Nelli and Star

“Their names are Nelly and Star,” the woman told us as she opened the gate and led us into the pasture where her two Arabian horses were waiting. “They love gum,” she warned, “and anything else sweet, so don't be surprised if they start sniffing your pockets.”

The horses were beautiful. Nelly was white, besides her strawberry freckles, and Star was dark brown with a white star on her forehead. Kami and Krissi were enchanted. We had told them they could have horses when we moved to Snowflake, but I don't think they had really believed it would happen.

A lot of wonderful things had happened that year, and I felt like pinching myself all the time to make sure I wasn't dreaming. After the previous year of unsettling changes: mom and dad moving, selling the cabin and then the house, wondering where we should go and how we would afford moving; it felt like I was living in a dream world. Suddenly we owned five acres of the most wonderful country where we could build a new home; we were living in an adorable rental house close to mom and dad in the cutest town that really had four seasons, not just unbearably hot and warm; and Moe had been able to retire eight months early while still receiving an even bigger income than we had while he worked. The Lord was really blessing us!

“Can we have these horses?” Kami and Krissi both begged, petting the pretty animals fondly. “We love them!”

“Sure,” Moe assured the girls. He was excited the horses he'd found advertized on Craig's list had actually turned out to be so nice. The price was right, too.

Best of all, their owners agreed to take care of them for a few weeks longer while Moe fenced in our land and got it ready. He finished, with the help of Russell and Holly's husband, Jason, on New Years Eve. The boys helped him move the horses up to our place that afternoon, before we had our annual family New Year's Eve party.

What a delightful ending to a wonderful year! I hoped the coming one would be as nice, and it was, to a degree. If I had known what was coming, though, I wouldn't have been so happy.