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Published: April 4th 2009
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A reminder of what spring looks like!
This one is for everyone who's still shoveling!
(Obviously I don't have a lot of pictures yet!!) (Shepherd’s Hill Farm)
Before I begin our new camp details, let me tell you about John from our Park of the Palms project. He fell off a ladder while we were in Miami and knocked his head against the wall, but the worst part seemed to be the scrape on his arm. The Monday after we left the Palms (there were two workdays left~~we left early because of leadership training) John fell again, and they took him to the nurse’s office at the Park, and she sent him to the ER because his blood pressure was too high. They checked him out, and sent him by ambulance to the University of Florida hospital in Gainsville where they did surgery to remove blood from a subdural hematoma; that’s the same thing that just killed that actress. John’s was a slow bleeder, and the blood they removed was old blood. After they got it drained, it appeared that there was no more bleeding, so after three days in ICU and three days in a regular room, they sent him back to the Park of the Palms, where he and Lola will stay for the four weeks it takes for his rehab. Very
scary! If it hadn’t been found then, he would have been pulling his 5th wheel trailer up the Florida highway on Wednesday. He says he’s doing well, and he sounds good. Dave and Wanda stayed behind to help them.
We arrived at Shepherd’s Hill Farm last Wednesday, in the rain. Fred & Rosi (our leaders) arrived at the same time, and with the rain and the uneven parking area (we’re no longer in a paved parking lot!) it took nearly four hours to get the two units leveled! Oh but it’s so worth it~~we’re back in the country. It looks, and feels, more like home~~the trees are beginning to bud, and when you look toward them you see that light green that you almost think is your imagination. (I’m guessing the people in Montana and N Dakota will have a difficult time remembering that look, but they should see in very soon!) We’re surrounded by pecan trees, which aren’t blooming or budding yet, as well as ornamental pear trees. But there are open fields and mud!
This is a ministry started by Trace and Beth Avery, and it’s for troubled youth…kids (ages 13-17) that are high risk. They’re
Our new yard...
No, this isn't OUR yard, it's the yard we must park four rigs in! The trailer on the right is a storage unit that the camp owns. not here by court order, but in some cases it was a choice between be here or be in the court system. They have horses, and the kids are involved in the care and training of their own horse, as well as constructing their own house. It’s very interesting, and also very heartbreaking.
The website is shepherdshillfarm.org. The kids are at various stages of their programs, one boy (13) has only been here two days, while another said he has been here 14 months. We have watched the kids during their equestrian time, which I'll tell you about later. The girls are on afternoon, and the boys are on Wednesdays. Also, the special ed kids (grades 6 & 7) from a nearby school come midday to do some therapy. That'll be very interesting to watch. We have Bible study with the kids, and we’re also eating lunch with them. The boys and girls eat at separate times, so we’ll alternate our eating times. They do everything separately, except midweek Bible study, and they don't sit together or communicate with each other during that time.
The equestrian program is run by a separate company, and the couple that owns
Getting the units backed in
took several men, because space is limited! that operation has been very generous with inviting us to attend whatever we want. They use scripture to relate to the horse (I can't quite explain it, but one of these afternoons I'd like to sit in on a class, then I'll explain it). The first day we were here Cheryl (equestrian teacher) came over to our group and said she was reading scripture, and the kids are tending the horses, and with our laughing it's a little hard to hear. She was very nice, but we got the message! Pop on the patio gets loud, so we moved our party further away! Nothing like getting in trouble right off the bat! And I do not want to be kicked off this project either!!
The camp is DARK~~mostly because they don’t want the kids wandering around, and believe me, it’s too dark to wander around without a flashlight. They don’t have flashlights! (Also, it cuts down on expenses.) The houses the kids build for themselves are in the woods, so I imagine it’s especially dark where they are! But coming from a parking lot in Miami, and then from a retirement home, we’re accustomed to lights! Not here. It’s
And here's how they all fit!
Speaking of up close & personal! We're next to the corral and Henry & Annie are next to us. Tight, but certainly ok! too dark for the boogey man to hang out here!
A short bit about our team~~Fred & Rosi are our leaders (and our trainers) and we worked with them on our very first RVICS project in Canada; Willy & Sharon, who were our leaders in Michigan, and Henry & Ann, who we worked with last spring in California and British Columbia. Then we were also supposed to have Dave & Wanda and John & Lola. It’s odd for us to have couples that we know all of them, and yet not all of them know each other. It makes us feel like we’ve been in RVICS a while!
I don't have many pictures, because we've been in the rain for a week and a half! The men are doing repair jobs all around here, and we (women) have been painting inside the guest house. When/if it ever quits raining we're going to be painting outdoors, and we all look forward to that. (that sounded sarcastic, but it wasn't meant to be. We want to be outdoors, and that's one of the best things to do out there.) I feel like this entry is very scattered, but that's just
The camp owns six horses,
and the equestrian program owns 21 others. the way it's going to be! I'm sure the next one will be better....I'm pretty sure it will be....well, it might be!
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