YOUTH CORNER

The kids at Lord of Life have been keeping busy in the community!  In March we took at trip to the nursing home in Corsicana to visit church member Allen Spears.  Allen is a dearly loved member of our congregation and has not been able to attend church lately, so we took Communion to him and visited with him for a couple hours.  The children loved seeing him and presented him with hand made cards, as well as a new supply of bird food for his bird feeder outside in the courtyard.

The nursing home has a wonderful “great room” with a indoor/outdoor pond (with fish!) and bird sanctuary against one wall.  The children enjoyed watching it all, and played piano a little bit for Allen.  Pastor Vicki then had a small service and we all had Comunion and then shared our thoughts and memories with Allen.  This group was just Confirmation age kids, and they are already counting the days until we can go back and visit again!

Then on April 17, all of Lord of Life’s youth ages 9 and up were invited to volunteer at the Paws for Reflection Ranch inMidlothian.

Paws For Reflection partners with animals to heal the mind, body and spirit.  The Ranch provides a Christ-centered serene and caring environment where one can take a break from the busy day-to-day world to “pause and reflect.”   Their mission statement is to provide a healing, educational, motivational, and recreational environment utilizing equine and other animal assisted therapies and experiences, to enhance the quality of life for all clients, and to provide a loving home, whether temporary or permanent, for animals that meet a specific criteria.

 We arrived around 2:00 and, after greeting some of the animals and getting a quick tour of the ranch, we were put straight to work completing Melode’s “wish list” for the day.  The younger kids started assembling Easter eggs for the ranch’s big Easter Egg hunt coming up the following Saturday.  And yes there were MANY eggs to fill with candy, stickers or other treats!!  The older kids helped assemble larger prizes for the Easter Egg hunt, like kites.  Then Gary went outside to help Melode’s husband cut trees and haul limbs, while the girls cut flyers and completed some tasks in the office.

After the work was done, we got to have some fun time as we met all the horses, played with Sadie, the dog, and met the household pet, a hedgehog!   We then set up obstacle courses for the two miniature ponies.  The children led the ponies through the maze of cones, hula hoops (walk through) and stop commands.  The other area was set up with a bar that the pony jumped over.  Everyone got to lead the ponies through at least once, if not twice!

After that we got to meet Olivia, the one-year old horse that was born blind.  This was a great experience for our children, who were a bit apprehensive at first but soon realized that even though her eyes looked different, she was just as special and loving as the other horses we met.  Everyone was happy to give her lots of pats and nose rubs!!

We plan to spend more time volunteering at the Ranch and encourage anyone that wants to know more about this special place to give them a call at 972-775-8966 or visit their website www.pawsforreflectionranch.org