A YEAR IN REVIEW

The smiles, laughter, giving gifts are all at the back of our minds as we celebrate 2015.  Christmas has come and gone as we celebrated the birth of Jesus.  Life is different for some during this time of year.  Some live under anxiety due to expectations.  We rush for gifts, we rush for meals, we rush to get somewhere to spend time with family.  As 2014 draws to a close, Christmas and New Years were different for us at ASPIRE and our family.  Grief is close as we have lost some of our precious animals due to health issues.  They are now running free and enjoying their life without pain.  God is always there in the midst of our grief and storms. Fear not for I am with you always.  Hard lessons have been learned.  God has provided challenges, storms and hardships this year.  Out of the storms come life lessons about care and concern for others.  Blessings are abound amidst this time.  A new building, new people, new horses, new puppy and lots of faithful times. 

Snickers:

He taught us about loyalty, unconditional love, devotion and intuitiveness of people.  He taught us there are times we need our own space-sleep time and time to love.  He taught us that life can strike us with pain but the loyalty and love for others makes us strive through the pain.  God provided us with a beautiful dog that was rescued from puppy mill.  He lived his 14 years of life through loving thousands and yet his loyalty lied with his family.  Cherished memories and love beyond measure.  Thank you Lord for giving us 14 years with this beautiful dog with a loving soul.

Sonny:

Sonny lived for 32 years.  Stoic and beautiful the entire time.  You would never now he was 32.  He pushed past the pain to protect his girlfriend and herd mates.  He lived 16 of those years with ASPIRE.  Lessons learned from this beautiful copper colored Quarter horse included, gentle leadership, calming the herd, always the protector of his herd and people.  He loved his job and he would stand for hours being groomed and loved.  Even when the pain became worse he was still protecting his herd.   He would get in the way to protect a human from harm.  Sonny never liked wind, rain, ice, snow and extremely hot days.   He enjoyed his time with the mares.  He was always there to understand.  When life got me down and I had no where to turn I would walk to the barn and wrap my arms around him and he would lay his head on my shoulder and we would talk and I would cry and we would talk some more.  He was my rock and protector.  He gave me the strength to carry on. God was certainly in the midst of this relationship.  Sonny taught me so many things about life and now I will look for his whinny to tell it will be ok Marilyn. Life is hard some days but I am watching over you.  Sonny was the picture of what a relationship should be with his undying love for Erika.  Life will never be the same without him.  The herd will never be the same without him.  Go in peace my friend and run free.  Thank you Lord for giving me 16 years with this beautiful horse.

Bo:

Mister Bo Jangles what a story.  Bo was 33 years old and dealing with multiple health issues.  When we lost Blue, Bo went into severe depression.  Bo was the picture of peace.  He loved to run in the pasture with his mane flowing and tail flying.  He loved to play with Blue.  Bo had a introverted side and was sometimes hard to catch.  Because of his hardships and abuse before he came to ASPIRE he helped many people overcome obstacles that were not possible because of his love for people and our love to him.  Bo had a great life here at ASPIRE and he was loved unconditionally.  He loved to have attention and groomed.  Shiny black coat with a beautiful flowing mane.  He is running free with Blue now.  Mister Bo Jangles  I will never forget you and you will be in my heart forever.  Go in peace my friend.  Thank you Lord for giving me so many years to love Bo.  Take good care of my friend.

Friends God has been in the midst all along it is just us humans that can't see the light sometimes.  He will provide us the comfort and strength we need to muster the storm and we will come out better when the storm passes.   2015 will be a great year.  Stay tuned for my vacation blog.