I started this morning with my usual time spent with Him in prayer.  When I finished praying and went to look for my Bible to read, I looked out the window – and to my shock, I seen a horse grazing outside of the pasture.  How many others are loose, I wondered?  I woke everyone up in a hurry, thinking I’d need all the help I could get to herd them all back into the gated pasture.  However, it turned out that only Magic, our little colt, (you know, the little angel I was just bragging about in the below post…) was the mischievous one that had kicked out the lower two lats of the fencing and walked on out.  The others did not follow, thinking that the electric fencing was on (it wasn’t).  

Although Magic had stolen these moments without supervision, we have been purposely letting our horses out into our yard to pasture.  Reason?  The pastures are struggling this year after the severe flooding we’ve had this past year.  We have two totally dry lots, and were trying to not have them all gone dry.  Therefore, we’ve not been allowing any pasture grazing privileges.

However, grass is free, and our grass/alfalfa bails are costly, and like everyone else in the world today, we are trying to save money, not spend it.  So, my husband’s genius idea is to bring our horses into our yard for their meals when the weather permits (no rain, the ground is not wet.)  So far, it’s been working well.  This morning, after the early rise/scare, my husband and I brought all the horses out of the dry lot and into our yard to graze.  We sat on our gator and drank coffee watching them graze for several hours.  It was a nice time of early morning conversation.  The weather was perfect.

Not only are we saving money on food for our horses, but we are saving on money for gas for our lawn mowers.  We actually plan to do this for as much as possible this coming season.  You would not believe how well they edge around our fencing!  And fast, too!

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My oldest son, who lives right next to us, was impressed and asked if we’d bring our horses over to his house to do some lawn maintenance.  So, in the afternoon, we brought all the horses over to his house, and put them inside their picket fence.  What a sight to behold that was!  Seven horses inside a picket fenced-in area.  I am quite sure that his two neighbors (on both sides of him) are wondering about our family’s sanity! 

We spent a lot of time hanging out in Matt and Kristi’s yard – talking to each other and watching the horses graze.  And this is what I love about the Sabbath.  See, I am a “Do-er”   - I always have to feel as if I’m accomplishing something and not wasting time.  This is not a good thing when it comes to enjoying people, because people get in the way of accomplishing “things.”   But by purposely setting this day aside to rest, I have found a hidden blessing.  I relax, I enjoy people, my family, and my surroundings. 

A neighbor that had attended out Passover Dinner, invited us (impromptu) to dinner when he seen us all hanging out in Matt’s yard.  Inviting our “small” family of nine was no small thing!!! He had fixed tacos and tostadas for us.  We all sat around his table enjoying this unexpected dinner (to which I especially appreciated, it meant I had no cooking for supper tonight!).   When we were leaving, he told us he wanted us all to come back tomorrow for lunch for a much bigger meal.  Wow! 

Now, the sun is setting, and the Sabbath is coming to an end.  In reflection, I did not prepare for this  as well as I could have (I was gone most of Friday).  By planning to rest on the Sabbath, and then when one goes to rest but sees all the work still left undone, it is not as relaxing as it could be.  It takes a certain inner self-discipline to restrain and not to start trying to get it done.  What I do, is make a mental note.  I didn’t do too well in planning my time this week, I tell myself, and promise to do better next week.  Today was good motivation to plan next week with more wisdom.