Good Monday Morning to all you critter and land loving folks. Hand-me-downs…I love them! You name it, I am excited to see them coming. As my kids have grown up, they have stayed dressed because others have blessed us with good ol’ hand-me-downs. When you stop to consider other types of hand-me-downs, they are pretty wonderful too. I am thinking things like: family traditions, secret family noodle recipes, or even the handsome dimple my middle son sports on his chin. Said dimple my grandma is certain came from her dad’s genetics. All of it greatness that is handed down.

Just this past fall, an opportunity to host a ranch tour crossed our path. Now, if you have a clean-up list for your place, or don’t, this kind of thing will certainly make you see your property differently. New eyes, like, oh boy, look at that pile of old pallets, or that fence wasn’t sagging like that yesterday, was it? Well, we jotted down our project list in hopes of crossing them off. This tour didn’t take place on our property in the long run. My in-laws graciously stepped in as they were about one hundred miles closer to the school that the tour was joined with. It was a great tour, and my in-laws were several steps ahead of us on their clean up list…win-win!

Through the months as we were spiffing up I came to notice how much of our ranch had been set up because of hand-me-downs. It was truly humbling. The shoot, brand, and pulling chains hanging in the barn all had belonged to my grandpa. The bale feeder and horse trailer all a sort of barter project. A side-by-side, fire rig set up, and numerous sheep panels all passed along to us. Running around our pasture, several sheep, a couple of kid horses, a kid guard dog, several barn kitties, and even two heifers, all hand-me-downs. Kid horses and guard dog given with love and trust, because can a price even be put on such priceless partners. Equipment and other stock, people invest in us because they see its what we have a passion for, and they want to had down the tools to keep chasing those passions. Maybe its because they have been in our shoes or simply because passion can be handed down too. We certainly wouldn’t be where we are today if others had held onto their investments. Instead, they chose to hand it on down, a lot of it just stuff, but oh so much more because of the love it was given with. Hand-me-down, if you receive them, enjoy them. If you have them to share, pass them along and know you are a hand-up, and walk away knowing you are a blessing.

Whoever brings blessing will be enriched, and one who waters will himself be watered. Proverbs 11:25