Spring Cleaning, Gotcha Day, & Silly Horses

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Happy Saturday friends!

I was brushing my teeth Wednesday morning and realized that every muscle in my body was tightly clenched. I asked myself why: Well, I'm always in a hurry...but since I'm going to spend these two minutes brushing, I can't leave and can't do anything else, so relaaaaax your muscles.

The feeling in my body was like a mini spa day 😂

I've always felt like I have to hold myself so tightly so I don't fly apart at the seams.

Each trauma tears me apart,
tightens me up,
scares me in new and unexpected ways

Each day it's my job to find the tiny moments of joy:
the cardinal that stops above me and sings its heart out,
the barn cat next door that comes by for a pet,
watching Lucy put her head in a sad client's lap,
my little herd sleeping in the sun while Wynter stands guard,
ManChild's hug,
B-Rad's laughter.

Each moment knits me back together again.

Torn apart,
knitted together,
over and over.

I guess today I'm thankful that there are things that knit me back together.

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This week contained some happy memories—16 years ago we got our hands on our sweet little bundle of joy! He was just 3 months when we first saw his picture, he's on the right:

And 7 months old when we met him in Ethiopia, February 5, 2008. This is known in the adoption world as their Gotcha Day:

At the hotel:

The prettiest baby I've ever seen:

Nighttime feedings felt so precious:

I could post one million pictures but I'll stop :-) Suffice it to say, from the moment we laid eyes on him we've been head over heels ❤️

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I went to Old Navy this week to see if I could find some new hoodie sweatshirts for ManChild—he doesn't like to shop with his mommy anymore :-/ You'll never guess what I found there. It was like an episode of the Twilight Zone, 1980s all over again. You know you're getting old when what you wore as a teen has come back into style. (ManChild said, "That's probably why it's called 'Old' Navy 😁)

Picture this: a grey crewneck sweatshirt with the word KINDNESS on it in faded turquoise and a white cotton button down shirt underneath...collar popped.

My gawd. Actually it was cute in a nostalgic kind of way.

ManChild told me that boys at his school are getting mullets—the style that never looked good, even in the 80s:

Probably the main reason I hate the hair is because ages ago my brother and I went camping for the weekend on Emerald Isle and the tent next to us played his 👆🏽 Achy Breaky Heart at eardrum-bursting levels at all hours...even when they left to go to the beach. It was ungodly. I can't see this man and his hair and not feel like this:

 THE RANCH:

Poppy escaped his paddock and went to hang out with the girls:

That brown stuff on his face is dried pee. Bucks in rut are a treat. He was blubbering and spitting and putting his feet on the fence which has slowly been pushed down to under its original four feet by giant Wynter. The silver lining of Poppy's bad knees: he can't jump the fence, whew! He made some extra beautiful and sweet babies for a couple years before his knees started acting up. Such a bummer, he's the nicest buck I've ever met.

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I put Raynie in the coaching barn and went off to find the brushes. When I came back she was standing right where I left her, ears pricked, waiting for her spa day:

I let her loose in the girl goat pen afterwards. Goats, being browsers, don't eat much grass so there was some yummy stuff for her:

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I forgot how springy February can feel in North Carolina. Everyone is starting to shed and the weather has been perfect for me, sunny, and in the 50s. With that weather comes wanting to clean, so last weekend I spent a day working on the upper garage. Brad got it to the point where one car could fit (mine, he's so sweet) and after several hours, I was able to get it to this point:

The last time we had two cars in a garage was back in our first house in Colorado, when ManChild was just a baby. Unfortunately I had Mom Brain and once backed the minivan out with the electric sliding side door open, jamming it. Another time I tried to pull in with our road bikes on top of the minivan. This is why we can't have nice things. Obviously I was not to be trusted so I started parking on the street.

B-Rad is turning the lower garage into his shop so the majority of stuff toward the back of the garage will be headed down there soon and it will be even more roomy! Two and a half years into living here and we are still creating a home.

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Wynter's response when B-Rad told him, "I don't have any cookies, would you please back up!"

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Dancer's belly is getting deeper and wider! I wonder how many babies she has in there?:

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Sleepy friends enjoying the sunshine while Wynter stood guard. Every so often I hear about people who freak out when horses lie flat out, thinking they are dead. My PSA: Horses really do sleep like this for short periods, promise:

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The goats all got their mani/pedis this week. The girls are so easy compared to the stinky boys! Little Oliver screamed like he was being killed but Poppy was easy—that is, once we caught him ;-)

THE MEMES!:

Saw this license plate on a pizza run the other night and it made me laugh:

Two things that made me laugh this week:

This lady and her super talkative horse.

This ventriloquist comedian and her monkey!

Not funny but interesting: Did you know Kirk Cousins, the Vikings quarterback, does neurofeedback for focus? I was watching the Netflix show called Quarterback (surprisingly interesting!) and they were talking about how his games are so much better when he keeps up with his neurofeedback. In case you're new, I offer this at the ranch and you can read more about it here. However, the type we offer, NeurOptimal Neurofeedback doesn't have this stunning blue cap ;-) Oh darn.

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