The Journal of Plymouth Rock Ranch

Our family had the privilege of attending the Vision Forum Baby Conference this past weekend.  It was such a tremendous blessing and encouragement to hear the truth of the Word of God boldly and clearly exposited to defend life created in the image of God.  It was difficult to face the culture of death in which we live with so few being willing to boldly stand up and speak light and truth to such a dark time in which death is revered and fought for and where life is relative to a subjective “quality.”

This conference was for just a time as this.

In a day when the president and legislature of our country have thrust a “health” care plan down the throats of the people and the states, a “health” care plan that deems some lives to be unworthy of the essentials of water, food and oxygen, a “health” care plan that has a point system to evaluate the worthiness of someone’s life to be treated for an illness or accident OR NOT, we MUST understand what the Scriptures say about life, death, and our responsibilities to uphold the sanctity of life.  Whether it is the life of the unborn, the newborn, the injured, the ill or the elderly, life is sacred as man is created in the image of God and must be protected and upheld according to God’s precepts and principles.

Every single one of us either have or will be faced with life and death decisions sometime or many times in our lives.  These life and death facets of life include infertility, fertility, organ transplant – either donor or recipient, euthanasia, special needs children, elderly parents and more.  Do you understand, from Scripture, God’s precepts and principles regarding these topics?

These are emotional topics for which we must have God’s precepts and principals in our hearts and minds before we are in the midst of an emotionally charged heartache when we may make unchangeable decisions based on emotion instead of God’s Word.  We must be truthfully armed for this battle which we will all face sometime in our lives.

The width and depth of the topics covered at the Baby Conference is so vast that anything I could post on them would just scratch the surface and not do them justice.  I highly recommend that you pick up the cd’s or mp3s from this conference.  They are already available for purchase.

The Baby Conference Audio Album from Vision Forum on Vimeo.

Yes, Ciro Rodriguez is our current Congressman, I am so sorry to say.

We went to one of his Town Hall Meetings.  A meeting that he deliberately held in too small of a venue and then filled the venue with his supporters, kept the rest out in the hallway until it was overflowing, and then told us to just go home while he held his Town Hall Meeting with his supporters.  His staff continued to personally escort his supporters past those of us in the hallway into the auditorium.  Needless to say, that didn’t go over very well.

I guess the only way that Congressman Rodriguez can “dialog in a civil manner” is to have it with his supporters, not one who might question what he is saying…………….

November is coming!  May the Lord give us real and true representation in Congress.

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James 4:15

Instead you ought to say,

“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

June 2010 was the month of  “If the Lord wills.”  We had so many changes brought upon us that our heads started spinning and we’d say to one another, “If the Lord wills, this is what we will be doing!”

• Rick would be coming home at the beginning of June.  Nix that……he would be coming home at the end of June for 30 days.  If the Lord wills…….
• Rick interviewed for a job in the San Antonio 787 program that he really prayed he would get.  Nix that………..  If the Lord wills………… We’re praying for the Lord to put Rick right where He wants him.
• I would fly out on June 15th to help Rick pack up his apartment and drive home.  Nix that……Harrison woke up at 4 am on June 15th crying with a hurting “cheek” and swollen-beyond-belief lymph nodes.  My neck in his headlock convinced me that I couldn’t get up in 45 minutes to fly to WA. After a doctor’s visit & diagnosis of a flaming ear infection and administration of the first round of antibiotics, Harrison was content to let me fly out the next day with his sisters filling is as mommy & nurse in my absence.  And mommy felt MUCH better about leaving then too ; ) If the Lord wills………….
• When leaving for said Drs. appointment, we discovered a flat tire on the Honda.  Tires had been ordered on Monday for a Thursday or Friday arrival.  Apparently, that wasn’t soon enough.  Delaney and I aired up the tire and took Roo to the doctor’s appointment.  After his appointment, we drove on a flat tire to get to the gas station, which was 3 businesses down the street.  Drove half way to San Antonio…..aired it up again…..and finally got to Costco where they put the silly looking donut spare tire on for me until the real tires arrived.  Left the Honda at a friend’s house in town as the donut tire would not like our limestone road and hitched a ride home with the other children who were in town.  Funny things was that the boys were going to drive the Honda that morning, but due to Roo’s illness and my need for a vehicle, they switched plans and made the ailing batteries in the truck work so I could drive the Honda and have a dependable vehicle…..or so they thought.  If the Lord wills………
• I arrived in WA a day late and a dollar short, but I got there!  Rick and I went and picked up our new rescued 1 yo female English Shepherd on our way home from the airport.  Ruby was going to drive home with us from WA to TX and join Copper, our new male 1 yo English Shepherd, and Darby, our sweet Plymouth Rock Ranch Hound.  She and Rick had become good friends before I arrived, even though it was apparent that she much preferred the ladies.  As the lady that we got her from said, Ruby “threw Rick off like an old shoe” when I came into the picture.  *I* was her person, not his.  *I* was the one she must guard from him and those we met on our multiple daily walks.  *I* was hers!  She was fine with Rick by himself.  She was fine with me by myself.  But when Rick and I were together, she was only content when she was in between us!  If she couldn’t be in between us, she would pace.  She became my velcro dog that didn’t leave my side.  If I got up, she got up.  If I went to another room, she followed me.  Her eyes, whether open or closed, were always on me.  She would bark and growl every time Rick would come home until I assured her that it was ok for him to come in.  Needless to say, Rick was very hurt.  If the Lord wills………
• We would pack and vacate the apartment by June 25th and get home by July 1st.  Nix that……….. at the last minute Boeing decided they needed Rick to stay on in WA for a few more months!  His apartment was already rented to someone else so instead of packing the truck, we packed and moved into their only other 1 bedroom apartment available.  If the Lord wills……..
• As stated above, Ruby was supposed to drive from WA to TX with us.  Nix that………….Now, both of us needed tickets home……sigh…………This was NOT what we had planned!  Not to mention an expense that we didn’t plan or want to incur.  If the Lord wills………….
• Rick set to work finding Ruby and I a flight on Continental to get home.  We generally fly Southwest but Continental’s pet transportation care is supposed to be the best, so Continental it was.  But, due to the last minute nature of the deal, and the 4th of July holiday weekend, there were no flights available for me on Continental.  Ruby could go, but not me.  Being as she had bonded with me so strongly, I didn’t want her to reach TX and be thrown into the multiple loving arms of those she would come to love, but had not yet met, without me to introduce her and make her comfortable in her new home.  She’d already made several moves in her short little life and didn’t need another move of uncertainty foisted upon her.  Nix that……..so we changed my travel plans to fly home after the July 4th weekend, which meant that we changed the week of vacation that Rick was planning since he wasn’t coming home for the month of July, to the following week.  That was settled………or was it?  Remember If the Lord wills?????? We received an email from Boeing Travel saying that a seat had opened up on June 30th on the best Continental flight for Ruby.  Nix the 5th of July travel, now we were back to traveling the week we had first thought I would travel home!  I secured Ruby’s ticket.  Rick and Boeing travel secured mine.  We got Ruby’s health certificate.  We were set!  Then on Tuesday morning, Ruby came into heat.  Would that effect our travels the next day?  Would they take a dog in heat?  Thankfully, she was the only animal on both of our flights and we arrived home on June 30th and were welcomed to days of thunder storms since.  If the Lord wills………..
• One of the reasons I really wanted to get home before the July 4th weekend was because Delaney was celebrating her 14th birthday that week.  I sadly told her that I just couldn’t get home for her birthday.  There were no flights.  I prepared Roo that I wouldn’t be home that week, as he kept wanting me to get home (and bring Ruby with me ; )  Then I called and told them I DID have a flight home and we could all celebrate Delaney’s birthday together (minus dad, of course).  The first phone call after my landing was one that informed me that Delaney was sick.  She remained sick through her birthday, so our birthday celebration was rather subdued and quiet.  But I was home!  If the Lord wills…………..

The month of June with all of its If the Lord wills………. is over.  But the If the Lord wills……… will forever be a part of life.

Proverbs 16:9

A man’s heart plans his way,
But the LORD directs his steps.

We (and others)  made lots of plans in June, but the Lord saw fit to direct our steps in many different directions than we had originally thought.  At times I felt like a yo-yo!  I am so thankful for the doctrine and truth of the sovereignty of God, that I can take comfort in it and rest in it when God leads our steps in a different direction than I had thought or planned.  Yes, my human flesh wants to fight against it at times.  I can get anxious.  But God tells me not to do that.

Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing,

but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving,

let your requests be made known to God;

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

When I accept God’s direction for  my steps and pray about and yield my plans to His, God gives me His peace and comfort that guards my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  What a comfort it is to place and rest our plans in the hands of our Creator God! Praise the Lord for His many undeserved kindnesses to us.

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The Light Switch Came On from NCFIC on Vimeo.

Several weeks ago, our family was given a little book by a wonderful friend. It is a very fitting book for our family as we battle daily struggles, set backs and little victories of progress here on PRR. Though we make a little progress each day and week, it is sometimes discouraging when you do not see big changes all at once.

It Can Be Done is a wonderful little book full of poems on strength, determination, dedication, perseverance, and fortitude.  I want to give you a little peek into the encouraging words in this book from small snippets of two of my favorites.  If you want to buy a copy, you can find them here.  I hope it may bless you in the daily struggles of life as it has me.

Can’t

Can’t is the worst word that’s written or spoken;

Doing more harm here than slander and lies;

On it is many a strong spirit broken,

And with it many a good purpose dies.

It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning

And robs us of courage we need through the day:

It rings in our ears like a timely-sent warning

And laughs when we falter and falls by the way…..

Can’t is the word that is foe to ambition,

An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;

It’s prey is forever the man with a lesson.

And bows but to courage and patience and skill.

Hate it, with hatred that’s deep and undying,

For once it is welcomed ’twill break any man;

Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying

And answer this demon by saying: “I can.”

That “cannot be done,” and you’ll do it.

It Couldn’t Be Done

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,

But he with a chuckle replied

That “maybe it couldn’t” but he would be one

Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.

So he buckled right it with the trace of a grin

On his face.  If he worried he hid it.

He started to sing as he tackled the thing

That couldn’t be done, and he did it…..

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,

There are thousands to prophesy failure;

There are thousands to point out to you one by one

The dangers that wait to assail you.

But Just buckle in with a bit of a grin,

Just take of your coat and go to it;

Just start to sing as you tackle the thing

That “couldn’t be done,” and you’ll do it.

Both of these poems are by Edger A. Guest.  Neither of them are in their entirety.  If you would like to read them in their entirety, please visit the NCFIC website to buy a copy.  There are many more great poems of encouragement in this little book.

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Battle Swords in Action from Douglas Phillips on Vimeo.

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Jennie Chancey of LAF, has written an intriguing book review, and is now giving away a copy of the book.  I’ll let you head over to LAF to find out what the title is, just for suspense.  I think it will be worth your while.  Here is a small teaser from the book found in Mrs. Chancey’s review.

‘I was sitting in class learning about all the ways our country was slipping from its constitutional foundations. And in a moment of exasperation, I raised my hand and called out, “So what’s the solution?” … I knew how hard it was to change the culture and was losing my will to believe there really was a solution. But I was hoping that maybe this passionate, articulate, creative professor had some new ideas to teach us…. Dr. Hubert Morken didn’t disappoint. He looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and let his grenade fly: …..’

You’ll have to go to LAF to find out the answer to the question stated above and read the rest of the review.

Larissa recently helped with a video for the Elsie Dinsmore 12 book set that Vision Forum carries.  We had a fun morning discussing the books, what the girls enjoyed about them and the lessons they learned from them as they read these books.

They practiced what they wanted to communicate to other young ladies about the set of books.  Then the video/photo shoot began.  This was the result:

What Girls Are Saying about Elsie Dinsmore from Vision Forum on Vimeo.

Fantastic job, girls!  And great job, Martha Finley in communicating Biblical family values to young girls in a meaningful way.

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Home for a long weekend, we were able to celebrate Rick’s birthday as a family…….ALL TOGETHER!  The first family birthday in 9 months in which we’ve all been together.

Rick is a pie kind of guy so we made several pies while he was home, almost hitting all of his favorite pies.  Fresh picked peach-raspberry crisp, lemon meringue, apple w/nuts, apple w/o nuts, strawberry-rhubarb, strawberry lemonade pie, and the best new pie was german chocolate pie.  We made that one twice.  I’ll have to post that recipe separately for y’all.  It really was quite divine ; )  We never did get to the coconut cream pie.  That one will have to be his welcome home pie in July.

Then, at another gathering with several families in attendance, we surprised him with his one favorite cake, a quadruple layered Italian Cream Cake.  This was the result of that surprise:

Mr. Seargeant Blows Out 52 Candles in One Breath!! from Ross Smithe on Vimeo.

And then we had a handful of families out to Plymouth Rock Ranch on Memorial Day to celebrate again.

We did manage to fit a few small projects into all of the celebrating while Rick was home.  We are thankful to have a few less extension cords crisscrossing our floor with a little more hard wiring in place.  Yippee!!  Sure makes for easier sweeping ; )

We had fun planning how to make Rick’s long birthday weekend home special.  And we appreciate all those who helped us to make it special with both the surprise and non-surprise parties.

Happy 52nd Birthday, dh and daddy!

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Skylar’s on a good find streak right now.  We’re praying that it continues ; )

Our family’s computer collection consists of a 7 year old Dell desktop computer.  Its been faithful.  But its old.  I call it our Dinosaur.  Its full, its slow, its cranky.  The MS Word program has glitched and won’t print any of my Word Documents anymore………..That includes all of my school files and logs………….grrrrrr!

This faithful old Dinosaur has seen more than its fair share of work.  There are 11 of us, many of whom are computer users.  There’s a huge deficit of computer time here.  Sharing a computer with so many can create problems.  We’ve been wanting, needing and looking for a laptop for a long time.  But the right deal just hadn’t come around yet.  Until last week.

Last week Skylar found a powerful 17″ laptop pc online that was a custom built gaming computer.  He wants a computer where he can learn Photoshop and video work on.  That requires power and a great graphics card.  I know he would have loved to have found a Mac for this purpose, and maybe he still will.  But, this one will also fill the bill.

The laptop was only a year old.  It was owned by a computer system’s administrator who had quit gaming.  It was custom built with all the right things.  It already had its first scratches on it that weren’t put there by one of us ; )  This is one reason we love used things around here.  There’s nothing worse than being the one to put that first scratch in something new.  Scratch-n-Dents are a beautiful thing to us ; )

As the Lord providentially ordained, I was going to be in a part of town I don’t often get to.  The part of town where this laptop was available for looking at and buying if we chose.  And the seller was available exactly when I would be there.  It seemed providential ; )

So, after Callan’s orthodontic appointment, we headed to the Target parking lot to meet the seller.   I’m not sure why God had ME be the one to go look at this computer.  I had NO idea what I was looking at or for.  NO idea what questions to ask.  NO idea how to spot a problem or a good thing.  But, Callan and I were the appointed ones, so we went.

The seller looked reputable.  He was kind and helpful, showing us around his computer and explaining things to us.  It came with a special mouse, cordless mouse and charger/plug.  The computer looked good to us.  It started up.  The programs that were on it ran.  So, we paid him the money, less than 25 cents on the dollar new, thanked him and headed out with our very first laptop computer.

Isn’t She Pretty?

I took the computer to a computer savvy friend to take a look at it for us.  He said, “You got a screamin’ deal!”  That was good news ; )  He checked it out to make sure the previous owner had cleaned all of his stuff off the computer, which he had, and now knows our computer so he can help us when/if we need computer geek help.

I can already say that its been nice having another computer.  There’s still a line for computers in our home, especially at night when we’re all here with precious little time to get our computer work done.  But we’re getting closer.  I’d love to be able to have everyone have their own computer someday for school purposes, but we’ll wait upon the Lord for that.

The Lord Blesses Those Who Wait on Him

Thank You, Jehovah Jireh, The God Who Provides, for providing a computer that can be used for photography and video.

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A few weeks ago Skylar was working at a house in a rather nice subdivision. He noticed an older, out-of-place, obviously hadn’t-been-driven-in-a-long-time 1991 Honda Civic sitting in the driveway. We’ve been keeping our eye out for an older good mpg vehicle for the boys to drive. Driving the F-350 or E-350 into town is decimating our budget. We r.e.a.l.l.y. needed a good mpg vehicle.

He decided to ask the homeowners if they might be interested in selling their obviously not driven Honda. Turns out the car belonged to their daughter-in-law who works in Mexico and she might be interested in selling it. It had run well but then started having some problems so they quit driving it.

The boys spent several evenings over at this family’s house getting to know and troubleshooting why the Honda wouldn’t start. They came home and researched on the internet, looked at Honda Forums, read up, talked to a father at Church who has several older Hondas and Toyotas, and finally figured out that it just needed a new relay.

We ended up buying the Honda for $500. That was the easy part. Getting it registered was the hard part. The car’s registration and safety were out of date as it hadn’t been driven in a year. I went to the nearest County Courthouse to try to register the vehicle. Nope……They wouldn’t do it without the previous owner’s signature on their bill of sale, not on our bill of sale.   The owner had signed the Title when she was in town, but that wasn’t good enough. So, I had to buy a trip permit to legally move the Honda since they wouldn’t register it.

But, then, to get the trip permit, they needed proof of insurance on THAT vehicle. They wouldn’t take proof that we had insurance on all of our other vehicles. Nope, that would be too easy. I called our insurance agent. They were swamped. I had to sit and wait for them to have the time to fax over a proof of insurance to the County. I finally got the trip permit and headed back to the car to drive it home.

I prayed the Honda would get me home as it hadn’t really been test driven. I was thankful that Ashley was following me. We made it home uneventfully, for which I was also thankful.

The next day I went to our County Courthouse to see if they would register the Honda. I had been told the day before that some Counties operated differently so maybe our County would register the vehicle. Well, our County didn’t care about the previous owner’s signature that the 1st County required. THEY wanted Rick’s signature on that same government Bill of Sale, as we were registering the vehicle in both of our names. Even though this is a common law State and what is his is mine and what is mine is his. I didn’t try to wrap my mind around it. The government just makes no sense so much of the time.

I brought that same government copy of the Bill of Sale home for Rick to sign when he came home the following weekend. Then I returned to the County, gave them this paper without the seller’s signature (Why is there a spot for the seller’s signature if they don’t need to sign it?).   Never mind.  I’m not going to try to make any sense of it…..nope……note even gonna try!  This time, we finally got the vehicle registered.

I am still shaking my head at the bureaucracy that doesn’t know what the other hand is doing. And the variant rules they set up that we must follow at their whim, at least depending upon which office we are in and which clerk we are talking to.

It used to be that one paid sales tax on the purchase price of the vehicle or item purchased. It still is that way if one shops at a brick and mortar store. Evidently, that’s no longer the case with vehicles. The State’s new law about “Blackbook” prices changed all of that. The “Blackbook” price was higher than what we paid for the vehicle, and it was higher than the actual Kelley Bluebook value as well (whodathunkit? The government assessing our taxable possession as being more valuable than it really is?). Yep, we were taxed on the STATE’s value of the vehicle not on the actual sales price.

But I digress. It has been wonderful to have a good mpg vehicle that doesn’t cost $25-$30 to drive to town. I think we’re getting between 35-38 mpg in the Honda which cuts our fuel cost by almost two-thirds.  The Honda has already paid for iteself.

The boys have been doing some more maintenance on the new toy. New fuel filters, air filters, oil changes, etc. They’re still troubleshooting a check engine light that comes on when its cold and a periodic hiccup that feels like it’s running out gas at higher speeds. It also is idling a little rough. But, they’re working on figuring it out and are babying the new toy.

The baby goats have decided that this little car is really their new tap dance stage. It’s so easy to get up on and so fun to jump off of! The boys don’t really like the goats and now their dislike has skyrocketed. I don’t think they were sorry when we lost one of our milking does this week to what we think is a toxic plant growing in our pasture after a very wet winter and spring.

Losing that doe forced us to install a temporary pen immediately, which is keeping the goats away from the new toy. They like that. They don’t like the feed bill though!

Next on the list………..to build a pen for the Honda to keep the goats off of it once they are let loose to free-range again.

We are very thankful to the Lord for providing this vehicle for our family in a time when we really really needed it.

Jehovah Jireh……The God Who Provides!

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Today was a mop up day after the 10.5″ of rain yesterday in 7 hours. And the couple of inches that fell this morning between 1 and 5 a.m.  Yep, we had more rain this morning.

There was laundry that had been drying on the lines when the storm hit that was beaten into the mud.  That was hosed off and is in the process of being rewashed today.  That is, if our washing machine will work.  That’s another story for another time.

The mud on the deck was washed off.  As was the mud in the trailer and in the common house.  Well, the old mud was.  But now there’s new mud that needs dealing with.  And our shoes.  And our clothing. And the dogs.

Things that were either out of place before the flooding or were now out of place after, were rounded up and taken care of.  We’re not done with it all yet…………

Skylar and I headed to town to:

• get diesel in our only 4wd which we need to traverse the driveway right now.

***Lesson to boys…..do NOT bring the 4wd truck home with less than 1/8th tank of gas again!!!  That’s when floods happen.

• get hay for the animals who were penned up due to:

• toxic plants in the pasture which has already killed one doe

• fences on both sides of the property that are down due to the wet weather creek that ran furiously until this afternoon.

***Lesson to children.  Don’t forget to tell Mom that we’re low on hay.  That’s when floods happen.

• buy cattle panels and tarps to make movable shelters for the now penned animals.

• buy tarps to put on the trailer roof to help curb any more flooding inside the trailer.

***Lesson to boys.  Don’t steal the tarp off of the trailer for something you think is more important.  That’s when floods happen.

• buy milk and bread.  No extra milk from our dairy animals right now and no time to make bread and we’re out.

• test the wet weather creek that crosses the road both to the north and south of us.  I knew that north was a no go.  We were able to get out to the south.  Lots of downed fences and driveways washed out onto the roadway.  But, none-the-less, it traveled well.

While in town we heard that a little town about 10 miles south of us was totally flooded yesterday.  Some lost their vehicles. Others had mobile homes were swept off of their foundations.  And about 40 homes had between 1′ and 3′ of water in their homes.  The entire main town was under water yesterday.  One man tried to go through high waters and ended up having to be rescued with a DPS chopper off of the top of his car.  Ouch!  That bill is gonna hurt…….

We drove by the laundry mat in town.  There was a pick up truck out front whose bed was full of wet clothing.  There were 5 ladies sorting wet clothing into the portable laundry mat baskets on wheels.  Obviously victims of yesterday’s flooding.  We have muddy laundry and lots of dirty towels right now, but I’M not complaining!  It’s not a truck bed load!

Once we got home with diesel in the truck and got the truck unloaded, I headed north on our road to check out the damage that direction.  The County Road Department has been working on our road with FEMA money from the floods of the summer of 2007.  The wheels of government sure grind slow.  Here it is 3 years later and the road work is only 1/2 finished…….at least to our assessment it is only 1/2 finished.  Well, the limestone they put down is now half washed away.  I think we’re back at minus square one again.

I drove a few feet on nice newly laid limestone and then dropped 6 inches to the old rock road.  Then I’d rise up 6″ onto the newly laid limestone and so one.  Then I’d hit a large portion of road that is like driving on the river bed with no new limestone in sight.  And then it would turn to pot holes.  And then to mud bogs.   And then it would start all over again.  I was able to drive 5-15 mph. This portion of the road was bad before.  But what it used to look like is now looking good.

***Lesson to boys.  Don’t complain about how long its taking the County to fix the road.  That’s when floods happen.

The water under the high water bridge to the north had subsided some since last night.  I drove 3 miles to the low water crossing creek bed.  I could have crossed it so I could see the condition of the last mile of dirt/rock road, which I’m speculating is in really bad shape.  But, the water was a little high for my comfort so I decided to back up and turn around instead.

While I was gone the boys built the portable shelters for the animals.  The girls continued to clean up mud and laundry and fix dinner.

We still need to go redistribute piles of gravel on the driveway to fill in the ditches that are now there making the driveway impassable with the van or Honda.  There are also lots of large rocks that were flooded into the driveway.  Those need moving.  We also still need to go address the downed fence lines so we can at least let the cows out.  We haven’t completely assessed that damage and what it will take to get them back up and running.  And we need to shore up the goat kidding barn and shed since we have some does due anytime.

And, there’s just more general clean up that needs doing. But that’s a given.  There’s a.l.w.a.y.s. more general clean up to be done around here.

There’s a possibility of more thunderstorms in the wee hours of the morning.  Last I saw, there is also a possibility of more thunderstorms on Sunday afternoon.  I’m praying that they just skip on over us and rain down on someone who needs the rain a tad bit more than we do.

We’re still in the process of wringing out.

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At 4:51 a.m. this morning, I awoke to sheet lightning illuminating the dark morning sky.    The rumble and light was constant.  I wasn’t the only one who had heard it.  I heard the trailer door shut.  It was Callan going outside to gather some feed that had been left out.

The rain started and Callan came back in drenched.  I called Skylar on his phone, who was sleeping in the Common House and asked him to try to pull up the doppler on the computer when the rain subsided enough to let the signal through.  He was supposed to be getting up to go to work, but I was hesitant for the boys to leave in such dangerous weather.  Knowing what the doppler showed would help make that decision to go or stay.

Finally there was a lull in the rain.  Based on the doppler, Skylar thought it would pass in about 20 minutes.  At least that’s what he thought.  So the guys got up and got ready for work.  But the lull was short, along with the internet service, and the rain got harder and harder and harder.  They were supposed to leave by 6 am.  It was now 7:15 and they’d not left.  Another lull.  They decided to give it a go in the 4wd truck.

A few minutes later they were back.  The wet weather creek was running fast and furious across the driveway.  There are actually 2 creeks with a hump in the middle at the bottom of the driveway.  When the hump is not visible, we know its too deep to pass.  The hump was not visible, so they returned and texted their boss to tell them they weren’t going to make it out today. I am so very thankful they did not get out as they would not be making it back in anytime today and we were going to need their help at home.

The Flood Waters as They Cross Our Driveway

Everyone went back to bed but most didn’t sleep.  The rain, thunder and lightning returned with a vengeance.  We had goats in a temporary pen due to Leah dying of a toxic plant in the pasture last week.  The goats broke down their temporary shelter so they had no shelter from the storm.  I couldn’t stop thinking of them out there in the storm.  And then there were the meat birds we were planning on butchering on Saturday who had been put into a temporary pen so we could take their fencing to finish the temporary pen for the goats we were trying to keep from getting poisoned in the pasture.   They were getting wet.  I think there’s a “temporary” theme going on here.  And the rabbits……we weren’t sure if they were staying dry or not.

The rain, wind, a little bit of hail, and thunder and lightning continued with occasional lulls.  Light dawned, the rain lulled, and we got up to check on the animals.

We found a hidden litter of kittens yesterday in the ashes in our wood burning stove.  We had moved the dirty kittens to a large dog kennel on the deck never thinking it was going to rain.  We rescued them from the water logged dog carrier and blow dried them warm and dry.  Poor kittens went from suffocating in ashes to drowning in water in less than 24 hours.  They’re safe now.

We found wet rabbits.  We brought them in and started blow drying them and putting them in boxes and rubbermaid tubs inside until the rain abated and they could safely return to their cages.

Callan discovered that the meat birds were all in trouble.  We moved our Saturday butchering day up to Friday Flood Day. We’ve had problems with these meat birds this year for some unknown reason.  They’ve not grown well.  They’re supposed to grow fast and furious and reach 6-9 lbs in 6 weeks.  We were well beyond the 6 weeks and they were still on the smallish side.  These birds are prone to heart attacks as they age because they grow so fast.  They didn’t grow fast so we hadn’t had any heart problems.  The stress of the rain brought it on instead.

Callan would run out into the rain, catch two birds, which is not hard when they’re on the verge of heart attacks.  She’d slit their throat and put them near the Common House to drain.  We cleared the kitchen sink and counters and started skinning and cleaning the birds in the kitchen sink and on trash bag lined counters.  I have been soooooo thankful for our kitchen sink with hot and cold running water and our cabinets and counter tops too.  But never so thankful as this morning.  If we had not had our sink with running water and cabinets and countertops, we would have lost all of our efforts in raising these birds.

Ryker madly sharpened knives.   Galilee got the ice chests cleaned out with salted ice water ready for icing the birds in a few days.  This allows the rigor mortis enzyme to dissipate and makes the meat chewable and not like hard rubber.  Callan was the executioner.  The rest cleaned and gutted birds. We finished the job and the birds are safely cooling on ice.

The 5th wheel has reverted from the Mayflower back to the Speedwell.  It is leaking from stem to stern.  Water was coming out of the a/c duct onto my feet in bed.  I left it this morning with a trash can to collect the dripping water.  Then we discovered leaks over Ryker’s bed.  And leaks in the bunk room end.  We started moving all valuables out of the trailer.  Larissa worked on rehoming the good books and their bookshelf into the Common House.

We moved all the musical instruments out of the trailer too.  The Common House is quickly filling up beyond our comfort level.

But what’s comfort when we’re in the midst of numerous emergencies?  Not to mention how very, very, very, very, very, need I say very, THANKFUL we are to have the Common House right now?????  We would never, ever have weathered this storm today in the tent.  We would have lost every one of those meat birds today had we not had the kitchen sink, running water and counters under shelter on which to process them.  We would have been sitting in a sieve of a trailer because the tent would not have been safe with the very dangerous lightning that cracked so sharply around us.

The rain let up around 1:30 p.m.  This storm was eerily similar to the floods of the Summer of 2007.  Only we received more rain this flood in a little more time.  There’s another post on the other floods of the Summer of 2007 here.   In those posts you can see some other pictures of our driveway when it’s rained 7″-10+”.  And, you can see another picture of the raised bridge pictured below a little more under water.  And a picture of the road where the creek crosses our road to the south.   Water, water, everywhere.

Our driveway is only passable with 4wd.  The boys brought our only 4wd vehicle home with less than 1/8th of a tank of diesel when they drove it on Wednesday.  Great timing!!!!  Not!!!!!!  There is no way the van or Honda will get down the driveway right now.

We cannot get out as the swollen wet weather creek has us surrounded.  I’m sure the road to the north of us is washed away not to mention that the low water crossings are probably 8′ deep in water right now.

This is the Raised Bridge to the North

This is Our Road

The fences on both sides of our property were mowed down by the water.  This allowed the two cows to head on over to new pastures on our neighbor’s property.  They’re now behind lock and key in the temporary goat shelter.

We’ve Got Fencing Work to Do

Lord willing we will be able to get out tomorrow to the south to get diesel, hay (we’re down to 1/2 bale of hay with all of the animals penned right now…….Do you think this will teach the children to let me know before we get so low that we need hay?  One can only hope and pray!)  And we need tarps for the trailer. And milk.  The Jersey is dry and our only doe in milk is nursing her own doeling plus the orphaned buckling left behind by Leah.  So, milk is on my shopping list again.

There’s more rain in the forecast.

It’s been quite a day.  Did I say that we received 10.5″ of rain in approximately 7 hours?

Now, what to do about dry mattresses and bedding for tonight………………

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Yesterday, May 9, 2010, was Mothers’ Day……A day to honor our Mothers and thank them for giving us life, for their love, sacrifice and their gifts to us through the years. Motherhood is a beautiful, God-ordained thing.

Yesterday, May 9, 2010, was also the 50th Anniversary of “The Pill.”

Sadly ironic, isn’t it?  A day to celebrate our mothers and how they gave us the precious gift of life, but then again, a day to commemorate 50 years of trying to avoid becoming mothers and not allowing that precious gift of life to mature and grow in the womb.  God has His ways of driving our ungodly ways and thoughts home to us, doesn’t He?

How many children are not here today to wish their mother “Happy Mothers’ Day” because their mother used The Pill to keep that child’s fertilized egg from implanting in her womb and growing into the child whose life had been started in her womb?  Yes, The Pill does that.  It is an abortifacient.  I shudder to think…………

How many mothers today have suffered the other side effects of The Pill.  The side effects that are anti-woman, even though The Pill is touted as pro-woman.  Stroke, blood clots, vomiting, breast and other cancer, depression, and more?

Ironic that the 50th Anniversary for The Pill occurred on Mothers’ Day, isn’t it?

Many of you reading this may have taken The Pill during your lifetime.  I did for a few months when we were first married because that’s what we *thought* we were supposed to do.  It never occurred to us that the medical community…..not to mention The Church……….would advocate taking anything that would murder our children much less put me, the woman that was supposed to be protected by this little innocuous pill, at risk for losing my own life.

I am sooooooo very thankful to the Lord that this lifetaking pill made me deathly ill, that we finally woke up and realized that this could not POSSIBLY be healthy for me.  I was absolutely amazed at how much better I felt, not just the lack of nausea either, when I stopped taking this body and mind altering drug. It wasn’t until later that we came to understand the true dangers of The Pill, both dangers for myself, but also dangers to our families, Churches and society.

The Pill is really the brainchild of Margaret Sanger, the author of Planned Parenthood.  Do you know anything about Margaret Sanger?  Shuuuuuuuuuuuder!  If you do not, I suggest that you pick up the book, “Killer Angel: A Short Biography of Planned Parenthood’s Founder, Margaret Sanger,” and learn about this woman, who she was,  and her true agenda.

Sickening……shocking…….socialist…….marxist…….

murderous………deceitful………evil……..and more………..

“Killer Angel” is a short read but it is a read that will change your understanding of our culture today and why our families, Churches, communities and nation are where we are.

Margaret Sanger wasn’t thinking of helping women.  She was thinking of social engineering. And we bought it hook, line and sinker and today suffer the consequences thereof.

Margaret Sanger was the push behind of The Pill just like Hitler was the push behind the Nazi Concentration Camps and his Aryan Race agenda.  The blood that is on both his and her heads is inconceivable.

So, now that you’ve just celebrated Mothers’ Day, may I suggest that you thank your mother for something really meaningful?  May I suggest that you thank your mother for giving you life?  For in this day and age of child sacrifice, your mother gave you a blessed gift in allowing you to develop in her womb as God intended.

Thank you, Mom for giving me life!

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We have friends who live just outside of Nashville TN.  I was just a little concerned when I read on a forum that I’m on that there had been massive flooding in TN, including the area where our friends live.  Thankfully we were able to find out that they were ok, as were their animals, and that their damage was minimal.  Unfortunately not all Tennesseans were so blessed.   A picture is worth a thousand words.  So read on…………

Our prayers are with the people of Tennessee, especially for those who lost loved ones and property.

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A few months back the older boys were asked if they would like to participate in making a short Western Film with some friends.  Skylar jumped at the chance as he has a desire to learn about and work with multi-media.  Ryker participated too for the fun of it all.

They were able to use a western set just outside of Boerne TX. We were able to supply them with a lever action rifle that was given to us by Rick’s dad.  Skylar was able to help by being an extra in a shoot out and dying scene.  Ryker’s acting contribution was an extra at a table.  Both boys were able to do a little camera work  and take care of other on-set needs like sweeping the porch for a dust blowing effect and more.

Just to whet your appetite, here’s a trailer for “Wanted”:

Wanted Teaser Trailer from Conquest Productions on Vimeo.

Now that you’ve been sufficiently teased, ride on over to view the just released short film, Wanted.”  Then take some time to meander through the different pages of bloopers, pictures and behind the scene info.  Just be sure that you don’t get caught between that Mysterious Stranger and the Outlaw Villain and his gang!

Thank you to Micah, Micah, Benjamin, Benjamin, Bowman and Bowman for asking the boys to participate in your project.

And, just so you know, these young men were instrumental in helping us to get our common house erected and our tent down on the Saturday following Thanksgiving.  You can see pictures from that day here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

I have some blackmail video I could post of another one of their visits here, but just to show how nice I really am, I won’t ; )  And……You’re Welcome! ; )

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…………….changes in a flash…………literally!

Yesterday was a beautiful spring day.  A little on the warm side which meant I had to use the a/c in the car and roll down the windows while it was parked.

Then last night a Weather Advisory came across my email.  There were some unexpected strong weather cells growing near Del Rio and they were headed straight for us.  The prediction was quarter-sized hail, strong winds, rain, thunder and lighning and a tornado watch.

I brought up the weather site we usually look at to see what the doppler showed.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a storm cell quite so angry looking.

There were about 5 fingers of red flames starting at the TEX-MEX border and extending northeast from there both north of us and south of us.  Thankfully, one of the largest red cells disintegrated as it reached us.  Several of the angry red cells skirted us as we fell inbetween the two southernmost fingers.

But a couple of cells did hit us between 11:30 pm and 1:30 am.  The wind blew strongly.  The rain started.  The thunder rumbled and rumbled and rumbled and the night sky stayed continually lit up.  Then the hail hit.  The size ranged from pea sized hail to large grape or a little larger sized hail.  The trailer sounded like a tin can.  Those sleeping in the common house didn’t even hear the hail!

Then a flash of light lit up my room in the trailer through the vent in the ceiling followed quickly by a large crack and boom.  I about jumped out of my skin!  That bolt of lightning was just a tad bit close for my liking! While that unnerved me a little, I am so very thankful that it wasn’t a tornado!

This morning it is cooler with blue sky and windy.  I am always thankful for the wind after a rainstorm as it helps to quickly dry out the wet and soggy ground.

Now, to get outside and try to round up whatever was being tossed around by the wind last night.

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This is What Copper Looked Like 7 Months Ago When He Went to Live With His First Owner.

Wasn’t he so cute?

This is the First Picture of Copper that We Received After He Was Returned to His Breeder’s Home.

He’s grown from oh so  cute to very handsome ; )

Copper is an English Shepherd and is 9 months old now. English Shepherds are the registered version of the old American Farm Collie.  They are great family dogs for families who have a small homestead or way to keep them busy.  They are terrific farm watch dogs and are adept at herding animals without the intensity and single focus of a Border Collie.  A primary difference between Border Collie and the English Shepherd temperaments is that the English Shepherd is a hard worker and loves to work, but when it’s time to rest, they know how and enjoy it.  Whereas a Border Collie is a hard intense worker, but doesn’t know how to relax.

Copper’s first owner kept him in the backyard and didn’t work with him much, which is not a healthy environment for a family farm and working dog.   That’s why he was returned to his breeder. It wasn’t a good match.

Ironically, we had been in contact with Copper’s breeder last year asking if she had any tri-colored pups coming any time soon.  She said she did have a litter due in July that she hoped had some tri’s, but that all tri’s that she might receive were already spoken for.  We had hoped to be able to stop by her place on our way home from Boston in early July to meet her dogs and maybe get on a waiting list for another litter.  But, our schedule would not allow us to do so.

When Darby got hurt a few months back, we decided that we really needed another dog to tag team with her as she works so hard to keep predators at bay but just can’t do it by herself.  So, we stepped up our search for an English Shepherd to take over the main watchdog duties on the ranch.

I joined an English Shepherd Yahoo Group and started reading posts.  Soon, I read a post from Copper’s breeder with a link to his pictures.  I thought he was so pretty but was a little skeptical about him being a return to the breeder.  I decided that I should at least look into him.

I spoke with the breeder to learn more about him and we became reacquainted.  I learned that Copper was the only tri-colored puppy in that litter that we had inquired about last year.  This was the very puppy that we had wanted but couldn’t have last July!  I discussed it with the entire family, got the go-ahead, and then made an appointment to go see him and hopefully bring him home if all looked like it was a go.

It was a 6 hour drive to Copper’s breeder’s home.  He was in his own pen that was amidst the other dogs’ pens.  They were all excited to see us so the first thing we did was to meet all of the dogs.  The last one we came to was Copper.  He was v.e.r.y. excited at the prospect of getting out of his pen.  I was a bit skeptical about his energy level at first, which seemed to trump his response to commands.  But, after a few minutes of chasing a ball and playing, he was listening to instructions more carefully.

Callan and I decided that with some attention and training, that Copper would make a good addition to our family.  So, we headed the 6 hours home with Copper in the truck, getting home just after midnight.

I was not prepared for how absolutely loving Copper is with everyone in the family.  He loved Roo at first sight.  I think he may be about the same size as Copper’s previous owner’s granddaughter.   He is thriving on the constant attention of currently 9 people.  He sooooo wants to please and is quick to learn.  Though he still has that puppy characteristic of selective hearing.  We’re working on that………..

It rained the entire first week Copper was with us which meant he had to be inside all of the time with us.  The goat kidding pen that he was supposed to stay in when we had to leave had been overtaken by chicks whose pen had flooded them out.  So, he went everywhere with us.  This turned out to be a good thing as he was forced to bond with us before going outside and meeting the animals and property.  He’s coming along nicely though there is much more training to be done.

He responds to voice and hand commands for sit, stretch out (lay down), and sometimes stay.  He usually comes, unless there is something more important to him than the person calling.  That is going to change.  We’re slowly acclimating him on a lead outdoors to meet the goats, cows, chickens and cats.  He’s herded the goats into a circle once but got flustered when one broke free.  At the next meeting our lead doe let Copper know who was boss by charging him and laying him out flat on his back.  He wasn’t quite sure what to think of that!  We plan to work on his herding knowledge as that is something in which English Shepherds are skilled.

Copper and Darby have gotten along famously except for one food aggression incident.  It seems they both have a tendency to guard their food.  So, we’ve kept food out of the picture when they’re both around and they’ve done great since.  They get into “wrestling” matches with both of them up on their back legs like bears, with Darby play growling, probably to make her appear bigger than she is ; )  and they go and go and go until Darby flops on the floor with her tongue hanging out.  They enjoy their periods of wrestling and I’m sure Darby enjoys having another canine around.

Copper “Stretching Out” Which the Breeder Taught Him Before Coming to Us

Notice how he no longer has any black on his face.  He is a tri-color, but is also known as a saddleback sable as his black as an adult is now mostly on his “saddle” back.

Copper’s Coy “I Love You and I Really DO Want to Obey You” Sit.

When Copper wants attention, or he’s disobeyed and doesn’t like being in trouble and wants to reconcile the relationship, he comes and sits on your feet and leans on your legs.  He really has a tender little spirit that wants to please.  He’s just still very much puppy and is having to learn some manners ; )  They’re coming………

We are praying that the Lord will bring us the perfect mate(s) for Copper.  We hope to be able to breed this wonderful family homestead breed for families who have a similar lifestyle to us.

After 2 years of looking for the right English Shepherd for our family, we are so very thankful that the Lord brought Copper to us.

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In honor of 4 Moms 35 Kids:  Cooking for a Crowd recipe day at In a Shoe, I’m reposting this favorite family recipe.

Yesterday afternoon, Larissa made a quintuple recipe of Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Waffles. Quintupling the recipe was a good use and practice of her math skills. It was also a good use of 2 of the 60 some cans of pumpkin I got on sale this past year for 25 cents/can.

We had some whipped cream frosting left over from Boo’s Birthday cake, so several of us snitched hot pumpkin waffles hot off the waffle makers and dipped them in the whipped cream. Mmm….mmmm….good!

Sorry, there’s no pictures of her afternoon project. But, trying the recipe yourself will be much better tasting than any picture we can post here!

Whole Wheat Pumpkin Spice Waffles

7 1/2 C whole wheat flour, fresh ground

5 T cornstarch

5 T baking powder

5 t ground cinnamon

2 1/2 t ginger

1 1/4 t nutmeg

3 3/4 C canned pumpkin

10 large eggs, separated

5 C milk

1 1/4 C real maple syrup (or honey or other chosen sweetener with the cost of maple syrup so high now)

15 T butter or coconut oil, melted (or try applesauce for an oil free version)

5 t vanilla extract

15 large egg whites (using 10 whites from separated eggs + 5 more)

We try to be far ahead enough in our meal preparation to soak our grains and flours overnight in a liquid/kefir, yogurt or vinegar mixture to break down the phytates in the grains. But, life happens every day so we’re not always usually not as ahead of the game as we’d like to be and our grains don’t get soaked. Here’s the normal, everyday, get-it-baked-now recipe:

• Preheat Waffle Maker on setting #4.
• In lg bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg. Stir to blend and reserve.
• In a second bowl, combine the pumpkin, egg yolks, milk, maple syrup, melted butter and vanilla. Stir until smooth.
• Add liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth.
• In a clean, dry bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gently fold into batter.
• Bake in Belgian Waffle Maker

We serve our waffles with a variety of toppings. The topping for this batch was the leftover whipped cream icing as stated above. Sometimes we’ll whip cream with maple syrup for the sweetener and flavoring. Other times we use the traditional butter and maple syrup. We use real maple syrup as all of the fake pancake syrups are made from high fructose corn syrup, which is in way too many things these days and is so not good for us. I feel a rant starting……

Just check the labels of things you buy. Hot dogs, lunch meats, canned fruits, yogurts, breads, baked goods, ketchup and sauces, and the list goes on. HFCS in soooo many things. I have pared down my grocery list by just checking labels and not purchasing items with hfcs in them.

Want to pare down even more? Eliminate buying things that have msg or “spices” on the label. MSG is an excitotoxin that creates a desire to eat more. Eating more msg and hfcs puts us on a bad food merry go round. We avoid both as much as we are able. End of rant……. Back to our waffle toppings list….

Other times we use apple sauce and still other times, we’ll make Dad’s Berry Gravy. That entails heating frozen berries on the stove and adding some water and sweetener like honey or organic sugar. Simmer a few minutes and add corn starch to thicken into a berry gravy. Whalla!

If you have a large family like ours, then you’ll appreciate the recipe already being quintupled for you. If you have a smaller family, consider using the quintupled amounts and just freeze leftover waffles for future breakfasts. You can easily pop them in the oven to defrost and crisp up or pop them in the toaster or toaster oven, if you have one.

Unless we make a double quintuple batch, our waffles generally do not see the coldness of the freezer : )

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Joe Morecraft speaking at Carroll County TEA Party from Aubrey Boles on Vimeo.

What more can one say, except, “Thank You, Dr. Morecraft!”

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That we fell off the end of the earth?  Well, we’ve fallen off the end of the blogosphere but not the earth itself ; )

Life has been absolutely craaaaaazy with little time to blog and journal said crazy life.  We have much catching up to do when the time allows.  Until then, here’s a quick run down of what has kept us so busy and away from our Journal:

• Rick’s time in Washington for a temporary assignment with Boeing was extended from the end of March to the end of May.  We’ll see if that date sticks or not……
• I spent much of January, February and March in Washington.  Jackson and I went in January for my birthday and to celebrate his birthday a little early.  I went by myself in February to celebrate our 30th Anniversary.  And Galilee and I went in March for her 11th birthday.  Phew!!!!!!  It was fun, but it’s good to be home for awhile now.
• Rick has been home for 2 weekends in March and April.  The first weekend we worked on getting main waterlines and electricity into the Common House/Cabin.  He finished getting the hot water heater hooked up and the kitchen sink plumbing hooked up in time for him to hit the airport that Monday morning 25 minutes before his flight took off.

CAN WE SAY, “THANK YOU, LORD, FOR RUNNING HOT AND COLD WATER IN OUR VERY OWN KITCHEN SINK……and PROGRESS???????”

• The last weekend he was home he and a friend worked on interior electricity.  Our two fridges are now plugged into real, live wall outlets!!!! instead of extension cords.  We have 5 lights over the kitchen sink and bar unit ready to go once we decide on lights.  And, we have a few outlets installed and usable!
• Callan flew out to Washington yesterday to spend 2 weeks with her daddy.  She took her sewing machine as a carry on so she plans on working on some of her sewing projects, among reading and other projects.  Rick and Callan will be flying home on April 30th, to get more electrical work done and a chicken coop built, Lord willing.
• Larissa has been working on a Craft Fair for “Rescue Haiti’s Children” which takes place today.  She’s spent every spare minute for 2 months now crocheting and making things to sell to help the orphans in Haiti.  Its been raining here for several days now and the roads are flooded and weather conditions horrible.  So, we’ll see how today turns out.  If there are lots of items left, then she plans on opening an Etsy Store to sell handcrafted items to help these children.
• We’ve added a new dog to our ranch.  His name is Copper and he’s a 9 month old English Shepherd.  He requires some training as his first owner just left him in her back yard with little attention and no training.  English Shepherds are working family and farm dogs so a small back yard with little room or attention is not a good mix.  In just 3 days, he’s settled into our family very nicely.  He is so very happy with so many people to love and to love on him!  When the rain stops and the ground dries up some we will get him outside and introduced to all of the cows and goats so he can learn how to herd them and round them up for us when its milking time.  We’re very excited at this new addition to be a friend, help us with our livestock and to help Darby protect our ranch from the wild animals and predators.
• The older 2 girls had a huge wood working project for  gift for a friend that has been going on for 6 months.  That project has finally been completed and given to its recipient.  They proved that they are their father’s daughters with their craftsmanship and attention to detail and design.  Their project that kept growing and growing and growing turned out magnificent.
• We now have 2 goats in milk, which means 2 kiddings.  Its sooooo nice to have fresh milk again!
• We have some new rabbits on the way.  That means we’ve been building rabbit cages.
• We started out with 50 meat chick.  Those have dwindled down to 35.  The black roasters we purchased have not proved to be very hearty, thus the reduction in force.   We also have about 50 egg chicks brooding that should start laying late this spring.  Our original crop of 4 year old birds and their chicks have been reduced way down in size due to a neighbor’s husky that has killed off many of our birds.  Copper will help with that problem, to be sure.  With the large number of chicks we’re brooding, a large chicken coop/rabbit building is in the works.  We plan on training the chickens to sleep in the coop at night, lay their eggs in the coop, and let them free range during the late morning/afternoon.  Hopefully this plan will alleviate us of our daily egg hunts and loss of valuable eggs.
• We’ve celebrated 2 birthdays in the past couple of months.  Jackson turned 8 and Ryker turned 18.  Two huge milestones.  Jackson is currently working on birthday plans for his 9th birthday ; )

There are the main projects we’ve been working on that have kept us oh so busy and away from blogging.  I think of many things to post but just have not been managing to get them posted.  Meeting myself coming and going through the airports has contributed greatly to my inability to post as frequently as I’d like.  I have many pictures to post of these projects just as soon as I get them sorted, resized and uploaded.  Be watching for some individual posts with pictures to come……..but don’t hold your breath ; )

Lord willing, when Rick returns home for good, life will settle down back to “normal,” whatever that is, and posting will be back to a more reliable mode.

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I encourage you to take the time to listen to these videos.  Very sobering…………

Think it can’t happen again?????

Thank you, Kitty Werthmann, for your testimony.

I used to dislike studying History.  It had no relevance to me.  Now I understand that we must understand *accurate* history to know where we’ve been, where we are and where we’re going.  History has much to teach us.  Lord, please open our eyes and ears to hear Kitty Werthmann’s warning and Your call to repentance.

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………..after a loooooooooooooong season away.  I’ve never been away from home this much. It’s surreal in a way, being tossed between two worlds.  How thankful I am to have older children who can hold down the ranch here and keep things either stable or in a forward motion in my absence.

I spent 2.5 weeks in Washington in February to celebrate our 30th Anniversary.  Then I was home for 1 short week before I turned around and headed back to Washington to take Galilee to visit with her daddy for her 11th birthday.  She was the last child to get to visit daddy in Washington.  She waited patiently without complaint, for which God graciously blessed her.

Galilee had the longest stay in Washington to date, visiting for 2.5 weeks. We spent much one-on-one school time, went to a used home school bookstore and bought some new books, games and manipulatives, went on multiple ferry rides, drove up to Mount Baker and played in the snow, went to church and met new friends, went to a friend’s house and played, shopped at thrift stores and replaced some of her ranch worn wardrobe, cooked, cleaned, went bowling, had Cold Stone, and just had fun being an only child for a couple of weeks.

We went out for Chinese Food for her birthday and then out for a Dim Sum breakfast with some of Rick’s co-workers.  One of the co-workers decided to have chicken feet as a part of his meal.  Galilee told him that if he actually KNEW what chickens did with their feet, he would never eat their feet : )  Out of the mouths of babes!

On top of Galilee’s birthday trip to Washington, we were able to have a 3 legged trip landing in California for a detour on our way home.  We visited my sister’s family and some girl cousins and their menagerie which is larger than ours : ), traveled to Nevada for my mom’s surprise 70th birthday party, visited with more girl cousins, Galilee met all of her aunts and uncles on my side of the family and some great-aunts and uncles whom she’d never met as well.

I thought it was special for Galilee to be able to attend my mom’s birthday celebration because Galilee looks just like her Tutu did when she was a little girl.  Going through old pictures for the slide show more than proved that one to be true!  So, it was fun for Galilee to be the one that was able to go to this celebration with me.

We were able to pull off the surprise birthday party for my mom, even though there were several blunders made that could have given our secret away.  Both my mom and dad were very surprised and I hope blessed by this gathering which included all of my mom’s 3 siblings, her 5 children, and 5 of her 21 grandchildren.

We also went and visited, Nanny, my dad’s mother.  She’s been bedridden for several years now and is 92 years old.  The older girls and I helped take care of her during her 1st and 3rd year of being bedridden.  She’s now in a home, a real home with 5 other elderly people who cannot live on their own and have full time care in the home.  I was so thankful to be able to get to see her again, knowing that God could call her home at any time.

I had two little boys who were very glad to see their mommy return home.  Roo spotted me coming down the airport escalator and came running.  Galilee was in front of me so I figured he would grab her and hug her first as they are very close.  But, he dodged her and came straight for his Kanga (I’m a Kanga and he’s a Roo and together we’re a KangaRoo : )  Then came Jackson’s almost 8 year old hug.  That did a momma’s heart good to get to hug her little boys after so long.

Plan is for me to be home at least until May, at this point in time.  We don’t know if that trip will be to pack Rick up and head home for good or just a visit.  The end of May is Rick’s *current* date to return home, but as has already happened, his work in Washington could well be extended again.

We’ve accrued enough frequent flier miles for a free trip, so Callan is going to be visiting Rick in April and attending a home school conference with him.  Ashley is scheduled to help a friend in North Carolina for a couple of weeks in the beginning of May.  So, even though I will be home, life will still be in flux with people coming and going.

There’s no where like home………………

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……are always a challenge to come by here at PRR.  It isn’t that no one has ideas!  It’s that everyone has a different idea!  Coming to a consensus is a rarity.  Here is a picture of our 4 week old Nupine doeling.  She is half Nubian and half Alpine.

What her name is is yet to be decided.  Most everyone here at home is calling her Aberdeen.  But daddy likes the name Rotor.  Why you may ask?  Don’t worry.  You aren’t the only one to ask that question!  The older children at home knew “why” just because they know their daddy and know what a rotor is.  What we can’t figure out is why he would subject this cute little goat to the name rotor.  Now I must admit that there are also those who are asking the same “why” question about the name Aberdeen.  I will try and give an answer as to “why” for both names.

Rotor:  Unless you are into aeronautics or aviation (like daddy is) you may not know what a rotor is.  This is Wikipedias definition or what a rotor is:

A helicopter main rotor or rotor system is a type of fan that is used to generate both the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and thrust which counteracts aerodynamic drag in forward flight. Each main rotor is mounted on a vertical mast over the top of the helicopter, as opposed to a helicopter tail rotor, which is mounted on a tail boom. A helicopter’s rotor is generally made up of two or more rotor blades. The blade pitch is typically controlled by a swashplate connected to the helicopter flight controls.

Helicopter rotor diameters are relatively large, as this gives much better energy and propellant efficiency for the speeds that helicopters fly at.

As you can see in the picture of our nameless goat above she has ears that kind of stick straight out (like rotor blades).  This is because she is a mixed breed.  Nubians have big floppy ears like this:

And Alpines have erect ears like this:

And Nupines have ears somewhere is the middle!  They aren’t as big as a Nubians but neither are thy as small as an Alpines.  And they don’t flop but neither are they erect.  They are really very cute.  Now mind you, they don’t always stick straight out!  Goats can move their ears.  She can move them forwards and backwards.

So, because her ears stick out, and because daddy’s head runs everything through an airplane filter, he wants to call her rotor.  He says it is a term of endearment!  Now, here is another little fact.  Daddy doesn’t like helicopters!  If a helicopter looses a rotor or its engine fails or its transmission goes out it is going down hard.  It falls out of the sky.  If an airplane looses an engine or propeller or has a mechanical failure it can glide and has landing gear that it can land on.  He much prefers airplanes.  Now there are those in our family that don’t really like the name rotor but said that it was fitting just because they hate goats (this is the minority).  Daddy says that this little fact has nothing to do with the name of the goat.  Like I said, he is calling it a term of endearment.  It never the less remains a fact.

Aberdeen:  You can read here about naming our kids last kidding season.  We started a Celtic theme.  These are the names of our current goats.  Galloway, Dublin, Biscotti (Scottie for short), Limerick, Donegal, Argyle, Stirling,  Leah and Festival.  So far all of them have Irish or Scottish roots except for Festival and Leah, the two mothers.  We were wanting to continue our Celtic theme and thought that the name Aberdeen was cute.  There were some that weren’t sold on it until daddy mentioned the name rotor.  The name all of a sudden became more appealing!

In my opinion, Aberdeen is a much more fitting name for this cute little doeling than rotor is.  Rotor sounds so masculine and there is nothing cute about it (at least to me and most everyone else in this family).

Let us know which name you like the best.

I just spoke with daddy and he said that I could name her whatever I wanted!  But he is still going to call her Rotor : )

I suppose we have reached a conclusion.  If you can call it that.  She now has two names!

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I wasn’t kidding when I said in my last post that this time of year brings more chores and less sleep.  Last night (or should I say this morning) is proof that this statement is very true.  It was 4 am before I was able to head to bed and get some (not near enough) much needed sleep.

As I also mentioned in my last post, Leah our Alpine doe was due to kid at any time.  Does usually kid 145-155 days after breeding.  Since we control when our does get bred, we know when they are due to kid.  145 days came along and we started watching Leah for signs of kidding.  Does will generally “bag up” or start producing colostrum causing their udders to enlarge, their ligaments will become very flexible and sometimes the shape of their belly will change as the kids move into position for delivery.  She showed no signs at all.  So we watched some more and waited.  155 days came along and still no kids or signs of kidding.  When we came home from Church yesterday (day 156) she was starting to show signs and looked like she would kid soon.  I was hoping for sooner rather that later.  I did not want to be up all night in the COLD.  Yes, it was cold.

You may be wondering why anyone in their right mind would stay up all night in the cold to watch a goat deliver her kids.  Well, it is part of being a good steward of the livestock that God has graciously given us.  Goats often times have complications during delivery and need assistance or they and or the babies can die.  Leah’s last kidding was anything but smooth.  We ended up at the vet’s office.  Since she has had problems with previous deliveries we thought it best to be there if at all possible.  And it was a good thing that we were.

Much to my chagrin, she ended up kidding later rather than sooner.  We continued to watch her through the evening.  She was restless but showed no signs of contractions or imminent delivery.  I went to check on her one last time before I went to bed.  It was now around midnight.  I watched her for a few minutes and determined that I would not be getting very much sleep that night.  She was now showing signs of contractions and was starting to push.  I went back inside to rouse Larissa to help me gather the supplies that we were going to need and to help me if we had to pull or reposition kids.  It took some coaxing but she finally did get up to help me.  We both gathered the supplies, put on some warmer clothes  and headed back out to the kidding shed.

Leah was restless and easily distracted.  We finally shooed Festival and her 3 week old doeling out of the shed and tried to keep our barn cat away so that Leah could focus on what she was supposed to be doing.  Leah would lay down, and then she would stand up, and then she would elevate her front feet on a cinder block that was in the shed, and in between all of the getting up and down she would occasionally push.  It appeared that she was trying to reposition the kids.  After quite a long time of going through this scenario I knew that if I did not see feet soon I was going to have to go in and see what position the kids were in.  Thankfully I was finally able to see a foot.  One foot is ok, two feet is better.  One is generally a little behind the other when they come out.  At this point she finally layed down and became serious about pushing.  She was pushing but she wasn’t making progress as fast as I would have liked and I wasn’t able to tell if both feet were coming first.  So I went in to determine if the baby was in the correct diving position.  It was.  I could feel two feet and a head.  This is good.  What I couldn’t determine was if the kids front legs were fully extended.  If they are pulled back underneath it’s body at all it will be harder for the doe to deliver the kid on her own.  I decided to give her a few more minutes to deliver on her own if she was able.  She still made no progress.  So I started pulling.

Blood and guts don’t bother me.  Getting my hands dirty doesn’t bother me.  Going inside of an animal to help it deliver doesn’t bother me.  What bothers me is the doe screaming at me while I do it.  You have to be careful while pulling a kid or you can do internal damage to the doe.  Yes, birthing hurts.  But it is hard for me to determine if it is the birth that is hurting her or if I am causing damage.   This is the third birth that I have had to assist in and I am learning to become more aggressive.  At this point you really have no choice.  You either do what you can do to help the doe or both the doe and the babies will die.

What also bothers me is when I am pulling but the baby won’t come.  And this baby wasn’t coming.  I was starting to get worried.  Leah was pushing, I was pulling, Leah was screaming, I was praying.  It took quite a long time of pulling and trying to ease the head through.  Thankfully it finally did come through.  After the head and shoulders were out the rest came fairly quickly.  Once he was out it wasn’t hard to tell why it was such a hard delivery.

This BOY was huge!  We weighed him this morning and the scale said that he weighed 12 lbs!  I am guessing that he is more like 10 lbs. since he is a very aggressive nurser and I think our scale weighs a little on the high side : )  Don’t worry.  I don’t have to watch my weight (yet).  You can trust me!  This is at least 3 lbs. heavier than a normal kid and Leah is not a large goat.

Once the kid was delivered Larissa said that she was going to bed and that she would send Delaney out to help me.  Ah the luxuries of less responsibility.  Don’t get me wrong.  I like responsibility and challenge.  I hate not being challenged.  I just really, really like my sleep also.  God will give me the grace to endure this  challenge of slight sleep deprivation.  And Lord willing this is all preparing me for the challenges of motherhood that I greatly look forward to if the Lord so chooses to bless me in that way.

Stirling was born around 2am this morning.  Once he was out and dried off we had to make sure that he was nursing.  We also had to wait and see if there were any more kids to deliver.  There are also some things that we give the goats to help them get over the stress of the delivery and to build their immune systems.  Once he was able to get up and walk a little he started nursing immediately.  This is a blessing.  We have had some that we have had to teach how to nurse.  Leah was not showing any signs of having other kids to deliver.  We decided to clean things up and head to bed.

It was now 4 am and I was as ready as could be to get some sleep and to thaw out my cold body.

I am thankful to the Lord for allowing our new buckling to be delivered safely.  He and his mother seem to be doing well.  Without further ado, here is Stirling.

Notice that he only has one ear in this picture…..

That is because his other ear is floppy……

I did some research and most everyone says that it should correct itself.

Well, off to catch up on that sleep that I lost last night.  Hopefully tonight will be less eventful than last night was.

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…..tends to have a negative effect on the consistency of blog posting.  I am very sorry for neglecting you all for so long.  Here are some updates on the happenings of Plymouth Rock Ranch.

As the title makes clear, we have been extremely busy.  The weather is warming up during the day and the older boys have not had steady work.  Though it is always best financially if the boys have work, not having work for this (hopefully) short season has had its blessings.  There is a seemingly infinite list of projects that need working on here at home.  With the boys not having work they are able to dedicate more time to trying to shorten that list if that is even possible.  Here are some of the things that we have been working on.

Spring is here.  Or almost here.  I have wanted a garden for many years now.  We have tried in vain to get some things started in the past despite that fact that we didn’t have the time or resources to build a fence.  No matter what we did to try and keep the animals out of the plants they still eventually found a way in.  It became apparent that we were going to have to build Fort  Knox if we ever wanted to have a garden.  Ryker has been helping me put a fence up and get raised beds built!  I am thrilled that something is finally happening on this front.  Lord willing we will be able to get a few things planted this spring and have a fully functioning garden ready for planting this fall.

Spring also means that it is time for babies!  Though this time of year brings added chores and less sleep I love having the evidences of fruitfulness  and God’s provision manifest on our ranch.  Festival our Nubian doe kidded a couple of weeks ago and our Alpine doe is due to kid any time.  Three more does are due to kid in the next couple of months.  It will be wonderful to have goat milk again especially since our Jersey has not been producing.  If we can manage to find some charged batteries and the camera at the same time I will post some photos soon.

We also have new baby chicks.  We ordered around 50 meat birds, some of which are due to be butchered in about 4 weeks and around 75 egg layers.  We are in the process of designing and putting up a fence and chicken coop.  This time around, Lord willing we will have a coop and laying boxes finished so that we don’t have chickens roosting in our trees, on our decks, under our trailer, on our dryer, in our beds…..yes, we have woken up to chickens laying eggs in our beds before!  Hopefully we can train these birds to roost in their coop and lay their eggs in their nesting boxes.  It will be so nice if we don’t have to go hunting for eggs this laying season.

This last week we took our Jersey cow to be bred.  This is something that really needed to be done since she dried up and is no longer providing us with milk.  Lord willing in about 9 1/2 months we will have another addition to the ranch.  We are hoping for a heifer.

As mom mentioned in the last post, Maia went to the butcher.  Her hide is soon to be pickled.  Her hide is fleshed and has been salted…..now the tanning process begins.  We should be picking the meat and fat up from the butcher soon.  We will be rendering the fat so that we can use the tallow for making soap.  We will also be using our goat milk to make soap.

We are helping to put together a craft and bake sale fundraiser for Rescue Haiti’s Children.  Larissa has been spending every spare moment crocheting and knitting and sewing.  Lord willing this will turn out to be a profitable endeavor and we will be able to help support an organization that is helping to bring relief  and the Gospel to the Haitian people and orphans.

On top of all the out door projects life must go on inside and outside the home as well.  Cooking, cleaning, dishes, laundry, shopping, cleaning jobs, dentist appointments, going away parties, Church etc….. the list just goes on and on.  There are other projects that are in the works but I will save those for future posts.

I hope this post temporarily satisfies your curiosity about what has been going on in the Seargeant family.  I must be going.  There are numerous tasks calling my name.  Until next time…..

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The first large animal we purchased after moving to Plymouth Rock Ranch was our cow, Maia.

She was a beautiful, red Brangus/Corriente heifer.  She was straight from the pasture of a many thousand acre ranch.  And, she was NOT tame.  She was just a little too big for us to handle safely and tame her the way we had hoped to.  It took months of feeding her range cubes through the fence to begin to gain her trust.

She would stick her long, slimy cow tongue out as faaaaaaaaar as she could to just baaaaaarely get that range cube from our hands and then warily eat it.  She slowly got closer and closer…………until we would try to pet her………and then………..she would bound away from our hand and we’d have to start all over again.

We were making headway with taming Maia.  She waited for us to come hand feed her range cubes.  Her tongue wasn’t stretched out quite so far anymore.  And then………..we took her back to her birthplace to be bred.  She stayed there for 2 months to make sure she was bred.  When we went to pick her up, she was back to her wild self and we were back to square 1 with her.

Nine months later, she was tamed slightly again, and she presented us with our first ranch birth, her bull-calf, SirLoin.   SirLoin lived a happy life here, but he was leary just like his mother.  Maia was 1/2 Corriente.  SirLoin was 3/4 Corriente.  Evidently, Corriente cattle, which are used a lot for rodeo cattle, are naturally spunky and leary.  Not a good combination for a family ranch.

Being 1/2 Corriente, or rodeo cow and all purpose meat, milk and work Mexican cow, Ryker decided to rope Maia’s horns one day.  You can read about that adventure here.

Aside from range cubes, one of Maia’s favorite foods was pineapple peels.  She would come up nice and close and grab pineapple peels from our hands.  It was like candy to her.

Another thing she liked was stolen corn.

SirLoin lived for 18 months.  The last couple of months of his life, he decided that it was his job to milk the Jersey for us.  So much so that he started jumping fences to complete his assumed job.  Then he realized that he could use his horns as weapons on both other animals and humans.  So, SirLoin met the freezer sooner than we’d anticipated.

Maia was highly suspect when we brought Phebie, our Jersey milk cow home.  She quickly told Phebie who was boss and Phebie fell into line as a good cow should.  Over the past year that Phebie has joined our ranks, Maia became progressively aggressive, especially when it came to milking and feeding time.  Maia, being the meat cow, didn’t require quite so much food as Phebie, the producing milk cow.  But Maia didn’t see things that way.  She, the Queen, deserved all of the food and then some.  Poor Phebie, the working milk cow who needed the calories, was having her food stolen right and left by Maia, the thief.

At first, just shooing Maia away was sufficient.  Then having a stick in one’s hands while feeding and milking was sufficient.  But our leary cow was now willing to push her 1,100 pounds right in where she wasn’t supposed to be with no fear at all.  She started butting pregnant does just because she wanted food and knew that food was coming their way.  And like SirLoin, she learned that she could use her horns as weapons to get what she wanted.  Either a person or animal was going to get hurt.

We’d hoped to be able to continue to breed her for meat calves for our freezer.  But, getting her in a trailer to meet a bull was a difficult prospect for a leary cow, even when food was in the trailer.  We all knew it was time for Maia to meet the freezer.

We made the appointment, found a trailer to borrow to get her to the butcher, and then proceeded to try to coax her into said trailer.  We put food in it.  We let goats go in the trailer to eat.  We put Phebie in the trailer and let her eat too.  Maia would put one hoof in and then back away.  No way was this leary cow going to go into the trailer.

Our appointment was between 8 and 9 am.  The morning was v.e.r.y. cold for South Texas.  Our ground was frozen solid.  Four of the children got up early to try to get Maia in the trailer.  They got creative in their thinking as it was getting to the point where we were going to miss the much awaited appointment……….and……….it was very cold!   They first walked Phebie into the pipe and wire pen that was housing the bucks.  Maia dutifully followed as a good herd animal should.

Then they backed the trailer up to the open gate so the only way out was through the trailer.  They led Phebie into the trailer.  Maia followed!  They quickly got Phebie out and locked Maia in.  When she realized she was trapped, she got m.a.d!!!!  One of the children ran over to the trailer and told me that we needed to get Maia moving down the road immediately or she was going to tear the trailer apart!  I wasn’t ready to leave yet, but leave I did anyway.

She broke a support that kept the back doors to the trailer closed, a vitally important part to keeping her in the trailer.  Ryker ran and got a piece of a beam and wired it in place to do the job of the broken pipe piece.

In hindsight, it was God’s protection that she did not go in the trailer before it was time to drive her away.  Had she gone in any sooner, she would have dismantled the trailer and escaped.  Try getting an escaped cow into a trailer a second time!  We are so thankful that the Lord answered our prayers to get Maia in the trailer that morning.

We hopped in the truck and off we went.  As long as we were moving, her footing wasn’t steady and she kept fairly still.  She stuck her nose, horn and ear out of the side opening the whole hour drive to the butcher.  I kept waiting for her to break down the back door and run off.  I drove with my eyes on the side view mirror the whole way there.

I also prayed the whole way there and was so very thankful when we got to the butcher, got her unloaded and firmly secured behind that locked pipe gate.

When I got home from the butcher’s the children were all thankful that she was now gone.  Phebie, on the on the other hand, stood by the trailer sniffing and smelling it all afternoon wondering where her herdmate was.  She occasionally mooed.  Cookie our heifer, stood close by too.

Feeding and milking time will go much smoother without the added danger that Maia brought to that time of day.  We are thankful that no one was ever hurt by Maia, especially in that morning’s loading and transporting of her.

We asked for Maia’s fat from the butcher so we can render it down and experiment with goat milk/tallow soap and make some straight tallow soap as well.

Callan wanted Maia’s hide for a remembrance of our first Plymouth Rock Ranch cow.  She’s going to try her hand at tanning her hide, pun intended : ) but true.  She’s out there as I write, working on that hide.

This is something we had hoped we wouldn’t come to, but because of Maia’s untrusting spirit and her danger to our family and our other animals, it unfortunately did. If she’d only trusted us and not fought us, she’d still be here with us today.

Today’s events made me think of our own untrusting spirits in relationship to God.

Are you like Maia?  Leary and untrusting of God, doing whatever it takes to get what you want?

If we would only repent of our untrusting spirits and entrust ourselves to God who is the perfect one to care for us.  If we would only not be stiff-necked and allow God to be our redeemer, protector and provider!

Or will you act like Maia, never trusting in anyone but yourself and then ending up eternally separated from God, the One who created you, loves you and cares for you?

Will God say to you, “Well done, my good and faithful servant?”  Or will your hide get tanned like Maia’s?

Today we said goodbye to one that we’d hoped that we would have a good long sweet relationship with.  Sadly, it turned into a much shorter time than we’d envisioned.  May we all learn the lesson that Maia has to teach us.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding.

In all thy ways acknowledge Him.

And He shall direct thy paths.

Goodbye, Maia.

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The last predicament of the boys’ time away in Washington happened when the children were taking me to the airport to head for Washington to celebrate our 30th Anniversary.

We’d been having flooding rain and the wet weather creeks were running.  Two nights before we’d spent the evening with some friends.  Upon returning home, we found the wet weather creek that had been dry when we left, flowing strongly.  It didn’t show any of the signs of the past that indicated that the water was too deep to cross so we headed in.  This stretch of wet weather creek is quite long.  I’m not skilled with assessing distances accurately, so I’ll not hazard a guess.  But by the time I got into the middle of the water in the van, I began to think it was a little deeper than it looked.

Then when we got to the last quarter of the rush of water, the van started sputtering and I just prayed that it would climb out of the water.  It did and we made it home.  The van sat the next day as it continued to rain.  I was beginning to think that I’d never make it out to leave for Washington the next day.  Finally the rain subsided and the wet weather creek slowed up enough to get out.

I later realized why the wet weather creek’s flow didn’t indicate it’s real depth that night like it used to.  I could always tell when there were white water rapids in the creek that it was too deep to navigate.  If it flowed smoothly, then it was ok to cross.  I have turned around before and gone back to a friend’s house and waited out the rain runoff.  But this time, the water was flowing smoothly……….no waves, no white water.

As I contemplated this I realized why the water flow had changed.  There was a new owner of the old ranch house on this section of roadway.  He’d spent the past year of drought removing brush and trees from his side of the river.  And, the County has been working on our road and grating here and there.  The removal of the brush especially, had altered the way the water flowed across this part of the road.  This was the first large flow since the drought conditions and the brush removing.

On my to do list this week is to contact the County, who is currently working on our road, to ask them to please consider putting up high water markers so we don’t have to guess as to the depth of the water on this long section of roadway when the wet weather creek is flowing.

The next day we all readied to head to the airport for my flight.  The van drove just fine on the dirt road where we were going 40 mph or under.  But when we hit the main road, it was stuttering between 45 mph and 60 mph.  I pulled it out of overdrive and it was better, but not right.  I began to become concerned that we’d not make it to town or the airport.  I called a friend who was between us and town.  She said she could take me to the airport and the kids could try to get the van home where they would then have access to the truck.

But, upon calling Rick, he wanted us to try to get to town, drop me at the airport and have the girls take the van to a mechanic we’ve used before when stranded in town.  So, that became our plan with my friend as Plan B if the van totally broke down.  We prayed our way to the airport.  The girls got the van to the mechanic whom I had already called and asked if he could help us out in our difficulty.

He confirmed my suspicions that the water had damaged a coil, or hastened the demise of a coil that had been acting up ever so slightly.  He replaced it quickly and the girls were able to head home in a reliable vehicle.

It was hard for me to leave with the van acting up.  But we had made some phone calls and had some contingency plans in place before I left.  I am so thankful to the mechanic who stepped in and helped us in our time of need.

Everything went well that weekend that the boys and I were all away.  The boys returned on Monday and were able to step back into helping fix and build things here at Plymouth Rock Ranch.

We had several Predicaments while the guys were all gone.  But we weathered them all, with the help of the Lord, Mr. E. and Cambridge Auto.  Mr. E. came out and diagnosed our washing machine problem so we could get parts ordered.  Then he came out again after said parts were installed and there was a secondary problem.  Thank you, Mr. E. for your generous time and help to our family while our mechanics were away.

A huge thanks also goes out to the Torres and Del families who both graciously allowed us to laundry at their house while our washing machine was down!

I think we’re all glad that the boys are now home to help take care of mechanical predicaments.  They had a great time in Washington.  Lord willing, there will be a blog post coming soon telling about their trip.

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Thirty years ago, we started our marriage by honeymooning in the Northwest in Sun Valley, Idaho.   We were surrounded by cold, snow and skiing.  Thirty years later, we found ourselves celebrating our 30th Anniverary in the Northwest.  But this time it was in Washington and the weather was unusually springlike and warm.  In fact, we had several days of no clouds and no rain in the Seattle area.  We were able to see Mount Baker and Mount Rainer, the Cascades and the Olympics with their glorious top hats of snow and absolutely no clouds hiding them.  The scenery was absolutely magnificent.  A testimony to the grandeur of God’s majesty.

The Lord so very graciously planned 16 days alone for us in this beautiful setting.  That’s 16 days without children in our presence (though we had many phone conversations over the course of those 16 days : ) My, what an adventure we had relating to one another without the presence of children to turn our attention here and there and everywhere.

We shopped for groceries for t.w.o.  That’s a challenge to my brain that is conditioned to buying in bulk!  We cooked together.  We even splurged on some special treats since buying special treats for 2 is much more feasible than special treats for 11!  Not to mention…………it was our 30th Anniversary celebration.

We talked together.  We thought about who we were when we married 30 years ago and where the Lord has brought us to today and how He has grown and changed us.  We brainstormed and planned together.  We read books together.  We prayed together.  We studied Scripture together.  We went to Church together.  We went shopping together.  We went to visit friends together.  We went out to eat together.   We went on 3 ferry rides, sight seeing together on the Olympic Peninsula.   Just the two of us.  Just like we started out 30 years ago.

While Rick was at work I spent time taking care of our little abode.  I took, loooong, hot showers with the pressure washer style nozzle that worked the aches and stiffness out of my neck and back.  Oooooohhhh how nice that was!  Our 5th wheel water heater gives us 1.75 minutes of hot to warm water before turning oh so cold in the winter months.  So, no loooooong, hot showers with a pressure washer style spray nozzle here!  It’s a sailor shower here.  In, out, move on……….  But for those 16 days, I luxuriated in my morning loooooong, hot, massaging showers.

I went and visited my friend Kristen and her children, including her sweet little newborn daughter.  What a treat!  And I went to visit my friend Evelyn Mae.  She coached me in making home made tallow soap which will be a great help to us when we start making our goat milk soap this year.

And I spent lots of time reading and studying the Scriptures.  I cannot remember when I have ever been able to spend the better part of the day reading God’s Word and not having anything else that I needed to be doing.  What a blessing and refreshment that was!

And what a blessing it was for God to have provided a place just for the two of to stay because of Rick’s temporary work in Washington!  No added expense for us to be away for 16 days alone………..Now THAT’s something only the Lord could provide for us!  While WE didn’t plan for our 30th Anniversary celebration to be in our little “penthouse” apartment in Washington, God did.  He did a great job of planning it for us : ) and we are very thankful for that.

It was a nice time of refreshment, relaxation and regrouping, and planning and praying for the next 30 years, Lord willing.

And then it was time to fly home.  What mixed feelings!  Having to leave our time alone.  But being excited about returning to life here at Plymouth Rock Ranch and the children.  Coming home to little Roo hugs and his cute little looks at me.  Having 3 children want to sleep with me my first night home.  That only lasted a couple of hours before I had to sadly ask one of them to go cuddle with their sister instead.  There just wasn’t enough room on that queen sized bed for 4 of us!

Coming home to the Yak-man’s, loooooong stories with no details left out of what I missed while I was gone.  Seeing all the work the children accomplished while I was gone………….baby chicks in the refurbished chicken brooder.  Fixed washing machine, thanks to Mr. E and his generous help.  Goat kidding shed and pen in place.  The beginning of a raised bed garden.  And more…………

While our 16 days alone was a blessing to us both, we are so very thankful that the Lord blessed our marriage with 10 children over the years.  We cannot imagine our life any other way.  They are each unique blessings from the Lord.  Thank you, Lord, for the children and heritage you have so graciously bestowed upon our union.

Soon, Lord willing, I will not be torn between two worlds, one in Washington and one in Texas.  But for our 30th Anniversary, it was so very kind of the Lord to provide for us our home away from home and a refreshing time alone.

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