The barn was dead quiet as we waited for the honerd couple to cum to the doors. With watched-for wave from one of the hold-up, we shouted "SURPRISE!" as their bandanas came off, and ther mouths gaped open in temporary shock. Wow. Was it exciting! The ver' moment we'ed all been waiting fer!
In explanation: The DeL children prepared a special surprise 30th anniversary celebration to honor their parents, and had chosen a western theme since Mr. & Mrs. DeL were married in Texas. They roped everyone they could find into the whole deal, and everyone of us that were roped absolutely could not resist these exciting plans! We had so much fun helping out!
The big barn was strung with lights, there was a real chuck-wagon spread, and plenty of western music!
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
6 Girls and a Horse Trailer
5:30 a.m. Friday, September 16th found the Marshall females climbing into the Bullinger's maxi van (with a horse in a trailer hitched to the rear), and settling down for the 7hr. trip to Spring Creek, PA. to attend a Women's Retreat at Miracle Mountain Ranch. We had been anticipating this trip for a couple of weeks and departure day finally arrived! With a thermos of coffee for the driver and navigator, and snacks for all, and a cassette of hunting stories (in case we started missing the males in our families) we headed out on our way! We dropped off the horse at the former owners farm and thus relieved Mrs. B.'s mind, because the trailer had a tendancy to sway itself and the van when the horse moved around.(Joshua House, where Annick volunteers, has a few horses and this particular filly was not working for them. The former owner wanted her back so since we were going that way, we took the filly along.) After delivering the horse, we kept our eyes peeled for the ranch sign and turned into the drive up to the ranch. Way UP! The ominous hill in front of us only served to bolster the courage of the driver as we cautiously made our way up. This part of the trip was made memorable because we left a gash in a rock we nearly drove over, but other than that we had no problems.
We signed in at the Town Hall and headed down the street to the Cattleman's Hotel to unpack. As the retreat didn't start until that evening, we wandered around and looked at everything there was to see. At the barn, we met the founder of the ranch, Dale Linbaugh and he even gave us a little sermonette using the tricks he has taught his horse and relating them to Scripture.
The weekend was centerd around "Crafting a Godly Woman". The speakers related their talks around different crafts, such as quilting, scrapbooking, and stamping. We enjoyed hearing the ladies speak on their experiances in God's School of Life.
That night, after the session, we went on a hay ride. The driver was very courteous and even stopped to let us gaze at the moon. His thoughtfulness extened to the next morning when he said he should drive us back so we could get some sleep and be ready to giggle in the morning!
The next day was very full with sessions, crafting time, trail rides, and the Confidence Course. The Course was similar to an obstacle course, except you had to go through each element as a team, helping your fellow team members get to the end of each element by explaining and/or holding ropes etc. Our teams (we went on it twice) consisted of we Marshalls, Anita (age 65, she went twice too), and couple of other ladies. Mrs. Bullinger had fun taking our pictures, and she sure got some good ones!
The weekend was very laid back and relaxing, as we enjoyed the delicious food, good fellowship, and being with Mrs. Bullinger on a wee vacation!
Our trip back was nearly the same except this time we took TWO horses back with us to Joshua House.
~Alice
Correspondent for the Marshall Clan Travels
We signed in at the Town Hall and headed down the street to the Cattleman's Hotel to unpack. As the retreat didn't start until that evening, we wandered around and looked at everything there was to see. At the barn, we met the founder of the ranch, Dale Linbaugh and he even gave us a little sermonette using the tricks he has taught his horse and relating them to Scripture.
The weekend was centerd around "Crafting a Godly Woman". The speakers related their talks around different crafts, such as quilting, scrapbooking, and stamping. We enjoyed hearing the ladies speak on their experiances in God's School of Life.
That night, after the session, we went on a hay ride. The driver was very courteous and even stopped to let us gaze at the moon. His thoughtfulness extened to the next morning when he said he should drive us back so we could get some sleep and be ready to giggle in the morning!
The next day was very full with sessions, crafting time, trail rides, and the Confidence Course. The Course was similar to an obstacle course, except you had to go through each element as a team, helping your fellow team members get to the end of each element by explaining and/or holding ropes etc. Our teams (we went on it twice) consisted of we Marshalls, Anita (age 65, she went twice too), and couple of other ladies. Mrs. Bullinger had fun taking our pictures, and she sure got some good ones!
The weekend was very laid back and relaxing, as we enjoyed the delicious food, good fellowship, and being with Mrs. Bullinger on a wee vacation!
Our trip back was nearly the same except this time we took TWO horses back with us to Joshua House.
~Alice
Correspondent for the Marshall Clan Travels
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