I'll never forget that feeling we had 22 + years ago when we sat there together on the couch with our mouths open after we found out we were pregnant. It was that NO WAY feeling. Last night when we walked around the garden, we were just there essentially checking on the transplants to see if they were still alive, not expecting to see anything else this early on. But then, we looked a little closer, and to our utter amazement, we saw little plants, all over the garden coming up. I couldn't believe it. I just kept saying, "NO WAY! NO WAY!!" And then I said, "We're in soooo much trouble!!!" We are going to be sunk if the rest of the garden comes up...which it is looking like it will!
But, my amazement feeling didn't stop there. Next, we went over to the vines. We've been working hard in there for the last month and a bit, too. We've been told to not get too excited about having a crop this year even though it's the third year. If there is to be a crop, it'll be a partial crop. Fine, fine. We tried to not get our hopes up, but then, as we walked around, we looked close and there were little grape clusters EVERYWHERE....ALL OVER THE PLANTS. That was when my mouth dropped open even more. I was suddenly feeling so amazed, so excited and I'm not joking, it felt like we had just found out we were pregnant because these little plants were something we had hoped for, prayed for, wanted so badly, and we didn't dare get excited because we didn't want to get disappointed, but then, there they were! Everywhere! And so many! And suddenly it felt like we could be excited! We were pregnant....with plants! with grapes! with fruit! It was an odd, but familiar feeling because just like when we had hoped to have children, we didn't dare get our hopes up, but deep down we really did hope. When we finally found out we were pregnant so long ago, it was a big "YES!" And, even though it may seem like a strange comparison, it feels somewhat the same - now we can truly get excited and relax at the same time! Well, hardly relax....like I said, now we're in big trouble.
The weeds are already coming up just as fast alongside the vegetables and the grapes. We'll be putting down landscape cloth and wood chips hopefully soon to help out with that. I may have to stop sleeping otherwise and weed at night otherwise! At the same time, our 13 year old son is now our full-time mower. My husband is determined to make our property feel a bit more park-like this year and he's mowing sections of the property he's never mowed before around the grapes, around the garden, near our fire pit area, etc. It already used to take a long time to do, now we finish one area and my son has to go right to the next. Every single day we are mowing. But it is paying off and it looks really nice.
We have a non-Christian friend who we've been witnessing to for a long time. He's basically decided everything that is going on in our life, if it is good, is just fate. Apparently we're just lucky. Lucky to be married, to have kids, live on a farm, grow animals and food. It all just "worked out" for us. Well, when I look around and see things growing out of the ground that were in paper envelope literally a few days ago. I can DEFINITIVELY say, that is NOT LUCK. Only God can make a garden grow, make grapes grow off a vine, make kids grow for that matter. It boggles the mind that he cannot give credit to whom the credit is due. But my faith can be weak. When my neighbour came by to pick up some hay, I have to admit, I pointed to the garden and said, "If it grows, that's where our garden is....." IF it grows? Why was I so unsure? Why did I doubt?
This garden, these vines, the grass, the weeds.....all a testament and a part of my faith story.
It definitely hit us though yesterday as we walked around - this will be the BUSIEST SUMMER AND FALL OF OUR LIVES. As we come up on our 25th, it's kind of exciting to reflect on our life and how much has happened leading us up to this anniversary. But, who will have time to reflect!? It's going to be absolutely nutty. My biggest problem lately has been paralysis - I have so many things to do, so many places to be, I often don't move because I don't know where I should be first.
Today, a little bit of rain is coming - great for the garden and it determines that I can be inside working on vine crafts. My teradacytl/beaver dam/nest is actually getting smaller. We may get our house back soon.....
Thursday, 28 May 2020
Friday, 22 May 2020
Garden Update and the Making of Housewife
Finally we got a break in the weather. For the first few days of my husband's "vacation", we were supposed to be in the garden, but it was just too cold, so we did stuff indoors, paperwork, more vine crafts (I have sore fingers and too many cuts, pokes and splinters to mention!) and just regular farm maintenance, but then the last two days have been better.....
I am going to attempt actual pictures for a change in this post. We'll see if I can get better at documenting our life in photos....
Three of the trees I've made....there are now 11 of these all voer my house in different sizes....
We now have the potatoes planted as well as tomatoes, onions, leeks, swiss chard (both of which I have rarely if ever eaten, but hopefully someone out there will eat those!), celery (which I hear is very hard to grow) and some squash. Today the seeder we bought will apparently arrive and we'll then do all the mini seeds like lettuce and peas. Everything else has been done by hand as they were actual transplants, so my legs are feeling it today with all the up and down of planting. We are really enjoying the work and have laughed at how the kids come to help and then within a few minutes just walk away. Baby steps! We're just happy to have them observe the process and be involved in any way possible.
The unexpected blessing from this garden comes from where we decided to plant it. We chose a location quite far from the house as it was far from the road and the view of the whole world as well as being fairly flat. The nice thing about this location is that it is near the highest point of our property so when we go out there we get to enjoy the view of the whole countryside and it is spectacular! It's like we just bought a whole new piece of land. We rarely would be in that spot on the property except when we would bring in hay and now we're there all the time. It is so beautiful and we are just appreciating our location so much right now. It makes the whole process of gardening so pleasant when you actually love where you are.
tilling of the land - pre-garden
Perhaps a little hard, to see, but this is the view in the evening....so beautiful watching the sun go down....
As I planted each little plant yesterday I found myself praying a little blessing over each one. To me it seems impossible that it could grow and produce a vegetable. To me the soil seems unlikely to be good enough. I keep questioning if there is too much clay or too little drainage. Doubts fill my mind, but then after we pray and talk we settle on the fact that even if nothing comes of it, we've again learned from the process and we won't give up. This will be our learning year. Each year the soil will get better and each year we'll improve our systems.
Not being close to the house represented a real watering challenge, at least to me, but, incredibly, it isn't a problem, thanks to my engineering husband. When we bought the property we purchased a lot of the equipment, including a tractor and implements that we had no idea how to use. My husband has become extremely good at using them all, fixing them, etc., and that includes a watering tank that attaches to the tractor. It had a broken pump, but recently he has fixed that, too, and now with a new pump it waters our whole garden easily. We may add more irrigation once we're more established, but for now, it's great. I have no idea how we could do something like this without his skill set.
Just like last summer and the summer before that, my kids have had to step up in terms of the housework and meals. Yesterday we texted my daughter to come to the garden. She said, "No. I'm being a housewife. Do you want your laundry done or not? It doesn't fold itself." We laughed our heads off in the garden. She's 16 and is now a housewife. I love it. I'm happy to be replaced and would much rather be outside anyway.
When it was so cold and I was doing vine crafts, literally all day, I came up with one more neat way to use the vines. I had been wanting to buy a baby gift for my neighbour's new baby and knew I had no time to sew, not to mention I had no fabric. I had done a meal, but wanted to do another small thing. A vine tree didn't seem very baby-ish...then suddenly this idea came to me to twist the vines into the shapes of her initials. I wasn't sure it would work, but I tried it anyway and to my amazement, they turned out so great! The tendrils on the vines made it look like I had hand-written the letters and they appeared so whimsical and pretty. My neighbour seemed to really like them, at least she faked happiness!
Today will be a very busy day in the garden again, probably all day. Looking forward to it. As I read in Genesis yesterday, Abimelech said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do." That was my prayer all day, just asking God to be with us in all that we do. Then, when it was just the two of us at the edge of the garden, we prayed together over it and that felt good, to know it was really God's garden. All we can do is our part, the rest of the growing miracle is up to God.
Meanwhile, while we're out in the garden, my son keeps at it with his flips....here's an amazing picture of my son capturing his ability to flip on the ground.....
I am going to attempt actual pictures for a change in this post. We'll see if I can get better at documenting our life in photos....
Three of the trees I've made....there are now 11 of these all voer my house in different sizes....
We now have the potatoes planted as well as tomatoes, onions, leeks, swiss chard (both of which I have rarely if ever eaten, but hopefully someone out there will eat those!), celery (which I hear is very hard to grow) and some squash. Today the seeder we bought will apparently arrive and we'll then do all the mini seeds like lettuce and peas. Everything else has been done by hand as they were actual transplants, so my legs are feeling it today with all the up and down of planting. We are really enjoying the work and have laughed at how the kids come to help and then within a few minutes just walk away. Baby steps! We're just happy to have them observe the process and be involved in any way possible.
The unexpected blessing from this garden comes from where we decided to plant it. We chose a location quite far from the house as it was far from the road and the view of the whole world as well as being fairly flat. The nice thing about this location is that it is near the highest point of our property so when we go out there we get to enjoy the view of the whole countryside and it is spectacular! It's like we just bought a whole new piece of land. We rarely would be in that spot on the property except when we would bring in hay and now we're there all the time. It is so beautiful and we are just appreciating our location so much right now. It makes the whole process of gardening so pleasant when you actually love where you are.
tilling of the land - pre-garden
Perhaps a little hard, to see, but this is the view in the evening....so beautiful watching the sun go down....
As I planted each little plant yesterday I found myself praying a little blessing over each one. To me it seems impossible that it could grow and produce a vegetable. To me the soil seems unlikely to be good enough. I keep questioning if there is too much clay or too little drainage. Doubts fill my mind, but then after we pray and talk we settle on the fact that even if nothing comes of it, we've again learned from the process and we won't give up. This will be our learning year. Each year the soil will get better and each year we'll improve our systems.
Not being close to the house represented a real watering challenge, at least to me, but, incredibly, it isn't a problem, thanks to my engineering husband. When we bought the property we purchased a lot of the equipment, including a tractor and implements that we had no idea how to use. My husband has become extremely good at using them all, fixing them, etc., and that includes a watering tank that attaches to the tractor. It had a broken pump, but recently he has fixed that, too, and now with a new pump it waters our whole garden easily. We may add more irrigation once we're more established, but for now, it's great. I have no idea how we could do something like this without his skill set.
Just like last summer and the summer before that, my kids have had to step up in terms of the housework and meals. Yesterday we texted my daughter to come to the garden. She said, "No. I'm being a housewife. Do you want your laundry done or not? It doesn't fold itself." We laughed our heads off in the garden. She's 16 and is now a housewife. I love it. I'm happy to be replaced and would much rather be outside anyway.
When it was so cold and I was doing vine crafts, literally all day, I came up with one more neat way to use the vines. I had been wanting to buy a baby gift for my neighbour's new baby and knew I had no time to sew, not to mention I had no fabric. I had done a meal, but wanted to do another small thing. A vine tree didn't seem very baby-ish...then suddenly this idea came to me to twist the vines into the shapes of her initials. I wasn't sure it would work, but I tried it anyway and to my amazement, they turned out so great! The tendrils on the vines made it look like I had hand-written the letters and they appeared so whimsical and pretty. My neighbour seemed to really like them, at least she faked happiness!
Today will be a very busy day in the garden again, probably all day. Looking forward to it. As I read in Genesis yesterday, Abimelech said to Abraham, "God is with you in all that you do." That was my prayer all day, just asking God to be with us in all that we do. Then, when it was just the two of us at the edge of the garden, we prayed together over it and that felt good, to know it was really God's garden. All we can do is our part, the rest of the growing miracle is up to God.
Meanwhile, while we're out in the garden, my son keeps at it with his flips....here's an amazing picture of my son capturing his ability to flip on the ground.....
Monday, 18 May 2020
In Over Our Heads....again....and God Has Made Laughter....For Me
What have we gotten ourselves into? Yesterday we planted 120 potatoes. That's 4 rows, 60 ft. long. If we get back what we've read we'll get back, in terms of produce, we expect to harvest somewhere in the range of 2400 potatoes. That's enough for our large family....for TWO YEARS! Ooops. So, if you find yourself on our Christmas list, you might just be getting a bag of potatoes, just sayin'....
We also know that we are already making mistakes, at least we think we are. We are still newbies at this whole gardening thing, let alone, large gardening thing. We planted two rows in what appears to be soil that has a lot of clay. Turns out clay isn't the best for potatoes! Oops again. So, the next two rows we planted in what we think is a richer, better soil. Guess we'll find out in the fall which soil was better! This is definitely a live and learn situation.
The garden itself is 120 ft. by 60 ft. That more than triple the size of our last garden. We expect about 30 rows of plants if all goes well, but, again...we'll see! We have had more rain than we would like, so that has already slowed things down, but alas, that is farming for you.
I am also currently overwhelmed by nearly 20 rows of vine cuttings. We pruned our concord grapes and this time I was determined to put the cuttings to good use. I've made vine trees before, but am now trying a new kind of tree and plan to sell those as well, either at a Christmas sale or on-line. Meanwhile, my kids are very unhappy with me. It looks like I literally have either a beaver dam or a pterodactyl nest in our living room. The pile of cuttings is so high and so wide it is literally taking up half of our living space. Sorry about that. I'm trying to make these trees as fast as I can, but it is slow going! It takes many hours to make one tree with all the interruptions, so the pile isn't exactly going down very slowly. I figure it'll be gone in a few weeks, but that's when we're supposed to be in the garden! My kids just shake their heads....
It has forced me to be very creative, though, with our seating arrangements. I used to have two sitting areas. To be honest it looked good, but it didn't suit our family. We would have family conversations, but we would always be divided! What was I thinking? Now I've joined the two sitting areas into one. It isn't my favourite look, but it suits the family way better and now we're all together every time we try to connect. That leaves me and my beaver dam to the other side and has less impact on the fam.
With every day that passes, we come up with more schemes with the garden and how we can sell our produce. It just gets nuttier and nuttier as we dream and plan, borderline comical at times. Yesterday, as I was reading in Genesis, a couple of verses jumped out at me. After Isaac was born, it was written in Genesis 21, "Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him." There are many other phrases throughout Genesis and then in Hebrews that focus on Abraham's age, and Sarah's, for that matter. Phrases like "as good as dead" are my favourite. It makes me laugh because we're doing these crazy things when most people are planning their retirement and are booking cruises and thinking about slowing down. We don't have that luxury. We know as our family gets older we are just going to get busier. We're going to actually need more resources to feed them, clothe them, marry them....when will we ever get to slow down? We actually have to ramp up our activity! So if we look to the "regular" way things are done, we probably appear a little batty. This is why I love that phrase so much and I'm convinced God put the "old age" verses in their to reassure me even though it seems crazy to do what we're doing, it's ok. Abraham had a baby at 100, we can handle this! Oh, and I just found out this week that all of my kids will be around 24/7 come the Fall. All courses at college and university are going on-line 100%. This is NOT good news. When school starts, my house gets quieter as the older ones all head off to work and school. Not now! There will be kids around the house all day everyday this September. THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN!!!! This means my grocery bill is going to continue to skyrocket (except for vegetables....if they grow!). It means the noise level will stay high, the volume of activity will stay high, the cleaning, the laundry.....all staying high. I looked at my husband with my eyeballs wide open and a crazy stare coming out of them and said, "We have to build an apartment/library in the shop...fast." So, Lord willing, if we can somehow manage, we plan on doing that. We joke it'll be the frat house. If we can pull this off, we'll scoot the older two boys who will be in school out there. They can work in RM's office for their courses and then in the "youth room", they can sleep, even eat, have a pool table or something like that, and just have a quieter place to hang out. All this to say, it's another reason we have to make money - to pay for these insane renovations. This is better than a reality TV show, I'm serious.
The next verse is awesome, too, "And Sarah said, 'God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.' And she said, 'Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age.'" This is a great encouragement to me as well. God shows He has a sense of humour by allowing this couple to have a baby in their old age. He even gives Sarah the perspective that this is not just amazing what has happened to her and Abraham, but that it is FUNNY! I don't think people were ever going to laugh at her and make fun of her. My feeling is that it was more of a "No way!" type of feeling. My guess is once people heard the insane news of a new baby at 100 and 90 years old, they would laugh and smile and be joyful in absolute awe of God and His goodness to them. It was an encouragement to me as I, too, have this feeling, that in our old age, as we take on more crazy things that people are going to hear and potentially laugh at us, or worse, make fun, or even judge or criticize. However, when I read this story, it reminds me age doesn't matter when God is on your side. It really encourages me to keep going....the older we are, the nuttier it may appear, the more it has to be God behind it all. There is no way we can get any credit if anything that actually works or takes off. It'll have to be God, just as it was with Abraham and Sarah.
Just by way of an aside, it's neat to notice that is says, "God has made laughter for me...." Isaac's name literally means "laughter". So if you insert his name there, it could read, "God has made Isaac for me..." Isaac and laughter are one. I wonder if he was an actually funny kid. As I thought through this verse yesterday, it made me think of my own kids. They are funny! I have two in particular that have me laughing all the time. I could have the same verse written for me, "God has made (insert name of child here) for me....." I love to laugh. I love humour. I love funny people. I'm convinced I have more laugh lines than the average person. I love that God gave me laughter through my children. I love that God is the creator of laughter and that He uses children to bring laughter into our lives. I love that laughter can exist and be one in the same as a child. Laughter. Child. Same thing. Synonyms for one another. And Sarah added, "...for me". God gave her laughter. God gave her a son. Just for her. She had laughed when she heard she would have a child. She didn't believe God. As a funny, ironic little reminder, God not only gave her a child, but with a twist gave her a son whose name will always remind her, "Every time you laugh or you hear him laugh or he makes you laugh, remember to believe me and my promises." Isn't it amazing how God just ties everything together? It's all one gigantic miracle and God doesn't miss a thing to show His providence and how He's the master planner behind it all.
So today, it's wet and rainy. It'll be a day of tree making (I have so many splinters and pokes from the staples I use). It'll be a day of paperwork as we are trying to document everything we do so that we have records for the future. It'll be a day of catching up on regular stuff. So I don't mind the rain....And, as I go about my day today, I'll try to see my kids as Sarah saw Isaac....God has made laughter...for me.
We also know that we are already making mistakes, at least we think we are. We are still newbies at this whole gardening thing, let alone, large gardening thing. We planted two rows in what appears to be soil that has a lot of clay. Turns out clay isn't the best for potatoes! Oops again. So, the next two rows we planted in what we think is a richer, better soil. Guess we'll find out in the fall which soil was better! This is definitely a live and learn situation.
The garden itself is 120 ft. by 60 ft. That more than triple the size of our last garden. We expect about 30 rows of plants if all goes well, but, again...we'll see! We have had more rain than we would like, so that has already slowed things down, but alas, that is farming for you.
I am also currently overwhelmed by nearly 20 rows of vine cuttings. We pruned our concord grapes and this time I was determined to put the cuttings to good use. I've made vine trees before, but am now trying a new kind of tree and plan to sell those as well, either at a Christmas sale or on-line. Meanwhile, my kids are very unhappy with me. It looks like I literally have either a beaver dam or a pterodactyl nest in our living room. The pile of cuttings is so high and so wide it is literally taking up half of our living space. Sorry about that. I'm trying to make these trees as fast as I can, but it is slow going! It takes many hours to make one tree with all the interruptions, so the pile isn't exactly going down very slowly. I figure it'll be gone in a few weeks, but that's when we're supposed to be in the garden! My kids just shake their heads....
It has forced me to be very creative, though, with our seating arrangements. I used to have two sitting areas. To be honest it looked good, but it didn't suit our family. We would have family conversations, but we would always be divided! What was I thinking? Now I've joined the two sitting areas into one. It isn't my favourite look, but it suits the family way better and now we're all together every time we try to connect. That leaves me and my beaver dam to the other side and has less impact on the fam.
With every day that passes, we come up with more schemes with the garden and how we can sell our produce. It just gets nuttier and nuttier as we dream and plan, borderline comical at times. Yesterday, as I was reading in Genesis, a couple of verses jumped out at me. After Isaac was born, it was written in Genesis 21, "Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him." There are many other phrases throughout Genesis and then in Hebrews that focus on Abraham's age, and Sarah's, for that matter. Phrases like "as good as dead" are my favourite. It makes me laugh because we're doing these crazy things when most people are planning their retirement and are booking cruises and thinking about slowing down. We don't have that luxury. We know as our family gets older we are just going to get busier. We're going to actually need more resources to feed them, clothe them, marry them....when will we ever get to slow down? We actually have to ramp up our activity! So if we look to the "regular" way things are done, we probably appear a little batty. This is why I love that phrase so much and I'm convinced God put the "old age" verses in their to reassure me even though it seems crazy to do what we're doing, it's ok. Abraham had a baby at 100, we can handle this! Oh, and I just found out this week that all of my kids will be around 24/7 come the Fall. All courses at college and university are going on-line 100%. This is NOT good news. When school starts, my house gets quieter as the older ones all head off to work and school. Not now! There will be kids around the house all day everyday this September. THAT WAS NOT THE PLAN!!!! This means my grocery bill is going to continue to skyrocket (except for vegetables....if they grow!). It means the noise level will stay high, the volume of activity will stay high, the cleaning, the laundry.....all staying high. I looked at my husband with my eyeballs wide open and a crazy stare coming out of them and said, "We have to build an apartment/library in the shop...fast." So, Lord willing, if we can somehow manage, we plan on doing that. We joke it'll be the frat house. If we can pull this off, we'll scoot the older two boys who will be in school out there. They can work in RM's office for their courses and then in the "youth room", they can sleep, even eat, have a pool table or something like that, and just have a quieter place to hang out. All this to say, it's another reason we have to make money - to pay for these insane renovations. This is better than a reality TV show, I'm serious.
The next verse is awesome, too, "And Sarah said, 'God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me.' And she said, 'Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have born him a son in his old age.'" This is a great encouragement to me as well. God shows He has a sense of humour by allowing this couple to have a baby in their old age. He even gives Sarah the perspective that this is not just amazing what has happened to her and Abraham, but that it is FUNNY! I don't think people were ever going to laugh at her and make fun of her. My feeling is that it was more of a "No way!" type of feeling. My guess is once people heard the insane news of a new baby at 100 and 90 years old, they would laugh and smile and be joyful in absolute awe of God and His goodness to them. It was an encouragement to me as I, too, have this feeling, that in our old age, as we take on more crazy things that people are going to hear and potentially laugh at us, or worse, make fun, or even judge or criticize. However, when I read this story, it reminds me age doesn't matter when God is on your side. It really encourages me to keep going....the older we are, the nuttier it may appear, the more it has to be God behind it all. There is no way we can get any credit if anything that actually works or takes off. It'll have to be God, just as it was with Abraham and Sarah.
Just by way of an aside, it's neat to notice that is says, "God has made laughter for me...." Isaac's name literally means "laughter". So if you insert his name there, it could read, "God has made Isaac for me..." Isaac and laughter are one. I wonder if he was an actually funny kid. As I thought through this verse yesterday, it made me think of my own kids. They are funny! I have two in particular that have me laughing all the time. I could have the same verse written for me, "God has made (insert name of child here) for me....." I love to laugh. I love humour. I love funny people. I'm convinced I have more laugh lines than the average person. I love that God gave me laughter through my children. I love that God is the creator of laughter and that He uses children to bring laughter into our lives. I love that laughter can exist and be one in the same as a child. Laughter. Child. Same thing. Synonyms for one another. And Sarah added, "...for me". God gave her laughter. God gave her a son. Just for her. She had laughed when she heard she would have a child. She didn't believe God. As a funny, ironic little reminder, God not only gave her a child, but with a twist gave her a son whose name will always remind her, "Every time you laugh or you hear him laugh or he makes you laugh, remember to believe me and my promises." Isn't it amazing how God just ties everything together? It's all one gigantic miracle and God doesn't miss a thing to show His providence and how He's the master planner behind it all.
So today, it's wet and rainy. It'll be a day of tree making (I have so many splinters and pokes from the staples I use). It'll be a day of paperwork as we are trying to document everything we do so that we have records for the future. It'll be a day of catching up on regular stuff. So I don't mind the rain....And, as I go about my day today, I'll try to see my kids as Sarah saw Isaac....God has made laughter...for me.
Tuesday, 12 May 2020
Our Dog Should Have Been Named Houdini
I wish we had a doggie cam. Although I'm pretty sure I know what happened. On Friday our dog/Houdini untied his leash off the rope (we have NOOOOO idea how he does this). He leash is then typically tied to a different rope. After "untying" his knot, he proceeded to run away. It turns out he didn't actually run that far. He just made it to the corner of our property, but he made far enough that he appeared lost to someone driving by. That person picked him up and took him to the nearest humane society, 30 minutes away. We did not know this, however, at the time. All we knew was that our dog was gone. We searched as much as we could on Friday before it got dark, then most of the morning on Saturday. We printed "lost dog" signs on Sunday and posted all over social media, called the police, any other animal control places and then just had to wait, hope and pray. By the end of the first night, I was fairly certain it was hopeless as he has never done that before. He's gotten off-leash before, but never that far away that he didn't get caught quickly and he always comes back right away. What a dog....
We had more or less come to accept the fact we had now lost 2 dogs and a cat within a few months. The kids were feeling rather upset and even all the cousins were upset, too, as they are all animal lovers.
But then, the miracle happened. Someone from the humane society contacted us through Facebook. It seemed they might just have him! We couldn't believe it. That was when we found out he had been basically picked up off our property, leash attached to him and all. The killer part was how much we had to pay to get him back! The impouding fee, the boarding fee, the renewing of license fee and on top of all that we had paid big bucks to get all sorts of pictures printed of our lost dog...add that to our euthanized cat from a couple weeks ago.....we are going to go broke on animal expenses. Mind-boggling how much a pet can cost. However, when we picked him up it was all worth it....at least to the kids. The dog? I don't even think he knows he was gone. He walked up to me like nothing had happened. It wasn't one of those "run to the owner with lots of hugs and kisses jump on the shoulders" events. No. He walked out and proceeded to pee on a bench. I shook my head.
You just never know what a day will hold here on the farm. So much activity! We are scrambling to get the garden tilled and have done one pass. It is going to be about 1/3 acre and it might get bigger yet. We'll see. I'm now in full blown craft-making mode for the roadside stand or even for on-line sales. We have my husband's teaching income to make up for and there isn't much we can cut out of our budget, so here we go....we have multiple family meetings, always trying to inspire everyone. The little guys just want to play...we must be so annoying! Oh well.
Still writing for the homeschool moms. Here's this week's blog/vlog that I'm about to record:
We had more or less come to accept the fact we had now lost 2 dogs and a cat within a few months. The kids were feeling rather upset and even all the cousins were upset, too, as they are all animal lovers.
But then, the miracle happened. Someone from the humane society contacted us through Facebook. It seemed they might just have him! We couldn't believe it. That was when we found out he had been basically picked up off our property, leash attached to him and all. The killer part was how much we had to pay to get him back! The impouding fee, the boarding fee, the renewing of license fee and on top of all that we had paid big bucks to get all sorts of pictures printed of our lost dog...add that to our euthanized cat from a couple weeks ago.....we are going to go broke on animal expenses. Mind-boggling how much a pet can cost. However, when we picked him up it was all worth it....at least to the kids. The dog? I don't even think he knows he was gone. He walked up to me like nothing had happened. It wasn't one of those "run to the owner with lots of hugs and kisses jump on the shoulders" events. No. He walked out and proceeded to pee on a bench. I shook my head.
You just never know what a day will hold here on the farm. So much activity! We are scrambling to get the garden tilled and have done one pass. It is going to be about 1/3 acre and it might get bigger yet. We'll see. I'm now in full blown craft-making mode for the roadside stand or even for on-line sales. We have my husband's teaching income to make up for and there isn't much we can cut out of our budget, so here we go....we have multiple family meetings, always trying to inspire everyone. The little guys just want to play...we must be so annoying! Oh well.
Still writing for the homeschool moms. Here's this week's blog/vlog that I'm about to record:
A Guide on How to Pray for Our Families - Genesis 18 and 19
This week, as I continue to slowly make my way through Genesis, I’d like to share with you a few things that have struck me. I was reading speficially in Genesis 18 and 19.
As I read through the passages on Abraham and Lot, I couldn’t help but notice how different the two men are. Though Abraham is not a perfect man, compared to Lot, he’s clearly more righteous and blessed by God. Why does God include these types of characters in the Bible? I can only assume that we are definitely supposed to gain wisdom by studying them, and not just the great qualities of Abraham, but the terrible flaws in Lot, as well, in order to learn how to avoid his foolish ways. So I set out to do a mini study on these two men and compared and contrasted them just from the looking at chapters 18 and 19. Iin the process I started to see that by studying their differences, we can start to see certain patterns emerge that can help us and guide us in the ways we can pray more specifically for our husbands, our children and even any future spouses we gain in our families down the road..
Ok, let’s start...In Genesis 18 and 19 angels come and meet both Abraham and Lot, respectively. In both cases they are greeted very politely and are offered hospitality. Things go sour very quickly, though in Lot’s case, as the men of Sodom surround his house and want to attack Lot’s guests for their own pleasure. Lot’s response is mind-boggling. He says, “I beg you, my brothers, do not act so wickedly. Behold, I have two daughters who have not known any man. Let me bring them out to you, and do to them as you please. Only do nothing to these men, for they have come under the shelter of my roof.” Lot’s response should repulse us. He was willing to sacrifice his two daughters to the world for what, keeping the world happy? Saving face? Having a reputation in the city? It makes no sense. The comparison to Abraham is striking.
In Genesis 18, God says, “For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him.” Lot was willing to sacrifice his children, specifically his daughters, to the ways of the world, whereas Abraham was chosen because he wouldn’t. Here is our first lesson for our families:
#1 - We need to pray that we will not compromise and sacrifice our children’s souls on the altar of keeping the world, or others, happy, as Lot was willing to do. Instead, like Abraham, we must be parents that will command our children to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice. We must ask God to show us ways we are putting our children at risk. I’m certain none of us would willingly sacrifice our children the way Lot does, but maybe there are ways we are subtly sacrificing our children to the world. Are we saying yes to ungodly friendships, or relationships that don’t please God or to activities that could be negative influences when we should, in fact, be saying no, but we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings or embarrass or offend others by our convictions? We need to ask God to show us where we are compromising and then stand firm like Abraham.
Secondly, it is interesting to note how Lot responds to the angels’ requests compared to Abraham. When Lot is told to to bring his family members out of Sodom, it simply says, “Lot went out….” and then later it says, “the angels urged Lot, saying, “Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.” Again, Lot’s response is so different to Abraham’s. It says, “But he lingered.” When you go back to chapter 18, all the words related to Abraham’s actions are night and day. Verse 6 says, “And Abraham went quickly…..” and then, he told Sarah, “Quick!” Then he “ran to the herd” and had the calf prepared “quickly”. Abraham’s actions are very different to Lot’s aren’t they? He runs and does everything quickly. There is no lingering. He seems to know there is no time to fool around. He is talking with God’s messengers. There is no time to waste. So what do we take away from this? We need to pray that when our husbands, our children, and ourselves hear from the Lord, we need to respond right away. We need to pray that our families will learn to be people of action without hesitating when we hear the voice of the Lord. We need to spiritually run and not linger like Lot. If you or your husband feel prompted to call someone or stop a dangerous activity or read better material or introduce better habits in our homes, don’t linger. Do it rught away. Run like Abraham and teach your children to do the same. As you show them how you hear God’s voice, His commands and promptings, they, too, will learn to obey right away. As they are young, you are the voice of God to them, so get them to learn to obey you right away, get them to literally run when you call them, to come quickly when you ask them to do something, to do any chore without lingering. As they grow up, they will learn to do the same in their walk with God.
Ok, thirdly, back to chapter 19, Lot goes to this future sons-in-law and tells them “Up! Get out of this place, for the Lord is about to destory the city. But he seemed to his sons-in-law to be jesting.” That one verse says so much about Lot. His sons-in-law clearly do not respect him. He has sadly allowed his daughters to marry men who are fools. He himself is a fool, so that makes sense, but it goes back to being willing to offer his daughters up to the world. Later, by contrast, however, when Abraham goes to look for a wife for his son, he refuses to get a wife this way. He says in chapter 24 to his servant, “Swear….that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites..” We must pray that any future spouses for our children will not come from the “Canaanites”. One obvious sign that our children have met solid people is that they show respect to us as parents. Sadly, the two men that Lot had chosen for his daughters did not respect him and therefore ended up being destroyed when Sodom was destroyed. Here we can learn the power of praying for a godly spouse for our children and how important that is and even articulating that from a young age to our children, and often. From as far back as I can remember my parents told me, “We are praying for a godly spouse for you”. I knew I had to marry a Christian. I think this is so important to articulate to our children their whole lives, even if they don’t understand it right away. Clearly the results were devastating in Lot’s life and his daughters’s lives as the two potential in-laws ended up being destroyed.
Finally, when Sodom was about to be destroyed and Lot had lingered, the angels had to seize him because he was taking so long. They commanded him one more time to escape for his life. Again, Lot didn’t fully obey, but instead begged for an easier way and made excuses for what he would rather do. When told to go to the hills, he said, “But I cannot escape to the hills, lest the disaster overtake me and I die. Behold, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one. Let me escape there - is it not a little one? - And my life will be saved!!”
This is craziness! He was bartering with God! He didn’t want to obey on God’s terms, but on his. Abraham, however, was once again, night and day. When told about the covenant that God was going to make with him, Genesis 15 says, “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.” We must pray that our children will learn to obey right away, all the way, and in a happy way (that’s a quote rom the Manners Lady from years ago from those who might remember her!), to not make excuses like Lot said, “it’s just a little one”, to not try to negotiate with God, but to instead believe Him right away and respond, by faith, believing that whatever He requires of us is for our good, to provide a way of escape for us. Again, this is something we must model as parents. We should try our best to talk with our kids about faith stories from our past where we followed through with the actions we believe God wanted us to take and then how we acted on them or even about consequences in our past when we did not obey right away. We need to be really specific. We’ve explained to our kids how we felt God was speaking to us about financial wisdom and steps we needed to take to change our behaviour, or times we felt God was literally telling us to move and how we responded to His voice. We’ve also told them of our failures. Then we need to teach our children, young ones especially, to do the same. I literally used to practice with my kids by calling their names and seeing how fast they would come and how fast they would obey without excuses. It was kind of a game at first, but I was trying to teach them the principle of immedidate obedience without excuses.
So, in the end, Lot barely made it out alive. He had to be grabbed by the angels because he was taking too long. He lost his wife, who turned back, his sons-in-law who refused to listen and watched the whole city go up in flames. Abraham ended up receiving God’s promise of a son as well as so many descendants he couldn’t count and he and his wife became known for their faith and righteousness in Hebrews 11. We must pray that we won’t go through life like Lot, barely making it by the skin of our teeth. We must pray that we will be families that “keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice…” as God promised Abraham in Genesis 18. God must have included the two men in the Bible on purpose to see the striking differences and learn from them. May we be families that don’t compromise, that obey quickly, that seek godly spouses for our children who in turn impact the generations to come and also familes that make no excuses or barter with God, but instead obey all the way. Seems easy enough, eh?! Let’s pray for our families this week keeping these principles in the forefront of your mind and trust the Lord as we try to live this out ourselves day by day. Love to you all!
Thursday, 7 May 2020
Outcry....For the Sake of Ten
As I continue to sit and reread Genesis, I always am hit by something new each time. The story of Isaac's birth being predicted is always so amazing. So many phrases that I love happen in this story...
Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years.....How many times have my husband and I felt that way....not just old, but advanced in years. Now, compared to, say, our parents, I suppose we are younger, but we don't always feel that way, especially when we take on hard physical labour like the garden or the vines. My husband will often say, "I wish I had started this when I was younger...." So when we read verses like that, I find it so encouraging that God could have given them a baby when they were younger, but He didn't. Perhaps just so that Abraham and Sarah would know that it really would be an impossible thing without God's help. And perhaps that is the same with us. What we are taking on, as usual, makes no sense, and truly, we can only do this with God's help.
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" In the past, I've read this part of the verse with the idea that Sarah was in disbelief and borderline amusement, but this time I read it with a little sarcasm and annoyance. Now I get a baby? When I'm old? Thanks a lot. It would have nice if it could have happened when I was young and more able to handle birth and a toddler....In other words, your timing is off, God. I'm embarrassed to admit that we've said the same things, too. Why didn't you give us a farm when we wanted it? Why didn't you give us the ideas we have now much earlier? Why? Why? Why? Yet, God has so clearly answered so many of our prayers, as He did for Abraham and Sarah, even when "my lord is old" and "I am worn out" and "the way of women has ceased to be" with me (love the way that is worded in Scripture!). RM literally feels old and worn out. I asked him when he thinks he started to feel older and it happened when we built the house. It was so much physical labour and I guess it took its toll. We don't regret it for a second, but there was some definite impact on his physical well-being.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Thank goodness for God's answer to their pleas because it is God's answer to me as well. Yes, RM feels old, worn out, advanced in years. Yes it is not in our timing, but in God's that we are doing all these hard things, but NOTHING is too hard for the Lord. If we had taken on all that we are doing when we were young and in a great financial place and full of strength and vigor than we would not need God. So His timing is perfect and even though it appears impossible, it really isn't. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. This verse was such a good reminder to me that we were chosen to be the parents of the children we have. I always tell the kids that if I had gone to the "kid store", they would have been the ones I would have chosen...a "size 8" boy, a "size 9" boy, a "size 11" girl.....etc...they are my favourites! Knowing I have the perfectly chosen ones for us, it is such a privilege to "command" them to "keep the way of the Lord"....Yes, it is hard, but just as God chose Abraham for Isaac, He chose us for our kids, for the same purpose of teaching them to do righteousness and justice. Great reminder.
Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. What jumped out at me here is that God responds to "outcry". Because of an outcry he goes "down to see". He goes down because of "the outcry that has come to me". The story goes on at the end of chapter 18 to the section where Abraham talks to God about Sodom and Gomorrah. "...but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near......" Then he begins a series of pleas, begging God to spare the cities for any righteous living there. Five times he appeals to God, each time saying something like, "Oh let not the Lord be angry..." as he appeals. Yet each time, God relents. Finally, it ends with this, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it." There are so many encouragements for me in these verses. The fact that God responds to our outcries and that He comes down after hearing them. The fact that He doesn't get angry at Abraham or send him away after he asks again and again for God's favour and justice. The fact that He relents, He listens, He allows Abraham to draw near and even stand before Him. And then, my favourite phrase....."for the sake of ten". That just happens to be the number of people in our family - ten. I love that so much! So yesterday morning, as I had a few of the kids around me, I explained what I had read and how RM and I had been feeling - a little overwhelmed, as usual, by all that we had taken on, a little on the "advanced in years and worn out side", excited about our garden, roadside sales/farmers market, microgreen dynasty, feeding our family for maybe up to a year with what we want to grow, always longing to be financially free, longing to use our skills for God's glory, longing to raise a family that serves God, longing for spouses that will be a blessing....the list goes on and on. How, I asked, can we keep praying for these things? Surely, we are driving God nuts! Yet, I told them, what I read in these verses is that God responds to our outcry. He comes down to hear, to see. Though Abraham seemed a little annoying with his constant requests, God never sent him away. He heard him and responded. So, even though we've prayed for all these things before, I said, "Let's pray again....." And we listed the things that are always on our list, our burdens, our concerns, our excitements, our goals, our dreams and we sat before the Lord, drew near and gave up our outcry to Him, asking Him to answer.... "for the sake of ten".
Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years.....How many times have my husband and I felt that way....not just old, but advanced in years. Now, compared to, say, our parents, I suppose we are younger, but we don't always feel that way, especially when we take on hard physical labour like the garden or the vines. My husband will often say, "I wish I had started this when I was younger...." So when we read verses like that, I find it so encouraging that God could have given them a baby when they were younger, but He didn't. Perhaps just so that Abraham and Sarah would know that it really would be an impossible thing without God's help. And perhaps that is the same with us. What we are taking on, as usual, makes no sense, and truly, we can only do this with God's help.
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, "After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?" In the past, I've read this part of the verse with the idea that Sarah was in disbelief and borderline amusement, but this time I read it with a little sarcasm and annoyance. Now I get a baby? When I'm old? Thanks a lot. It would have nice if it could have happened when I was young and more able to handle birth and a toddler....In other words, your timing is off, God. I'm embarrassed to admit that we've said the same things, too. Why didn't you give us a farm when we wanted it? Why didn't you give us the ideas we have now much earlier? Why? Why? Why? Yet, God has so clearly answered so many of our prayers, as He did for Abraham and Sarah, even when "my lord is old" and "I am worn out" and "the way of women has ceased to be" with me (love the way that is worded in Scripture!). RM literally feels old and worn out. I asked him when he thinks he started to feel older and it happened when we built the house. It was so much physical labour and I guess it took its toll. We don't regret it for a second, but there was some definite impact on his physical well-being.
Is anything too hard for the Lord? Thank goodness for God's answer to their pleas because it is God's answer to me as well. Yes, RM feels old, worn out, advanced in years. Yes it is not in our timing, but in God's that we are doing all these hard things, but NOTHING is too hard for the Lord. If we had taken on all that we are doing when we were young and in a great financial place and full of strength and vigor than we would not need God. So His timing is perfect and even though it appears impossible, it really isn't. Nothing is too hard for the Lord.
For I have chosen him, that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice so that the Lord may bring to Abraham what he has promised him. This verse was such a good reminder to me that we were chosen to be the parents of the children we have. I always tell the kids that if I had gone to the "kid store", they would have been the ones I would have chosen...a "size 8" boy, a "size 9" boy, a "size 11" girl.....etc...they are my favourites! Knowing I have the perfectly chosen ones for us, it is such a privilege to "command" them to "keep the way of the Lord"....Yes, it is hard, but just as God chose Abraham for Isaac, He chose us for our kids, for the same purpose of teaching them to do righteousness and justice. Great reminder.
Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave, I will go down to see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to me. What jumped out at me here is that God responds to "outcry". Because of an outcry he goes "down to see". He goes down because of "the outcry that has come to me". The story goes on at the end of chapter 18 to the section where Abraham talks to God about Sodom and Gomorrah. "...but Abraham still stood before the Lord. Then Abraham drew near......" Then he begins a series of pleas, begging God to spare the cities for any righteous living there. Five times he appeals to God, each time saying something like, "Oh let not the Lord be angry..." as he appeals. Yet each time, God relents. Finally, it ends with this, "For the sake of ten, I will not destroy it." There are so many encouragements for me in these verses. The fact that God responds to our outcries and that He comes down after hearing them. The fact that He doesn't get angry at Abraham or send him away after he asks again and again for God's favour and justice. The fact that He relents, He listens, He allows Abraham to draw near and even stand before Him. And then, my favourite phrase....."for the sake of ten". That just happens to be the number of people in our family - ten. I love that so much! So yesterday morning, as I had a few of the kids around me, I explained what I had read and how RM and I had been feeling - a little overwhelmed, as usual, by all that we had taken on, a little on the "advanced in years and worn out side", excited about our garden, roadside sales/farmers market, microgreen dynasty, feeding our family for maybe up to a year with what we want to grow, always longing to be financially free, longing to use our skills for God's glory, longing to raise a family that serves God, longing for spouses that will be a blessing....the list goes on and on. How, I asked, can we keep praying for these things? Surely, we are driving God nuts! Yet, I told them, what I read in these verses is that God responds to our outcry. He comes down to hear, to see. Though Abraham seemed a little annoying with his constant requests, God never sent him away. He heard him and responded. So, even though we've prayed for all these things before, I said, "Let's pray again....." And we listed the things that are always on our list, our burdens, our concerns, our excitements, our goals, our dreams and we sat before the Lord, drew near and gave up our outcry to Him, asking Him to answer.... "for the sake of ten".
Tuesday, 5 May 2020
What a Weekend!
Yesterday my son turned 21 - mind boggling. My Dad turned 80, my Mom turned 81, my youngest son turned 8 and now my oldest son turns 21.....so much life in such a short amount of time!!!! And such extremes from literally one of the youngest in the family to the oldest....
My 21 year old certainly doesn't live a normal life. Last week he was busy with whale emergencies....It's safe to say drownings, hypothermia, and whale attacks are a constant risk for him.... Then, only, a few days later he was in an emergency room getting rabies vaccines because he'd been bitten by one of our cats that appeared to have rabies. We are starting to wonder what every day will hold around here!
Normally we leave our barn cats pretty much alone. We feed them, but the males stay outside. The females are inside. This one cat appears to be in a cat gang. If he had pockets, I'm pretty sure they would be full of knives, guns and drugs. He always looked pretty scary, but was always purring and approachable to us. When we would see him with a scratch from a cat battle, he would always heal and be back to normal, but last week when we saw him, it was worse than usual and my husband, who normally would not care too much, suggested we should really take him in and see if we could help him. We did this and my son, who wants to be a doctor, was the one who bandaged, medicated and took care of him. The cat didn't love the care he was getting and wasn't particularly grateful! During one of the bandage changes, he turned his head and bit my son very badly. We were a little worried about it, but the wound healed within 3 days and there was no swelling or redness. We figured he was ok, especially because he also had vaccines for his Africa trip. However, after a few days, I noticed the cat wasn't doing well and seemed to be getting worse. I hate spending unnecessary money, but knew we had to put him down. Everyone agreed. What I didn't understand was that the symptoms he was showing, like excessive drooling and problems walking, were potentially rabies symptoms. With rabies, I pictured what you see in movies, frothing and crazy behaviour. This cat wasn't doing any of that. When we did take him to the vet, the vet did a routine check of the cat before putting him down and immediately noticed the symptoms as well and mentioned what he thought to my son. "Rabies? Really? The cat bit me last week." "Uh, that's a problem. You have to talk with public health. You might be in trouble, " the vet told my son. Great. Rabies? All you have to do is google that and all that comes up is certain death if you don't catch it before the symptoms start to show themselves. I was trying hard to not freak out. Public health called within the hour and basically said, "Run to emergency now!" We dropped everything, sent some emergency texts ourselves, asking for prayer, and off he went. He was given a bunch of shots and will go back again for more this week. We will find out 100% if it was rabies soon, but either way, he's going to be ok. He had to take them. It wasn't worth the risk.
But really. A cat? He dies by a cat? He'd been with HUGE whales just days before, but no, a cat nearly takes him out. My brother joked that he'd been in India and Africa, near all sorts of dangerous animals, but again, a barn cat. What a terrible way to go! So, now he's good. Whew! All I can say is I know for sure that he is being prepared for something because no one has as many life and death experiences as this guy. Several years ago on his 16th birthday he was stung many times by a bunch of bees when he was beekeeping. He always has a story, I'm telling you....
My other son, whose middle name happens to be "Valour", also had quite a weekend. We got 3 piglets a couple of days ago and after getting their pen ready, we were prepping to release them into their new home. This is always one of the highlights of our animal experiences and is always worth a laugh. Pigs have this way of squealing like you are poking them with a branding iron even when you aren't, thus the expression "squealing like a pig"....We called everyone down because we knew it was going to be hilarious. Sure enough, they didn't disappoint.
We made a little piggie shute and then my husband started to try to catch one at a time to put them in. But, of course they ran away each time, so he got my son to get in the trailer with the pigs to guide them to my husband. The squealing was so loud and so funny I was laughing the whole time. The drama started with the last pig. As my husband put piggie #2 in the barn, piggie #3 jumped down into the grass which was REALLY bad as he was going to try to escape and once a pig runs away, it would be very difficult to catch. My husband saw this and yelled, "Don't let him out!" My 9 year kicked it into high gear, and without thinking twice, jumped down and tried to grab the pig. To all of our amazement, the kid got him and held on tight even though the crazy mad pig was doing his best to get away, dragging my son every where he went! My son was getting quite banged around, but he held on like a professional pig wrestler and because of his amazing tenacity and stick-to-it-ive-ness, he managed to stop him from getting away, even though he got quite banged up himself. I can only think he knew deep down that if he let go it was going to be bad. We were all so amazed. RM grabbed the piglet and got him safely in the barn after which we all cheered for my brave son! One of the funniest things, I've ever seen and heard. My daughter managed to record a little of it, so I'll try to include it.
This post doesn't even include the little bunny we found outside, caught by one of our other cats, that also sadly passed away, or the little kitten we decided to keep to cheer up the kids......there is just always so much going on......it's like one of the verses in the Bible describing Jesus' life...."Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Ok, our life is hardly the life of Jesus, but sometimes I feel I would be here all day if I wrote it all down.....
My 21 year old certainly doesn't live a normal life. Last week he was busy with whale emergencies....It's safe to say drownings, hypothermia, and whale attacks are a constant risk for him.... Then, only, a few days later he was in an emergency room getting rabies vaccines because he'd been bitten by one of our cats that appeared to have rabies. We are starting to wonder what every day will hold around here!
Normally we leave our barn cats pretty much alone. We feed them, but the males stay outside. The females are inside. This one cat appears to be in a cat gang. If he had pockets, I'm pretty sure they would be full of knives, guns and drugs. He always looked pretty scary, but was always purring and approachable to us. When we would see him with a scratch from a cat battle, he would always heal and be back to normal, but last week when we saw him, it was worse than usual and my husband, who normally would not care too much, suggested we should really take him in and see if we could help him. We did this and my son, who wants to be a doctor, was the one who bandaged, medicated and took care of him. The cat didn't love the care he was getting and wasn't particularly grateful! During one of the bandage changes, he turned his head and bit my son very badly. We were a little worried about it, but the wound healed within 3 days and there was no swelling or redness. We figured he was ok, especially because he also had vaccines for his Africa trip. However, after a few days, I noticed the cat wasn't doing well and seemed to be getting worse. I hate spending unnecessary money, but knew we had to put him down. Everyone agreed. What I didn't understand was that the symptoms he was showing, like excessive drooling and problems walking, were potentially rabies symptoms. With rabies, I pictured what you see in movies, frothing and crazy behaviour. This cat wasn't doing any of that. When we did take him to the vet, the vet did a routine check of the cat before putting him down and immediately noticed the symptoms as well and mentioned what he thought to my son. "Rabies? Really? The cat bit me last week." "Uh, that's a problem. You have to talk with public health. You might be in trouble, " the vet told my son. Great. Rabies? All you have to do is google that and all that comes up is certain death if you don't catch it before the symptoms start to show themselves. I was trying hard to not freak out. Public health called within the hour and basically said, "Run to emergency now!" We dropped everything, sent some emergency texts ourselves, asking for prayer, and off he went. He was given a bunch of shots and will go back again for more this week. We will find out 100% if it was rabies soon, but either way, he's going to be ok. He had to take them. It wasn't worth the risk.
But really. A cat? He dies by a cat? He'd been with HUGE whales just days before, but no, a cat nearly takes him out. My brother joked that he'd been in India and Africa, near all sorts of dangerous animals, but again, a barn cat. What a terrible way to go! So, now he's good. Whew! All I can say is I know for sure that he is being prepared for something because no one has as many life and death experiences as this guy. Several years ago on his 16th birthday he was stung many times by a bunch of bees when he was beekeeping. He always has a story, I'm telling you....
My other son, whose middle name happens to be "Valour", also had quite a weekend. We got 3 piglets a couple of days ago and after getting their pen ready, we were prepping to release them into their new home. This is always one of the highlights of our animal experiences and is always worth a laugh. Pigs have this way of squealing like you are poking them with a branding iron even when you aren't, thus the expression "squealing like a pig"....We called everyone down because we knew it was going to be hilarious. Sure enough, they didn't disappoint.
We made a little piggie shute and then my husband started to try to catch one at a time to put them in. But, of course they ran away each time, so he got my son to get in the trailer with the pigs to guide them to my husband. The squealing was so loud and so funny I was laughing the whole time. The drama started with the last pig. As my husband put piggie #2 in the barn, piggie #3 jumped down into the grass which was REALLY bad as he was going to try to escape and once a pig runs away, it would be very difficult to catch. My husband saw this and yelled, "Don't let him out!" My 9 year kicked it into high gear, and without thinking twice, jumped down and tried to grab the pig. To all of our amazement, the kid got him and held on tight even though the crazy mad pig was doing his best to get away, dragging my son every where he went! My son was getting quite banged around, but he held on like a professional pig wrestler and because of his amazing tenacity and stick-to-it-ive-ness, he managed to stop him from getting away, even though he got quite banged up himself. I can only think he knew deep down that if he let go it was going to be bad. We were all so amazed. RM grabbed the piglet and got him safely in the barn after which we all cheered for my brave son! One of the funniest things, I've ever seen and heard. My daughter managed to record a little of it, so I'll try to include it.
This post doesn't even include the little bunny we found outside, caught by one of our other cats, that also sadly passed away, or the little kitten we decided to keep to cheer up the kids......there is just always so much going on......it's like one of the verses in the Bible describing Jesus' life...."Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written." Ok, our life is hardly the life of Jesus, but sometimes I feel I would be here all day if I wrote it all down.....
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