Slowly and dilligently we have been collecting and adopting new family members. The difference between us and most young couples, our new additions mostly have 4 legs and range in size from 4lbs to 1500lbs and I would not have it any other way. AND TODAY THE MUSTANGS CAME!! I "adopted" or "paid" for 2 mustangs about 2 weeks ago. A yearling mare from WY and a 4 yr old gelding from CA. I have been excitedly waiting their arrival to normandy and this morning they came thundering out of the trailor. Only problem, one of the horses was the wrong one! Our gelding happened to be a mare! And thus started a long morning of trying to seperate the two terrified horses by loading the second mare to go back to the BLM. With 2 grown men and 3 women we tried to create a shoot for her to load into the trailor, unforturnately she went up and over one of the men and over the fence!! The whole process is hard, the horses are more scared than you can imagine any animal showing and the trauma of seperation from heard to individual breaks your heart. What is even worse tonight is knowing the one mare has to go through it all over again tomorrow when they take her back and bring the correct gelding. I was trying to rally a quick adoptor-saying we could call them 'jack and jill' (they are the same color "sorrel" which caused some of the confusion to start with). More updates tomorrow when we see how this story concludes. The mare with the white face is Issabelle and is TOO cute!

American mustangs are a common thread in many of this country's greatest legends. Mustangs played a vital role in the settling of our American West. These noble creatures carried cowboys up the Chisholm Trail, mountain men through the Tetons, trappers into Oregon, native Americans into buffalo hunts and settlers from the east coast to the west. Today these mustangs are helping troubled men make a new beginning with an old craft - horse training. Born and bred in the wild, mustangs have to be intelligent, hardy, sure-footed, and healthy to survive the rigors of living on the open range. It is these traits, combined with their loyalty, that make them such a versatile horse.

"In 1986, Colorado Correctional Industries, in partnership with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), initiated a program in Canon City where mustangs are trained and offered for adoption to qualified applicants. This is our Wild Horse Inmate Program (WHIP). We operate within a state-of-the-art facility and employ a staff of professional horse trainers who provide horsemanship, animal husbandry and farrier skills. Since its inception, more than 5,000 mustangs have been trained through the WHIP.

We specialize in starting horses for the trail rider, but our trained mustangs have also found homes and lead productive lives with youth riding organizations, handicap and therapeutic riding organizations, riding stables, and government agencies. Colorado Correctional Industries, in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management, is proud to offer mustangs, the American original. Be a part of the western tradition and adopt a mustang of your very own."

(taken from http://www.cijvp.com/)

Now what does this have to do with us?

It now has been a year since graduation, living in Marion with friends, and several couples/friends getting married. The past year has really has gone by quickly and so much has changed. May is more like my January in terms of reflection and evaluation of the year, probably due to the fact I have lived in the cycle of school for the majority of my life and happened to get married in May.

I had set aside some time today to do my "'new years" resoultions and reflections and the biggest thing staring me in the face is the fact that I am SO much happier. There are tears of joy when I think about everything, rather than what seemed like constant torment mostly due to the fact that I am no longer feeling like I am leaving my faith or letting down the people that had invested in me during college.

I realize now that the past year was somewhat of a culture shock. Josh and I laughed because what seemed like a relatively easy transition for everyone else, I was responding to like Neo in The Matrix being unplugged and somewhat re-birthed, grasping for oxygen. It was like the person I knew to be was dying.

Now: I have so much more peace about life, who I am, and what I believe. Embracing not knowing where the path might lead, but believing we have the power to explore the possiblities. Some of my resolutions include...

1. Listen: believing I have something to learn from everyone 2. Write: a disipline I need to help organize my thoughts-they can be really confusing to listen to (or read for that manner) 3. Walk in Confidence: I might not know all the answers, but I would rather fail trying than always wonder had I not acted.

There are more, but these are good to have out in the open.