Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

Did ya'll have a Happy Thanksgiving? We sure did. It was so nice to spend time in Idaho with my family. The kids loved being with their cousins & played so nice. We stayed with my brother Kelly & his family that was THE BEST! Such a warm and welcoming home. Wonderful hospitality & we were so grateful to them. Carson & Marquessa just hung out all day & played games & sang along to their music. Not a single argument in 5 days! VERY NICE!

Black Friday started at 3:30AM for Celeste, Natalie, Annie & I! My dad was gracious enough to clean out his "Biggs Rig" for us so we had a big ol' truck with a locked shell on it so all of our goodies were safely tucked away as we went from store to store! I saw 2 fist fights over toys & gadgets which just left me shaking my head. Maybe those people should sleep in next year!

Arriving back to Kelly & Celeste's after shopping I was greeted with some of the scariest bit of news a mother will ever hear. "Karlee is on a run-away horse!" Apparently she was going to go for a ride with Kelly & she must've spurred the horse a little hard or something. Anyway, the horse saw an open gate and made a run for it. She jumped a fence which launched Karlee forward causing her to lose the reins. She grabbed ahold of the horses neck and held on for dear life. I don't know if it was after the first fence-jump or not, but at some point she slid UNDERNEATH the horses neck and held on with her arms and legs wrapped TIGHTLY around the neck. The horse jumped a total of THREE fences, ran through fields, up and down a gully & hills and down a dirt road! A LONG WAYS!!! All with Karlee holding on for dear life!!! When she reached the top of a hill she noticed that she was closer to the ground so she decided to let go and drop to the ground. I guess you could say that she "stopped, dropped and rolled" into a ball, covered her head and held her breath. She ended up with a horseshoe shaped scrape on the lower right side of her back but she said that didn't hurt.

What WAS painful was her leg and arm muscles as well as her stomach and back. She wasn't bruised and there wasn't anything more serious than the scrape on her back. No blood (other than from a cut on her finger that reopened.), No Broken Bones, just sore muscles and there was plenty of that. She had a hard time moving until Monday night after dancing. I think the stretching and movement from dance loosened up those tight muscles because she was feeling TONZ better after that.

So, while I didn't quite meet my goal for posting my gratitude entry every day, I will end with this note of how very, very, grateful I am that #1 My daughter is still alive. I shudder at the possibilities that could've resulted in an entirely different ending. #2 That she is strong and in shape and has an iron will. I honestly believe that it was through sheer will and by the grace of God that she held on for so long. She was so stubborn about the whole thing that when someone asked her about getting BUCKED OFF the horse she quickly corrected them saying "I LET GO! and I Didn't Cry!" Well, she is braver than most people I know, cause I would've been bawling from the get go!

Oh, in the spirit of finding joy in the midst of a bad situation, here's Carson's take on this whole thing.
Darren: Carson, did you see Karlee on that horse?
(after receiving an affirmative answer)
Darren: What was Karlee doing?
Carson does a loud impression of a screaming girl!
Darren: What were YOU doing?
Carson: I was thinking "WOW! IMPRESSIVE!!!"

Yup, impressive is right, but what impresses me the most, is the protection that was clearly in play here. I'm so grateful to our Father in Heaven for protecting my daughter on her wild ride. Someday I'd really like to know how many angels were on that ride with her.