Movin' Like a Herd of Turtles

If I had...

2012-01-27T09:00:00.000-05:00

If I had a million dollars I would...

...buy thousands of pillow cases and make them into dresses to send here: Little Dresses for Africa

...buy this painting from Kitt Brook Studios and hang it over my stairs:

I would...

... have a dairy parlor that looked like this for Abby:

... have a garden that looked like this, where I could host fun tea parties:

with tea sets from Stash Tea like this:

and serve cheeses that looked like this:

I would...

... set up a bakery so Nathalie could create cakes that look like this:

and pastries like this:

I would...

...build a 4-H barn like this in our town for all the 4-H clubs, at which they could meet, hold events, and display their awards:

... send hundreds of goats through Heifer International all over the world

What would you do?

Goats!

2012-01-14T12:45:00.001-05:00

The sun came out + the goats were enjoying the hay= a perfect opportunity for some photos of all those pregnant bellies and the bucks!

California Lord Kelvin

Kelvin from the back

Swamp Maple Barcelona (not bred) did NOT want to be set up!

Venezuela from the rear. Due April 1: I'm thinking triplets again.

Venezuela from the side. Not too bad for a seven year old!

Cedars of Lebanon DollyMadison due March 11

Cedars of Lebanon Rodoric (our first goat with a leg!) due April 27

Cedars of Lebanon Fluorine due March 11

Abby's Tails Koca Sir is for sale!

West View Octavia is due February 25

Abby's Tails Paladium due February 18 (we suspect triplets!)

Paladium

Paladium on the left with Cedars of Lebanon Fluorine on the right

Abby's Tails Paski Sir is not bred

Paski being goofy. Raclette is next to her.

Abby's Tails Raclette due April 17

RR Peck's Venezuela due April 1

Waiting... Hmmmm, Not So Much

2012-01-14T10:07:00.001-05:00

I HATE waiting! I see something that needs to be done, I do it.

I am learning to wait... well, maybe not. More like I am learning how to tell people to do what needs to be done. I am learning to let them do it to the best of their ability, which isn't always the way I would do it, if I could do it myself.

My foot is healing. I can put more weight on it, but I did too much the other day (a trip to Lowe's with Sam to pick out paint for the basement wall he replaced) and spent the next day with my foot elevated again.

Sam and I have always joked that me with a broken leg would be basically useless, and he would have to take me out back and shoot me, like a horse with a busted leg. I am thankful he was joking and not serious, and technically, I broke my toe, not my leg!

I do have the best husband EVER! He has tried so hard to make sure I am comfortable. He brings me coffee in the morning, he makes me breakfast (corned beef hash, eggs, and toast), did the grocery shopping, replaced and painted the moldy wall in the basement, moved and expanded the dog kennel, moved the chicken emporium, cleaned out the grain shed, and has split and stacked enough firewood for two years.

Another week and I should be able to walk without too much aggravation.

A First!

2012-01-09T12:37:00.000-05:00

You would think at my age there would be no more "firsts". And yet, I achieved a first this weekend. I broke my first bone! Somehow I made it through a childhood of riding bikes, roller skating, climbing trees, and building forts in the woods, without breaking one single bone in my body.

Saturday I busted my middle toe walking down the hallway. I stubbed my foot into a stack of plastic totes. In my defense it was early in the morning, dark, and I was on my way to get my first cup of coffee. The pain when I "kicked the bucket" was intense and dropped me to the floor. Very quickly I realized the toe was at an odd angle and I re-set it. I had Hannah tape it to another toe and figured I'd be okay. Really, what can they do for a busted toe anyway? I iced it to reduce the swelling and tried my best to stay off of it.

By the afternoon I couldn't put any weight at all on it. By the next morning, it was very swollen and black and blue further up my foot. Sam called to inform me that he wasn't coming home from the firehouse, so I informed him of my foot. He advised that I get an x-ray.

My good friend Lynn drove me to the ER and we spent the next 3+ hours having a wonderful time of fellowship. I think we pretty much solved all of the world's problems. The x-ray confirmed that my toe was indeed broken; further down and a worse break than I had assumed. But, the doctors and nurses were impressed that I had set it myself and judging by the x-ray did a perfect job of it. They all looked at me funny and asked if it hurt when I did it. Um... yeah.

So now my toes are taped together, my foot is in one of those "boot" things, I am supposed to use crutches, and stay off my foot for the next two weeks. Let's just say setting my toe was easier to deal with then having me do nothing. Lynn's husband (a PA) explained that if I don't stay off my foot and the bones displace, I'll need surgery to fix it. Since I have a great dislike for surgery, I'm following doctor's orders as best I can.

Reflections On Years Gone By

2012-01-02T08:59:00.001-05:00

I have been cleaning. There is just too much "stuff" in this house! The girls have been great helpers and I am so grateful for their willingness to throw things away, give things away, and to really think about what is the purpose of "things".

This morning I couldn't sleep, so I began working on cleaning my office. I came across two boxes marked "Kid's Artwork". So I opened them and started sifting through. All these pieces of memories. Most are projects they did while in public school. Mother's Day/Father's Day letters written in first grader scrawl with backward "d's" and everything spelled phonetically. Pages proclaiming their love for a newborn sibling, for Meme and Pepe, and Mom and Dad. Not five minutes into it I had to go find a box of tissues.

In amongst the papers were progress reports and report cards. After the fourth or fifth one which mentioned that so-and-so child "works slowly," "needs to complete work on time," or "needed to focus on completing tasks", I began to feel such sadness. Each report stated that our girls were polite, courteous, and well-behaved, but they just couldn't finish their work. Yes, my kids worked slowly. They are meticulous and want to get it right. I realized that these teachers, while fully meaning well, increased my kids' anxiety about getting it right by pushing them to finish more quickly. This in turn caused them to work even more slowly. It has given me a huge encouragement that we did the right thing in homeschooling them.

The other thing I found was a poem I had written sometime during the year 2000 shortly after Rachel had been born:

Now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray my sanity to keep.

Please, O Lord, before I wake

this whole mess please do take.

Looking down from above

You know my family I do love.

But I pray, Lord, for some quiet

far, far from this noisy riot.

I need You Lord, through and through

without Your strength, I cannot do.

Without the love of the Son,

it simply, just can't be done.

And so I pray for this night

that you'll keep me in Your sight.

Please grant me this request:

that I could have a full night's rest.

That I not be woken

just because the night light's broken.

And please chase the bad dreams away

until the breaking light of day.

May the baby sleep all night

and let not the bedbugs bite.

Let me not in my sleep

be thinking of that laundry heap,

or all those other chores,

while my husband beside me snores.

Nor what's on the kitchen floor

and what's behind that bathroom door?

My nerves they are unraveled,

by muddy feet and where they have traveled.

My patience Lord, is all used up.

Please refill my empty cup.

With Your mercy and Your grace

all my frustrations please replace.

Yes, now I lay me down to sleep.

I pray my sanity to keep.

But as I look around I know,

I surely lost it long ago!

The New Year is here and the old papers and things are being put away as we look forward to all the things God has for us in 2012!

Christmas!

2011-12-25T08:06:00.000-05:00

The "Before" picture.

We came home late from Christmas Eve at my parents, so we didn't bother with starting the woodstove. In the morning the house was a chilly 50 degrees, so everyone was bundled in robes and quilts for opening presents!

A HUGE blessing from a friend was under the tree for Rachel and Samantha!

The dolls share their Christmas gift.

Samantha's favorite gift. Now she just wants the real thing!

Pippi finally worked up the courage to enter the living room. She really didn't like all the paper rustling!

Family Christmas Party 2011

2011-12-19T08:22:00.001-05:00

Being A Fireman's Wife

2011-12-18T07:55:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Sam had the day off from all of his jobs. It's a rare event. We took full advantage of it. We found places for the girls to be and drove off into the sunshine.

We stopped at Tractor Supply to pick up some grain and shared a lunch at the local Chinese food place. Then we went to the Outlet shops in Westbrook and the stores at the Evergreen Walk.

We strolled, taking our time, holding hands.

We visited the shops that interested us, taking our time browsing and looking at all the pretty decorations.

We avoided the shops with lines and crowds.

We tasted jams and jellies, vinegars and mustards, sniffed perfumes, and smelled candles.

We walked through expensive furniture shops looking at kitchen tables that only seated FOUR.

Over dinner of burgers and fries, Sam casually mentioned that he may be up for a small promotion: Permanent Driver. He could know as soon as Sunday, or they could delay it until Monday, or even as long as until after the first of the year. He told me that if he gets the position it will mean he has to change houses and shifts.

"Okay. No big dealll... Waaait... Which shift?"

He answered, "I'd be working Christmas Eve." (translation: he'd leave for the firehouse at 6AM on the 24th and MIGHT get relieved to come home at 8AM on the 25th, but in all probability someone will call in sick or be on vacation, which will mean he probably wouldn't be home until the morning of the 26th, but could be home as early as 9PM on the 25th.) His current shift gives him Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off this year. (only the third time in 16 years)

And so the plight of the fireman's wife: Our Christmas is once again in flux. I could get a call from Sam this afternoon which will change everything. Or they (the higher-ups) may decide to hold off on the decision until after the holiday, or even after the first of the year. They (the higher-ups) may even decide they'd rather score some political revenge and close a firehouse, simply moving those guys into the open positions, and not promoting anyone. It's the not-knowing that bugs me. I'm a Tell-me-so-I-can-set-up-the-plan kind of person. I would love it if they (the higher-ups) would just say WHEN they'll make the decision. This open-endedness is awful!

The promotion means a pay raise which mightily trumps any angst I may have over the Christmas holiday schedule. After nineteen Christmases as a fireman's wife, I have become good at making sure our plans always have wiggle room. Besides, Christmas isn't about a specific day, it's about a specific person: Christ. And in our family we try to celebrate and honor Him every day.

How Cool is This??

2011-12-15T12:05:00.003-05:00

I have several blogs that I read on a somewhat regular basis. One of them is Pioneer Woman. She has a section of her blog devoted to homeschool articles. Last week I commented on one of the posts with how we handle our school year. She liked my comment and quoted me in a new article! How cool is that!

My comment? Oh, I talked about how we came to the decision to take December off from schoolwork. We do so much outside of the home during December, trying to get school done was just making everyone cranky and on edge. So now in August, when the weather is hot and sticky and all anyone wants to do is sit in front of the air conditioner anyway, we start school. We end our "semester" around December 1st and start up again around January 2nd. By then the kids are bored with cooking and baking (and the dishes that come with it!) and are ready to cuddle by the woodstove with their school books. It is a schedule that works for us and has made December a time where we can focus on the "reason for the season" and doing things for others.

My 15 minutes of fame...

The Great Tape Escape

2011-12-10T06:04:00.001-05:00

Forget the Elf on the Shelf, we're playing the Great Tape Escape in our house.

Every year around Thanksgiving time I buy a 3-pack of scotch tape and it gets put on my bedside table in my room. Every morning, before the kids get up, I will wrap a gift or two and stash them in the "North Pole". I would be able to wrap more than one or two every morning, IF the tape didn't migrate!

Here we are just fifteen days from Christmas and I am already down to one roll of tape. Apparently during the day, when no one is watching, the tape grows legs and goes for a stroll. I just spent ten minutes this morning tracking it down.

The first place I looked was in the living room where the incoming Christmas cards get hung, with tape. Abby heard me complaining about "migrating tape" from her bed and proclaimed it was on her desk. She had used it for a project. I entered her room and turned on the lights, sputtering about people needing to return things when they are finished with them. The tape was not on her desk. It had undoubtedly become disgusted with the mess on her desk and moved on to parts unknown.

At this point Sam was leaving for work and tried to assist in the search. He looked in our bedroom, just in case I had missed it somehow. Remember, Sam is my husband. This means he's a guy. This means he often can't find his keys that are on top of his bureau. Or the garlic powder in the spice cupboard. Or the half and half in the refrigerator. But I appreciated his efforts anyway.

A few minutes later, I discovered the tape: on top of the "honey cupboard" in the kitchen. We still don't know (and may never know) how it got there, but I'm sticking with my growing legs theory.

Christmas Eve Brunch

2011-12-04T05:57:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again! We're planning our brunch. My friend Terry is coming on Monday for her annual visit with her Taste of Home cookbooks! I met Terry about fourteen years ago through an online chat room for home schoolers. Turns out she wasn't an axe murder and she lives just a half hour from me! For the last several years Terry has come, with her cookbooks, to visit a few weeks before the brunch. We pore over the books and magazines while sharing and catching up on our lives. The girls run down to the copier whenever we find a recipe we might like to try.

I think our brunch is one of the best parts of Christmas. Seeing friends and family all together, laughing and visiting, brings me such joy. I think, perhaps, just maybe, this is what heaven will be like: lots of food, lots of laughter, lots of love. So you're all invited!

Thanksgiving Dog Show

2011-12-02T11:12:00.001-05:00

Nathalie entered a dog show scheduled for the day after Thanksgiving. It was at an AKC event, but for 4-H members. I think Nathalie was amazed at how large the show was; it took up two of the buildings at The Big E!

While Nathalie and Pippi didn't place in their class, they did extremely well. Pippi didn't jump on the judge to kiss her, and Nathalie remembered all her courtesy turns.

Gifts

2011-11-11T05:50:00.001-05:00

Have I mentioned before how much I LOVE our library? I merely mention a book in passing to the librarian, and two weeks later they call me, tell me it has arrived, and I get to read it first!

I am reading "One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. I think it's a must-read for this season of thankfulness, which just happens to come right before the season of ungratefulness, discontent, gimme's, and Iwant's.

It is a bit tough to get into at first. Her writing style is different from others I have read. She writes with imagery; pictures painted with words. Once I moved beyond the first chapter it became easier to read. I still found myself rereading sections and paragraphs, but mainly because there was an idea or thought that I really needed to grasp (mull over, tear into, analyze fully...).

Ann Voskamp chronicles her journey of investigating the attitude of thankfulness/gratefulness in her life. She briefly touches on her history; why she thought the way she did prior to her searching. Then she dives right in. Her story involves using the best source ever for an exploration of gratitude: the Bible. Along with other resources, she develops a definition of thankfulness based on biblical terms, Jesus' examples, and God's commandments.

I have found this little book difficult to put down, and even when I've had to (people in this house were requesting meals and clean laundry. The nerve!), I've found myself mulling over ideas and thoughts that the author expressed. My mind keeps returning to biblical passages she quotes and meditating on them.

I haven't finished the book yet, but it has already changed my outlook. "Thanksgiving" has a new meaning for me.

What A Weekend!

2011-11-07T11:24:00.001-05:00

This weekend my sister Emily flew in from Kansas with her husband and two kids. Our 4-H club took a tour of a local Dairy farm where they make ice cream and they all tagged along with us. Then we had a party at my mom's for Seamus and Charlie who were both turning two.

Nor'easter In October?

2011-11-02T09:20:00.001-04:00

Good ol' New England! The weather is always a surprise!

On Saturday we were clobbered with 8 inches of very wet, heavy snow. It started snowing at 9AM and by the time afternoon chores were underway the trees were heavily burdened under the white stuff. The dog barked every time a tree would snap or pop. By 8PM he was barking almost constantly!

Several very large branches broke off trees in our yard. Sam was at the firehouse, of course! So The girls went out and moved the ones that were blocking the driveway. Abby watched one branch snap, but not quite fall. It was swaying over the truck! She ran out and moved the truck. Even now, several days later, it still hasn't fallen. Sam can't quite reach it because it is so far out from the trunk of the tree and over 40 feet up.

Several hundred thousand people are still without power in Connecticut. Thankfully our power never went out. There are several large branches that are snapped and hanging over our street though, so if they fall before the crews can get to them, we could still lose electricity.

Halloween was cold and snowy. The girls had a pirate theme for this year. Abby was a parrot, Nathalie a pirate, Hannah a Pirate news reporter, Rachel a princess held by pirates for ransom, and Samantha was a sack of grain. We went to my mom's for hot dogs and cupcakes. The girls made their annual stop at Mrs. Veit's house for bags of popcorn.

Bluff Point

2011-10-29T09:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we took a 4-H field trip to Bluff Point in Groton. Mrs. 'Ski had arranged for a biologist to meet us there.

It was blustery and chilly, but the sun was bright and the sky was clear. (as opposed to today where we are preparing for a Nor'easter!) The four mile (give or take) hike was fun but I must admit I am a bit out of shape! (Stop your snickering!)

We learned about seaweeds and marsh grasses. We learned about marsh ecosystems and how they only survive when things are in a perfect balance. Not too many deer, not too much pollution, not too much sediment, not too much water, etc.

It was a great afternoon and I am hoping we can schedule another hike in the spring!

Motivation.. Where Art Thou?

2011-10-24T07:13:00.001-04:00

It's Monday and I lack motivation.

There is lots I could be doing.

So much I should be doing.

I can blame it on the busy weekend. A weekend that was jammed full of food and fellowship with some of the loveliest people on the planet.

I can blame it on Samantha, who crawled into bed with me last night. At 2 AM. Her tossing and turning had me starting the coffeemaker at 4AM; a full hour earlier than it was programmed to start.

I can blame it on the weather. It has turned quite chilly here and sitting bundled under my blanket at the computer is quite comfy and warm. Why would I want to go hang wet laundry out in the cold?

I can blame it on my husband who took down a wall in our [w]rec[k] room and discovered a crack in the foundation, which will require some repair work. He then left for the firehouse, leaving the half-finished mess. Nothing like chaos and mess to steal your motivation.
*note: My husband is wonderful and I know he will finish the job just as quickly as he can... let's not talk about all that is permanently temporary or temporarily permanent around here, kay? Let me have my fantasies...

Thankfully, I do know how to dredge up some motivation: I'll finish this cup of coffee, put some rousing bagpipe hymns on Pandora, and just "do the next thing". I think I'll start with the wallboard mess...

....after maybe just one more cup of coffee...

New Tactic

2011-10-19T16:46:00.001-04:00

The girls have fallen behind in their schoolwork over the last month. Partly it was fair season and we had some big ones which took more time to prepare for than what I had allowed on the schedule. Partly I was busy with other things and didn't forcibly make them do their work. Mostly they are still kids and would sneak off with a book any chance they got rather than do their schoolwork.

Some were only a few days behind, others were still working on August's assignments.

So I adjusted the schedule of assignments (LOVE Homeschool Tracker for the ability to reschedule assignments with merely a few clicks of the mouse!) and we basically skipped the month of September. Now you would think after I made an entire month of school disappear, my children would be happy to dive into their schoolwork and show me their appreciation with their studiousness.

You'd think wrong.

So now "Mean Mom" is back in town. No longer do I chase, nag or remind them about their assignments. Now I simply announce how many assignments must be completed and graded before lunch. If the required number hasn't been achieved by the time lunch is served, you're working through lunch. When you have completed the items, you may eat. Only took missing one meal for them to catch on.

Always said they were bright kids.

Or just really motivated by food.

I have now expanded my repertoire of limits. "If you haven't completed X number of assignments by the time I leave for the library at 1PM, you don't go." Along with "Complete X assignments before you get to watch a movie. The movie gets started at 8PM, whether you're ready or not." I am sure I will come up with some more as the month progresses.

It seems to be working. I haven't pulled a child reading a pleasure book, out from behind the couch in days. Some are completely caught up, and the rest of them are within days of being current with their assignments.

"Mean Mom" prevails again!

Topsfield Fair

2011-10-11T08:50:00.001-04:00

Ahh... the last fair of the year! And we went out with a BANG!

We left for Topsfield on time on Friday afternoon. We finally got the "pack and go" routine down! About an hour into the trip we hit traffic. We moved less than five miles in 45 minutes. We decided to take a chance and got off the route Mapquest had given us. We hit yet another traffic jam and abandoned the major highway route altogether. We tried asking for directions at a Dunkin Donuts, but none of the teenagers there knew how to get to Topsfield (or that it even existed!).

We took a state road that headed east and hoped we would hit a major highway at some point. We did after an hour of driving. Of course there was tons of traffic there too, but at least it was moving. We eventually got to the fairgrounds. Our expected trip of two and half hours took six hours!

We off-loaded and went to bed. Despite the long journey up to the fair, the girls were glad to have time to get their animals (and themselves) ready before the 4-H portion of the goat show. Abby and Hannah were the only ones showing on Saturday and both did very well in the fitting competition. I think they both took third in their classes.

Showmanship was frustrating for them as the judge didn't know maneuvers and actually told them to do one incorrectly. The judge then asked Abby to explain what was good about her doe. Abby started her answer with the general appearance category. The judge corrected her and told she must ALWAYS start with the udder because on the scorecard it has the most points (35). Abby politely answered that General Appearance was also 35 points. He gruffly told her to not argue with the judge. He placed her sixth. She left the ring frustrated and nearly in tears. She was an awesome big sister though and rushed over to tell Hannah what had happened before she entered her class. Hannah was able to answer to the satisfaction of the judge and was placed third.

Both girls realized that this judge was very focused on the mammary system so when the Judging competition came up, they were able to accurately place the does the way the judge did and with similar reasons. Both of them placed first in their judging classes and Abby won Best Overall Judging with a perfect score. Abby said it was bittersweet as she only placed well because she answered the way the judge wanted, not the way she would have personally judged the animals.

Sunday was the ADGA part of the fair with an Open Senior and Junior show. Thankfully it was a different judge from the 4-H show. Surprisingly, our doe, Cedars of Lebanon Rodoric, won Champion Junior Oberhasli! On Monday, she was Reserve Champion Junior Oberhasli.

Hannah's alpine doe came into heat while we were at the fair. An alpine breeder from Maine offered to take her back to his farm to breed her for Hannah. Hannah was so grateful, as she was going to miss getting her bred to a local buck, since we were still at the fair.

We had a great time at the fair. We met some wonderful new people and reconnected with others that we haven't seen since Nationals. Now we will settle into breeding our does and preparing for winter!

Samantha's Birthday

2011-10-03T20:52:00.001-04:00

I can't believe my "baby" is double digits! Samantha turned ten while we were at the Big E. She thought having her birthday at the Big E was a cool way to celebrate until one of her sisters told her that she would always have her birthday at the Big E. The 4-H goat portion of the Big E is always the last weekend of September.

For her birthday, Nathalie made a special chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. She even bought special sugar decorations to put on top, since the last time we smuggled lit candles into the barn we almost got in trouble! Samantha decided that having her birthday in the barn wasn't so bad. It was pretty cool that once we started singing to her, practically the whole barn joined in and applauded! The 4-H goat kids are an awesome group of kids, and many of them stopped to wish her a happy birthday all day long.

When we got home from our long weekend, Samantha pulled out a calendar and figured out that she won't be celebrating her birthday at the Big E in 2013, since the 30th will fall on a Monday that year.

My Birthday

2011-09-26T07:15:00.000-04:00

It was my birthday last Friday. My sister wanted to take the girls for an overnight as her gift to me. So Thursday afternoon (after our guest appearance on "Better Connecticut"; what a mess!) we dropped off the four younger girls, keeping Abby with us since someone needed to do the chores and making me do them all on my birthday wasn't really a gift.

More of an anti-gift, really.

The plan was that Friday, the 10th anniversary of my 29th birthday, Sam and I would spend the day in total relaxation together. He was going to make me breakfast, we would then lounge around til mid-morning. At that point we would do a few errands together, grab a cheap lunch, and go walk the beach. When we were ready we would retrieve the children.

You know what they say about the "best laid plans"...

At 8:05 AM, as Sam was about to start creating our breakfast, work called. He was out the door within the hour, promising to return by 4:30PM. Should have been my first clue. He never knows when he'll be home.

I ran the errands, alone. I came home and ate lunch, alone. I read my new library book, uninterrupted by a single fight or kid-drama. I took a nap. I bleached the bathrooms. I washed the kitchen floor. It was rather nice. A glimpse of what could be in about ten years.

Sam came home about 4:30 and offered to get the chores done (Abby wouldn't be home until 5:30 to do them). I suggested he merely do everything but the milking and leave that to her. She can milk everyone in about a half hour if she is focused. If she is making up songs, playing with the kittens, and loving on the goats while she milks them, it can take her up to an hour and a half to milk them all.

Abby got home and Sam shooed her quickly out and told her to focus. He told me he wanted to get the girls and "see if we could snag a free meal from mom's". This should have been my second clue. But he said it so nonchalantly, I didn't take notice.

So we drove to mom's, where, as I entered the house, I was greeted with shouts of surprise from my husband, children, sister, brother and his wife, uncle, and parents! The little stinkers had been planning this thing for over a week! I was truly surprised! Sam said he figured I would have thought something was up when he wanted to go to my mom's for dinner.

It was a wonderful birthday with much laughter and spice cake (YUM!) with mocha frosting (Double YUM!).

Close Enough?

2011-09-14T17:23:00.000-04:00

How often do we try to get away with doing the least possible? You know, finding the bare minimum amount of effort that can be put forth to complete a job. My kids are great at it. Rachel's job is to wipe the kitchen counters. So she makes a few swipes over the main part, leaving the canisters and the crumbs that are in front of them, where they are. The few crumbs her sponge does manage to come in contact with are swept to the floor for whoever has that chore to deal with. If you ask her, she'll tell you she "wiped the counters". She'll even defend her position vehemently if you challenge her on it.

Samantha will sweep the stairs, neglecting the dirt in the corners and between the spindles. Only the areas around the throw rug will get swept, and never under the radiator. She too, will swear that she "swept the stairs". I think we are all like this to some degree. We all want to expend as little energy as we possibly can to achieve a result that comes close enough.

I have a saying I use when teaching people how to sew: Close enough is good enough. Now in stitching a seam, the difference between 3/8" and 1/4" is not something that needs to be labored over. A little wavering in the stitching isn't really going to effect the end result. But in the things of God, close enough just isn't good enough. A little wavering is a big thing!

Romans 3:23 says: "For all have sinned,

and come short of the glory of God."

We fall short. We just can't be good enough. Nothing we do gets us close enough to God.

So what are we to do?

In this case there is no "doing the least bit possible." It's an all or nothing deal. Either you believe or you don't. If you're lukewarm, wishy-washy, or double minded, you are lost. (Revelation 3:16)

Romans 10:10: "For with the heart man believeth unto

righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

So what are we to believe?

Romans 10:9 tells us: "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth

the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath

raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved."

Jesus' death and resurrection makes us good enough.

Jesus gets us close enough.

So where do you stand?

I know in the end, when I stand before God, He won't be looking at me with a raised eyebrow saying, "Amy, I believe you missed a spot. Depart from me" (Luke 13:27-28)

Ledyard Fair

2011-09-13T12:00:00.000-04:00

This weekend we were at the Ledyard fair. Sam and I superintend the goat show there and we add some fun stuff for the goats to do over the weekend.

Friday night we hold our Goat Obstacle Course. This year we had the added benefit of using Nathalie's dog agility equipment. We used the existing mud puddles as obstacles, added a tarp and a bowl of grain, to make it interesting.

Saturday was our goat show which included an Over the Hill Showmanship class. We had so much fun !

Ten Years

2011-09-12T12:15:00.003-04:00

So much has changed in these ten years. Ten years ago I was two weeks away from giving birth to Samantha. We were four days away from abruptly, and painfully, leave a church that had been a part of our family since before we were married.

In the past ten years we have built barns and put up fences, numerous goats have been bought, sold, and birthed here, over 30 youth have been involved in our 4-H clubs, I finished my bachelor's degree, we began homeschooling. Our marriage has gone through it's struggles and by God's grace and mercy, we have come out on the other side, better for it. The girls have grown from small, needy children, into teens ready to take on the world.

Life has gone on. But this weekend we took some time to think, pray, and reflect. Of the girls, only Abby remembers what happened ten years ago. And she says she really only remembers being afraid and sad because everyone around her was afraid and sad. We looked through Sam's Firefighter's 9/11 Memorial book and talked about what happened, but to them it's just a moment in history. Just like learning about Pearl Harbor and Normandy.

Ten years. It seems like an eternity ago, and then you see the photos, the news footage, and it doesn't seem that long ago at all.

Firewood!

2011-09-05T15:39:00.000-04:00

The clean up from Hurricane Irene continues:

The garden.

Lots of big brush piles... hot dogs and marshamllows anyone?

What used to be the corn.

What used to be the garden gate.

Just two poplar trees left standing.

Another large brush pile and piles of firewood. The hay shed is only slightly bent.

Cleaning Up

2011-09-02T07:37:00.000-04:00

We've been cleaning up after Irene. We definitely have enough small kindling to last us several winters! Lots of branches and leaves are down. The girls think we should wait to rake them up until after the autumn leaves fall!

Our power returned on Tuesday. We had a great time sharing meals with the neighbors. Tuesday night's get together turned into a "Power's Back On" party complete with fireworks! My parents' power just returned yesterday evening!

Everything in the garden, except the tomatoes, was flattened by either the wind or the tree, or both. The hay shed was slightly buckled by the tree branches that fell on it. As soon as the hay is fed out from it, we'll take the shed down and the tree that's next to it that lost it's entire top third.

Only two trees are left in the rock garden. Both are too big and leaning too much towards the house for Sam to attempt to take them down. He has a friend who is a licensed tree remover who will come and do it for us once his business slows down!

We fared very well, and I love that the girls were able learn to "roll with the punches" this week. Having witnessed some people this past week, who refused to be flexible and grumbled (loudly) about every inconvenience, I am grateful that we all managed to keep our positive attitudes. We all learned to be a little more flexible, a little more creative, and how to make the best of every situation; skills every person should have!

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-29T10:18:00.000-04:00

We are currently on generator power. We lost one huge tree in the yard. It managed to land squarely on the garden gate; the one thing in the garden that actually had some value. The plants are squished, but we did manage to salvage six tomatoes. Another tree lost its top half and will have to come down soon. The top branches landed on our green "garage-in-a-box" shed that houses some of our hay. We had thrown tarps over the hay inside it prior to the storm in anticipation of leaks, so none of the hay was damaged. The frame of the shed is bent though and may not be salvageable.

They are not giving any estimates as to when the power will come back on. We run the generator for a few hours a day to re-cool the fridge and power the computer. In a few minutes I'll be firing up the campfire and making a veal stew in the cast iron dutch oven for dinner tonight. We'll be inviting the neighbors over for roasted marshmallows this evening.

A neighboring farm with large generators has offered us water, if we need it for the animals. We had stored nearly 100 gallons before the storm, but that is quickly depleting. If the power isn't on by tomorrow, we'll be taking them up on their offer.

Prior to the storm Rachel and Samantha were all excited about the possibility of the power being out. They thought "living like in the 1800's" would be fun. Here we are not 24 hours into it, and the novelty has worn off!

A Night Out

2011-08-24T09:28:00.000-04:00

Sam and I had a date last night. It was also a "work night" in that we had a lot of "work" to discuss regarding the kids, the farm, and the future. We had agreed to spend time in prayer and thinking over things prior to last night. It's amazing the clarity that comes with really focusing on what God's plan is for us. There was so little we weren't already in agreement about!

Our date consisted of dinner out and a walk on the boardwalk at Ocean Beach. The walk was an impromptu decision as the restaurant was rather noisy and we were unable to really talk things over. The weather was perfect: cool and breezy with that awesome ocean air that I love. We took the scenic route to get to the beach and were amazed at the number of houses in the area that are either up for sale, obviously abandoned, or had large foreclosure/auction signs in front of them.

On our walk we discussed the things we had been praying over. The biggest item was our desire to take a mission trip this October. The deadline for registering is looming and we really needed to make a decision. The total cost for the three day mission trip to Appalachia was going to be around $1500. A lot of money for us. Then there was the farm to consider. Finding people to care for the animals, especially animals who would need to be milked twice per day, for 5 days, would not be easy.

Sam felt strongly that our obligation to pay back our outstanding balances (hay, veterinarian, etc.) came before putting money aside for a mission trip. And so we agreed to forgo a trip this year and look to saving for a trip for next summer. We have also agreed to sell more of our goats. Two of our milking does will be up for sale after fair season. We will not be breeding any of our doelings this fall, which will cut down on some of our costs as well as lessening some of the farm work for others to take over.

We also discussed where we see things in five years and ten years. We discussed repairs the house needs and how we need to evaluate the list in view of where we think we'll be in ten years. How much time, energy, and money do we want to invest in a home that we don't envision us owning in ten years?

We discussed the girls' futures. Will Abby be ready for college in a year? Can we even afford it? Do we have her take some courses at the community college? Can we afford that? We decided that we'll plan on having her take a writing composition course at Three Rivers in the Spring semester. We think we can afford one course. She'll apply to Lancaster Bible College this fall and if we can afford it, she'll go.

Nathalie is on track to graduate from high school a year early, and just a year behind Abby. Do we slow her down, or let her forge ahead? We really didn't decide about this one, just agreed to pray about it some more.

Hannah needs a firmer hand and has been making some poor choices lately. We agreed that both Sam and I have been lumping Hannah in with the older two girls as far as trusting her choices. We seem to have forgotten that she is just 13 years old. This freedom was something that she apparently wasn't ready for and we need to tighten up the rules for her.

Rachel and Samantha are getting older and while they are still the "younger two" or the "little ones" in our minds, we made some decisions regarding their responsibilities and expectations. I need to make sure I don't lapse into relying on the older girls to take up the slack when the younger ones fail to follow through. Sam needs to ask them to help more when he works on his "to do" list around the house.

We discussed Hannah's sugar sensitivity, and while I wanted to do away with all sugar, we have agreed to a more moderate approach and will do away with all "non-nutritional" sugars (candy, cookies, cakes). This means foods with sugar in them that hold some nutritional value, such as cereal, breads, and certain baked goods which contain fruit or veggies, will be allowed. I will look for recipes which use honey as a substitute for white sugar. Water will replace Kool-aid, sodas are out, and the coffee will be unsweetened. We agreed that when we are visiting others or events at church, etc. we will not restrict sugar, unless we see it causing an issue.

It was really a lovely evening, which we capped off with a trip to the grocery store for some dish soap. Yeah, we're hopeless romantics...

Rocks

2011-08-17T18:42:00.000-04:00

It's been one of those weeks. (And it's only Wednesday!)
You know what I mean. Nothing is horribly wrong, but nothing is very much right either.
So I began to build a stonewall. Terrific therapy, stonewall building. You place the rock, the rock stays where you put it. (well most of the time) While I was working, I began to think about rocks, and walls, and God, and faith. These are my thoughts:

Building a stonewall is sweaty work. It's dirty work. It can be painful, if you're not careful. Even if you are being careful, sometimes things happen. Smashed fingers, scraped knuckles, bruised toes. But in the end, that pile of rocks becomes something beautiful. Something solid and dependable.

Stonewall building takes effort. The rocks don't place themselves! It takes thought. Thinking about shapes and sizes, angles and wedges. Sometimes you have to step back and look at the wall from a distance to get the full picture. But then you have to get back up close to put in those small "chinkers" to finish it right.

Sometimes the pieces don't go together the right way on the first attempt. You have to go back, take down what you built and start over. Sometimes you have to bring in new rocks that you haven't tried yet.

God talks about stonewalls. In Revelation he describes the walls of the kingdom: "And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. " (Rev. 21:19- 20)

I can't even imagine the beauty. I mean, my wall looks nice, but it's nothing compared to that!

God talks about rocks. In fact, He is our Rock: "There is none holy as the Lord: for there is none beside thee: neither is there any rock like our God." (1 Samuel 2:2)

As my rock, God is my security. He is my strength. He will never leave me. These are the "rocks" of truth that I can build my faith with. Someday, I will get to see this "wall" that I am building. I am hopeful that God will be looking at it with me and He will say: "Well done, good and faithful servant".

But for now, I press on.

The Lebanon Fair

2011-08-16T20:01:00.000-04:00

We had decided this year to not bring animals to the Lebanon Fair. Without the animals, we could relax, enjoy the fair and all the events. Something we hadn't been able to do for several years.

After our breakfast on Saturday morning, I made two trips to the fair with the truck full of children. Sam had been called in to work at the firehouse so our plan of taking two cars, was out.

We first walked through the exhibit hall and saw how well the girls did with their exhibits. Nathalie's breakfast puffs took a blue ribbon, Abby's dress took third place, and Rachel's doll dress took first.

Next we wandered the fairgrounds bumping into lots of people we knew and catching up. After a bit we gathered around the center stage for the contests: pie eating, watermelon eating and nail driving. The girls all had fun eating with no hands. Abby placed third in the watermelon contest. I entered the nail driving competition and managed to win the Golden Hammer!

After the contests we found some lunch and visited some more. We left the fair around 3PM in order to get home and do chores before heading to Meme's for some pool time!

Campfire 2011

2011-08-15T11:46:00.001-04:00

The weather for this year's campfire could not have been any better! It was warm but not hot, with very low humidity. The occasional cloud drifted by. We had a nice crowd this year, around 50 guests.

Abby climbed the tree to retrieve the toy stuck in it.

Abby and Mrs. Wood

The Brodsky's

My dad and Bob Hauta

Nora and Sophia Hill

Nathalie

Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Smith

Seamus chasing the bubbles

Seamus and Samantha

The moon was too bright to even see the stars, never mind the meteors or the International Space Station. So we enjoyed the moonshine.

Campfire Cake

2011-08-12T08:21:00.000-04:00

Campfire Countdown

2011-08-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

It's almost here! The weather is looking fantastic: cooler and not humid. The skies should be clear. The moon will be big and bright which will mean we will only be able to see the biggest meteors.

But wait! There's more!

The International Space Station will also be "flying by"! The ISS is scheduled to flyover our area at 10:04 PM on Friday night. With the moon as bright as it is, if the ISS is high enough off the horizon, it should be very visible and bright.

We still have work to do before tomorrow evening: the back yard needs to be mowed and the weed-whacking too. The older girls will be cleaning the barn today. I will be doing the last minute food shopping, while the little girls (I gotta come up with another name for them, they are not so little anymore!) dig out the decorations and volleyball net.

To add to the chaos, the girls are entering some items in the Lebanon Fair exhibit hall, and the entries need to be delivered today. Then some of them are making food entries which need to be made and delivered tomorrow morning.

There was something else that needed to be added to my list. I thought of it as I fell asleep last night. Now I don't remember what it was!

See you all tomorrow night!

Counting Blessings

2011-08-08T16:16:00.000-04:00

1. the first week of our "new" school year is done.
2. everyone, so far, likes their curriculum.
3. everyone is on schedule.
4. we got some much needed rain.
5. the yard got mowed.
6. the power bill was less than I thought it would be. (Remember last month and the heat waves...?)
7. the Lebanon Fair is this weekend!
8. the Lebanon Fair is this weekend and we are NOT showing goats.
9. our Campfire party is this Friday!
10. the weather looks good for Friday!
11. no animals got sick from our week at Nationals.
12. Sam took down some more trees and no one got hurt.
13. I got free garden soil from the town dump.
14. there's a hosta sale at Fourth Generation Nursery at the end of the month

Windham County 4-H fair 2011

2011-08-02T19:20:00.000-04:00

Because we were at Nationals during New London County's 4-H Fair, we attended Windham County's 4-H fair. Abby and Hannah each needed to show a goat in order to fulfill the requirements for attending the Big E 4-H show in the fall. Nathalie participated in the dog show, but it didn't qualify her for the Big E, so she'll have to attend the Hartford County 4-H Fair in a few weeks, in order to qualify.

Hannah and Abby both took first place in showmanship for the goats, Hannah in Juniors and Abby in Seniors. Abby won the overall goat showmanship award and so participated in the Premier Showmanship competition. This competition requires each competitor to show from each of the species represented. In Windham county's case it was: Working Steer, Beef, Dairy cow, Horse, Goats, Sheep, Chickens, and Rabbits. I missed taking pictures of Abby showing the horse and the working steer because I was so intently watching her, I forgot about taking pictures! Abby was amazing with the working steer; she finished the course and was able to back them up!

Showing Beef

Showing Dairy

Showing Sheep

Showing Goats

Showing Rabbits

Showing Chickens

SHE WON!!

Nathalie showed Pippi in the Showmanship, Obedience, Agility, and Costume classes. Pippi was great and didn't run away even once! We are excited for what she and Pippi can do in a few weeks at the Hartford County 4-H Fair dog show!

Pippi on recall.

Exercise finished!

Showmanship Champion!

Obedience Grand Champion

Costume Class Winner

Our Alpine Senior at Nationals

2011-08-01T15:02:00.000-04:00

Hannah showed her only Alpine milker on Thursday morning. Due to the large number of entries they excused all but the top 23 goats in the 5 and 6 year old milker class. Venezuela was one of the ones excused. Hannah was kind of relieved since she didn't want to stand in the ring for 45 minutes, only to be placed last anyway.

Abby sleeping on Maggie

One of the babies wakes Abby with a kiss!

Rachel and Samantha take their turn at keeping our pen area neat and tidy.

Feeding time.

Venezuela would not allow any of the other goats to eat from her hay feeder.

These pesky creatures were in abundance the whole week!

Our Alpine Junior at Nationals

2011-08-01T14:43:00.000-04:00

With Hannah having the only Alpines in our herd, Wednesday and Thursday were "easy" days.

Hannah showing Swamp Maple Barcelona

Swamp Maple Barcelona placed 11th in the Senior Kid class.

Sam was making sure schoolwork got done!

Samantha's new friends help her finish her science work.

Our Senior Oberhaslis at Nationals

2011-08-01T14:10:00.001-04:00

I'm checking the books to make sure we're in the right classes on Tuesday morning.

Best three Oberhasli Seniors

Cedars of Lebanon Betty Ford placed 5th in the yearling milker class

Cedars of Lebanon Ladybird and Cedars of Lebanon Betty Ford

The girls kept track of dates for freshenings and ages on their hands.

Oberhasli Daughter and Dam class.

Cedars of Lebanon Fluorine placed 17th in the 2 year old milkers.

Tuesday morning.

Cedars of Lebanon Ladybird placed third in the class with the first place udder.

Heaven's Hollow Lucille

Rose Barry Maggie (10 years old with 8 freshenings!) placed second
with the second place udder in the 7+ milkers class.

Maggie's second place gave Abby the chance to stand in the Best Senior Oberhasli line-up!

4M Gateway Moeeka placed 9th in the 5 and 6 year old milker class.

Moeeka and Lucy

Oberhasli Dairy Herd

West view Octavia placed 13th in the 3 year old milkers.

Abby's Tails Paladium in 16th for the 2 year old milkers

Cedars of Lebanon Fluorine and Abby's Tails Paladium. Note Hannah's expression: we were using hand signals to try and get her to move Flo forward and set her up better.
She clearly didn't understand!

Samantha nearing the end of a long day of showing.

Mrs. Peck brought us some neat books to read!

Our Junior Oberhaslis at Nationals

2011-08-01T11:43:00.000-04:00

Abby and Abby's Tails Raclette

Abby's Tails Raclette placed 8th in Intermediate Kids

Cedars of Lebanon Farm's Junior Best 3 came in 6th place

Abby's Ribbons

Samantha and Cedars of Lebanon DollyMadison

Hannah and Cedars of Lebanon Rodoric

Dry Yearlings: Cedars of Lebanon Louisa Adams, Cedars of Lebanon DollyMadison, and Cedars of Lebanon Lou Henry(Hoover)

3rd place Jr Get of Sire

Cedars of Lebanon Louisa Adams in 20th place

Senior kids: Cedars of Lebanon Rodoric and Abby's Tails Paski Sir

Placed 4th and 5th in the Senior Kid class.

ADGA Nationals 2011

2011-08-01T10:50:00.000-04:00

We arrived at ADGA Nationals 2011 in West Springfield, MA on Friday afternoon, after a pit stop at the Hartford Police station to water the animals. The thermometer in the truck read 106 degrees and that wasn't counting the humidity! It was H-O-T!!!

We got through the vet check-in, settled the animals in their pens, and set up the camper for the week.

Saturday morning we volunteered to assist with the vet checks. The older girls helped read tattoos, while the younger two ran between the vet's tent and the bedding trailers with orders for the pens. Sam ended up spending the entire day at the check-in, finally getting finished at 10:30PM!

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, the girls participated in the youth contests for judging and knowledge, followed by a youth pizza party.

Sunday morning started early with the youth showmanship classes beginning at 8AM. While all the girls showed very well, only Samantha placed in the competition, with an 8th place finish. After showmanship was the fitting competition. We had two teams: Abby, Hannah, Lara R., and Max W. were the "Fantastic Four", and Rachel, Samantha, Rachael T., and Samantha R. were the "R2S2" team. They all had a lot of fun, but neither team placed in the top five.

Abby in Showmanship

Abby

The "Fantastic Four" fitting team

"R2S2" fitting team

Hannah in Showmanship

Rachael T. took 9th place in showmanship

Rachel in Showmanship

Samantha being judged in showmanship

Samantha with her 8th place ribbon

Kind Of Quiet

2011-07-19T06:15:00.000-04:00

A lot of changes have happened in the last few weeks. I was making out my list of chores for the families that will be taking care of our animals this week. I also had to re-work the chore chart for the girls now that Abby has a "real job" working the early morning shift at a local dairy farm. I realized that it has gotten kind of quiet around here.
The list of chores has grown significantly smaller and it was definitely reflected in this weeks grain bill: only $45!! Sam built a turkey run for the young turkeys and last night was their first night outside. (We'll see how many survived the night!) We're only milking eight does now, the calf has been butchered and the horse is at her new home.

It has been decided that after Nationals, Sam and I will be slimming down our herd. We have five does and a buck that are in our name. We haven't decided which does to sell, but we have agreed to offer them to our girls first. They know that if they own more than two goats, they are paying for their grain, so they are thinking long and hard about it.

Abby has one doe that is sold and goes to her new home after Nationals, so she'll be down to four does and a buck. Samantha has just one doe and Hannah has her two Alpines. With the goat herd getting smaller, the grain bill should go down even more.

The amount of chores that are here is so much less. We're thinking that maybe, just maybe, we can go on a mission trip in October. We'll have to wait and see if we can save the money needed to do it, but it is beginning to look hopeful!

Making Lists and Checking Them Twice

2011-07-15T20:51:00.000-04:00

The American Dairy Goat Association's national show is in just a few days!

There are several lists currently swirling around our home. Nathalie has her menu list and corresponding grocery list. She's found some new recipes she wants to try out: 4-H Pizza Burgers and a Cheeseburger pie.

Abby has her list for which goats have been clipped and which ones need feet trimmed. She also has her tack box list and vet bag list.

Hannah has the "What needs to get put in the camper" list. It's pretty extensive since we'll be gone for more than just a weekend. That list also includes things like animal feed, farm signs, and animal paperwork.

I finished the "Animal Care" list and emailed it out to all of the families who will be taking over the chores here. There is also the "Show clothes" check-off chart and "Show box" check-off sheet.

Then there is the list of stuff that needs to be done the day we leave, since we'll have house guests while we are away.

Another list is the list of books, etc. that the girls will need to bring to continue doing their schoolwork. The show is 7 days long, but we aren't showing for a lot of it. So, I scheduled some light days of school to keep them occupied.

There is the list of books on CD that they want me to get from the library for them. We'll also be bringing the DVD player and teeny-tiny television, so there will also be some movie nights. Which reminds me, I need to tell Nathalie to add "popcorn" to her grocery list....

North Stonington Fair

2011-07-12T07:06:00.000-04:00

The North Stonington Fair was once again, a lot of fun! We had 88 goats and 22 exhibitors! The girls all did very well in their showmanship classes. We made some changes in how we superintend and I think the show ran much more smoothly than in the past. There will be more changes for next year, and hopefully this will make the fair even better!

It isn't easy to take photos and run the show, so there aren't too many from the day.

Check-in

Abby and Paladium

Hannah and Venezuela

Abby and Paladium

Rachel and BettyFord with Dixie and Liesl

Johnson's getting ready

Samantha fitting DollyMadison

Hannah and Venezuela

Rachel and BettyFord

Samantha and DollyMadison with Sarah (the Judge)

It's A Fair Weekend!

2011-07-08T06:28:00.000-04:00

It's gearing up to be a busy weekend!
Abby comes home from camp tonight. I can't wait to hear all about it! Rachel and Samantha are eager for her to return to her chores! While we missed her around here, it was good to see Hannah and Samantha take up the slack. It was a reminder for all of us that in a year Abby will be preparing to go off to college!

The horse will go to her new home this weekend. She is going to a great place where she will live out the rest of her years in luxury.

This weekend is also the North Stonington Fair. I am still getting last minute entries for the goat show, and we are up to 90 goats! The weather looks promising for a sunny and hot day. I think we are all up for it. We will be doing last minute clipping tomorrow since Abby took ALL the clippers with her to camp this week!

Last year we tried something new at the goat show that everyone enjoyed, so we are doing it again. We called it "the community table". We provide the cups, napkins, gallons of cold lemonade, chips, veggies and dips. All the showman (and attached parents) are invite to partake. This allows for us to run the show continuously, without breaking for lunch. With the numbers of goats and the show starting at 9AM, we still won't finish up until around 4PM!

Abby's 17th Birthday Dinner

2011-07-03T18:51:00.000-04:00

Rachel took these photos the night we took Abby out for her special dinner:

Busy Times

2011-07-02T20:58:00.001-04:00

We've had a busy couple of days! Some good things, some not so good things.

1. All of the turkey eggs have hatched for a total of 14 babies. We'll see how many live long enough to weigh enough to be butchered! The last surviving turkey of the first batch, was set free in the woods. It had a bad leg and the girls opted to let it loose and let it be a link in the food chain. Rachel is holding out hope that we'll see a full grown, limping, turkey come fall.

2. We had Minnie, our 17+ year old dog put down. It wasn't an easy decision, but we knew it was for the best. The last time the vet came out, she confirmed that Minnie's heart wasn't in good shape and neither were her lungs. She was struggling in the warm weather, and we aren't even into the really hot days yet.

3. We also had one of our cats put down. This cat was given to us because it had kind of "snapped" at it's former home, when a new puppy came to live there. Well, it had what appeared to be a nervous breakdown over the last few weeks. It decided that it hated every other cat that lived here and would stalk and attack them at all hours. This cat also started to become aggressive towards the chickens. (She was up to date on all her shots so it wasn't something like that) The vet took one look at her behavior and suggested that we do what was best for all the animals. So we had her put down the same day as Minnie.

4. We have found a home for Honey. She'll be going to Sam's cousin's farm on Saturday. She'll live on 20 acres of pasture and woods with goats, and four young children to ride her.

5. Bob Scalopini has his date with destiny on July 11th. While I wish we could feed him a bit longer, with all the milking goats going to the National ADGA show at the end of the month, there will be no milk to feed him. Our next calf we won't have that issue.

6. Hannah had her back evaluated for hyperlordosis. While she is a bit "swaybacked" the orthopedist felt it wasn't significant enough to warrant any further care.

7. Sam installed electric fencing along the outside bottom of the back pasture to discourage the coyotes. We've also now given Turk, the livestock guard dog, full run of the pastures. So far, no more loss of chickens at 4AM.

8. Abby completed her first goat camp week at the New London County 4-H camp. Tomorrow she leaves to teach the same thing at the Windham County 4-H camp. Instead of paying her, they are letting her stay at the camp as a Teen Leader for the week, for free! New London 4-H caught wind of this and, not to be outdone, offered Abby a free week of camp as well! She'll be attending that camp the day we get finished with the Windham County 4-H Fair.

Summer is starting to ramp up in activity, not the least of which is the National ADGA show at the end of July!

What We Use

2011-06-27T07:51:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling. Dictionary. com defines it as:
–noun the practice of teaching one's own children at home, instead of sending them to school.
Sounds simple, right? The definition needs to add that if you choose this option for your children, you will doubt your sanity. You will question all of your choices: sports activities, co-op programs, church activities, organized youth groups, homeschool groups? The biggest thing I have questioned is our curriculum choices. And apparently so do a lot of other homeschoolers. I have been asked about what curriculum we use three times in the last month.

When we began homeschooling, Sam and I had the benefit of having attended homeschool conferences for six years prior, as vendors of wooden toys. I had been able to speak with representatives of curriculum publishers in a more focused and personal way than most conference attendees are able. I spent hours pouring over curriculum materials in our downtime at the conferences. The one I kept coming back to was Rod and Staff. It had answer keys, covered all the basics, was christian based, was mostly non-consumable (hard covered texts and few workbooks), and was affordable. It had teacher's manuals that just about dictated what needed to be said to teach the lessons. Something this nervous new homeschooler appreciated. We purchased the complete grade five curriculum for our first year.

After our first year, I gained confidence. I realized I didn't need to have all the information given to me. We began to look at other curriculum for the various subjects. Through trial and error we have settled on what we now use. Oh, I still look at other things, especially as Abby advances in levels. I evaluate how each kid is doing with each subject. We tweak things here and there, but we now have a basic set of curriculum we use.

So for those who want to know, this is what we use:

For my overall organization, I use Homeschool Tracker Plus. The basic version can be downloaded for free, the Plus version (with lots of additional features) is a one-time cost of $55. Yes, it took hours to create the lesson plans for each of the texts we use, but once it was created, with just a few clicks of the mouse, I can assign it to next kid in line! I love that it keeps track of grades, time spent, extra-curricular, etc. and can spit out a report on those things in just a few clicks. Rescheduling assignments because of "life", used to take so much time with pencil and paper, now I simply click a few buttons and all five of the girls are rescheduled at once!

Math: After trying several different math programs, we've settled on Teaching Textbooks. This program uses cd-roms which have the lessons, taught by math professionals, practice problems, and lesson exercises. For all grades below Algebra 1, the program has automatic grading of the lessons. (the automatic grading for the higher grades is currently in production)The kids know right away if they got a problem wrong. If a problem is answered incorrectly they get another chance to get it right. Then they can ask for the answer. Before giving the answer the "teachers" explain how to do that particular problem, so the kids can see where they made their mistake! (This "explaining of the correct answer" is in the higher grades without the auto-grading) This feature is a life saver for me, as I am not well versed in math!

History/Social Studies/Geography: I still use Rod and Staff for our history for the elementary grades. I really like their format, Biblical perspective, and the emphasis on maps and vocabulary skills. After completing sixth grade, we use an interest-based curriculum that I create with literature, lapbooks, and map workbooks. For example, Hannah (grade 7), has an interest in Africa, so her curriculum this year was based on Africa lapbook activities from Hands of A Child, book recommendations from our town librarians (who are awesome and deserve a pay raise!!), and maps from Uncle Josh's Maps. Beginning in ninth grade we use Exploring America by Notgrass publishers. This curriculum combines, History, English composition, Literature, and Biblical Studies into one tidy package to be used over a two year period. For eleventh grade we use Teaching Geography through Literature. For twelfth grade we will be using Exploring Government, also by Notgrass Publishers.

Science: We used to use Rod and Staff's science curriculum up until the eighth grade. Once I discovered Apologia's science program, we switched all of the kids over. This program is wonderful! The writing of the texts is done in a style that is not intimidating to the kids. The activities and experiments mostly use regular around-the-house items. It is very hands-on and the "Creation Confirmation" sections are well written. The high school levels include the option for dissections and microscope work. The experiments on the higher levels do sometimes require special items, but nothing that is hard to locate or extremely expensive. I do recommend that the CD-Rom be purchased for at least the Chemistry. On it, the formulas and experiments are explained in a visual format that has been beneficial to my girls. For the younger girls, I also purchased the notebook journals. They enjoy making the projects and it gives them the opportunity to view the material a second time. For the high school kids I use the lapbooks from Knowledge Box.

English/Composition/Literature: This subject gets complicated since some of the other subjects cover it within their programs. Up through fifth grade we use Rod and Staff's English. They still teach sentence diagramming, and though my kids HATE it, they all know how to write a proper sentence because of it. Starting in sixth grade we move to Learning Language Arts through Literature. For ninth and tenth grades we use their American Literature course and British Literature Course. At that point their English credits are also coming from the History programs we use. The girls seem to really like this curriculum as it covers all the literary genres and there is a little bit of something for each of them.

That is basically what we use. Every once in a while I'll find a workbook or lapbook that is interesting and we add that in too. I am sure we will always be tweaking as the kids get older. Not everything works for every kid. That's one of the benefits of homeschooling: each kid can use what works for their style of learning.

Disclaimer: I have not been paid by any of these companies...

A Calm Week

2011-06-23T07:51:00.000-04:00

This week has been a nice quiet one.

We started the week with the hatching of seven turkey chicks.

Tuesday, I gave a sewing lesson to a friend. It is so cool to see her gaining new skills and getting excited about completing a project!

Wednesday, we tattooed a 4-H'er's goat and helped clip the hooves of another's goat.

Today, another friend is coming over to visit and also share with us clothes that her daughter has out grown.

Tomorrow is our first "Keepers At Home" meeting. We'll be studying Contentment (YIKES!) and making our sashes. Sam and I will be taking Abby out for her birthday dinner, as well.

The girls have completed a good amount of schoolwork, since our days are not filled with so much activity. Next week looks to be just as relaxed and I am really enjoying this new slower pace for our family.

In Honor of Father's Day

2011-06-18T06:38:00.000-04:00

In honor of father's day, I am re-posting one of my favorite blog posts about my dad.

My Apology to My Dad

When I was a kid, about the age of thirteen, my parents bought a piece of property on which to build our new house. This land was woods. I mean Red oak. White oak. Maple. Woods. And not just woods. Woods on a steep hill, at the top of which was where the house would be built.

My parents decided we would clear the lot ourselves. There were, I think seven of us kids at the time, plus Mom and Dad. So lots of laborers. It was late spring, so after school every day we climbed from the school bus into the van and went over to what we, oh so affectionately called, "The Lot". On Saturdays, we would spend the whole day there; a picnic lunch and the occasional pizza dinner, "if we worked really hard."

Dad would cut the logs into firewood lengths, while mom stacked the brush and directed. We, the directees, would carry, roll, or push these pieces of firewood from the bottom of the hill to the top, where we would then stack them.

Oh, did I mention the Gypsy moth caterpillars?

No?

Well, that year they were at the peak of their population. Thousands. No, make that millions of them, with their spiny hairs, and disgusting green guts that stained our clothes and stank when squished!

I remember thinking how Dad got the easy job. Just cutting the long logs into shorter lengths with the chain saw. I mean really, the saw does all the work, right? He had no green guts on him!

So here's the apology part. Last Friday, I was the one with the chainsaw while the girls hauled the logs and stacked them. (Thankfully, no caterpillars!) Dad, your job apparently wasn't so easy. After only 90 minutes of working the saw, my arms and back were achy. Climbing into bed on Friday night, I questioned if I would even be able to roll out in the morning. And in fact, today I am bending my knees to reach my feet rather than bending my back!

So Dad, for all those mean thoughts I had about how you had the easiest job and made us do all the hard work, I am sorry. I now know it was Mom who had the easiest job...

Circle of Life

2011-06-16T07:37:00.000-04:00

I follow several blogs. Most of them have something to do with homeschooling, firefighters, or farming. There is one blog follow about a farming family (her name also happens to be Amy). In one of her recent posts she shared this about her life:
"Sometimes when asked about the farm, I say, “Nothing’s going on,” but that’s a lie: something’s always dying, about to die, got out of the fence, or in the case of our goose who wouldn’t stop messing on the driveway, got shot and fed to the pig."

I had to laugh when I read this, because it is so true. Our farm is all about the learning curve. Oh, we read up about a project with books from the library, we Google it, we talk with other farmers. But then we do it, and it's nothing like the books, Google, or the other farmers. We have some very expensive turkey, chicken, and veal for our efforts.

And while we often have something dying or about to die, we just as often have something being born. Just this past week we lost all but one of our turkey chicks. In the span of six hours they went from healthy and happy, to not-so-happy and dead. We boiled an egg yolk and mashed them up with goat milk and fed the lethargic turkeys with an eye dropper. We mixed up some antibiotic and electrolytes and fed them that as well. And for all of our efforts, one lived. There is a saying about chickens: A sick chicken, is a dead chicken. Apparently the same holds for turkeys. (And just in case you're wondering there is a similar saying for sheep: Sick Sheep Seldom Survive)

While we were trying to keep the turkeys alive, the chicks were hatching in the incubator. Four in all. Cute, fluffy, little things. At this point we don't know if they are roosters or hens. We don't even know what breed they are as we have two roosters in the coop: a White Silkie and a White Rock mixbreed. We know one of the chicks is a Leghorn cross, because it came from a white egg.

Given our track record, they are probably all roosters.

Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all

2011-06-13T05:14:00.000-04:00

I have written before of how God has used music in my life. The words of the songs can touch my heart quicker and deeper than any sermon.
Be Thou My Vision is one of those songs. It is a song I have sung as a prayer. Be my vision, Lord; Be the Lord of my heart. Don't let anything else come before You in my life.

I have sung it out in a song of praise for who God is. You are my inheritance; all that I need is in You. My High King, who has given the victory, who is ruler over everything.

Yesterday it was a song of conviction. Where is your vision? Without My presence where is your light? Whose wisdom have you been leaning on? When the world pressed in, why didn't you seek My heart?

God used this beautiful song to convict my heart. I had taken my eyes off of Him. Oh, I had felt the niggling of my conscience these past few weeks when I sometimes skipped my quiet time in the morning. There was a feeling of things not being right when I dashed off a cursory prayer with all the right words, but none of it from the heart. I'll admit I knew things were off course, but I just didn't want to deal with it. I had too many other worries and issues to deal with.

And so, yesterday, God took my face in His hands and whispered, ever so gently. Come back to me. I am Holy. Whatever happens, follow Me.

4-H "Learn By Doing" Day

2011-06-11T15:57:00.000-04:00

Today we had the first ever 4-H Goat/Chicken "Learn By Doing" Day. We had eleven kids participate and many older 4-H members were teachers.

Dr. Kneser talks about parasites.

Nathalie teaches Goat First Aid

Hannah teaches how to clip toes on a chicken

Abigail teaches chicken showmanship

Lunch time! We ate inside because of the weather

Lara teaches goat showmanship

Heather learns how to clip a goat.

Abby teaches how to trim hooves

Hannah teaches goat clipping

Even the littlest 4-H'ers took a turn!

Lara explains moving a goat in the ring

Abigail's Birthday

2011-06-09T06:51:00.000-04:00

Abigail turned seventeen yesterday. Does that make me old? I remember being seventeen, so it couldn't have been all that long ago, right?

Being the oldest has given Abby certain privileges. It also means she gets to be the guinea pig of the family. We have always told her that she is the one that we will make all the mistakes with. She's our test subject for parenting. She hasn't always enjoyed that role, but we have learned how to say "I'm sorry," when we make a mistake, to forgive, and to try again.

Abby has grown into a young woman in the last year. For her birthday gift she chose a fancy dinner out at the Latitude 41 Restaurant with just Mom and Dad, over a party with her friends. She is making a fancy dress to enter into a sewing competition. She picked out a satin-y, jewel tone blue fabric for the dress and a sparkly fabric for the shawl. Very girl-y. She also enjoys teaching the four and five year olds at church. She has a calm, relaxed way about her when she is with them and they absolutely adore her. She is considering going to college to be an elementary school teacher.

She still manages to shock us at times with some of her "tomboy" antics, but those moments are getting fewer. She hasn't gotten stuck in a tree in over a year now! She still loves tractors, especially the red ones (She's an IH/Farmall girl through and through). She hopes that someday her Grandpa Smith will let her work their farm to its full potential. She dreams of someday making it a working dairy goat farm, with educational events, and a small restaurant or bed and breakfast.

Abby is a hard worker and is very strong. She can carry 100 pounds of grain from the truck to the barn effortlessly. (and that's quite a distance!) She spent the morning of her birthday hauling hay with her dad. It was nearly 95 degrees with super high humidity. After they loaded the 135 bales of hay onto the truck and trailer and brought it home, the hay had to be moved from the trailer to the truck bed, the truck was driven to the hay shed, and then the hay was off loaded and stacked. She figured she touched each bale at least three times, and had fun doing it!

Abigail loves her goats. She has been showing and breeding goats since she was nine years old. She is enjoying competing at the bigger and more competitive shows this year. For the last four years Abby has taken the time to really improve her herd through breeding and purchasing quality animals. She has developed a very good eye for judging the quality of an animal and it shows in how well her animals perform in the ring. She has worked hard to improve her showmanship skills and has taken the top position at many of the competitions. With the ADGA Nationals coming to Springfield, Massachusetts this July, she is excited about competing at the highest level possible.

Abigail through the years has taught me forgiveness; both giving and receiving it. I've had to forgive her; she's had to forgive me. Abby's faith in God is so strong and at times I have envied her because she has always known God's salvation. In last year or so she has worked out her own relationship with God, and it has been beautiful (and painful, at times) to witness her grow in faith. Her sincere, and often fervent, desire to follow God's will has put me to shame on more than one occasion. My prayer is that she will continue to grow and follow God with her whole heart.

Happy Birthday Abigail!

First Show of 2011

2011-06-08T05:55:00.000-04:00

We went to our first goat show of 2011 on Memorial Day weekend in Altamont, New York. It was a two ring show with a Junior/Senior doe combined show and a Junior doe show. It was the first time we had ever participated in a two ring show. At first we were a little confused, but we quickly figured it out and were very thankful we only had two breeds to show!

It was an interesting event for us. Ever since we have been showing goats we have heard the phrase, "Any goat, any day, any judge". This basically means that any goat can look particularly good on any given day, and that certain judges look for certain things. Some prefer good feet and legs, while others look for strong mammary systems. At this show we learned, "Any goat, same day, same judge." It was surprising, but not unexpected, to have one of our dry does place first in one ring, move to the next ring (with a different judge) and place dead last (in a class of 14 goats). Even more surprising, and truly unexpected, was when six hours later this same dry doe placed last with basically the same goats, with the same judge that had previously placed her first!

Unfortunately, this is Samantha's doe and she was rather frustrated and upset by the end of the day. She handled it very well, and managed to keep it together until she stepped out of the ring. This doe linear appraised very high, so we were able to encourage Samantha with that and she is now looking forward to the youth events at the ADGA Nationals with excitment.

Pictures of Hatching Turkeys

2011-06-07T06:16:00.000-04:00

While our turkeys were hatching (I know! It was nearly two weeks ago!), my camera battery was dead. My wonderful (amazing, devoted, loving, awesome... you get the idea) husband found my battery charger (under a HUGE stack of paperwork, textbooks, and flashcards, next to the printer... AHEM! children?) and recharged the battery. So, I am now getting around to posting the pictures we took of the chicks coming out of their shells.

Turkey chick number three just starting.

A little more...

Almost out!

Four chicks hatched. The BBQ ad is so they know their destiny...

Chick number five. Ugly little things...

The last one.

Nearly out.

Seven chicks hatched out of a clutch of twelve eggs.
Once they dried off and fluffed out, they become a little more cute.
Now at almost two weeks old they are nearly feathered out. They are still in the basement because we have had nights in the low 40 degrees lately. As soon as we start getting truly June weather around here, they will be outside in a coop where they can fatten up for the next 6- 8 weeks. We also have an additional seventeen turkey eggs (from 2 different clutches) in the incubator (farmers keep running over hens in their hay fields and bringing us the eggs). Thanksgiving dinner is covered this year!

Reading Website that I Love!

2011-06-06T07:08:00.000-04:00

We have been using this internet reading program for about a month now. It's a little tricky to get the hang of at first and I highly recommend watching the tutorial. But the kids figured it out just fine and way quicker than I did, so it may just be that I am getting old...

http://www.reading-rewards.com/get-kids-reading.html

You set up your school (or household) including yourself, (the dog, the cat, etc. if you want). Next you create a challenge for the whole family and set an end date. I set ours up for a year but any length of time is good. I chose 1,000,000 minutes of reading, but you can set it to number of books read, or pages read, etc. You create whatever prize/reward fits your family. Our prize is dinner at subway.

You can also set up multiple mini-challenges that have weekly or monthly deadlines, for the whole family or the individual kids. My older girls must read so many minutes in a week to earn a treat (of their choice, below a certain dollar limit) from Aldis, while Rachel and Samantha must read 4 books in that same week to earn the same treat. I also created a competition for all of them where they have to read 50 books, but it doesn't matter how long it takes them. The first one to complete the 50 books gets to choose a movie from Netflix for all to watch.

They earn "miles" for every minute of reading that is logged. There are games on the website where they use the "miles" they earn. The miles allow them so many turns in games like Code breaker and Battleship. They can compete against everyone else who is signed up on the website (but the only access they have is seeing the first name of the person who won with no links to that person. So there is no chance of bad stuff. I love the safety features of this website!).

There is also a Reading Race that is just within your school (or home). For every 10 minutes of reading the kids (and the parents!) earn a token. This week the tokens are smiley faces. A few weeks ago they were Easter Eggs. The kid with the most tokens at the end of the week wins. They don't win anything concrete, other than bragging rights, which my kids seem to enjoy! I suppose you could make a reward for that too, if you wanted.

The website has some neat features like: Library look-up. The kids put in the title of the book they are reading and it uses Amazon to find the book. It then puts a picture of the book next to their name. When they finish the book they can write a book report on the website and earn extra "miles". You can look at other schools (or households) to see what they are reading and I have found some neat books for the girls that way. There are a bunch of safety features to protect privacy etc. The kids can only interact with others within their group, or with kids outside the group that I approve.

There is a "community" page which lists the top reading groups each day, as well as the top readers (just first names and the only link is a rollover link which lists the last few books read by that kid. Did I mention that I love the safety and security on this website?). The girls love to check and see if Cedars of Lebanon School has made it into the top four groups.

This website would be a great tool not only for public schools to use during the school year (or summer reading challenges), but also for homeschoolers, or even libraries. The need it fulfills for our homeschool is the tracking of which books are read. I like that I can log onto the website and just add the time spent and book titles into our Homeschool Tracker program.

I know there are even more features and neat little things on this website, but I haven't checked them all out yet.

Making MORE Decisions

2011-06-05T08:23:00.000-04:00

Monday is Auction day. We need to reduce our herd of goats (the price of grain and hay has increased dramatically in the last few months) and we haven't been able to sell through private sales. So, three goats are heading to the auction this week.

One is a buck that we have used for the last three years. Just about everything here is related to him, so it just isn't smart to keep him. Limburger is a buckling that was born here to our other really nice sire and a doe that has a great udder. Abby has decided to keep her buckling this year out of the same sire as Limburger, and since we don't need that many bucks... The last one to go is a doe that we purchased from out of state three years ago. She looked good as a kid, but just never grew into her legs and shoulders like we had hoped. She is a doe that we struggle to put weight on every year after she kids, so she is being culled.

We are in the process of debating whether or not to keep the horse. Honey consumes a LOT of grain and hay and we have always maintained that animals that live here must be giving something back. Honey is a great horse for kids as a backyard friend and for trail rides, but Hannah has decided she just doesn't have the time she needs to spend on keeping Honey in shape. Which means Honey isn't giving anything back. Ever since the discussions started, Rachel has begun to take an interest in the horse. Every morning this week she has groomed Honey, picked her feet, and lunged her. Sam and I are waiting to see if this new interest maintains itself, or if it's just a passing trend brought on by our discussions. If Rachel keeps up caring for the horse, she'll stay as she will be giving back as she teaches Rachel responsibility.

We've eliminated a few more goat shows from our itinerary for the summer. Gas prices being as they are, and several conflicting family events, have caused us to rethink how far and how many shows we really want to do. We have talked with Abby, Hannah, and Samantha (the three most involved kids) and have started them thinking about where they want to go with goat showing. They are considering what they're goals are and what the financial and time spent consequences are of those goals. I have a suspicion from the gist of our talks that after the Topsfield fair this year, there will be a sell-off of a large portion of our herd.

Making decisions can be freeing, but it is also filled with angst. We wonder if we are making the right decision. Are there consequences that are down the road, that we just can't envision from where we stand? Are we seeing the whole picture? Is this a knee-jerk reactionary choice based solely in our emotions? Are we just choosing what is simply easiest at this moment?

"Hindsight is always 20/20," is a saying we use around here. Many times the consequences of our decisions don't come to fruition until months, even years later. Sam says that if a ship is going in a direction, any direction, it is far easier to change the direction than if the ship is just standing still. (I take his word for it since he grew up near the ocean with boats, and I did not.) So now it seems, we are changing course. Our girls are growing up, they are getting new interests, new goals. Are we heading in the right direction? I don't know yet. But the journey will be an adventure, and I like adventures.

What Isn't Done

2011-06-01T07:09:00.000-04:00

This is a list of what hasn't been done, that should have been done. Some of it should have been done a few days or weeks ago. Some that should have been done months ago, and even some that should have been done years ago.

The garden hasn't been turned over. Which means the garden hasn't been planted. Not that it matters since the seeds haven't been started, or even purchased for that matter.

The barn hasn't been painted. But that is waiting for the window (that the goat busted 2 years ago) to be replaced. Oh, and the paint to be purchased.

The back fence hasn't been put up. That chore is waiting for a good weather day when Sam isn't working one of his many jobs. Basically, when the planets align. At least, the fence and posts have been purchased.

The garbage hasn't been taken to the dump. It costs us $2.00 per barrel to dump our garbage. That's IF we don't have anything big or bulky to throw away. I think there's about $20 worth out there. Again, we're waiting for a day when it isn't raining AND my husband isn't working.

We haven't done school for a few days. Memorial Day and a goat show in New York interrupted my schedule. I like to think we learned geography and socialization skills.

The laundry hasn't been finished.
Ha!
The laundry will never be finished.

Curriculum for next school year hasn't been ordered. I am still debating about which Spanish curriculum to use, and until I decide I can't complete my order.

The front deck hasn't been built. We have this phrase we use around here: "temporarily permanent", and it's counterpart: "permanently temporary". We have the front stairs with this bridge-like attachment that connects the stone walkway with the house. Sam built this about five years ago, temporarily, until he could get around to building the deck.
Yup, it's permanently temporary at this point.

The lawn hasn't been mowed. After all the rain we have had, it's nearly a foot high. I started it yesterday, but ran out of gas having only completed the section right in front of the house.

The hay baler hasn't been fixed. In that same category, the hay rake needs repairs too. Hay season is upon us, so maybe, just maybe, this will get done before my father-in-law does his first cutting.

I could go on, but really? I think this list is long enough. The goal for today is to get some school done, and maybe make a decision about Spanish.

I know... such ambition!

Hatching Turkeys

2011-05-26T10:02:00.002-04:00

Awoke this morning to the sound of peeping coming from the incubator. Three eggs have pips in them, with one of them having a hole in the shell. All the computer sites I have checked have stated that getting them to actually hatch out and live is tricky. So we'll have to see what happens. It is taking all of my restraint to not help them out!

UPDATE: 2 turkeys are hatched. We had to help one because its shell was drying out too quickly. The second one did it all on its own!

Bob Scallopini

2011-05-22T14:50:00.000-04:00

This is Bob Scallopini

Samantha named him Bob after we told her not to name him, since he is destined for the freezer. Sam added the Scallopini part.

He's four days old and will be consuming some of our leftover goat milk until mid-August.

Disappointment

2011-05-22T08:01:00.000-04:00

Disappointment is a powerful thing. But disappointment is based on perspective and our perspective is flawed most (or all!) of the time. We cannot see what is down the road for us. We have expectations for how we think things should operate. We forget that we are not the ones in control. This leads us to a path of disappointment. Disappointment makes us bitter and cynical. We become angry and frustrated instead of being content and trusting.

Two years ago Sam took the test for lieutenant and scored high enough to be ranked 18th on the list. Through several promotions off the list, Sam had moved up to 7th position. The list is only good for two years, so we knew we were coming to the end of the opportunities for promotion. We had kind of given up on a promotion happening with this list and Sam had started look toward when the fire department would be offering the test again.

At the firehouse this week Sam was called to the chief's office to interview for a promotion to lieutenant. The higher-ups had fired the chief and promoted a new one from within the department. This had caused a ripple effect of people being promoted, which opened up four lietuenant's positions. The chief's office interviewed seven firefighters for the four positions. Sam and I thought the odds were pretty good he would get promoted. We found out last night that he did not get promoted. The department had promoted strictly based on ranking of the testing. With only 30 days left of the list being valid, Sam will not be making lieutenant. There probable won't be another promotion list created before he retires in eight years.

Sam has always believed that God was in control of this promotion. He has never swayed from that belief, and he still hasn't. He isn't disappointed, as I had thought he would have been. He strongly believes that he does not want to be somewhere that God doesn't want him. Sam has the right perspective. He is content with where God has him because he is trusting that God's perspective is better than his.

Our family verse is Psalm 104:16 "The trees of the LORD are full of sap; the cedars of Lebanon, which he hath planted." We chose this verese thirteen years ago when we moved to Lebanon near the Red Cedar Lake. Our farm is named the Cedars of Lebanon Farm. This verse spoke to Sam and I because it has so much meaning. The trees belong to the Lord. He fills them with sap, which is their life sustenance. The cedars of Lebanon are huge, strong trees, which is something we desire for our children; that they would be mighty for God. And lastly, God planted them. He puts us where we are; where we can grow the best.

Psalm 104 is a psalm of praise to God for all that He has done, and when we are resting in that there is no room for disappointment.

Mornings

2011-05-16T08:53:00.000-04:00

I thought I would take my camera out this morning and give you an idea of what mornings look like around here...

My day today started at 5AM when Sam got up to head to work. I have time when I am completely uninterrupted and can pray and read my bible.

Next I get a cup of coffee and head downstairs to deal with emails and other computer stuff.

Then I rotate the wild turkey eggs that are in the incubator. We tried candling them to see if any are even viable, but we were unsuccessful. We should know in about 14 more days.

At 6AM I wake the girls up. They gather their barn things and head out while I refill my coffee cup and enter their completed schoolwork into the homeschool program (I LOVE Homeschool Tracker!) and print out their assignments for the day.

Nathalie's chore is watering all the animals after she takes her dog out.

Hauling water to the side pen since we are moving goats into it after they are milked.

Nathalie's best friend: a yard hydrant. This has taken about 150 feet off of her water haul for the back pastures. She takes good care of this piece of equipment!

The barn cats get fed. ZZCat (We didn't name her) is at the bottom and Herbie (Sam named him)is at the top. ZZ hates all the other animals here. We don't know why he stays. There are five barn cats in all: Herbie, Shadow, Fozzie, ZZCat, and Nukat. The four kittens do not have names yet.

The kittens just started eating solid food. They get fed in the barn to keep them away from ZZCat. Nukat (the momma) gets fed with them.

Rachel's job is to feed the bucks. Their grain is in the "Old Chicken Coop" which we recently renovated to make more useful.

Samantha collects the eggs from the laying hens. We recently reduced the number of hens from 65 to 14. A lot less work and a lot less grain being consumed!

Rachel collects the eggs from the few Bantams we have left. Just five left to get rid of!

Abigail arriving at the barn to milk. She hates having her picture taken. She thought we wouldn't know who was in the picture until I reminded her that she is the only one with pink muck boots!

Abby getting the grain for the goats in our new "Grain Shed". We built the shed off the front of the barn. It has it's own door and is completely separated from the rest of the barn. This way if the goats get loose they can't get into the grain. Sam recently wired it for a light which has made the early morning chores so much easier!

Because of an odd number of milking does, one doe gets milked by hand.

Honey is waiting to be fed. The farrier is coming this morning to trim her feet.

Honey gets tied to a tree to eat her grain. This way she isn't bothered by the goats and they don't get bitten by her! She's a little protective over her food since where she came from she had to battle with cows to get fed.

It was Hannah's turn to carry out the milking equipment this morning. Abby, Hannah, and Samantha take turns carrying and cleaning the equipment each day.

Samantha is getting the grain for the does to eat as they are being milked. I LOVE our new "grain shed"!

Heaven's Hollow Lucille (aka Lucy) is waiting, not so patiently or quietly, to be brought up to the barn to be milked. She was recently clipped because we have Linear Appraisal this week as well as a goat show in New York at the end of the month.

Hannah assembles the milking machine. We can milk two goats at a time with this machine. It has greatly increased the speed with which we can get our chores done!

Samantha recently learned how to use the milking machine and is enjoying being one of the "big girls" in the barn. She just paid for her very first goat and is excited to get her own herd name next spring when Cedars of Lebanon DollyMadison kids.

Last week we limed some of the pastures and so today is "moving day". All the milkers will get moved to the "side pasture" and the babies will get moved to the "upper pen".

Next week, when the sun comes out again, the milkers will get moved to the "back pasture", while the bucks get to go into the "side pasture".

While waiting for the does to finish their grain, the kittens get played with, and "phase one" of the barn gets cleaned up. In the afternoon, "phase three" gets cleaned while we wait.

After chores are finished the girls come in for breakfast and start on their inside chores before sitting down to work on their school.

Sometimes You're the Bug

2011-05-13T14:53:00.000-04:00

This week has been one of "windshield versus bug" moments, with the bug being us and the windshield winning nearly every time.

Without going into the gory details the stories involve: a missing goat, a broken down car, a broken lawn mower, a really old family dog, several frustrated teenagers, a weary mom, a tired dad, and needy in-laws.

The thing is, in the midst of all this... stuff, God gives us moments. Moments where we can catch our breath, breathe in His peace, and thus refreshed, press on.

Yesterday we took a walk at the Connecticut College Arboretum. We were there to observe and sketch wildflowers (which are oh so handily identified with both their common and scientific names) for an impromptu science field trip. We also did some letterboxing and found two boxes.

The weather for the day was absolutely glorious. We couldn't have picked a more perfect day for a wildflower walk. A slight breeze, and sunshine which was just warm enough that you had to tie your sweater around your waist.

The intricacies of creation are astounding. So many different types of flowers, leaves, trees, shrubs, and animals. We saw squirrels, bees, chipmunks, a great blue heron, and turtles. God's creation is amazing! It causes me to be in total awe of Him. He created this beautiful, intricate, creative, and awesome world, so that we would be, well, in awe of Him!

Homeschooling Update

2011-05-10T09:36:00.000-04:00

I decided that since all the public-schooled kids in the area are discussing how many days are left til summer vacation, I would update our homeschool status.

We took it easy during February and March as we were kidding goats right and left. Late nights, early mornings, and twice as many barn chores, do not make for kids (or Moms!) who want to sit down and do schoolwork.

In April we sort of eased back in to some school, but we still weren't being consistent. A couple of field trips, yard projects, and lots of trips to the town library helped ease my conscience.

So for May, we are now back into the swing of regular school work. I use Homeschool Tracker to help me stay on top of assignments. With all five girls studying from very different curriculum, this program keeps track of assignments, grades, and extra activities. It has been such a headache saver as I used to do everything on paper, and often was erasing and rescheduling when "Life" happened. Now with just a few mouse clicks I can reschedule everything!

Tracker also keeps track of how many days each of the girls has completed. I love to look at this feature when I start to question if we've accomplished anything. Which is where I was a few days ago. And so, Abby has completed 134 days, Nathalie 187 days, Hannah 106 days, Rachel 176 days, and Samantha 163 days. Not too bad, and since our school year goes until July 29th, we still have plenty of time to get to that magic number of 180 days of school.
(Just a note on my feelings about that number: I do NOT believe that I must do exactly 180 days of work. My experience with the public schools has shown me that with assemblies, field trips, classroom activities, school plays, and 1/2 days, public schooled kids do NOT get 180 days of instruction. If my kids complete just 150 days of school work, I believe, they have gotten more instruction time than the majority of public schooled kids get in their 180 days. I'll step down from my soapbox now.)

I also took a look at what everyone has completed (or will have completed by July 29th) so I could make a list of what we would need for the 2011-2012 school year.

Rachel and Samantha will finish: Grade 4 Language Arts, Zoology 1, Grade 3 and 4 Math (we did grade 3 to get them up to speed), and Grade 5 History

Hannah will finish: Grade 7 Math, History/Geography of Southern African Countries, Grade 7 Language Arts and 1/4 of Grade 8, and Anatomy and Physiology for Middle Schoolers.

Nathalie will finish: Algebra 1, 1/4 of Geometry, American Literature, 1/4 of British Literature, Grade 9 US History/Geography, Biology, Latin 1, and 1/2 of Spanish 1.

Abigail will finish: Algebra 1, 3/4 of Geometry, American Literature, World Literature, Grade 10 US History, 1/2 of World Geography, Chemistry, Latin 2, and 1/4 of British Literature.

I'm not feeling so bad now. We've accomplished a LOT! And so much more than book work: 4-H projects, field trips, community service projects, church activities, etc. etc. etc.

Now to start planning for next year...

Baseball

2011-05-04T08:37:00.000-04:00

The guys from church now have a baseball team. Last night was their first game! We had so much fun cheering them on!

Roller Coaster versus Ferris Wheel

2011-05-03T07:33:00.000-04:00

The dictionary defines "change" as, "to make the form, nature, content, future course, etc., of (something) different from what it is or from what it would be if left alone." There has been a lot of "making the future course different from what it would be if left alone" around here lately.

I have learned that even changes that are good and desirable are difficult. Habits, attitudes, and perspectives get altered when things change. And these are not always easy to accept. There is resistance when changes cause us to question our desires, objectives, and investments.

Sam and I have changed how we approach decisions. We look at our choices in the light of what we believe is our purpose as a husband and wife, and as a family. We have never done that before. It isn't easy to say "no" to things that would be fun, exciting, or self-promoting. Especially when you never have before. It is difficult to remember to stop and think before giving an answer when asked to participate.

We have, as a family, sat down and looked at all the activities we are involved in: two 4-h clubs, 4-h fair association, dog training class, Master's Club teachers at church, goats, horse, chickens, bees, maple syrup, fair superintendants for several fairs, baseball team, National Dairy Goat show, Bible quiz team... etc. etc. etc.

We looked at each activity and evaluated it for how it fit with our purpose. Does it bring us together as a family? Does it promote good attitudes or does it bring out bad behavior? Do we really enjoy it, or are we just doing it because we always have? Has God called us to it?

Some things were obvious: 4-H fair association is just something we are doing because we always have and because of changes in the leadership style, it is bringing out negative attitudes in all of us. So last month we completed our commitments and obligations and said "Good-bye". Now, the difficult parts of that change were, 1) explaining the decision to the leadership and 2) not immediately filling that time slot with another activity!

Other things were not so easy: Bible Quiz team is something that doesn't necessarily bring us together as a family, and it promotes good attitudes in some, but not in others. Abigail had a conflict in dates with this and her position on the 4-H record book committee. She decided to honor the comittment to the committee, as she had signed up for that many months ago, before Bible Quiz had even come up. Before our new perspective, we would have driven around like crazy making sure she could do both, and she wouldn't have been fully committed to either activity.

But, Nathalie and Hannah enjoy the quizzing, it encourages them to spend time in God's Word, and provides them with opportunities to be with other christian teens. So we compromise: they do the quiz team, with the understanding that they will miss some practices if family commitments conflict.

And so the changes continue. Some are easy: All but 14 chickens went to auction a few weeks ago. Some are more difficult: Which goats do we keep? How many goats do we keep? How many fairs do we go to? How many times do we visit the grandparents? Which projects around the house are most important? Are we going to do a mission trip? Do we really want to continue beekeeping?

These decisions are so wrapped in with who we are and what others expect of us, along with all of the emotional stuff attached to those things, it is difficult to separate out the necessary from the unnecessary. Change is hard, but it is good.

Things around here will be different, but I am getting used to saying, "Let me think about that," before I make a decision. I feel less like life is simply happening to me and I am merely hanging on (by my fingernails!) for the ride. I can take the time to listen for God's voice and seek His guiding hand. Life here is still a ride; just not an out-of-control roller coaster anymore. More like a Ferris wheel: still having high's and low's, up's and down's. Some days I can see forever, and other days I can only see the back of the seat in front of me. I can trust that God is at the controls and when we are at the bottom, He will eventually raise us up again.

Thinking Out Loud

2011-04-27T21:45:00.000-04:00

This is one of those blog posts that is simply my thoughts. I am working through something and well, bear with me and please don't judge me.

Let's be honest here; being a christian isn't always roses and butterflies. There are times when stuff just gets tough. Times when you get weary and just want to throw in the towel.

Just last week I was praising God for His provision. Sam's hours at his part-time job had been cut to about half. The firehouse had all but eliminated overtime opportunities. Our family budget is based on at least 12 hours of overtime per month to make ends meet. And yet, we paid all of our bills and ate pretty good meals, albeit a lot of rice. We have used the extra time Sam has had at home to get things around the house completed that have been neglected. We have had some great family times with Monopoly, puzzles, and reading books together.

But now, here I am looking at another week of reduced income and I feel weary. Another week of watching every dollar and searching out ways to cut corners. Another week of relying on God, and I can feel my spirit beginning to grumble. God is so faithful and has shown us His faithfulness in all He has blessed us with in the last four weeks, and I am murmuring!
Romans 7:15 and 19 says, "For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I... For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."

I sound like the Israelites shortly after leaving Egypt. They have just witnessed a few miracles: the Red Sea has opened up right before their very eyes. They have manna from heaven delivered to their doorstep, and yet they are murmuring that: "We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick..." (Numbers 11:5). Seriously? God has delivered them from cruelty and slavery. He has freed them from a life of hard labor. They have witnessed the miracle of food from heaven, never mind a sea that opens and allows them to walk through on dry land while their enemies are drowned. And they complain because they don't have onions?!

God forgive me for my short-sightedness. I have so enjoyed being able to snuggle with Sam on our couch or work a puzzle together with him and the girls. Why would I want to go back to Sam working 130 hours per week, seeing him only in the wee hours of the morning or evening just before he heads off to work again? Because we don't have onions?? Seriously?

Crazy Love

2011-04-26T10:58:00.000-04:00

I finished reading "Crazy Love" by Francis Chan. Definitely a book which causes you to stop and think about our relationship with God. The world should call us "crazy" because of how we behave, relate to others, and the sacrifices we make, all in the name of our love for God. But to God, this is considered "normal".

Much of the book challenged me to look at other things that I claim to love, and what I am willing (even eager) to do because of that love. It caused me to evaluate if my love for God has any of those attributes. Am I eager to get up early and spend time in prayer? Am I willing to forgive? Am I willing to sacrifice my own comfort so that others will have comfort?

Is it simply obedience? What is my motivation? Obedience is not a bad thing in itself, but my motivation should be love. God looks on my heart, not my outward actions and appearance. What good are all the things I do if I have not love? If I am lukewarm, and my works are done merely to make me look good, God will spit me out. Can you imagine? Getting to stand before the Creator and having Him look you in the eye and say, "I never knew you: depart from me..." (Matthew 7:23)

Psalm 51: 10- 12 says, "Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit." This prayer of David's speaks to my heart as I desire to have the right spirit of love. That I would return to my first love, and remember from what God has saved me from. (Revelation 3: 2-5)

It is so easy to do and say the right things and have the praise of others be our motivation. We have such a hard time with delayed gratification. I pray that I can have the vision to look beyond this moment. As my favorite hymn, Be Thou My Vision, says:

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise,

Thou mine inheritance, now and always:

Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,

High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

100 Things

2011-04-21T09:11:00.000-04:00

I finished reading The 100 Thing Challenge recently. (I am blazing through my "want to read" list!) This book was touted as the story of a man who lived for a year with only 100 things and how he reconnected with himself and his faith in the process. Uhmmm. Not exactly.

First, it was 100 personal things. And that was just the first "qualifier" for his list. He had lots of exceptions for his 100 things and reasons for why this thing or that thing didn't count. He counted his books as 1 thing: a library. All of his socks and undergarments together counted as 1 thing. His bed didn't count because he shared that with his wife. Etc. etc. etc.

Second, he claimed he was a christian and that one of his reasons for doing this was to reconnect with his spirituality. He used occasional foul language and gave some rather inappropriate anecdotes in the book. I disliked having to wade through muck to try and find the nugget of truth. He never really discussed whether or not he found his spirituality through this exercise. He did find that he could live without purchasing things and taught himself to carefully consider all the costs to spending money on something. Not really spiritual.

He basically writes about why he developed the idea, the rules he created for it, all the exceptions to the rules he created, how he decided what was important to keep, and all the publicity he received. He states over and over that this was "his personal challenge", and he uses this to justify his actions whenever someone challenges one of his rules or exceptions. He does explain some about "consumerism", the pitfalls of buying what we don't really need, and how people use shopping as a type of therapy, which is only a temporary fix.

This book was okay. It didn't really inspire me. It did cause me to realize that we already live pretty simply in our home. We just don't have the finances to go "mall-crawling" and use shopping as therapy. We are already pretty good at "making do with what we have". If you are looking to be inspired to reduce what you have, to clear out the clutter, and to free up space and time in your life, then I suggest reading Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. Definitely a more inspiring and helpful book.

I'll be donating "The 100 Thing Challenge" to the local library book sale.

Anniversary

2011-04-20T10:17:00.001-04:00

Easter Sunday, this year, also happens to be our wedding anniversary. Eighteen years ago Sam and I exchanged vows in a simple wedding. We were not well off, being that he was a firefighter for a rather small town and I worked at the local greenhouse. So we planned our wedding to be small and not the least bit frivolous. We believed (and still believe) that the promises we made were more important than what kind of flowers we had or where the reception was held.

We asked friends to contribute to their "gift" to the wedding rather than buying us a gift. One had a small business arranging silk flowers, so all of our bouquets were done in silk. One made cakes as a hobby and created a beautiful one for us. Another owned a funeral home which had a limousine. He donated it and a driver for the day for us. Another friend helped me create and sew my wedding dress, while another donated lace from her own wedding gown. Sam's brother and his wife organized, cooked, and served the dinner at the reception. A wonderful friend played piano and her two young daughters sang the most beautiful song during the ceremony.

The service was wonderful for what I can remember of it. I do remember the pastor getting mixed up and Sam almost vowed to honor and obey ME! I also remember that I had been on Prednisone for two weeks prior to the wedding and had gained a good amount of weight. Sam couldn't get the wedding ring all the way onto my finger because of it. Our album of wedding pictures disappeared several years ago during one of our moves. We still have a grainy video of the day, which the girls like to take out and laugh at every once in a while.

Eighteen years and I love Sam more today than I did then, and I didn't think that was possible on that day.

God has taken us down some interesting pathways. At times, we have strayed from His pathways, but He was always faithful. When we finally regained our senses and turned back towards Him, He led us back to where we needed to be.

I pray for another fifty years together. I pray that we will love each other even more than we do today, but I don't think that is possible...

Really?

2011-04-19T06:24:00.000-04:00

I was cleaning out "THE Drawer" yesterday. You know, the one desk drawer where everyone stashes everything. The one where they say, "I'll put it here for now," knowing full well it'll never get where it truly belongs until Mom deals with it.

While putting all these things where they actually belong (mainly the trash can!), I came across a Mother's Day project that Rachel had made during her time in the public school. There is no date on it, but judging by the handwriting, it appears to have been from when she was nine or ten years old.

It's a small booklet with questions about mom that she either filled in the blanks or circled an answer for. Questions like:
I really like it when my mom ____________. She likes it when I __________.
Rachel answered "talks about the Lord" and "behave," respectively.
Pretty cool answers, I think.

On another page Rachel listed some ways that she and I are similar:
1. Glasses (we both wear glasses. Well, she's supposed to, and I'm blind if I don't)
2. Braces (I had them as a teen, she has them now)
3. Love Daddy. (altogether now, "Awwww!")

Next she was to provide an animal that most is like her mother.
Her response: a frog.

Frog? Bug-eyed and slimy? Really?

There is a page at the end titled, "Describing Mom". The directions state that the child is to circle six words from the extensive list that describe their mother. Rachel circled only two: outgoing and tired. Really?

She skipped right over loving, kind, smart, caring and happy? Okay. I am outgoing, but tired?

Really?

Under the Overpass

2011-04-18T07:06:00.000-04:00

I recently finished reading Under the Overpass by Mike Yankoski. Very rarely do I stay up late to read a book. I just can't do my life if I am sleep deprived! Not only did I stay up late, but I also got up early to finish this one!

This is the story of two guys who wanted to determine the effectiveness of the "church" in reaching the homeless of America. They felt the best way to do that would be to become homeless themselves. They spent about six months living on the streets, in six different cities. What they discovered is both eye-opening and sobering.

This book will cause you to take hard look at what it really means to "love your neighbor". It has caused me to once again evaluate how comfortable I really am even when I think times are difficult.

I am still mulling over what this book has to say about the state of christianity in America. American christians are pretty comfortable in their faith and this book shows that most of us need to step out and get uncomfortable, even a little radical or fanatical! I highly recommend borrowing this book from the library.

Abby Smith Goes to Washington

2011-04-14T16:30:00.000-04:00

This is the article that Abby wrote and submitted to the various local newspapers. So far none of them have opted to publish it.

From April 2- 7, Abigail Smith, a homeschooled sixteen year old, attended the National 4-H Conference in Chevy Chase Maryland. This conference raises the youth voice around issues and concerns facing youth in communities, provides opportunities for youth and adults to work cooperatively around real issues, and gives delegates the opportunity to help provide ideas for future 4-H program directions. As the only delegate from Connecticut, Abigail traveled with the group of 4-H delegates from Rhode Island. Abigail was chosen through a process which included a lengthy application and an interview, where her accomplishments in leadership, public speaking and community service were evaluated.

The first activity when they arrived was a pin swap. The 300 plus delegates from all over the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico, exchanged 4H pins with each other.

Abigail attended many workshops during her five day trip, where she learned about leadership, advocacy, and public speaking. She also participated in round table discussions regarding how to keep college aged youth involved in 4H programs. Her round table group developed ideas for a program and then created a webinar to be shown to members of the USDA for possible implementation.

Abigail was also able to spend some time touring Washington D.C. She visited the Smithsonian Museum of American History, where her favorite exhibit was of dresses worn by past first ladies.

The highlight of her trip was the time she was able to spend speaking with Congressman Joe Courtney about the importance of 4H and it's programs for youth. She was able to share with him some of the opportunities that she has had because of 4H, such as speaking at public hearings and town meetings.

Getting Ready!

2011-04-12T15:42:00.000-04:00

We are getting ready for so many things around here!

We are getting ready for shipping the young bucklings and all but twelve of the chickens to the livestock auction. We are collecting crates from grocery stores for the chickens. Sam is building a crate for the back of the pick up truck for the goats.

We are getting ready for our "health check" visit from our veterinarian. We are checking goats for parasites and treating if we find them. We are cleaning the yard, the pens, and the barns. Today we hauled 230 pounds of scrap metal and 80 pounds of scrap aluminum to the recycling facility!

We are getting ready for Linear Appraisal. This is when the American Dairy Goat Association sends out an "appraiser". He will look over our goats and assign them a score for how well they meet the breed standard. This year we are hosting, so we are preparing our fences and pens for the extra goats that will be coming. We are also checking tattoos to make sure they are readable and getting all the babies tattooed.

We are also getting ready for fair season. Our first show is in New York at the end of May. We are clipping goat feet and making sure all of our paperwork is in order. We are also doing the prep work on the camper and getting it ready for travel.

It is looking like it is going to be a fun filled summer, with shows, fairs, family gatherings, and 4-H events!

Half

2011-04-06T07:01:00.000-04:00

I finished reading "The Power of Half" the other day. It was a very good book about a family that decided to sell their HUGE home and downsize to a smaller home. They contributed half of the profit from the sale to help villages in Ghana. I know that this family of four moved into a "smaller" home that is still larger than my home, which houses seven people. But, the principle is still a good one: If everyone gave half of what they had, to help those who have nothing, the world would be a better place.

We (the girls and I) were discussing this book one morning and then the conversation moved on to which animals would be going to the auction in a couple of weeks. And then it occurred to us: Our goats this year are named for cheeses from various countries, many of them poor countries. For example, Abby has a buckling named Ayib for cheese from Ethiopia. We decided that we will donate half of whatever the selling price is for that goat, to an aid organization in whatever country they were named for. It will be merely a drop in the bucket of what is needed, but it is still a drop.

The other book I have been reading is "Organized Simplicity". This book is, by far, the best organizing/simplicity movement book I have ever read. Not only is it well laid out, includes worksheets, and great ideas about organization, it also shows you the "why" of it all. While the "motivational" parts can get a little lengthy, with some of it being stuff I already knew, the author does a great job of packaging it all up. The desire to improve your home environment is rooted in facts, not emotion. And we all know that emotions simply won't carry us through the day-to-day tedium of organizing and culling to create order, and then maintaining that order.

The section on "finding your home's purpose" was just what we needed. As a family we were able to really lay out what our goals were and decide if what we were doing was moving us toward or away from those goals. It is so much easier to make decisions about things by checking if they match up with your purpose.

I borrowed this book from my library, but I plan on purchasing it soon.

Auto Traders

2011-04-02T07:39:00.000-04:00

Last week we bought my uncle's 2003 Chevy Cavalier to replace the 1997 Dodge Neon. The Neon was still running great, but the opportunity presented itself for the Cavalier and we jumped on it. We sold the Neon cheap because I didn't want a red lawn decoration.

Two days ago we traded in the van for a pick up truck. The truck is better able to tow the camper than the van, seats six, and has really low miles. We were able to keep to our decision to not take on new debt and were able to pay cash for it.

So now there are two new vehicles in our driveway and not one of them can carry all seven of us.