Thank You, Thank You, Thank You

On this day we celebrate with gratitude and thanks.

It is a year of special events: Sara has a decade birthday, my husband turns 50, I turn 60, my granddaughter turns 1, and it is the 75th anniversary of my husband's grandparents buying the farm, and our 16th wedding anniversary all within a few months of each other.

First and foremost thank you God.  I am grateful for being there for me every step of the way through the trials, tribulation, the hardships and the downfalls.  I am grateful  for your forgiveness and for the lessons I have learned and growing closer to you.  I am grateful to you God for just being you.  My life would not be the same without you and my faith and spirituality would not be so important if I did not place you first. 
I am grateful for our animals.  The Lord has blessed my life and will continue to bless my life with awesome horses, dogs, cats and many other pets across my lifetime.  They have changed my life and will continue to change my life.

I am grateful for my family,  my mother who loved me and gave me life.  She taught me the joy of giving back to others.   I am grateful to my brothers for the fights, the love and being there for me in all of life's turmoil’s.  I am grateful for my father and the wonderful memories.  Thank you to my first husband for teaching me many lessons about love, having fun and it is ok to play,  for teaching me about addiction and what part I play in that.   I am grateful for our two beautiful children and out of that came 4 beautiful grandchildren.

I am grateful to my daughter.   I have so many memories with her.  I have been through some of the toughest times in my life with her.  I have learned humbleness, and I have learned the how to cope with a range of emotions with her.  ASPIRE is partially successful due to her dedication and commitment over the years. 

Thank you for the beautiful memories we had from our travels across the US.  I have had the privilege of seeing over half of the states in the US and enjoy the beauty God created in so many places.

I am grateful to my son, for the wonderful memories and unconditional love.  Lord you have provided me with grace with him in the midst of these lessons I have learned; being tested, rebelled on, testing boundaries and defiance. I have learned so many life lessons that have made it easier to love those individuals with ADHD.  ASPIRE has been a success due in part to the life lessons I have learned from him.  I am so proud of the progress he has made and many memories we have created.  You see I have learned unconditional love even with friction and conflict.  I see it in his eyes and his feelings.  In the midst of conflict I know I am loved. In the midst of play I know I am loved. 

Thank you to both of my children for the wonderful grandchildren.  Justin, Kameron, Autumn and Brianna are the light of my life. My light shines when they are around.  I get to enjoy being a kid again.  I love each and every one of them with all my heart and enjoy spending time with all of them. I have learned so many life lessons that I hope the little bit of wisdom I have gained over my life and giving them love and boundaries will be everlasting.

I am grateful to my husband and being part of my life.  I am grateful to him for assisting in making my dreams come true.  Thank him for staying with me through thick and thin and in bad moments and good moments.  I am thankful for the beautiful kind heart and awesome giving he has done throughout our 16 years and I look forward to many more. 

I am grateful to my son-in-laws who have given me beautiful grandchildren.  Thank you for your support, kindness and love throughout the years.   

A special thanks to Christine who has been there for me in most of life's turmoil’s.   I am grateful for all the wonderful memories and a loving heart.  My life would not be the same without all the great trips, time spent together and the wonderful conversations we engage in everyday.

I am touched and appreciate all my beautiful friends, staff, volunteers, riders, families, board and all the people that have touched my life with life long memories, made a difference and taught me life lessons.  You have given me more that life could ever say in words.  It has been a truly awesome journey and I look forward to what God has in store for all of us.

I am grateful to the community and all of our donors.  Thank you for believing in ASPIRE and me.     I fully appreciate your kindness and generosity.   I remember so many years ago and starting out when I was just thinking about this idea and working on gathering information, money and people and now it is 13 years later and have served literally thousands of people.  It only seems like yesterday that I ventured on this journey.  It has been many lessons learned and so many tears of appreciation, joy and sorrow.   I would not change it for anything.   I love this job and all that it represents and it is you ladies and gentleman and my faith that have given me the ability to take one step at a time and move forward.  I thank you for that.

Thank you and may God bless and please continue to watch what God unfolds for us on this beautiful journey.  Thank you for the past memories, present memories and all the memories we have to look forward to the years to come.  It is about the memories and relationship, beautiful memories from everyone that touches our lives.   Do you remember when...........