We decided to make this benefit into a more intimate gathering here at our ranch. In conjunction with the invitational team roping benefit, we held a double-birthday-party in memory of Chrissie’s 6th birthday, as well as in celebration of Selah’s 1st birthday.
We knew there was rain in the forecast for this special day, but since Texas is in the biggest drought EVER, and we haven’t had rain in about TWO YEARS, we weren’t too concerned about it. Well, wouldn’t you know, about an hour before the event started, it DOWNPOURED. We had to move all of the party supplies and decorations into our barn, which was not cleaned up or set up to host this event! (We had cleaned up and set up everything outside, overlooking the arena, with picnic tables and chairs…just perfect.) Oh well, at least we had a dry spot to put everything, amongst the horse feed, tack, workshop tools, and horse stalls!
My good friend, Carrie Windham (Rowan’s mom), volunteered to make the princesses’ cakes. She is so very talented, and God is continually blessing us through this precious family. Carrie even framed a photo of each princess and set them by their individual cakes.
Carrie made an individual cake for Chrissie, which was chocolate cake (of course) with beautiful pink flowers and birds. (Rowan has told us before that Chrissie wants us to know that she’s in all things beautiful, like the flowers and the birds.)
Carrie went out of her way to make Selah a dairy-free cake, complete with soy butter icing, and the icing melted in her vehicle on the way to the party.
I thought it was still beautiful, and the pretty yellow flowers and birds stayed on the cake. The decorations were so delicate and pretty, just like our baby Selah.
Rowan brought butterflies to release at Chrissie’s grave.
He also painted a rock for her that included a butterfly with rainbow colors. He lovingly placed it on her grave. (BTW, Chrissie’s grave is looking awful right now with the Texas drought. I think I’m going to paint her little fence pink in an effort to spruce it up since nothing will grow there.)
The butterflies are coming out of the cage in the photo below. We’re so blessed by having Rowan in our lives. He’s Chrissie’s little boyfriend on earth, and he’s connected to her like no one else I know, with a childlike faith and special God-connection that simply blows me away.
I know you can’t see it in the photo below, but right after Rowan released the butterflies, dozens of cardinals (male and female) came to the ground and danced around. It was a rare and special moment. I’ve never seen that many cardinals in one place. Rowan always said Chrissie is in all things beautiful, like the flowers and the birds. We don’t have any flowers right now, but God sent LOTS of birds. Pretty red ones at that.
OK, I totally don’t know what I was gasping about in this photo, but I thought it was hilarious. I’m rarely in photos because I’m usually the photographer. Selah was trying to climb down into Chrissie’s grave while Mattie was trying to get a photo of the two miracle princesses on their double-birthday-party day. Selah failed to cooperate.
Rowan had a dream about Chrissie the night before the party. He said that she was in heaven when he saw her, and she wasn’t six, she was still four. (Hallelujah, that’s what I’ve been hoping for!!!) She told Rowan that she wanted him to blow our her candles for her, but she also wanted Rowan to tell us to put enough candles on her cake so that each member of her family could blow one out. We had Rowan blow out 4 candles (since he said Chrissie is still 4), and then later our family blew out more candles, just as Chrissie wished. (This made me think of the God Nod birthday card that says, “Put a chair for me at your table, and a candle on your cake, then include among your favors the very best wish I can make.”) Thank you, Rowan, for making Chrissie’s cake/candle wish come true for her this year!
Look at this precious little “couple”. Don’t you just adore them? An angel in heaven with an angel on earth. Priceless.
Just after we finished blowing out candles, the guys were ready to rope. Within minutes of getting into the arena, it DOWNPOURED…again. Every single person on a horse came galloping up the hill and into the barn, amongst the gifts and cakes and party décor, to take cover from the storm.
That’s not sweat on Matt’s brown shirt, it’s rain. You can also see the rain in the background, just outside the barn. POURING.
Matt took the photo below (while he was sitting on his horse) to show the guys in the stalls, sitting on their horses while it poured down rain. There were several horses in each stall, some with riders on them, some with riders standing next to them. Some horses were put back into their trailers.
Matt seized the opportunity (with everyone gathered together) to share Chrissie’s story and explain the message and meaning of the phrase “Boss Your Heart”. It was a touching moment.
Then our pastor friend, Jeff, prayed, thanking God for the rain, asking for an opportunity to rope, if it would be His will. Then the rain stopped, and guess what to our wondering eyes should appear?
A RAINBOW!!! Remember how God always used rainbows to speak to us about Chrissie, then Chrissie would use rainbows to speak back to us after she went to heaven? Well, the tradition continues, my friends, another God Nod!
Chrissie’s rainbow stretched all the way over the arena and barn, exactly where we were gathered.
You have to look closely to see it in the photo below, but it’s there. That’s the arena where the left end of the rainbow is. (The photos above show the rainbow above the barn.) Chrissie was present for her birthday party and memorial benefit roping!
Kiefer just loves everything cowboy, and he loves people, so he was having a hay day at this event!!! (He also loves Gatorade, which he calls red tea and green water. He only gets Gatorade at ropings, so he was thrilled beyond all thrills to have all of his favorite things in one place!!!)
Does he look mischievous or what?
Below are shots of the actual team roping event.
The picture below shows Parker in the heel box. For those clueless about team roping, there’s a header (one who catches the steer’s horns) and a heeler (one who catches the steer’s heels). The header catches first, then the heeler goes for the steer’s heels.
A couple of sweet moms (pictured below) volunteered to keep track of the team roping books. Not an easy job, made harder by the rain.
The photo below shows Matt in the head box, although you can barely see him. He’s the one in the far left side of the photo, without a cap, on his horse, with a rope in his hand. (Both the header and heeler have on brown shirts and are riding brown horses, so it makes it a little difficult to describe who Matt is!)
The blurry shot below is of Matt heading a steer with his heeler coming up behind the steer.
The shot below shows Sawyer (Buckshot, on the left) taking a shot at the steer’s horns with his heeler on the right.
Asher loved being on his horse, just like the rest of the cowboys, although he’s not yet able to rope off a horse. (He does lots of practice roping on the ground, where it’s safer.)
And the winners of the 1st Annual Boss Your Heart Memorial Benefit Team Roping are:
1st Place Header (RT): Dylan Cosper
1st Place Heeler (LEFT): Parker Cudd
2nd Place Header (RT): Dylan Cosper
2nd Place Heeler (LEFT): Danny Duckett
3rd Place Header (RT): Dylan Cosper (Yes, he really did win all 3 places as the header!)
3rd Place Heeler (LEFT): Tanner Montgomery
The belt buckles were custom made and include the words “1st Annual Boss Your Heart Memorial Benefit 2011”. The buckles also have Chrissie’s logo in the center (the heart with wings, a tiara with a cross, and a halo) with the words “In memory of Chrissie” under it. Of course, we had to bling them out with pink Swarovski crystals, specially picked for our princess.
Selah says, “Thanks for celebrating my birthday, along with my sissy’s birthday, too!” Now I’m outa here to go crawl and cruise! (All Selah really wanted to do the entire night was get down and crawl around, only the entire ground was MUDDY, full or horse poop, and not suitable for a baby!) As soon the party ended, Selah had her own party in our home where she partied (in her crawling and cruising 1-year-old b-day girl fashion) until 1:30AM. Not kidding!!!
Thank you to everyone who helped with this benefit, for those who attended, for those who prayed, and for all those who have supported us throughout this journey. We are so grateful for you!
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