard.   Thomas and Jack were in this mix.  The hike was about an hour or so and pretty intense.  I am thankful for the adults that had gone along and for the one older child that went.  I will call him Big Z.  Big Z was a great help that weekend with the kids.   I have never seen that side of him at Church.  He usually very quiet and never says a whole lot to anyone.  But he took charge on the hike and took care of Thomas.  He and Thomas were first to the grave yard and the first to retrun.  I did not make the hike for fear that my back would go out.  Jack was the last one to come in from the hike.  I thought that was strange he is usually first in everything.  Well, Jack ended up getting sick that night and I had to call Mark at 9:30 to come get us.  He was not very happy but he loves us so he came.   That is true love there.  He was supposed to fish in a tournament that next day but instead he was on the road in the wee hours of the morning to pick up his sick little one.   We are all better now.  I think the candy got to Jack.  What a weekend.

Some days. . .

There are days that I feel I have not done my kids justice in their raising.  Some days I feel maybe I am to strict on them about what they eat and when they go to bed and such.   Then some days like Thursday I feel it all falls in to place and maybe I did do something right.   Jack has been taking Communion classes at Church for the past several weeks.  Thursday, Maundy Thursday, he got to take part in his  first Holly Communion.   Those that know me, know that I cried through the whole service.   I am sure part of it was that I was just so proud of him and the other part was the fact that we were reading about the day Jesus was crucified.  For all the days that I feel like I have been the "mean Mommy,"  I have Thursday to reflect on.  For all of those "Some days"  when I feel I can't do anything right, I have Thursday when my baby grew in his relationship with God. 
Thomas did not participate in the Communion classes this time but he is very interested in it now.   He asked on our way home from Church on Thursday when he would get to take the classes.  I told him he may be able to when they offer it next year or so.  I was very proud of Thomas too.   He followed along in the service with the reader in his book.  He even sang some of the songs.  He doesn't do that in Church. 
We had a very deep conversation with the boys that Thursday night.  The service opened all kinds of new questions from both of the boys.  Nights like that make me forget all of my "some days" that I feel I made my mistakes.