New Job, New Adventure

Ryan and I have had quite a transition the last few months. Most who read this know this, yet it is worth documenting. At the end of October Ryan gave his 2 month notice at his former job. Right at that time his beloved Papa, Ryan's grandpa, suffered an anurism in his stomach and passed later that week. He was such a godly man who has left a Godly legacy. It was a time that brought the family close and brought to light how blessed and loved we are. We miss Papa, I am so honored to have known him, and I look forward to seeing him soon :)

Once we came back from New Braunfels, we found out that Ryan's job was ending earlier than expected. Ryan really wanted to work for a trainer named Jordan Laron, yet when they talked Jordan wanted to hire him but couldn't afford to. So, we phoned our amazing friend Nathan and Jean Piper. Nathan is a reining horse trainer in Aubrey (near Gainesville) and he works for Reuben Vandorp. Reuben hired Ryan to start his colts and we moved in with the Pipers. They were so generous and hospitable to let us stay in their guest room. We enjoyed time with them and we were closer to our church in Denton. We were also able to come to Houston for Thanksgiving!! This is unheard of in the reining industry because the biggest show of the year starts on Thanksgiving day. Thankfully we didn't have to be at that show until later on the next week, so we finally got to see family and have a great meal on Thanksgiving! We were able to watch the finals, and Jordan larson, the trainer Ryan had hoped to work for won the Open Finals!

Christmas came and the Piper's had company coming so out we went! We headed to New Braunfels for a 2 1/2 week Christmas break! On our way down there, Ryan received a phone call. Guess who... Jordan Larson. He offered Ryan a job! So we had no clue what all the details were, but we felt a lot better knowing that there was a job possibility for when we get back because Reuben had told us he couldn't hire us permanently, just temporary. With Ryan's Dad owning his own company we had plenty of work to do. Ryan was busy with his hands building a beautiful cedar fence. I stayed busy helping the ladies in the office. It was so much fun to spend so much time together, I will cherish those memories. On Christmas my parents and brother came over to New Braunfels. It was such a blessing to have almost everyone there. I missed Leslie, Court and the kiddos, but they were having fun in the snow in PA.

Ryan's new job started January 3rd, I believe. We tried to fin a place to rent near the ranch while in NB. Yet, in rural Texas, you can't find anything on the internet! The way to get things done up here is to know somebody who knows somebody. So, that is what we did. We called someone, who called someone, who called someone and we finally heard of a few properties. We had 2 in mind when we drove up here. We drove up on New Years Eve. The landlord said it was ready to move in. We get there and there is no electricity or water!! And neither would be turned on until Monday. So we phone another friend, the Broadhurst's, asking if we could stay with them for the weekend.

Monday morning, Twanna Broadhurst, told me that I should probably call the city hall early to get my water turned on and boy was she right! I call and the lady said she needs a deposit before the water is turned on and that if I want it turned on that day, her husband could come turn it on after he gets off work... I thought that was weird! before we get off the phone she says, "Oh, I will only be in the office until 10AM, I only work mornings." only work mornings?!? She means, 2 hours a day! well it was 9:15, I had a 35 min drive. I book it and get to the little shack that is the city hall of Sadler, TX Population 400. Before leaving she gives me her home phone in case I need anything :)

Ryan started his job and LOVES it! He is learning so much, Jordan's training program just makes sense to him. He is really loves the people he works wirh and the horses he gets to ride. Here is a picture of Jordan's winning run!





Here is a picture of us in the Fort Worth Stockyards. From left to right, Cutter, Ryan, Amy, Molly & Stefan (who have temporarily moved to Switzerland where Stefan is from, we miss them but they will be back in November!), Taylor (Jordan's wife) and Jaime (their friend)

For a few weeks I was babysitting Jordan and Taylor's 2 year old boy, Cash. He is darling! Loves to rope his stuffed bull!

At the beginning of February, I started a new job! I am now the receptionist for Tradition Senior Living and Memory Care, a facility run by Mark's company (Ryan's dad). It is a brand new facility and as it grows my job will hopefully turn into an assistant manager position. I am very grateful to have a job because it is necessary now! Although I am bummed I won't be going to as many horse shows with Ryan, it is hopefully for only a season. So there is my update, it has been a whirlwind. God is good and in control!

Give God the Glory

I realize it has almost been a year since I last posted. This blog is somewhat like my journal. My journal began in 2005 and I still have about 20 pages left! Yet, I do not want to post things for with no purpose. I have not felt that I needed to post, but yesterday, God gave me a revelation.

I am excited to post this because God has truly exposed my heart and made His truth resonate with me. It has left me with gratitude and excitement and I know that I must proclaim it publicly. Even though a select few will read this, it is still public.

A few days ago, my husband and I decided to begin listening to a series of teachings done by Soma Communities in Seattle. It is a church body (which is what Soma means, body) that does church a little different from the Bible belt. They love Jesus, His word, and they have a zeal for people to know the gospel, the love of Jesus, and they are for the good of their city. So the first teaching was on Celebrating. They talked of getting people together in their neighborhood to celebrate, in hopes to build friendships with them and get to know them. Now this post actually doesn't have much to do with the podcast, except there was one small line that I picked up on. They had asked a few from the body to step up and talk about how they have been celebrating. One lady got up and spoke, and she mentioned her daughter's preschool teacher. She has a good relationship with her and loves her dearly, they have had many great conversations about the Lord, and the teacher actually believes in the gospel. Yet, the lady stated that "She just doesn't Give God the Glory."

I decided to read the gospel of John again. I am yearning to know more of the character of God. Jesus is the perfect image bearer of God to us, so what better way to see God's character than through the life of Jesus. Yesterday I was in chapter 3 of John. The beginning talks about Nicodemus and the new birth. The second part of the chapter talks about John the Baptist. A verse that is put onto coffee mugs and t-shirts is John 3:30 "He must increase, but I must decrease." It's a wonderful verse that I have loved for years, yet yesterday it was put into context and this is when God exposed my heart.

Putting this verse into context really shows the weight of it. John the baptist was "preparing the way of the Lord." God sent him to teach of repentance and baptism. At this point in scripture, Jesus was just baptized and had gone down the river and was baptizing others. John's disciples came to him and said Jesus is baptizing and all are coming to him! It seems that they are perceiving a competition between John and Jesus. Yet, the way in which John responds exposed the wickedness in my own heart.

I am a Type A personality. I enjoy doing a good job and excelling in everything I do. I love affirmation. I love to hear that I have done a good job. Who doesn't!?!?! We all want to know that we are the best of the best. That the job that was set in front of us was done well, and people have recognized our well doing and affirm us for it. So when I read this I thought... if I were John the Baptist, I would have wanted Jesus to give me public affirmation. To say, "my son, you have prepared the way for me, good job."

Yet, John does nothing of the sort, he had absolutely no desire to be recognized for what he was doing. Instead he publicly proclaims, You yourselves bear witness that I said, I am not the Christ, but I have been sent before Him. He is like the friend of a groom who stands by him at his wedding, full of joy for the groom. He must increase, but I must decrease. John says, He who comes from above is above all, and He who believes in the Son has everlasting life. John does not cease to give God the glory!

He gives the glory where it is due, seeking no glory for himself.

I confess that I would never want to look like I want the glory, yet I know my heart and God knows my heart all the more. So I want to publicly give God the glory because it is His glory and His alone.

I give God the glory for the power and work of the gospel.

I give God the glory for the salvation He has given me through the power in His blood that was shed to wash me clean.

I give God the glory for the marriage he has blessed me with and what a blessing it has been!

I give God the glory for never going hungry and always having a roof over my head

I give God the glory for the skills and talents He has given me

I give God the glory for the job he has blessed Ryan with

I give God the glory for the work He is doing in my heart, sanctifying me and transforming me more into the image of Jesus by the power of His Holy Spirit

These are only a few, this has turned my heart to worship the Lord. He is good, He is True.

If you are like me and you have been seeking glory for yourself, come to God. He loves you, let him lavish you with His love. He is a God who forgives. Let our affections be on Christ alone

Old Crafts/New Crafts

I have realized that there are a lot of little projects laying around the house that I have done during my moments of nothing to do that I have not yet shown to the world. Although, I realize that this is a blog. This means that I will have much to say about nothing to so little people. But for those of you who do look at my blog, this I will share:


Two years ago for Christmas I made a lot of bird ornaments for family and friends. I had this fun zebra felt and I thought that it just needed to be a bird. Someone may receive this as a gift someday...


These lovely stars are the beginning of my homemade Christmas ornaments. Ryan and I do not have money in our budget for things like that, therefore, I will make them myself :) I have many more of these starts that I would like to make, I am just not in the Christmas mood since it is March!


Now this one, no one must tell Michael about. It is his birthday present, and his birthday is not until August! He was quite sad that he did not receive a handmade ornament when I was giving the birds to everyone. Michael LOVES Christmas ornaments and little cute handmade things. I should have thought about giving him one, but I really feel that this half eaten gingerbread man fits him so much better! I think he is really going to like it. So don't tell him!! He loves surprises and hates it when they are spoiled.


Now this little mushroom/toadstool cottage was simply for my enjoyment :) I saw a blog with this on it and decided I needed one. Not wanted, needed. This is before I had my sewing machine, therefore, I sewed it all by hand. The embroidery takes quite awhile, but it was so worth it! It is now my pin cushion, so I get to look at it every time I sew. I have the felt cut out to make a toadstool sized one, it is short and squatty. Maybe I will get around to it one day.


Since I love to embroider, I have A LOT of needles and no place to put them. Until I found a pattern for this wonderful little needle book. I used natural cotton, some fabric I found at a local quilting store in a fat quarter, and a big button that I found in the bag of buttons I bought at an antique store. Also at this antique store I found the lace trim. I was so excited to get to make this beautiful little book for myself! I have realized that I end up sewing so much for other people that I don't keep anything I make.


On the inside I put a piece of wool felt that acts like a page where I take the needles in and out easily.


This final project is one that I am excited about! My friend, Jordan Cloyd, told me about this thing that Downy is doing. You send them your address and they send you a bag with pre cut fabric and instructions to make a quilt for a child that is in the hospital. The children that receive these quilts are usually ones that are living in the hospital with cancer or other diseases.


I have never made a quilt before, I have finished the front of it, this picture is the front halfway finished. Now I need to buy the batting and get a walking foot for my sewing machine so I can finish it. I have looked online for one, they look to be about $30. Does anyone have one I can borrow? Or maybe one you do not want anymore? I am praying for God to provide it, He gave me this sewing machine for free, so I believe He can give me a walking foot too!

Thanks for reading this :)

Spring is here!

Beautiful weather was awaiting me as I came home from Colorado. From snow, I cam home to the beginning of Spring. Although 2 days ago it snowed again, it is now back to warm spring weather.

Our favorite time of day is right before the sun goes down and everything turns gold. We usually have to step outside and enjoy it :) After seeing brown, dead grass for so long, it is so sweet to see color again! Although these purple flowers are weeds, they are gorgeous!




We have a quaint little front porch with a little bench to enjoy the sunset.





Grit has no interest in the weather, he just wants lovin.



Blue tends to work hard all day so at night she quietly lays in her bed until the coyotes begin to howl. Then she is out howling at them, her job is never done.




We also have a new baby on the ranch. A cute little palomino filly. This is not the best picture of her, maybe I'll get another one.


I am super excited for these beautiful days. I know the rain is coming, but I am so glad we live out where we can really enjoy the country. I hope y'all are enjoying it too!

Alpine Destined

I am so grateful to have a great, healthy relationship with Ryan's family. I have so many friends who have issues and touchy situations with their in-laws and thankfully that is just not the case for me! Ryan's parents took me to Breckenridge, CO for Hannah's Spring break. It was sooo much fun! It is a shame that Ryan could not come, I think he has a love for the mountains greater than any of us, but, that love is beginning to grow in me as well :)

Here are pictures that mostly Kathy took with our camera. I am just not a big photographer, I will carry the camera and forget to take pictures, it is completely inevitable. Although, most of you reading this were there with me, I thought it would be nice to share our little adventure with those who were not there. Ryan's family and kathy's sister, Keeley, and her son, josh, went on the trip. Keeley made the trip so exciting, I just love her fun loving personality! For the most part Jeremy was off on the slopes doing crazy blacks, riding through trees, giving mark and kathy a heart attack thinking about it. We heard stories of how he would get lost on the mountain... because he never would go down an actual run. It was fun to spend time with Mark and Jeremy after being married to Ryan, because I saw how many similarities the Rushing men have. Their drive for competition... and winning. Their mannerisms and little sayings. Mark kept saying... "Is it hot in here? Or is it just me?" I think Ryan and Jeremy have learned well from Mark, ha!

The first pictures are on our first ride up the gondola. We got to know this Gondola well.



This is Keeley and Josh. Josh has only lived in warm climates, such as Arizona, Hawaii and Florida. This trip was his first time to see snow while it was snowing! It snowed just about everyday while we were there so he saw LOTS of it!


This is at Peak 8, where we would take lessons and get our gear. Keeley and I took 3 days of lessons. Mark and Josh did one day and Josh did snow boarding on the 3rd day and found out he was a natural at it! I found out that I LOVE skiing! It is yet another expensive sport to add to my list!


It was so crazy on the slopes, one second the sun would be out and you would be hot and sweaty. Then the next minute it looked like this. You get on a chair lift and your face is frozen by the time you get off.


Here is Hannah about to show her skills.



We met up for lunch at a cafe on the slope. Yet, we brought our lunches because their food was so expensive! This day Kathy snowshoed up to the peak to bring us lunch! What a dedicated mom :)



These photos are from Kathy's snowshoe trip. She took my camera and got some great shots!






There are a lot more pictures from Hannah's camera on facebook... although Kathy may not be able to see them since her and Hannah aren't official friends, ha.

Overall, we had good food, good relaxation, good time spent together, it was a blast!

My Craftiness

This is the long awaited post. Maybe by only my sister... but still long awaited by Leslie :)

Today, yes today, it is warm enough that they have opened the door and I have internet in my house! To celebrate, I am posting this.

Here is what I gave Leslie and Hannah for Christmas. I bought cardigans at Target and embroidered on them. Here is the back of Leslie's:


This is the front of Hannah's, sorry the picture is not on here straight


The front of Leslie's:


I tried to make leslie's look like a mum flower, I thought it turned out well. I want to make one for myself now!


Last time I went home, the end of January for Whitney's wedding, I finally picked up my kitchen hutch. I absolutely love this piece of furniture. It was a gift from my parents for our wedding. They found it at an auction. I store all of my china in it and other breakables


Since we got the hutch we had to move the armoir into the 2nd bedroom. Ryan's parents gave this armoir to us, we love it and it is so beautiful! I put on top the teapot and platter that Ryan made for me and used when we proposed to me. The flowers were used in my wedding, I saw tons of flowers left over from my wedding sitting in my mom's house. I decided to take some and use around my house.


Here is a big project that took quite awhile. When we moved in we did not have very much privacy. For some reason Pat and Veronica did not have blinds or anything over the wide open windows on the doors. So, I bought some fabric from hobby lobby and made my own curtains. This was a first for me, but I am happy with how they turned out. I picked a fabric that would contrast well with the yellow walls and bring it out as well.


I was not sure how to do it, because I wanted it to cover the entire window at night, but I needed to be able to move it a bit to let light in during the day. I opted to sew a ribbon on the back and i just tie and untie it when I want.


With the little bit of leftover fabric I had I made tieback for the curtains in the living room. I bought these brown curtains from walmart.



I did not have enough for the loan curtain by the kitchen, so i picked a funky fabric my sister gave me :)



The next is an idea my friend Callie sent to me. She is SUPER crafty herself. The most talented crocheter I have ever seen! She crocheted me a miniature horse ornament for Christmas, hopefully I can post that soon, it is so amazing. So basically these are embroidery hoops (total of $3.50 for these three) and some fabric scraps my mom gave me from the discontinued fabric from louis shanks.


I hope to add some more, I wasn't sure how many I would need when I was at the store. They are so inexpensive and they look really neat! I love the textures of these fabrics so most likely I am going to add more!


I do have more crafts that I have made that I will someday post. For now, I hope this gave you an idea of how I keep myself busy out in Gainesville. Now the job is taxes, definitely not as fun as crafting!

Valentine's Day

This Valentine's Day was a wonderful day. As you know it is our first as a married couple. On most Sunday's Ryan and I make a good hearty breakfast together. This Sunday Ryan woke up early and went to the store to get me flowers, knowing I wouldn't wake up until he got back. So he made me breakfast, cinnamon banana pancakes, fried eggs and bacon. It was amazing, he even set out the china! Then we went to church and came back home. That night he made me dinner. Above is him cooking :) Here is the bacon wrapped asparagus he made, yum!


This is a picture of my gift to him. We did not have money to buy anything so I thought of what I could do without spending much money. I made sugar cookies for him and a valentine that won't just go into the trash. Growing up my siblings and I would make valentines for each other with paper and construction paper. I decided to embroider on natural, unstained cotton my message to him and then with fabric make the outside of the card. The outside is brown with a big heart on it.


Ryan ate the "N" so we moved the letters around and well... apparently I love Ray now... weird.


Here are my flowers :) I am a very traditional girl... therefore, I love flowers. I had to decorate the cookies on the table because Ryan was working his magic on the counters.



I was obviously feeling festive with the red shirt and white cardigan. The meal was amazing!


And my lovely husband :)


Here is that magic I was telling you about:


So overall, it was a great day. I hope yours was too!