Thursday--our last day--at Miracle Farm

Our last day at Miracle Farm was a beautiful, windy day. The students worked hard all morning and rested or let off some steam at lunch!

 In a way I had been dreading Thursday all week, because it was on a Thursday last year that we got the news of Shelby's death. (I wrote about that here.) I knew the girls and I wouldn't be able to avoid thinking about it, but didn't want us to dwell on it the entire day, either. I thought if I planned a special time of remembrance, it would help us all get through it. Originally I wanted to release balloons, but I couldn't find a place in Brenham that sold them at a price we could afford. I went in to Brenham anyway, looking for other things, and found some painted garden stones that said "hope" and "peace" . They were just perfect! So after lunch I invited anyone who wanted to to join us on the porch of our cabin, where there were some flower pots, for a time of prayer. I tried to focus on the joy Shelby has right now, but of course there were tears as well. Jessica put her stone by the cross where she had gone to cry last year, along with a letter she wrote to Shelby and one Rebecca wrote as well.

After giving the girls some time to grieve, everyone got back to work until we all met at the arena to watch some live calf roping. It was fun.

This is the little one who got stung the day before--she recovered just fine!

After that, we all got cleaned up and had some time to rest before the boys and their host families came over for a cook-out and games.

Mulch!

Mike taught them to play "Wind in the Willows"

 

We ate with them and played Frisbee, Red Rover and tag. I think they wanted to play Red Rover so they had an excuse to hold our girls’ hands!

 Some of them showed off their rope skills, which were quite impressive!

After the boys and their families left we had a debriefing time with Cheri, and concluded another great Miracle Farm trip!