Thank you Lord!

Our laptop is still in the shop, and I only have a small folder of OLD pics on this computer.

I am so thankful for:

A JOB for Kris, and a weekly paycheck, for however long it lasts.
That Mooky has his driver's license.
That Erinn had several months of feeling not as bad.
That although the hard drive went out on our "new" laptop, it was covered under the warranty and we didn't have to pay for the new one. (Other than gas to drive to SA.)
That although the red and maroon trucks both need repairs, they didn't break down away from home!
That we are current on our house payment after such a rough 2 years.
That the Lord provided the money to pay for 6 cs therapy appointments, in advance, thus saving money.

14 years old!

Yesterday for her birthday, Erinn was sick. Really miserably, throat killing her, congested, sickly sick. Mooky was feeling nearly as bad, but he is 24 hours behind her into this sickness. Kris had "IT" for about 5 days last week...

We rescheduled the family party for Saturday, but went ahead and gave her the presents from us. Originally she said she wanted to wait and have the cake on Saturday. But, then at 6:30 she said "It just doesnt seem like my birthday without a cake!" She ALWAYS makes her own cake, and decorates it too. It's a family tradition. But, this time she was just too sick. So, I grabbed the Betty Crocker Gluten Free cake mix and whipped up a birthday cake for her. She did manage to make the icing herself, and do the decorating too.

This is pretty much how she looked half the day. Got some extra computer time since it was her birthday.

Never shoot a skunk before church

I did a head count on my chickens Friday evening and finally realized exactly how bad the predator situation has become. I only have 5 adult Maran hens left, and 2 banty hens!! Still plenty of roosters strutting around though.... what's up with that? Do I need to put a sign out that says "Please leave my hens alone, but you are welcome to the roosters" ???

So, on Saturday night I set a trap out with a raw chicken bone in it and this morning I went out to check....

....oh no. Another skunk.

Mooky was in the shower, and Kris had been sick all night so I didn't want to ask him to shoot it. Therefore, I shot it myself. "And dragged the whole cage behind the four wheeler as far away as possible. I thought maybe if I kept my distance from the cage I wouldn't stink so bad.

It didn't work. Even though I wore the oldest rattiest clothes possible and threw them away afterwards, I still needed a shower and it was already time to leave for church. I didn't even try to get the skunk out of the trap - I just left him in there! A problem to deal with another day.... *sigh*

I found out two things I wish I never knew about skunks. This one had a nose shaped like a duck's beak. Seriously! And, when they spray, it comes out dark green. lol

A last minute horse trailer for Erinn

In late July we found out that there would be a monthly 4-H horse club meeting in Kerrville starting August 23rd. Erinn was not feeling any better, but I started praying that somehowsomeway she would be able to go to the meetings... The problem was that not only do we not own a horse trailer and can't afford to buy one, but Erinn was feeling as terrible as ever. That Lyme Disease was really keeping her down. I didn't even feel confident that she could ride just once a month, but kept praying about it anyway. ;o)

I did a little asking around (not much) and no one had a horse trailer they could loan to us or sell cheeeeap, so I kinda just let it go. Then, around August 13 Erinn perked up a little and started feeling a bit better. She was able to start taking 2 of her very important medications on the 13th, and has taken them every day since!! (Die Babesia, DIE!!) On the one hand she is up and off the couch a little bit more, and on the other hand the die off caused by the meds is making her feel a little worse. But overall, small improvement.

On August 18 Erinn asked me if I thought she'd be able to get a trailer in time. I told her that it was awful late now, but I'd go ahead and look in the newspaper and on craigslist. I was at GB's house for the afternoon, and mentioned that there just wasn't enough time left to find a trailer for a price we could afford. Aunt Loy said something to the effect of "Well, that's plenty of time for God!"

On the 19th I sent an email to the FreeCycle group, asking if anyone in our area would either rent/lease us a trailer once a month, OR if someone had an old piece of junk trailer needing to be fixed up that they would sell cheap. I got a reply, and we went to look at the trailer Friday (the 20th). It's old, and needs a little work, but all in all it's road worthy and that is what counts. Erinn told the owner that she could only spare $100 for this trailer because she needed to save the rest of her money for horse feed and to pay the farrier. I inwardly cringed, thinking there was NO WAY they'd accept that amount of money. Kris and I were trying to figure out if we could add a little bit of money to that hundred dollars when they lady came back and said "My husband says he'll take $100 for this trailer."

WOW. Only God.

!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Mara Cavy or Patagonian Cavy

...has been spotted in the Texas Hill Country!

Just northwest of Harper, Tx, near the Little Devil's River 3 different people have seen a Mara.

Kris even got a picture of one with his cell phone, but it was hopping away rapidly and the picture was blurry.

God's Provision for my surgery!

This is a really neat story, but it's long. It's starts on Thursday of last week when Kris and I butchered some goats that had been needing to be butchered for weeks. We squeezed the job in that day and got all the meat cut up, ground, and in the freezer so that I could go to Hico on Friday to farm sit. It was an all day job, with the meat grinder acting up, and grinding VERY slowly, but we did finally finish.

Friday morning I spent cooking so that Kris and Mooky would have plenty of food to eat while I was gone. I was planning to leave around 3, but I was going to have to take the "big truck" because Erinn needs to be able to lie down if the trip is more than half an hour. Kris went out to check the water and oil on that truck, and came in and said he was afraid the water pump might be going out, but he wasn't sure. We prayed about it and couldnt come to a clear decision on whether I should take that truck or not. Taking a smaller truck would save lots of gas money, but it could mean 6 hours of misery for Erinn... So, I continued cleaning house, cooking, and getting all the rabbits set up with extra water bowls so they'd only need to be filled once a day. I streamlined everything I could.

I am only milking one goat right now, but she has a small udder and is impossible for Kris to milk since his hands are so big, so I let her HUGE kid out with her and sure enough he started nursing again even though he should have been totally weaned months ago! Yay! Another answer to prayer. Kris wont have to milk, and I wouldnt have to dry the goat up either. The kid could nurse while I was gone, then when I got home, I could lock him away from his mama again and start getting the milk for us.

Then at about 2:30 or so, I got a phone call from Gabe saying that his back was hurting and he felt that if he went out of town with the rest of the family it would incapacitate him, so he was going to stay home and I wouldn't be needed to farm sit after all.

Well... ok... no problem. We have a clean house, and lots of food to eat! LOL

3:30 that afternoon one of the orphans I am raising for a friend just "up and died". Actually, it went through a couple hours of agony where I did everything I could to try to save her and relieve her pain, but she died anyway. I am so glad I was here to deal with that.

Friday evening: Halcy texted me asking if I'd like to have a couple of nieces for a few days. Normally, I would jump at the chance! I hesitated, and since I am not the fastest texter, I didnt explain to her that I had this weird feeling that I should say no. I was a little stressed about losing the one kid, afraid the other orphan might get sick too, so I just told her very briefly that it wouldnt work out this time and I was sorry.

Saturday morning I went out to the barn and found this:

Anyone know what kind of animal digs those kinds of holes? I wasn't SURE what animal did it, but I did know it was not a chicken or a rabbit. I had an idea of what it might be, and was hoping I was wrong...

I looked around and didnt see any strange critters, so I pulled out the nest box, away from the wall. I've found two rattle snakes back there so far, so I was really careful! And look what I found!

...

A skunk!!

Yikes!! At least it was only interested in finding bugs, not eating baby rabbits and chicks... but still! We cant have a skunk living in our barn! So, I went to get the Exterminator, aka Mooky.

We knew from past experience that if you shoot a skunk in the head and kill it instantly, it wont spray. BUT, we also knew from past (bad) experience, that as the body relaxes after death, it releases the smell. So, the plan was for Mooky to shoot it in the head, and then for me to instantly use a rake and scoop it in to an empty feed bag for disposal. The plan worked. Sorta. It released it's stench awful fast, but we got it out of there without anyone throwing up. That's not to say there wasnt some GAGGING going on!!

Allright, so, it's still Saturday, and I had to go in to take a shower after the skunk incident. Even though I did not TOUCH the skunk I had to throw away my clothes. Old t-shirt, no big deal. Black pants, although oldish, still had a year or two of farm work left in them... rats. I dont have a lot of clothes, so I wasnt happy about that.

I cooked a late lunch of skinless grilled Buddy's Natural Chicken. Usually, store bought chicken will cause my gall bladder to act up, but I hadn't yet had any problems with the Buddy's chicken since it is so much healthier than regular store bought chicken.

However, this time it set me off, and I had a dreadful gall bladder attack. It lasted from 3:30 till about midnight. We had just enough pain pills left from Kris' back surgery in 2008 to get me through it. Even with the meds, it was the most pain ever. I have been dealing with this gall bladder for at least a year and a half, so I knew that we were at the point of no return. For awhile there, if I avoided all dairy, eggs, honey, beef, storebought meat, etc, etc, I felt good. But, eventually, I got to the point that any food could set me off. So, I knew I was going to have to have the surgery. We decided that since the pain pills were keeping me alive, we'd wait until morning to go to the hospital since we figured it was unlikely they'd do surgery in the middle of the night. This way, we could prepare in the morning, then go.

So, that's what we did. Mooky cleaned the kitchen really well, and Erinn packed her bags to stay at Granny's house. We dropped Mooky off at church, dropped Erinn off in Kerrville at Kris' mom's house, and then got to the ER around 10. I was very thirsty, but hadnt had anything to eat or drink since 3pm Saturday. I purposely didnt drink anything Sunday because I wasnt sure when the surgery might be. It was a LONG day of WAITING, and tests, and more WAITING, and trouble drawing blood because I was very dehydrated by late afternoon. Finally, the doctor said he was recommending surgery and would send the on call surgeon in to see me.

And in walked the very surgeon who had done several of my father in law's surgery. A fine Christian man! Praise the Lord! And what a relief. :o) He said that since I was so dehydrated and had so much inflammation in my gall bladder, that he wanted me on IV meds overnight and the surgery would be Monday morning. So I finally got some water to drink. Yay!! Even that hospital tap water tasted good.

We brought the laptop with us, and so while I sat in the hospital room Sunday evening, I did my online Bible Study for that day. The lesson was on praising the Lord in the midst of difficult trials and circumstances, and singing praises to Him even before your prayers are answered and before he brings the victory.

The surgery was delayed Monday morning because of an emergency surgery that needed to be done in the very operating room where I was scheduled at nine am. So, I layed there, wide awake, in pre-op from 8:30 until 10:30 singing praise songs to the Lord. I had NONE of the fear and anxiety that plagued me the night before. Whenever it started to creep in on me again, I'd think up another praise song to sing. :o)

The surgery went well, and I was home by 5pm Monday. Praise the Lord for arranging that whole chain of events, starting on Thursday, to prepare the way for us and make the whole experience smooth and without complications.

Mooky took good care of everything at home. Granny took good care of Erinn so I didnt have any worries about her, Kris took good care of me in the hospital, and the Lord took good care of us all!

And that is the end of my long story... whew. :o)

Oh wait! No, it's not. On the way home from the hospital, Kris discovered that it WAS the water pump going out in the truck. But, we made it all the way home safely, and so that is one more answer to prayer. I didnt get stuck on the side of the road somewhere, halfway to Hico with a broken down truck. Yippee!

not much of an update

Our computer died. There was a storm, and I turned it off to protect it, but in the morning it wouldnt come back on. It was about 2.5 years old. RIP. :o)

It wouldnt start back up for me to try to save the pics.... until one day, Mooky asked me to let him try. So, I let him hook it all back up and...





....







...it came on! I guess he has the right touch. We were able to save all eight thousand and something pictures. Thank you LORD!!





It is not running right at all. It has fatal problems. Because of the thunderstorm the night it died, so the insurance is going to pay for it's replacement! This may take a few weeks though, so in the meantime we are limping along on an even older computer that the kids had been using for games. I cant do much of anything with this thing. Cant even right click half the time!! But, it's better than nothing.



UPDATES:

Mooky sang a solo in front of his Sunday School class today! And will do it again Tuesday night in front of the whole church. I'll be there with the video camera then. Today I stayed home from church with Erinn who is getting to be too sick to stay alone anymore. Well, for the last 2 weeks, that has been the pattern. I hope it doesnt stay that way!

Gall Bladder

Tana and Erinn

I found an article called:


What Causes Gall Bladder Pain and How to Avoid Surgery that explains what Doc was telling me about the link between food allergies and gall bladder attacks.


My test results came back and I am allergic to:


All Dairy products (cow AND goat!!!) :o(


Gluten (wheat, barley, and rye)


Honey


Beef and Lamb


Navy Beans


and Watercress.


The only dairy I can eat is cheddar cheese, and not more often than once every 4 days.


I have been avoiding all those foods since I found out what I am allergic to and I have been feeling pretty good! I dont think I've ever eaten watercress in my life, so I won't miss that one. :o) I also won't miss having gall bladder attacks, so I am not really upset about the things I can't have anymore.

Erinn at the doctor's office, she had just gotten an IV.

Erinn has been worsening over the last couple of weeks. Right now, she needs to be taking some new meds, and when test results finally come in, there may be even more meds to add to that.
She has a terrible time swallowing pills, and even taking liquid meds because of her almost constant nausea. We have a hard time finding a time slot where she can actually take meds. Kiwi recently told me about Nux Vomica and that has been helpful. Not totally, and not enough to take her pills when she should, but it's a relief that she can take something natural for nausea instead of having to rely solely on a prescription.
Tuesday and Wednesday Erinn managed to take all her pills on time, and she actually had a little more energy than usual! But, today she feels SO awful that she only got a couple of pills down and those were hours later than they should have been, and majorly traumatic! On days like this, it's a full time job to take care of her. I am so thankful to be able to be at home with her. I get a few minutes here and there to run out and feed bottle babies, check on new chicks, feed various critters, milk the goats, etc, but cant stay outside too long. On her 2 decent days this week I did manage to get both gardens weeded! That was a huge relief because I was way behind on that and it's supposed to rain some over the next couple of days.

Well, I'm off to cook supper - please be praying for Erinn. That she can take all her meds, and that maybe we could even get some schoolwork done!

Erinn is cleaning her room!!!!!!!!!
She worked on her bookshelf last night a little bit, and today has been cleaning for hours! Organizing, really. Taking lots of breaks, but making good progress!
I'm so thankful to see her feeling a bit better. The only difference in her meds right now is that she just started taking cortisol "to mimic normal physiological process for her exhausted adrenals".

SKUNK!

I went to be early last night without giving the kids their 9 o'clock bottle because I was feeling pretty rotten. I wasnt sleeping well so I got up at 11 to feed the kids, and I heard a banty hen squawk briefly, through the open bedroom window. Then I smelled a skunk. But, stupidly I didnt go look in the milkroom to check on the broody banty in there (I did check the ones in the carport because it sounded so close)... and this morning I found that the skunk had gotten all her eggs that were just fixing to hatch. GRRRR!! Stupid skunk! She was very upset, so I temporarily gave her 2 eggs to sit on until I am sure that she is going to stay put. If she stays all day, I will move her to a crate tonight with some of the eggs that a hen in the barn is setting on.
We made an emergency trip to East Texas on Sunday and didnt get home until late Wednesday night. Mum drove us because I was feeling too sick to drive. Thanks so much Mum!! We are now waiting on test results for Erinn and hoping that they will reveal something... anything that will help us find the right treatment for her so she can get to feeling better. Doc says Erinn has fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue, along with the Lyme. So, that explains a LOT.

Mop Giveaway

Wow - that is a really nice mop, but the price is totally outrageous. The only way I'd ever get one is to win the giveaway. Go check it out!

http://www.foodrenegade.com/giveaway-the-best-eco-friendly-mop-ever-107-value/#comment-13144

Flowers

We've got so many of these purple flowers that even PJ (the deer) "picked" one.

George Mueller

Part of my Bible study lesson today was an account of how George Mueller learned to feast on Jesus Christ:

While I was staying at Nailsworth, it pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality, as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost though now... more than forty years have since passed away.

The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever, that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was, to have my soul happy in the Lord. The first thing to be concerned about was not, how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord; but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished. For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

Before this time my practice had been, at least ten years previously, as an habitual thing, to give myself to prayer, after having dressed in the morning. Now I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditation on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, whilst meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental, communion with the Lord. I began therefore, to meditate on the New Testament, from the beginning, early in the morning.

The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God; searching, as it were, into every verse, to get blessing out of it; not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word; not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon; but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul. The result I have found to be almost invariably this, that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, or to thanksgiving, or to intercession, or to supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer, but to meditation, yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer. When thus I have been for awhile making confession, or intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks, I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it; but still continually keeping before me, that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation. The result of this is, that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation, and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart. Thus also the Lord is pleased to communicate unto me that which, very soon after, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.

The difference between my former practice and my present one is this. Formerly, when I rose, I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time till breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time. At all events I almost invariably began with prayer. . .But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray.

I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being nourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father, and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.

It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private intercourse with a brother stirred me up to this matter. And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man.

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time, except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as every one must allow. What is the food for the inner man: not prayer, but the Word of God, so that it not only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe, but considering what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts. . .

I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow-believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God I ascribe to this mode the help and strength I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials in various ways than I had ever had before; and after having now above forty years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it. How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials and the temptations of the day come upon one!

— from Desiring God by John Piper, pp. 132-134

Goat Milk Ice Cream

...made from fresh raw milk from healthy and happy goats and healthy eggs from free range chickens!! :o) We are so blessed to be swamped with milk right now! When the May orphans arrive I won't have any extra, so I thought I'd make a treat today.
I found a recipe for ice cream sweetened with agave nectar and/or honey, and made it this morning. It's chilling in the fridge right now.
We all just feel so much better when we aren't eating any sugar at all. Mooky makes gluten free cookies every Saturday to take to Sunday School, so the kids do eat sugar about once a week. There are always gluten filled snacks in his class, and being a teenage boy, he is always hungry.

He eats GF corn or rice chex with homemade raw yogurt the minute he wakes up.
Then when I get a nice big healthy protein filled breakfast cooked, he eats that too!
And by the time he gets to church at 9:15, he is HUNGRY and must have gluten free cookies. Poor deprived child. I don't know how he ever survives until lunch at 12:30.

Erinn's ear is still hurting, but not as bad. She and Mooky are both feeling pretty rotten today, but it is pouring rain so maybe some of the pollen will get washed away. We got 5" in 48 hours!

The Year of Jubilee

I love that song... and I never even knew what "the year of Jubilee" was... but in today's lesson in my Bible Study, it explained that it was when all debts were forgiven and all slaves were set free!


Erinn's ear is hurting her pretty badly. The oak pollen is so bad that our red trucks have turned yellow! Please pray that she will sleep well tonight. She needs good rest so badly. If she doesn't get it, her nausea is almost always a lot worse. But, thankfully, she has not needed to take her prescription for nausea in the last 2 weeks! Thank you GOD! It's still there, but she has been able to deal with it using her 3 bottles of essential oils. She never lets those out of her sight! They are peppermint, lavender, and bergamot. One night I was terribly nauseous in the middle of the night and I sniffed the lavender and almost threw up. Then I sniffed the peppermint and felt a lot better. The next day she told me, "Oh! NEVER sniff the lavender when you're nauseated. Just put it on your wrists. Then sniff the peppermint. Then put a tiny dab of bergamot on the end of your nose." LOL. She has her method all worked out!

2 special nieces

Gabby and Zoe came for a 4 day visit last week!

They spent so much time in the "pool" that they turned into prunes.
Zoe helping feed BarBQue.

Gabby LOVED the goggles, and got very good at going underwater!

Zoe tried them out a little bit, but didnt enjoy them near as much as Gabby did.

Zoe coloring. She prefers ballerina pictures first, and horse pictures second.

Gabby got sick on Thursday and spent a lot of time reading.

This is the tent that we made for them to sleep in while they were here.

It was so much fun! They loved playing in it, and reading in it, as well as sleeping in it.

Answers to Prayer!

God has answered 2 major prayers in the last several days. Praise Him!

On Friday, we made an emergency trip to the chiropractor because Kris had hurt his neck somehow, very badly. We had to use some of the money we had set aside for the house payment, and despite my tendency to worry, I just kept on trusting the Lord to provide what we need. It wasn't easy! When we got home, there was a message on the answering machine. Kris has been hired for a temporary job, starting at the end of April!!!!!! We dont know how long this job will last. Maybe weeks, maybe longer, but anything at all is a major answer to prayer after SEVENTEEN MONTHS of unemployment.

On Saturday a totally unexpected check arrived in the mail. (All I could do for a minute was GASP when I saw the amount!) Enough to cover what we still needed for the house payment, AND that chiropractor visit! Thank you Lord!!

How long?

How long before PJ figures out that the fence on Garden #2 is low enough to jump over?

He is 2 years old now, and he STILL doesn't jump fences. He waits on me to open a gate for him, or he goes through the barb-wire fence and tears himself all to pieces.

We've been working in the gardens a lot lately and he stands outside the fence, just watching us.

The hot tub had a "blow-out" yesterday, and all the water drained out. Kris fixed it today and now it's heating back up, which is a good thing because Mooky's neck is hurting really bad. He slept on it wrong a couple nights ago and really messed it up.

For a couple weeks now, Erinn's nausea has been down from an 8 to about a 4, so that was a nice reprieve! However, it is now back up to a pretty "high level of miserable" again...

Working across the road for Mr. Parker.

He accidentally backed into the support post, so Kris and Mooky were repairing the damage for him. When they were almost done, he said "Yall done yet? I'm fixin to try it again and see if I can hit it right this time!" He's such a jokester.

Kris got the hot tub running! He was able to manufacture pieces for the broken switches out of some tiny pieces of metal, which saved over $100! And since he got it running, several little things have gone wrong, but he is so good at fixing stuff that he has been able to take care of each problem!

Seventeen Months!

A post about tithing, the power of prayer, and a request for prayer.

Sometimes when the Lord really wants to get a point across to you, He brings the subject up from several different people or sources. So it has been with us and tithing. Last week at church our Sunday School lesson was in Proverbs 21. When we got to verse 26 (the righteous give without sparing) there was a big discussion on tithing.

New Living Translation
Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give!

English Standard Version
All day long he craves and craves, but the righteous gives and does not hold back.

In between Sunday School and church Kris and I went outside to call Erinn so we could check on her to make sure she was ok. Then we started talking about tithing. Wow! The Lord really laid it on our hearts to get serious about tithing, whether or not we think we can afford to do so! We have tithed off and on, almost always giving a tiny bit, but thinking that we couldn't do much....
After that we had a guest speaker (Pastor Mike was out of town) who spoke a little about tithing along with his message. Then, a day or two later there was something brief about tithing on the radio, and then I read THIS NEAT BLOG POST by a godly lady named Linny. I've been enjoying her blog for the last couple of months.
We've already had a big opportunity to tithe this week and it was such a joy to do so!

Here are my prayer requests:
1. Kris either needs a job, or he needs more small engine repair business.
2. The kids' health.
3. Bills.

This hot tub was given to us, and is an answer to prayer. The kids have been praying for one to help with their aches and pains. Not to have for fun. Nope. No way. (Seriously, it should be good for their daily Lyme pain, if we can get it running. It has some problems that we may not be able to fix for free, in which case we wont be able to get it running until who-knows-when.)

Erinn took this pic to show how big the baby rabbits are getting. She says she saw the white one get out of the nest box and back in, but every time I go out there they are all in the box sleeping.

This little LaMancha doe was given to us by some people in Mason. She was starving and had spray paint all over her when they found her. She seems to be about 6 months old, judging by the horns, but is the size of a 3 month old. Very sweet! We will be looking for a good home for her, so if anyone wants a sweet little goat, please let me know! I'd love to keep her because LaManchas have such great personalities, but it just isn't practical to have more than one breed of goats here. That is why we sold all the previous LaManchas, Alpines, and Saanens that we had. Mooky tilling in the garden, around the green bean supports.
The first 3 orphans of the year.

Delicious!

Spanish Rice Recipe



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Ingredients:

12 inch frying pan, with tight fitting lid



2 cups long grain white rice

1/8 cup corn oil

1/4 c onion pieces

1/2 bell pepper any color, cut into pieces

1 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup homemade salsa

2 tsp sea salt

2 3/4 cups of chicken broth

Directions:

Add the oil to the pan and put heat on to medium high. Add the rice and saute until golden brown approximately 10 - 15 minutes. Then add the onion and bell pepper and saute another 5 - 10 minutes.

The important thing is to make sure the rice is toasted to a nice golden brown.

Add garlic. Continue to saute for an additional 3 minutes. You will notice a wonderful garlic aroma.

Add the tomato puree, chicken broth and salt. Stir and turn heat up to high. Bring to a full boil while stirring. Continue to boil for 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

citric acid

Kris fixed the door on this rabbit cage in the garden for me,

so I put the two extra males in it.

Instant fertilizer!

Sometime last year I got a really good deal on a 5 lb bucket of citric acid. I decided to make mozzarella today and the kids wanted to taste the citric acid and see what it was like. They discovered that it must be a main ingredient in some of those really sour candies! If anyone needs some citric acid, PLEASE dont buy any. I will be happy to share with you!

Apparently my rennet is too old, at about 3 yrs... LOL So, my cheese making is not going well today. I tried tripling the amount of rennet and it still didnt set up. So, I guess I am just going to let it sit until tomorrow and see what develops. It probably wont be mozzarella but it may actually be some good cheese anyway.

Today is such a beautiful day! Erinn is feeling terrible, rotten, no good, etc... *sigh*. But, Kris seems to finally be getting over whatever kind of flu that was that he had. He is chain sawing right now with a swarm of goats all around him cleaning up the branches that fall to the ground.

I locked up all the kids last night so I could get more milk this morning, but two of them got our somehow sometime during the night. Oh well, that milk was going to be cheese, and it may not turn out anyway.

Out of the 6 baby rabbits born last week, all are white except this one.

Swag Bucks

If you use swagbucks instead of google as your search engine, you can earn a tiny bit of money for doing searches that you were going to do anyway. In about 6 weeks I earned 900 swagbucks, which I cashed in for a $10 Amazon gift card! The kids are anxiously awaiting the lastest Chuck Black book, which will be available March 16, so I will use the gift card for that.
I get some free swagbucks in my account if anyone here signs up using one of the links above.

"The absence of a clear understanding of God's holiness is the reason for our shallowness, it is the reason for our impotence, it is the reason for our selfishness, it is the reason for our weakness, it is the reason for our disobedience. We don't really understand how holy God is that's why we compromise, that's why we are the worst kind of pragmatists who do only what fulfills our desires." John MacArthur

Rabbits

This is Neville in the new rabbit pen in the barn. He was able to escape from it, so we added more wire. He hasnt gotten out again, and now the two girls are in there with him. Neville is a "mutt" that the neighbors gave us when they moved. He is really tame and friendly, loves to be scratched on the head. The 2 girls he is in with are NZ/Californian crosses. The older female whose name is "Mother" had 6 babies this morning! 5 are black, and one is mostly white with a little black. Satin, the younger female is due in a week.
Erinn even went outside to see them this morning!!! She also went outside this afternoon when Mooky and I got home from town.

This is the view inside the rabbit colony. It's 11' by 22'.

The black trashcan holds their feed.

The cages on the right hold 4 young males that are nearly to butchering age.

We have several areas that the rabbits can hide in. A spool that they like to go inside of, a couple of upside-down nest boxes, and an old wooden wheel chair ramp that I set up on 2x4s so they could go under it.

Mooky and I (Kris is sick) had gone to get groceries today, pick up tillers needing work from 2 different people, and we also picked up Scarlett from NuLuvNubians where she was having a long visit with their nice buck Orion. Jonna told me that Scarlett was giving 1.5 gallons of milk per day. Woohooo!!! I didnt know how much she was giving because when she was here, her kid was nursing. I discovered Jonna's BLOG when I was looking for the link to her website to add to this post. Erinn is disappointed that Scarlett wasn't bred to Jukebox, but oh well! Sorry, Erinn, but Orion is really nice too, and we should get some great kids from that breeding. I cant wait to milk tonight! It will be so nice to have plenty of milk again. We've been skimping along on what I had frozen from Scarlett before she left. I was getting just enough from Sparrow and Vanilla to feed Shine (Scarlett's kid).

This is Camo and Eclipse.

Erinn and Mooky started a new round of antibiotics and I was SO hopeful that they would do as well as last time on them. But, both of them developed such terrible stomach issues that we went down to half doses for 24 hours, and then had to stop altogether.

Erinn was so sick yesterday that she spent all day in bed, alternating between sleeping and moaning. We were out of promethazine (anti-nausea) and the doctor in Fredericksburg refused to call any in for me, so I called Dr. Braun. God bless her and Douglas! They called in a prescription right away and Mr. Parker was in Kerrville already so he picked it up for us. Whew!


Today neither one has been able to take a thing, and Erinn's stomach is feeling even worse.
Kris is also sick, with some respiratory thing, fever, etc. He is so miserable! I'm just so thankful that he didnt have it at the same time the rest of us did.

We are getting LOTS more rain than usual, and enjoying it so much! The days of sunshine in between are much appreciated too. I cant wait until spring; it's going to be SO beautiful around here!

We've made the tough decision to find a new home for Liberty. She is spending too much time in the road, and no matter what we try she wont stop. I would rather find her a new home than have her get hit. We found someone who wants her, and has electric netting around the large area that he wants to keep her in, to guard his pastured poultry. However, he doesn't have goats, and didn't plan to get any for another year or so. We are offering him 2 wethers to go with Liberty, so if he can get shelter ready for the 3, it sounds like it will all work out and be a good home for Liberty. She'll have a couple of her beloved goats with her, AND she'll be in a safe area that she can not escape from.

Update for Mum

Poor Mum, stuck down Mexico... and this is the only way she can see family. So, this update is just for you! :o)

Gabby took this picture of "The Biter" - the horse who tried to take Halcy's finger off.

I took this pic when I dropped Gabby off in Johnson City. We got to meet Halcy at the LBJ place and see Captain!

Gabe is a quick learner - here he is doing his first ever disbudding.

Here he is ENJOYING the poor kid's suffering! :o)

Goats in the barn, refusing to set foot in the snow.

Erinn and Mooky enjoying the snow.

I was amazed to see Erinn running!

I guess we need snow a little more often.

pics

Gabby and Zoe have been here for a visit since Sunday.

Last night they got to see a goat born. They said they have never seen any animal be born before and they were very excited.

Wow. This is intense!

Everyone admiring the new baby.


Gabby and Zoe have been such good helpers!

Update on ID doctor in SA

The doctor we saw yesterday was very nice and spent an hour with us, asking questions, and writing down all the history on both kids. He was very thorough, but his conclusion was that they "dont seem to have Lyme symptoms, and since they never had a bull's eye rash" he doesnt feel comfortable treating them for Lyme. Now, if they get so bad that they start to have heart problems, meningitis, swollen and/or red joints, etc, then he would treat them for Lyme. Great! We'll just wait till they're at death's door and bring them back...

He did not want to do any blood testing at all because he said that since so much of that had been done already there didnt seem to be much point in it. Which, was probably true since he didnt want to test for co-infections.

Mooky felt terrible on the way home yesterday and had a really rough night. This morning I gave him one of Erinn's nausea pills and it didnt help, so we decided that maybe the nausea was coming from the migraine. Ibuprofen doesnt help, neither does Tylenol, so I finally gave him a half of a pain pill. It hasnt helped yet, but it's only been 20 minutes. He has a fever, diarrhea, stomach ache, migraine and a congested sounding cough, all at once! Poor thing.

This morning the weather is beautiful! Sunny and warm, so I am trying to get caught on on laundry. But, that's kinda hard when you are running from one sick kid to the other bringing drinks, meds, making soup, serving soup, etc! Mooky requested chicken soup with rice, carrots, AND GF pasta this morning about 9. Sounded weird, but I made it and he said it was the best soup he ever had. I'm hoping he falls asleep soon because usually that's the only way he can get rid of a migraine. Well, that and throwing up...

Erinn is exhausted from her day yesterday but other than more muscle pains, she feels about the same as usual. Fever, of course.

Motion to Delay

It looks like the LCRA has until 1-15-10 to file their proposed routes for the new power lines. They may DELAY again.