A few days ago I received my press release from Xulon! It feels...different to see my name like this!

New Xulon Book is the First in a Riveting, Yet Wholesome Series

Lotter pens adventure-filled tale surrounding Christian cowgirl, Amy, and friends

MAITLAND,  FL— The new book, Rustlers and the Texas Trail: Book One of The Christian Cowgirl Adventure Series  by Lauren K. Lotter follows protagonist, Amy S. Kentworthy, as she experiences many adventures as a teenaged, real-life cowgirl. Amy helps capture rustlers, enjoys time spent with her father and friends, learns life lessons, and finds beauty in the things around her—all the while placing her faith in God.

“Rustlers and the Texas Trail is an exciting book full of adventure and thrilling mysteries with valuable life lessons and Biblical principals woven throughout its pages,” states the author. “I hope my readers take away the satisfaction of a clean, healthy book that is exciting and uplifting, with lessons they can use in everyday life.”

Lauren K. Lotter was raised in a Christian home, and was homeschooled all of her life. An avid reader from a young age, her love of books and her experience living on a dairy farm provided her with knowledge in a wide range of subjects, and was the foundation for her journey into the realm of writing.

Xulon Press, a part of Salem Communications Corporation, is the world's largest Christian publisher, with more than 12,000 titles published to date. Salem Communications is the country's leading Christian communications company with interests in radio, Internet and magazine publishing. Retailers may order Rustlers
and the Texas Trail through Ingram Book Company and/or Spring Arbor Book Distributors. The book is available online through xulonpress.com/bookstore, amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

As usual, it was very, very hard for me to pick a favorite photo. I like them all! But, I have to say that the three pictures of the draft horses (above and below) are my favorites this time. What's yours?

Today we cleaned out a house for the auction. This will be the last house/auction we do before going on our trip...yes!!  Very much looking forward to it! During the month that we are gone I will be posting on a different blog specifically for the trip. I'm working on designing it now and I'll start posting on it soon...when we start preparations. Anyway, here's a few pictures of the guys hard at work :)

Here's the special photo post I promised! Click on the first picture to click through the larger images. These are some of the better photo's I got, but I'm saving my favorites for Photo Friday...be prepared for a really long post! I took nearly 1500 pictures so this is just the icing on the cake compared to the files on my computer!

Today we had Ethan and Kim Champlin over for the day along with six of their nine children. Seth, Caleb and Abigail were not with them, but we enjoyed visiting with Priscilla, Silas, Micah, Rhoda, Elisabeth and Joanna. The Champlins are missionaries to Suriname, South America. The girls had fun riding the horses, especially Rhoda...she couldn't get enough of those horses! After lunch we all went fishing and some of us jumped in! Joanna had fun playing in the mud at the bank while some of the others were swimming.
She(Joanna) was enamored with Sabriyah and enjoyed feeding her a bottle.
Today Rio had his first rider! I was holding Joanna and Rio was standing next to me..so I just casually slid her over onto his back. He was a little surprised and started forward, but I just touched him and he stopped. I took her off and put her back on and he got more relaxed each time I did it. Joanna was just the right size for the job!

On Saturday we went to Greenfield Village for the civil war reenactment. It was quite the experience! I really enjoyed it, there was so much to see and do, and having all the people in period clothing was great. We got to see skirmishes between the Confederates and the Yankees and a calvary demonstration. I took nearly 1500 pictures. Some of them I will share in this post and the best ones I will save for Photo Friday, but I think I will have to do a special, one time post titled Photo Tuesday!
Here's a few teaser pictures...more tomorrow!

This post is being dominated by birds! Mom found a mother killdeer in the field by our house so I went out and snapped some pictures. While I was out there, I noticed that the geese had the goslings in the pond, so I head over there and got some great shots. What is your favorite? I can't decide...as usual!

Today Smoke and I went for a ride. This was only the second time I have ridden her out of a 40' x 60' pen since the accident.
I was very pleased with how calm she was. She was eager to go for a ride, but content to just walk. After awhile, I got up the courage to trot a little. Smoke wanted to go faster, but still kept to my pace. Even when we were going toward home, she was slow...actually slowed down sometimes, very unusual for her. She responded perfectly to my rein and leg cues. We came upon the sheep grazing and had a little fun moving them around.
In the picture on the right of her with the reins on her neck, she was walking along as I was taking the picture. Before the accident, I would not have been able to let go of the reins like that so we have made some progress!
The last picture is Seth's new hunting blind Grandpa helped him build.

Xulon completed my book video trailer yesterday. This video can be found on GodTube and YouTube

Seth is very creative and you wouldn't believe the stuff he can come up with using small pieces of metal tubing among other supplies. All of the trucks pictured above had none of the fancy tires, stacks and decals when he bought them that they have now. There are very few other people who do the kind of customizing he does, so these trucks are worth big bucks! He takes them around to several farm toy shows in Michigan throughout the year and usually comes home with orders.
These trucks come in very few colors, so Seth did a lot of research and finally found a way to paint them with out getting the paint on too thick, distorting the shape of the truck or getting runs. Again, very very few people know how to do the kind of painting he does, so that makes his trucks even more desire
He also makes 64th scale barns using balsa wood, exact to scale. He takes measurements from real barns and using that smart  brain of his, does the math to make the barn an exact replica.
We joke that he still plays with matchbox toys! Which he does, just not in the same way he used to.

Because of the auction schedule we couldn't have Lydia's party on her birthday so we had it tonight. We surprised her with cupcakes instead of a cake and a piñata.
We also took my dad's handicap aunt to see Rio for the first time. She enjoyed that.

I've been wanting to order some business cards for awhile now and finally got around to designing one last week.
This is what I came up with. I like the soft brown colors and the books go really well of course!
Update on the Books: I sold 19 books in four days at the auction hall! Next month we are going to put some on the actual auction and see what happens.

Yesterday after we got home from church Levi and Lydia were playing catch in the front yard when this baby robin fell out of his nest. Levi picked him up and promptly got dive bombed by both parents! He got a ladder and returned the little prodigal back to his home.

Obviously, I did not take these pictures...I'm in them! I got some vintage aprons from the auction and I thought they would make a good "prairie woman" look! So while the sun was shining so beautifully last night, Lydia helped me with these pictures.

“My life is but a weaving
Between my God and me.
I cannot choose the colors
He weaveth steadily.

Oft’ times He weaveth sorrow;
And I in foolish pride
Forget He sees the upper
And I the underside.

Not ’til the loom is silent
And the shuttles cease to fly
Will God unroll the canvas
And reveal the reason why.

The dark threads are as needful
In the weaver’s skillful hand
As the threads of gold and silver
In the pattern He has planned

He knows, He loves, He cares;
Nothing this truth can dim.
He gives the very best to those
Who leave the choice to Him.”


~Corrie ten Boom~ 

Well, I broke down and left  a few flowers with their natural colors this time. I got so many wonderful pictures this week...I know I say that every time, but its true none the less!!

and Lydia's tenth birthday!! Happy Birthday Lydia!!

Well, on Friday I will be getting a report from Amazon on approximately how many books I have sold...I'm excited to see the report!!
We set up a bookstand at the auction hall and I've already sold three today!!
My book is going to the ICRS tradeshow in Atlanta in June and another tradeshow in September in Tennessee. 
 A big thank you to all of you who have ordered books and supported this  project!

Say hello to Reggie, the newest addition to our herd!
Reggie is a sixteen(?) year old gelding.
He was rescued a few weeks ago from neglect and starvation.
He still needs a few hundred pounds on his bones, but being on fresh pasture should help him along in that respect.
He's very sweet and gentle...he was nervous when we unloaded him at home, but was still very controllable.
Lena and Rio were waiting at the fence to greet him, but Reggie was more interested in following us around than in the other horses.
He will be Levi's horse and hopefully they will be able to sort cows together in the fall.

Yesterday we headed up north in the motor home with my aunt Patty for a surprise birthday/mothers day party for my Situ(grandma). She had no idea we were going to be there....we had it in my Uncle Joe's and Aunt Sandy's house with about 30 or a little more people. It was a great time. We haven't seen everyone since Thanksgiving so it was nice to be able to catch up.
We stopped at the beach on the way up there and I got some beautiful pictures....my photo Friday post is filling up fast...I think its going to be a long one!

Today I decided to go for a walk down by the pond. The past week I stayed at the auction hall in the motor home so I could work late and early to get the auction finished in time. After nearly a week of that, I was ready for some time in nature!
A couple weeks ago, as I was walking near the same pond, I found a mother goose sitting on  her nest. I decided to see if she was still there or if the goslings had hatched yet.
Well, she was still there, but what caught my attention was a snapping turtle!
I saw something splashing and thought I saw a turtle head. I sent the dogs home and decided to see if I could get closer.
I got closer all right! At one point, the turtle swam about two feet from where I was standing on a clump of grass...with bare feet!!
I was excited to get that close....I don't think he(she) knew I was there. I got a video of it and lots of pictures.
I think there was another one about twenty feet away in deeper water, but I couldn't get a good look.
It's always exciting to get close to a wild animal like that.

I love photo Friday! I look forward to this post all week.

Well, I reverted to the prefered, on my part at least, black and
white photos for today's post. These pictures just had so much more character in b&w! I broke down and left one in color :)
I don't think I'll ever be able to stick to my goal of 5-10 photos...I just get too many good ones during the week! What's your favorite shot? I like the two of Bannie and the close up of Smoke's eye and bridle. And I LOVE the last two pictures of the little clothes...the "clothesline" look is so cute!!

My books are here!
They arrived yesterday, but I didn't open them until today with the whole family.
The book has been published since April 28th, but it finally feels real as I hold it in my hands and gaze at a whole box full of them!
It's a thick book. I like how the illustrations turned out...everything fits together nicely.
Here's a few pictures. (Mom was behind the camera)

Some of you might know or remember Erin Harrison from Homestead Community Post. (I've posted some of her recipes in the past) She and her husband Mark along with there  family have made these four DVD's, Homesteading for Beginners. They are packed with great information for anyone wanting to learn how to homestead. We have all four DVD's(Vol. 4 has six disks) and learned  a lot from them.
These DVD's are informative and entertaining. Erin and her family show you hands on many practical homesteading skills.
Click on the photo's to learn more about each volume and take a look at the video trailer at the bottom of this post.

Well, this post turned into Rio Central! I had so many cute pictures of him I couldn't resist sharing them! And aren't you so surprised...I posted them in color!! I was sorely tempted to turn them black and white, but I thought maybe you all would enjoy a change of pace! I just had to sneak in three b&w ones at the bottom though...just had too!
Yesterday we let Lena and Rio out of the barnyard where they have lived since he was born. Lena was getting cabin fever so we locked the other horses into a separate pasture and let  her out onto the grass. Rio was very curious and excited for all the room to run. I got some great videos of him playing and bucking around. He was very frustrated with me because I wouldn't play!