Aly has become obsessed with riding horses, which hasn't brought her any closer to her goal because we've been short on opportunity.
On Friday, things changed and the girls got to go horseback riding. We were on the last leg of our vacation and visiting our friends, Ron and Tina, who live in Idaho. We were laughing a little about her fixation with the concept. The next day, they surprised us and said we were taking the girls riding.
It turned out that Ron's cousin was getting ready for a memorial rodeo that his family started a few years ago after their 19-year-son, Daniel, died in a terrible bull accident. Not long after this, the Dopps family organized the rodeo and they raise money each year for different illnesses such as leukemia and cancer research. I didn't realize any of this until after the girls had gone riding. We met Dave and Ramona Dopps just briefly as many family members and friends ran in and out of their house getting ready for the two-day rodeo event and others loaded horse trailers. From this tragedy, they've created a family reunion and a loving memorial.
You could really feel the warmth of family kinship as the kids all traded off riding the tamest horses and the adults busied themselves with all the other tasks at hand. If you would like to visit their website click here:
Daniel Dopps Memorial Rodeo
Lois and I were both a bit overwhelmed with the kind hospitality the Dopps had to offer during this obvious busy time. They stopped to welcome complete strangers into their house so our girls could go riding and they were some of the kindest people I have met.
On Friday, things changed and the girls got to go horseback riding. We were on the last leg of our vacation and visiting our friends, Ron and Tina, who live in Idaho. We were laughing a little about her fixation with the concept. The next day, they surprised us and said we were taking the girls riding.
It turned out that Ron's cousin was getting ready for a memorial rodeo that his family started a few years ago after their 19-year-son, Daniel, died in a terrible bull accident. Not long after this, the Dopps family organized the rodeo and they raise money each year for different illnesses such as leukemia and cancer research. I didn't realize any of this until after the girls had gone riding. We met Dave and Ramona Dopps just briefly as many family members and friends ran in and out of their house getting ready for the two-day rodeo event and others loaded horse trailers. From this tragedy, they've created a family reunion and a loving memorial.
You could really feel the warmth of family kinship as the kids all traded off riding the tamest horses and the adults busied themselves with all the other tasks at hand. If you would like to visit their website click here:
Daniel Dopps Memorial Rodeo
Lois and I were both a bit overwhelmed with the kind hospitality the Dopps had to offer during this obvious busy time. They stopped to welcome complete strangers into their house so our girls could go riding and they were some of the kindest people I have met.
Aly
Jeni
Lois
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a beautiful experience of love and kindness for your girls, Lois and you Beaux. I'm so happy you were able to have this joy and the kids were too...you all deserve much, much more!
ReplyDeleteThis is such a lovely post- I am so happy for this time. I hope the rest of your travels were as lovely. xo teri
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