Chicago trip!!

12-31-11
  Hi everybody!  We have been sooo busy with Bethany's and Danial's wedding, Christmas parties and other things too. Did every body have a good Christmas? I did. Instead of giving each other big presents this year, our family went to Chicago!! We went to the Shedd Aquarium. There we saw sharks, very interesting looking fish, whales, dolphins. We also saw some dolphins do some some tricks too. We also went to the Field Museum. This museum was the museum that the movie Night Of the Museum was made in. There was some cool things there too.
                                        
Molly had puppies!! She only had two though. They are both girls and one is black and the other is yellow. We are very glad that they are both girls but we are also disappointed that she had only two. She usually has 6-10 puppies. Molly is our yellow female. She is the oldest dog we have and this is her last time having puppies. Oh we also have two other females so I think we will have enough puppies from them too. 
                                HAPPY NEW YEAR  !!!!!

Just life....

12-7-11
Hi everybody! Today Benjamin and I went with dad to finish a job.  He has been having us work with him quite a bit lately. 

We are so busy with Bethany's and Danial's wedding and with other things too. Bethany's and Danial's wedding is on the twenty-third of this month. I think there is one more shower, but it is at our house!! 

Did everybody have a good Thanksgiving? Well I know that my family and I did.   We went to Holland to my mom's side of the family.  We played a bunch of games with some very nice cousins who we have a lot of fun with. 

I have been riding Addy lately. She is coming to me when I call her but she still needs to learn to trust me on  picking  her front and back feet up. Even though she likes to go backwards when I want her to go forward,she is getting better and better each time I work on her.  We had snow last week but it all melted from the rain. Today it is very nice out. I think we found a good home for Angel. She is still at our place but the people that are possibly getting her have not pick her up yet.  Tonight I rode Addy and she is a very good horse to do cow cutting with. I think that the people that taught her to ride also taught her to do cow cutting too. She is awesome at doing what I want her to do. I was herding our little steer around and Addy would try to get it were I wanted the steer to go. She does not know how to do it very well yet,but if I keep working with it on her I think she will turn out to be a great  a cow cutter.  Even though she tries to go backwards and all the other things I told you readers what she is bad at, I think I got myself a good horse. If I keep working on her to trust me and and the other thing too she will turn out just fine.  Addy is also good going around barrels and and turning very sharp. If I work on barrels she will  be a great barrel racer too.
Well I think I that is all for now.
Rachel

Black Friday!!

   11-25-11~
    Today Abigial went shopping with one of her friends at 3:00am. I think that is a very unusual time to go shopping. We came home from our Thanksgiving party at 10:15pm and she only had 5and a half hours to sleep.  I think if I did that I would not be all the way awake. I would also probably be a walking robot. At 5:30am Mom, Dad, Rebekah, Elizabeth, Benjamin amd I went shopping . I think that is a better time than waking up at 3:00 to go shopping. We did not get very much. Later this afternoon Mom, Rebekah, Elizabeth and I are going to go shopping again.

Happy Thanksgiving!

11-24-11
   Hi everybody! Today our family went up to Holland for Thanksgiving. It was very fun. It took about two and a half hours to get there. Bethany did not come with us.  She went up to Noth Carolina to have Thanksgiving with Daniel her (her future husband).  I have been riding Addy. She is getting better every time I ride her. She is better on back than on ground.  I have been busy with school and getting ready for Bethany's wedding too!! I am going to be a bridsmaid!!
  

My New Partner!

November 13 - Hi  everybody, sorry for not updating my blog for you guys. I have been too busy to work on it. I got a new horse and Abigail got a new horse too.  The weather today is rainy and just not the greatest to go out side. So I decided to work on my blog. My sister Bethany is going to get married this December. So we have been going to showers this past week. We have went to two of them already. One was on my Dad's side and the other one was a shower that our neighbors put on. We still need to go to two more. One of the showers is on my birthday.
Our dog Molly ( a Labrador Retriever) is going to have puppies again! She is going to have them around New Years Day!! Right next to my sister Rebekah's Birthday!!

                                  Here is some pictures and some information on Abigail's and my horse.

                               Here is a picture of my horse. Her name is Addy and she is a 2-year old Appaloosa. She is broke to ride and to pull a buggy.  So I am going to go from a 25-year old horse to a 2 year old!! I think I got my hands full now! I have been riding Addy lately. She is not all the way broke but all she needs help with is how to turn left and right for the person who  is riding her. When we got Addy , the people that we got her from told us that she is very hard to catch and is very touchy. So that is another thing I have to work on with her-to trust people and to be easy to catch.  

                              This is a picture of Abigail's horse. Abigail's horse is a 4-year old standard bred crossed with quarter horse. His name is Winchester but we call him Chess for short. I do not know much about this horse. But I do know is that he is friendlier than my horse. He is easier to catch too.

Horse talk !!!!

10- 29-11
Today Mom, Dad, Elizabeth, and Benjamin went to Battle Creek,  Abigail went to a football game with some of her friends and Bethany, Rebekah and I stayed home.  Wow!  We had a little bit of snow today!  Are you ready for SNOW????

Abigail and I are getting rid of our horses and are going to be getting two that are younger. We are going to  teach them how to do barrel racing. Abigail already sold her horse (Hoss) to one of our friends, so we can still go see him! I am not going to sell my horse (Angel) but I am going to just give her away. There is a family that is probably going to get her! I am so excited that someone wants her. I thought nobody would want her because she is old and is have a little bit of problem of putting weight on. However, she is a wonderfully safe horse and very fun to ride!

Abigail is probably going to get another horse tomorrow. We weren't going to get horses until the spring as our hay supply is low, but our friend helped us find some that are really, really affordable.  We are all very excited!!  Abigail's horse is a standard bred cross,  4 years old and just green broke. Green broke means it is not trained all the way. We went to see him on Thursday. The place where we looked at him was very close  to our friend's (who is helping us find horses) house so we did not need to drive very far. This horse has a very good temperament and is a good riding horse too . I am looking at a Paint and a Appaloosa. The Paint is 4 years old and green broke. We went to see her on Thursday too but when we got to the place it was dark out, so we did not do much with her. But on Monday we might go see her again and ride her. We have not seen the Appaloosa yet but on Monday we might see it.  I don't know much about the Appaloosa. I will get some pictures on as soon as I can so all of my readers can see what the horses look like.

Canning applesauce time!!!

       
Today we canned applesauce!! We did two bushels of apples. I love it how good it smells when you are canning applesauce and I like it how how it tastes after you are done. I like warm and cold applesauce.
                                    Here are some steps of pictures for making applesauce

                                            

1. Pick and wash the apples

  

2. Cut them in fourths 

3. Boil them in a pot on the stove for about twenty

 minutes until they are soft and mushy

.

              

                                                                  
    

4. Put them through a applesauce strainer. 

                                                 

 

5.  You  put the applesauce in quart jars. Put clean lids and screw tops on.
Then you put them in a canner and bring to a boil for thirty minutes.

6. And now you have applesauce to eat during the winter!! YUM!

Feelin' Like Fall!

          Hi everybody. Today Elizabeth went to the Hillsdale County fair with her friend for the day. Elizabeth's friend wanted her to take some goats to their fair so Elizabeth took two goats to the fair. She is going to show them on Friday. My mom, Benjamin, Elizabeth and I went there on Monday. We brought our school work and did it there. We also walked around too.
        I like the months of fall. I like it how God made it so the trees change their colors. I also like it how it how pretty their colors are. My favorite color in the fall is orange. I think it stands out more than the other colors. Fall is a very nice time to go horseback riding, take walks and go bike riding. Our trees are just starting to change color

 

The pretty trees in the fall

 

My horse (Angel) during the fall 

Family Times and More Canning!

Sunday - September 18, 2011
          Our family went down to my Uncle Jack's house. My cousin Tom and his wife Rachel are going to have a baby. This is going to be my Grandpa and Grandma's first great grandchild so most of  my aunts, uncles and cousins were there too, It was a lot of fun. My Uncle Jack has an Argo. It is a six-wheeled vehicle that can go on land and in water. We rode on it until it broke down.  It broke down 2 times and each time we fixed it.  On the third time it broke down my Uncle finally gave up on trying to fix it.
Wednesday  - September 21- 2011
       This morning I woke up at 6:00 AM.  I did a little bit of school and my mom, sister and I canned carrots and peppers today. The peppers took longer than the carrots did but now we have some color to put in our pantry.  Then at 2:30 Elizabeth and I went riding horses. It was awesome! When we got back we had to do our chores. We had B.L.T's.  They were great to have for a late summer supper!
           

Why That Title???

Hi everybody I just wanted to tell every why my blog is named "From the Doors of an Orphanage". The reason I call it that is because when I was 4 1/2 I was adopted from an orphanage in the country of Ukraine. I had been there since I was born. I was trying to figure out what name to name my blog.  I asked everyone in my family if they had any ideas for a name for my blog. When I asked my dad, he gave me this title as an idea and I liked it. So I kept it.  So there you have it why I named my blog from the Doors of an Orphanage. Today Abigail,  Elizabeth and I went riding in the woods. I also did my Saturday cleaning that I do every Saturday morning.

 Here are some pictures:  

                                           
                                                                    Our whole family
                                       
                                                 
                                                                      Our barn
        

                                              
                                                             Our garden from this year
                                       





                                           

                                                                       My dog  Buster and I

                                    

About Me

Hi everybody my name is Rachel Schreur. I am 15 years old and I live on a farm. I have 5 other siblings, their names are Bethany 18.Abigail16, Rebekah14, Elizabeth 9 and Benjamin 7. We have 8 people in our family all together. On our farm we have goats, horses, cows, chickens, dogs, and cats, we also do goat and cow shares. We sell homemade goat soap and  soy candles. I have a horse and a dog. My favorite animals are horses and dogs. 
Rachel