Thornton Mom

 Samantha loves Hope Reins!!  It has been so good for her to work with the counselors and the horses.  She has really felt a connection with the horses.  She loves Abby and talks about her all the time.  My father in law made the observation that Samantha is happier and more engaged as she works with the horses and I have to agree. Maddison has been asking me for several months now if she could do a lemonaid stand.  Finally a few Saturday's ago we granted her request.  She set the stand up in our driveway and I was worried that she would not get any business.  It brought tears to my eyes to see my neighbors surrounding her little table filling up her money jar and buying cups full of lemonaid.  It truly was an answer to prayer.

JD near the pond with his "walking stick" that he carried all over the property.  Saturday we went to Hope Reins and volunteered.  We began by picking up sticks around the property.  It is so beautiful there.  Michael loved finding a big pile of previously gathered sticks and taking them to the fire pit.  He was a hard worker and didn't want to stop.  Then we began our pooper scooper job.   Doing this job really laid to rest any desires of my children to own their own horse.     All the kids worked really hard.  It was good to go out and get some service done. Maddie would bring me an empty rake.  I would hand her the one that I had loaded and she would haul it to the wheelbarrow and then return for the next one.  Michael would come to me and ask for "meatballs" to put in his shovel.   Learning from General Confer...

Samantha started at Hope Reins.  She loved it.  See that beaming face?  She had it the whole time she was there.  I was really impressed again with Hope Reins.  I had a woman sit with me and talk about Samantha and the difficulties that she has had.  She shared with me about her daughter who seems to be very simmilar to Samantha.  We talked about her good heart.  Her ability to see others in a way that no one else sees them.  How she is good with kids and with other people.  It was wonderful    Mom and Dad Dew had arrived that morning at about 6:00.  Just in time for scripture study.  The kids were so excited.  Michael had asked me all day long the day before when they would get here.  I told him it had to get dark, he had to go to sleep, then wake up, and then they would be here.  He kept saying, "Too hard, too hard."  Meaning that he doesn't want to wait he wants them right now. ...

Several weeks ago Derek was driving to work and saw a new sign for Hope Reins . It in a new ranch admidst lost of ranches along his way to work.  But this one stood out and he looked it up when he got to work and found it is a ranch that uses horses to help children who are struggling usually with a major trama like death or abuse, etc.  He mentioned it to me and I put it in the back of my mind. A few days later I was driving to his work and saw the sign, it jumped out at me.  So I did my own research and felt that I needed to get Samantha into this program.  I wasn't sure if they would accept her as she suffers from anxiety without any major trama.  But I applied and got a call a few days later.  As the woman talked about the program I felt that this is exactly what Samantha needs.  The woman told me to bring Samantha the next day and take a tour and if she liked the horses they would allow her in the program. Samantha loved the horses and was ...