Baby Mine

Photos by Lacey Wilkie, In the Blink of an Eye Photography

The toddler and his aunt

Yesterday Warren and I babysat Everett and Josalea. Warren was working colts in the barn so I abandoned all hopes of being an ideal babysitter who keeps the children clean and took them out with me to the arena. Josalea crawled around  and giggled as she poured fistfulls of sand on her lap. Everett sat beside me on a stool asking questions as we watched Warren train.


"Aunt Avery, why's the horse going in a circle?"


"Is that horse being naughty? Why's she bucking?"


"What's Uncle Warren doing?"


"Aunt Avery, why'd Uncle Warren say he wants that side? Which side is Uncle Warren's?"


"What color's that horse?"


"Why does that horse have to run in a circle like that?"


"What's it mean that she took her lead? What's a lead?"


"Aunt Avery, is Uncle Warren gonna ride that naughty horse?"


"Is Uncle Warren trainin' that horse?"


After a half hour of non-stop questions Everett crawled off the stool and went to the corner where Warren keeps all of the tack. I was paying little attention to him as I watched Warren work until I felt a rope going over my head and around my shoulders. Everett's entire face was engulfed in a grin as he kept the other end of the rope and headed toward the middle of the arena where Warren had been lunging.


"What are you doing?" I asked him.


He was perfectly delighted with himself. "I'm trainin' you!"


Who would've known that those sparkling two-year-old eyes and contagious giggle would be all it took to get this 35-week-pregnant aunt to pretend she's a "naughty horse" with a rope around her neck and sand covering every inch of clothing?


And I thought the kids were supposed to be the dirty ones.

One year...

I'm gonna be here for you, baby

I'll be a man of my word;

Speak the language in a voice that you have never heard.

I wanna sleep with you forever

And I wanna die in your arms

In a cabin by a meadow where the wild bees swarm.

And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you

And I'll earn your trust making memories of us.

I wanna honor your mother

I wanna learn from your pa

I wanna steal your attention like a bad outlaw.

I wanna stand out in a crowd for you,

A man among men

I wanna make your world better than its ever been.

And I'm gonna love you like nobody loves you

I'll earn your trust making memories of us.

Yeah, I'm gonna love you

Like nobody loves you!

  

And I'll win your trust

Making memories of us.

Thanks, God

What's a man to do?

The job of a horse trainer doesn't just include ground work, riding and finishing horses. I decided to make myself Warren's shadow and bring my camera along to try to capture a picture journal of his day-to-day life at work. I found out that my husband's job is so versatile it will take a full blog page just to describe it! His days are filled with...

...transporting horses...

...buying hay at the local hay auction...

...fertilizing the pastures...

...buying feed...

...grooming horses...

...helping his wife make ice cream (what a guy!)...

...riding 6-8 hours a day...

...fixing fence...

...being the day's hero when the cows got out...

...and visiting the emergency room after taking a nasty kick to the elbow from a horse!

In Warren's words all he does at his job is: "spend all day with his wife and play with horses." I've debated whether I should try to convince him that all these hours he's putting in are actually hard work. 

Naw, I'm pretty sure I'd be wasting my breath...

Stop & smell the alfalfa

We really are living the dream. Since Warren quit his job in Grand Island and we moved south of Lincoln to a horse facility, much of life--almost all of life--has changed. We have a different schedule, a different apartment, a different income, different neighbors, and a different lifestyle. Warren now works on the same property we live on and I'm often in the barn or arena with him so there's no more wishing I could just talk to him while he's at work. We get to do life--all of it--together now. It's true: we're living the dream.


It's interesting to me that in the midst of living the exact life we've talked about and hoped for since we started dating, it's easy for me to lose sight of the big picture and concentrate on the "if only" parts of our story. If only we owned our own house, this would be our dream...if only we never had to worry about whether we were going to have enough horses in to meet our budget...if only feed cost were lower...


The other day I was walking through the horse barn, where the thick, sweet smell of horse feed permeates the air. I literally stopped and smelled the alfalfa. And then it occurred to me: no matter what we do for a job or where we go, there are always going to be little things that could be less worrisome or a little better or newer or easier. If I concentrate on those things I'll miss the amazing reality that right now, today, this very instant, I am living an abundantly overflowing life that revolves around Warren's and my biggest and most impossible dream of being self-employed in the horse industry.


I'm not waiting for the ideal anymore. The truth is that we're already living it. Is this life perfect? No. Maybe perfect is what heaven's for. We're awful close, though.


In fact, now that I think of it, we're so close to perfect you can breathe in its thick, sweet scent if you'll just stop and smell the alfalfa.

Ranch Hands

We got to babysit our nephew and niece, Everett (2) and Josalea (9 months), and it was an adventure having them along to help us do chores!

Josalea liked sitting on the back of the pickup watching all the action.

Everett learned how to feed the horses their treats without getting his fingers bit!

Everett wanted to help Uncle Warren do absolutely everything, from pushing the wheelbarrow full of hay...

...to hauling buckets of grain to the cows and buffalo.

We really enjoyed our weekend getting to care for Everett and Josalea and having them out with the horses and doing chores with us made us even more eager to share our lives with our new baby soon!