Beyond the Saddle

Howdy ya'll! This is my first time blogging so I'm not real sure how to start. I thought maybe I would just have to jump into it as if I've been blogging all along. So here goes...

This past weekend has been a wonderful one, full of friends, fun, and fellowship. Big Bend Cowboy Church had its first Cowgirl Gathering "Beyond the Saddle: Restoring the Western Lifestyle through Faith, Principles, and Good Horses." I was on the team that helped to put the gathering together and that alone was a lot of fun. We had our first meeting back in August I believe, with seven or eight ladies on the team. At first I thought I was just here because my mom was and I didn't want to be home alone, but as I listened to what everyone had to say I wanted to jump in and help. So, I was assigned the task of creating an invitation and putting together a scavenger hunt. (I wasn't able to get a copy on here.. haven't figured it out yet)

I have to admit, I had fun putting the invitations together. When I went to public school I was on the design team, or was the design team, for the high school newspaper. I like doing that kind of stuff. The scavenger hunt was also fun to put together. I had help from my mom and a friend and we toke 25 questions from a Bible Quiz that my friend had and printed them out individually. Since we didn't really have a prize for first place, we decided to put out different colored beads with each question, and the instructed each team to take a bead. In the end, they would end up with a colorful bracelet to take home with them. Clever huh?

Anyways, enough about my part in the gathering. Friday we showed up in the afternoon with our horses and camp beds. Mom had to work so she came later in the day, about 5 I think. I helped to get everyone with horses settled in, watered and fed. First off I met a sweet lady named Babs who was so talkative and funny, I really enjoyed listening to her as I helped her settle in her old gray horses named Smokey. She could never get my name right though. She kept calling me all these different variations of my name, but I knew she was talking to me. It made me smile. After that we made our way to the Hall where we would be staying, for supper and the grand opening. We had the most amazing cook out there too! The first night she made enchiladas that were incredible, but a little to spicy for me. I'm a big baby when it comes to spicy foods, but they were still really good.

After supper we went down the gym and a member of the planning team had put together a low ropes course, so we could get to know each other a little better. The first thing she made us do was stand on 2X4's in a long line and try to arrange ourselves alphabetically by last name without stepping off the boards. Let me tell ya, it was quiet the challenge but it was fun, and we successfully managed to do just that! The next thing she made us do was stand on the boards again, pick an animal and arrange ourselves from smallest to largest animal. Sounds easy right? Well here's the catch, we couldn't talk to each other this time. Instead we had to make our animal's sound. First of all, I don't know what a zebra is supposed to sound like and I was not about to embarrass myself like that, so I went with a bird.

When the games were done and we knew each other a little better we went back to the Hall and started a big fire. It was wonderful sitting there by it's glow and chit chatting with people. We had a musician there, Jean Prescott, who played the guitar and sing some songs for us and a speaker, Kim Rieman, who told us a wonderful story about her life. She told it in two halves, one Friday night and one Saturday night. It was interesting listening to her story and how she had come to know Christ, but it was a little difficult for me to decipher what she was trying to get at. I think mostly because she was older and I was the youngest one there. But that's OK because I liked listening to her.

Saturday we got up early and had a Bible lesson/roping lesson. Since I'm a pretty fair hand with a rope, I helped some of the other people who weren't. I had really wished my mom was there (she had to work again) because she's a pretty good roper herself. We then saddled up our horses and went on the ride up into the mountains. We followed a trail up the side of one mountain and when we got up there, there was a little valley that opened up and you could see forever. It was just wonderful. We rode again after dinner and had our scavenger hunt after that. Now, I didn't know what people were going to think of the scavenger hunt, but I guess they enjoyed it. It was actually kind of funny to watch each team hunt for the questions, read them, then get all different answers.

Sunday morning we got up early again and had a little church service around the fire. We had communion and our pastors wife gave a little talk. I think for the most part that this past weekend has been the best thing for everyone there. I know it was for me. I enjoyed the short break in life from the everyday worries and stresses, and I hope that we get to do it again.

 

 The ride up to the valley.

 The pastor's wife, Norma/ photographer