MY RODEO STORY

HI MY NAME IS LAKEN ELIZABETH CAULEY AND THIS IS MY RODEO STORY.

My name is Thunder. My owner's name is Laken. She feeds and takes care of me. Sometimes she rides me. We even rode in the grand entry at the Foreman rodeo. Friday night was fine, but Saturday wasn't very good.

I didn't want to mind, and Laken's cousin, Cara, was on the back of the saddle. I got spooked by the speakers and took off running down through the arena when we were supposed to go out. Then Cara was sliding off the back end, she accidentally put her foot in my flank. I started bucking and running, throwing off my riders. Cara fell off first, doing flips and turns, landing face-first in the dirt.

Laken fell off next. She couldn't get me to stop and didn't want to land in a worse spot than on the ground [which happens to be under my hoofs]. She dropped the reigns and let go of the saddle horn. She fell off with a groan and I had the whole set of stands entertained! (Which my riders think was my goal in the first place.) Landon, who was riding Lilly, saw the reigns dragging and neither rider on. He jumped off and went to check on Laken.

Cara, very much helping my plan, made the whole scene look dramatic. Sort of. She called Laken over and grabbed my reigns. She got a hold of Landon's arm as he went by. She gave him the reigns to Lilly, my best friend, and walked by the rodeo clown who was leading me. It wasn't by choice, I was excited and dancing around, so he took my reigns from her. I was huffing and puffing with anticipation.

I love rodeo's, Laken [my owner], Cara [one of my friends], Lilly [my BEST friend], Landon [a crazy guy], and the whole sport of being a horse.

A Cowgirl Hat

Hat's are good things, sometimes. But they can sometimes get in the way. Sometimes I wish I could not wear mine in the rodeo, but I do anyways. A hat is protection. Protection from the sun, rain, and things like that. So I wear my hat for protection and style.
Love,
Laken E. Cauley

Gib Rides Home

This story starts out with Gibson Whittaker being welcomed back at the orphanage, strictly against the rules.

Gibson Whittaker was an orphaned child when both of his parents died when he was six years old. He lived at Lovell House Home for Orphaned and Abandoned Boys for almost five years when he was finally adopted by a family he knew way back when.
He wonders if he is being farmed out or really adopted. And if he is being farmed out, why do the Thornton's treat him like family, even though he lives with the last ranch hand they have. He has to do barn chores like milking cows, feeding horses, mucking out stalls, gathering eggs and even some work in the garden.

After Mr. Thornton comes home from his job at the bank, sick, his heart and health keep failing.

The Thornton's daughter had been watching Gib ride and saddle up, and figured out how to do it. She saddles up a horse that is really strong, too strong for her to handle, and comes thundering out of the barn. When they finally catch her, they load up Gib and a saddle and they head over to the orphanage.

After he gets there, Gib has to explain to his friends about what happened. He stayed for a few months. And then Mr. Thornton dies and he adopted back into the family, as part of the family this time.
Love,
Cara L. Hicks

Horses Are The Best

Besides any other animal, horses rule. I'm a cowgirl and I know all about horses. I can ride a big horse, and most the time stay on, even when they buck.
Here are some tips on getting started.
Right after you catch the horse, you brush them down. Then you a saddle blanket on. Put on a saddle and do up the girth. Then you put on a bridle and find a way up.

That's how you get started on saddling up.
That's all I have to say!
See ya next time,
Love,
Grace Ella Hicks

Christian

God answers prayers.
We love Him because He first loved us.
He makes light in the day time.
He makes people.
He died on the cross for us.
He loves us.
My daddy is a preacher.

By,
Grace Ella Hicks

Love's Unending Legacy

This is the fifth Love Comes Softly Series book by Janette Oke, and my favorite. In this story, Marty and Clark come home from their trip to the west to see their daughter Missie and her husband Willie. They had unintentionally stayed a year because Clark had to let his leg heal because it had been crushed in a mine while he was saving some kids. When they got home, Marty tried hard to keep up with Ellie and the more she tries, the more obvious it is that she can't. She ends up with all the signs of being in the family way again.

Zeke LaHaye stops by to hear about his son, grandsons, and the west. He decides to go west to see the family. Willie is sending one of his ranch hands, Lane, that just so happens to have helped Clark in more ways than he knows. Lane comes and accidentally finds Ellie in the barn playing with some puppies, and he immediately loved her. He stayed for supper that night and fell even more in love with Ellie.

At Christmas, Lane helped Ellie with the tree and other preparations. When it's time for the gift exchange, Lane holds back his present for Ellie and gives it to her alone. She said that she can't take his present of love because it would "nigh kill" her mother if she moved west.

Clark and Marty realize that Ellie isn't her usual self and are concerned. Kate, Marty's oldest son's wife, gets to thinking and gets a hunch that Lane and Ellie had them a "sweethearts' quarrel". She told Marty, who asked Clark if he thinks that could be it. He says that it's not only possible, but most likely. That night, Clark told Ellie that her mother is worried about her and says it's all right if she marries and goes west.

Lane comes for dinner one night and Ellie gets his Christmas present from him and puts it on. They have a talk with Clark and then they get married, move west, and live happily ever after!
The End.

Love,
Cara L. Hicks

Funny Happenings!

Well, Derrick and Laken were in both of these events, and I witnessed them. Derrick has this old-timey sword at Papa's house, and he wanted to scare Laken [I call her Kiki, so don't forget].

So I put him in the closet in the front bedroom while Kiki was doing something. She came back in and we went back to working on a book report for her. I was reading with her and leaned over to get a better view, I signaled derrick and he waited and I thought he was gone.

He waited till she was totally relaxed before he came out and pointed the sword at her and yelled. Laken got really scared and dropped the book and kicked back the covers and SCREAMED!

It was hilarious! Derrick almost fell off the bed laughing more than once! True story!
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Later on, Derrick was sitting behind Kiki and was messing with her pony-tail. Then he started pretending that he was pulling REALLY hard and Laken pretended to be hurting and holding her head.

Carli thought it was real and started crying over it. Then she got up on Kiki and hit Derrick till he stopped playing. it was really funny, you should have seen Carli's face. She made it look like he was doing it to her! She actually thought Derrick was hurting Laken!

I gotta go,
Love,
Cara Hicks

George Washington

George Washington was the first president in the U.S.He was born Feb. 22, 1732 and he died Dec. 14, 1799. He was the oldest child of his family. He also spent most of his time outside, and became a very good horseman.

He lost his father at the age of 11. When he was 21, his military career began. That same year, he traveled to Pennsylvania. Washington married Martha Castis in 1759. She had two children of her own and George Raised them as his own. Martha never had another child.

After the signing of the treaty of Paris [in 1783] Washington resigned his commission and returned to Mount Vernon. On Dec. 12, 1799, Washington got caught in a snowstorm while riding his horse around his farm. He got very sick and 2 days later, he died.

That's all the facts I know about George Washington,So I hope you enjoyed it,love you,

Love
Laken Cauley

MY CHURCH CAMP ADVENTURE!

MY CHURCH CAMP ADVENTURE!

by Cara Hicks

Well, Aunt June asked me to write a report on Church Camp, so here goes nothin'!

I liked camp a lot except for the nasty orange juice, it rained, electricity went out and it was extremely hot! Under such circumstances, you would think camp was bad. It wasn't, though. I made new friends [and I forgot to get numbers]. I had fun in the rain, even though I only got to swim three times. Worship was good, even though they didn't teach me anything. The reason they didn't teach me anything is because they were basically teaching to the newly saved people, but I'm sure if they were listening, they caught the meaning. The Bible study was a theme of VBS I had already done. But other than that, it was all right.

On Thursday night, we had a scavenger hunt, except we stayed in our seats and handed the things they called out to our tribe leader and he [or she] ran up to a guy at the front and see who wins. And guess what?! I was the only person out 120 people in the kids group that had cowboy boots! Jacob, my tribe leader, knows me well enough that he didn't even ask if I had my boots on, just looked at me, grabbed them, and won that round! Of course it wasn't hard to know that I had my boots on, it's pretty much all I wear.

The pool got SWARMED with girls when swim time came. It only went down to 5ft. so it was a whole lot crowded! The water slide was awesome! The first time I went down it this year, I turned backwards [not on purpose], my mat came out from under me, so I just grabbed it and fell into the small pool at the end.

On Wednesday, we had a frantic look for a girl in my dorm named Stormy. No one had seen her since lunch, she missed supper, and didn't come to the dorm [that we know of]. We finally found her five minutes before worship. I don't have anything else left to tell you, so the end!

Love,

Cara L. Hicks

Love Comes Softly

LOVE COMES SOFTLY

By Janette Oke

In Loves Comes Softly, Marty Claridge loses her husband when he falls off his horse and died. She has nowhere to live, so a man [Clark Davis] who lost his wife took her in on a bargain. If she goes back East in the spring, she has to take his daughter, Missie, with her.

Marty is determined to keep busy with Missie and also do her fair share of the chores. Now, Missie is a big ole handful to take care of, and Marty also has her own baby to start thinking about. So Marty is as busy as can be. Marty promises herself that she will never take the Davis' name, even if she is married to the guy. And besides, you can't force people to change their mind, now can you? And what would be worse than losing her husband than acting like he never existed?!

A few months after Marty's baby was born, Missie accidentally spilled a box of buttons and, without anyone knowing, the baby picked up a button and swallowed it. They made a rushed trip to the doctor. That night, as Clark got the horses, Marty realized that she loved Clark and would do anything to let him know that.

Cara L. Hicks

Cara's Book Report on "When Calls The Heart" by Janette Oke

When Calls The Heart

When Calls The Heart is a story about a young woman named Elizabeth who, by God's bidding, moves out west to live with her "long lost" brother Jonathan to teach. She meets the school superintendent, Mr. Higgins, who is a horrible, loud, disgusting man. He happens to think that Elizabeth loves him and asks her to marry him. She turns him down saying that she intends to never marry. So he finds a town that needs a school far away from him as a plot for revenge, also, he secretly hopes she won't go.

Well, in spite of her fear, she moves off to a lonely teacherage in a small town. Her neighbors are very friendly and her class is a little hard to teach, seeing as how her students have never had a school before. But she loves each and every one of them. One of students died because of a brain tumor. So Elizabeth closes school for the next week and goes to her brothers house. There, she unwillingly falls in love with a brick wall of stubborn determination to never marry. And, so she doesn't wish to see him, but it just so happens that he comes to her brothers house quite often.

One day, as Elizabeth is walking home, she took a short-cut through the woods. She had only taken a few steps when she heard a noise, she looks up to find a bear just a few feet in front of her. The bear took one step toward her and everything was going black for Elizabeth. When she woke up, she sensed she was being carried. Now she looks up into the face of the brick wall. When he saw her about to faint again, he kissed her. Later he apologized for it and she got angry with him.

She is now about to get onto a train to go back East when a voice stops her. It is the man she loves. He takes her to the train masters office and asks her to marry him. She says yes and they will soon have their honeymoon at the Rockies next to a mountain stream. Janette Oke wrote this book. I have written my best description of a very good book.

Cara L. Hicks (with a little editing from mom)