Here is a miraculous story that recently happened to our family. Here goes.

On the 14th of Nov. 2008, two days after I wrote the post about us no longer pursuing adoption, the Harneds, dear friends, informed Mom of a baby girl named Jenna who was being cared for by her grandparents and was up for adoption. The grandparents wanted to be grandparents rather than care for her as a parent would. So, they searched for a family that would meet their criteria. The grandparents were willing to care for the little girl if they couldn't find the family with the same goals, but they really wanted to step into a grandparent's role.

On the 18th of Nov. they came over for an afternoon visit. Our two families were amazingly like-minded.

On the 20th of Nov. they called and informed us that they would be delighted if we would pursue adopting Jenna. Of course we said that we would gladly adopt Jenna!

Both of Jenna's parents had not relinquished their rights, which meant that she was not legally free. This was a major step that needed to be accomplished in order that Jenna could be adopted.

On the 24th of Nov. we made the 1 1/2 hour drive to their house, which is beautifully located on the side of a mountain. We had a great time talking, playing instruments, and getting to know Jenna.

On the 3rd of Dec. the birthfather signed all the papers releasing Jenna for adoption!! We were excited as this meant that only one parent was left to relinquish rights.

On the 5th, the birthmother relinquished her rights by not showing up at her court
appointment! She had also chosen to not participate in Jenna's life prior to that court date. This left Jenna free to be adopted!

On the 11 of Dec. the Krouses came over for a visit and Grandma and Grandpa Fraley flew in from Utah, so we were able to get family pictures with Jenna! It was a lot of fun.

Today our family enjoyed having the Harned's over. Their mom was shopping in some stores near our house and instead of going shopping, Michelle, Matthew, and Brett voted coming over to our house to play! :) Us kids didn't mind in the least!!:) We spent a couple hours playing Capture the Flag. It sure added a fun dimension to the game in trying to run through deep snow! The game seemed to be going in my team's opponent's favor, but at the very end, my team won!!! After that exhausting but thrilling game, we headed in the house to eat and play "in-house" games. Corbin, Brett, and Calvin played Risk which Corbin won. Kayla won the rest of us at a game of Monopoly.

Later that day, we went outside to feed the animals and brush the horses. They didn't have much icicles on their back, but their feet were sure packed with ice. I tried a while to get it out of our smallest pony with not much luck. The bigger ponies were a lot easier.

We had a great time with you....please come again soon Harneds!!!! :)

Here are some pictures that will hopefully be able to give you an idea of what it looks like around our place!

We are getting dumped on. It is kind of hard to know how much it snows, because where we live, the winds blow a lot and drift the snow. Yesterday the snow was approxamently 1" to 1' high. Today it is 1' to 3' tall!!!

Wow! It sure has been piling up snow today, even though the forecast only showed flurries. Well, I suppose even the 'Forecasters' are wrong sometimes! We have been 'enjoying' freezing temperatures and having to fill waterbuckets up by hand. :P I am sure thankful thought that we have wood heating and hot water to warm us up with!

Corbin had a wonderful birthday on Dec. 5th. We went 2nd hand shopping and Dad met us at Costco for lunch. We were able to quite a few things at the stores. Then when we were done shopping, we came home and Corbin received his gift. It was money to get a pistal. Corbin is very excitedly shopping around to get the best pistal to fit his needs!!

Dad celebrated his birthday four days later. He had to work, since it was a Tuesday, but when he arrived home we played Monopoly. Corbin won!


My Grandpa and Grandma came up on Wednesday to celebrate Corbin's 16 birthday, Dad's birthday, and an early Christmas. They live in Utah, so we see them about 3-4 times a year. We have had a great time shopping, playing cribbage, talking, and working together.

I hope that everyone had a great Thanksgiving day with food, shelter, and everything else that we have to be thankful for.

Some of the things that I have to be thankful for are:

The Lord, who always gently guides me into paths of better character and is always there to talk to and share my heart with.

The Pilgrims, who started this country in Faith, Love, and a Christian heritage.

The freedom of being able to pray, read the Bible, sing hymns, and share the Gospel with others.

Family and Friends, who encourage me, love me, play with me, and sharpen me!

Corbin got his pins out! They came out easily and with hardly any pain. Corbin has been trying to strengthen and loosen that arm now. It is amazing how much the arm loses it's strength and mobility in five weeks!! To hold the arm straight out in front of him, was like for one of us, holding a ten pound weight in your hand!! He can now lift his arm above his head.

Thanks for all your prayers!!

Velvet is a Nubian doe that gave birth on my property this January to two girls and one boy. I sold her along with one of her daughters to a wonderful family. They cared for them this summer and really enjoyed them, but recently, felt God leading them to move. So they called me up and I bought them back. Dad and I decided though that 13 does were too much for us to comfortably manage, so we are selling them.

We found a buyer that should be picking them up on the 20th. I will be sad to see them go, but glad that they found a good home.

Hello Everyone,

I don't know if you all knew that we were planning on adopting, but we have been working on adopting since February. At first everything was falling into place, but recently, all the doors have been shut. We are not wanting to start all over again, so unless God brings some children to us, we are not planning on trying to adopt.

This has been somewhat hard on us, but we understand that God knows what is best, and we don't want what God doesn't want for us, so we aren't going to try to open doors that have been shut.

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers and support.

My brother loves hunting. This year, Corbin read several books and studied, studied, and studied. He bought new better hunting gear and researched where he should hunt this year. Unfortunatly, his hunting season only lasted from Friday to Monday! On Monday, he was hunting at a friend's house. Danny (one of Corbin's friends) was accompanying him. Next to a pond stood a tree and tied to the tree was a rope swing. Corbin looked at the swing and thought that it looked fun, but unsafe, as it looked like the handle had been shot by a gun. On further observation, however, he decieded to give it a try. It bore his weight, so deciding that actually swinging would be a lot more fun than being still, he stepped off and taking a running start, grabbed the handle of the rope swing and swung out. The next thing he knew was that he was lying on the ground, and having fallen about six feet through the air and digging a two inch dent in the dirt from his shoulder, was not feeling too good. Corbin jumped up, but hastily learning that he hurt, layed back down. He then had Danny try to lay his hurt arm across his stomach, so he could then try to get up, but that hurt too much. He had Danny try to hold his arm tight against his side, but that didn't work either. Danny called up at the house and learned that Dad had just pulled in. Dad drove down to the pond which is where the rope swing was. Once he got there, he pulled Corbin into a sitting postition, then up all the way. Danny drove the car back up to the house, while Corbin hanging on to Dad, made his painful, slow way up to the house. After sitting at the Wylie's for a while, Dad drove Corbin to a InstaCare center. The doctors there thought that it was dislocated and sent him to Sacred Heart. Once at Sacred Heart, Dad searched for where the emergency room was. After finally finding it, they sat down and waited for admission to see a doctor. Mom arrived at the doctor's office about 5 hours after the accident. Corbin was shaking from pain. Mom ordered some pain meds for him and Corbin soon began to feel a little better. After several x-rays, the doctors determined that it was broken and that he would need a surgery to put the bones in place. (The humerous bone had snapped up by the clavicle bone.) Dad, Mom, and Corbin got to bed at about 2:00, only to have to get up and be back at the doctor's by 7:00. Corbin had his surgery at 11:00 a.m. and has since been resting here at home with four pins sticking out of his arm- to keep the bone in place. We were hoping that we could get a lot of school done, but have put that ambition away for a couple weeks and are watching lots of movies and listening to tapes.

Katie, Kayla's dog, was extremely sick. One Friday, we took a hike and while usually Katie likes to play and run around, this time she only wanted to cuddle up with me. She had a very sick stomach. We took her to the vet, so they could run a Parvo test. She didn't have Parvo and we thought she was getting a little better, so we took care of her for the weekend. Monday morning, her health deteriated rapidly. Mom and I thought that she was dying, so Mom took her to the vet. They kept her at the vet's office for two days. Katie didn't throw-up once! We brought her home again and after a few days of taking it easy and relaxing; she was her normal self. We were so glad!

God allowed a wonderful family to be PonyBoy's new home. They understand horses and spend lots of time with them. This family raises horses, but the horses are all too hot-headed for their 6-year-old niece, so PonyBoy is going to be worked and next year, be their niece's new pony! They were soo excited to find a horse that likes barrel racing.

Here is Deb and Stilton. Deb is on the left, Stilton is on the right.

Hello, Everyone!

I wanted to introduce my two new does and buck. Some of our friends were selling most of their Toggenburg does. This is the same family that I had bought Grommette, Gravity, and Cherokee from. After some consideration and planning, we decided to get:


Stilton! Stilton is Grommette's first daughter!! I was sooo excited when I heard that I could buy Stilton. I have now owned all of Grommette's daughters! Stilton is producing about 3/4 gallon a day right now.

Deb! Deb is Cherokee's grand-daughter!! I was again so excited to be able to purchase a doe directly related to Cherokee. She is producing 1/2 gallon a day. This is Deb's first freshening, so she is doing good.

Style! What a name for a buck! :-) Style has curly hair on top of his head. As soon as I am get a good picture of him; I will post the picture on this blog. We are not sure yet as to if we will keep him, or just use him for breeding.

One Friday in August, Mom, Kayla, Josiah, and I went to the fair. Josiah is a little boy that has stayed with us once a week throughout the summer. When we arrived there, we first watched a magic show. I so wished that he would teach us how to do a trick! One of the tricks, he read the directions aloud while doing the trick. Even then, we couldn't figure out how he did it. He took a banana, folded it in half, YUCK! and placed it into a handkerchief. He then squeezed the bag with the banana inside it, shook out the handkerchief and out fell a yellow handkerchief instead of a mushed banana!! I was very impressed to say the least! We saw some other tricks that he did, like, making candles come out of handkerchiefs and a bowling ball come out of a book. It was a great show. We then made our way to where another attraction was taking place. This one was having dogs jump off a dock into a pool of water. The length that they jumped was measured and the one that jumped the farthest won. The winner jumped 22 feet! We then checked out the buildings that contained the items that we had placed in the fair. I won first place on a blanket and shawl that I crocheted. Corbin won first place on a card that he drew. Kayla won first place on several things that she entered including two dresses that she sewed and a hat and booties that she crocheted. Calvin won third place on a picture of a dinasaur with it's shadow that he drew. Then we bought a bag of Kettle Corn and savoured each delicious bite! We met up with our friends, the Byrums, and watched a goats being judged. There were about six contestents showing off their goats. It was fun watching the different personalities of the goats. There was one that was wellbehaved and the worst one was jumping around, all the others were inbetween. We also went through a reptile barn and saw huge snakes, large toads, and a teeny owl. There was even a goose that ate grass out of our hand! It was know dinnertime, so we all piled into the Byrum's fifteen seater van and went to Qdoba. We had some excellent burritos there. We headed back to watch the Rodeo!!! The grandstands were packed full with excited, expectant people. We tried to find a spot to sit and eventually found ourselves with standing room only, but Rachal Byrum and I sought out a seat in the grandstands and were rewarded!!! There we watched as cowboys were let out of chutes on bucking horses. All stayed on their steeds for the six seconds. Then two cowboys on their well trained horses, would ride over and help the cowboy off the bucking bronc.The highlight of the show were the Bull Wrestlers. I am sure glad that I was not one of those cowboys. I would not have liked to grab a bull by his horns, jump off my horse, and pull the bull over on his back. There was a clown who acted like he couldn't ride his motercycle, so when someone told him to choke it, he grabbed it around the handlebars and choked it!! He manged to start it and rode it almost falling over the handlebars, then revving it up he rode it up on a jump that was attached to a semi-trailer and flew over the semi-trailer!! We stayed the whole time and left the fair at 9:00 after ten hours of fun!!

The Hike
This is the first time we rode our horses in the woods. Our whole family went. It was a lot of fun. Kayla, Jordan, and I were the only ones that rode our horses and everyone else probably had fun. I played like I was an Indian and cantered without holding onto the saddle horn! It was a sunny day. I was cantering a lot. It was very pretty. It sure would be fun to live out there, but I am thankful that God let us have a trailer to take our horses out there. Daddy gave me a stick and I played like it was my gun. I went ahead of the others a long way. It was fun to be alone. Kayla wanted to ride my horse a little bit and Jordan wanted to ride Kayla's horse a little bit. So I walked. I found a stick and played like it was my pistol. I was a little sick, so when I ran, I coughed a bit, so Daddy carried me. We met some other hikers on the way. Then we went back to our trailer and we met another man, his daughter, and his dog. The man worked with Dad a while ago. While they were talking, Kayla and I got on our horses bareback and rode around. Written by Calvin, age 8.


A hike and Trail ride
On September 1, 2008, Calvin and I went on our first trail ride. Our family had decieded to take a hike. We were borrowing a friend's trailer, so our family could take two horses if we wanted to, we decided that would be a good idea and lots of fun. So, we loaded up Ginger and Bullet and put their saddles and equipment in the back of our van. Then got into the van and drove to a park where horses were allowed. We saddled them up and started down the trail. Calvin rode Ginger and I rode Bullet. We went down the rather short trail and then we decieded to do it again, so we did it one more time. Corbin rememberd that we could cross the road and there would be three more trails. One of the trails was short, the other one was a little longer, and the third was even longer. We decided to take the short one. Calvin looked like a little Indian running Ginger down the trail without holding on. Daddy seeing how Calvin was having great fun and making war whoops, found Calvin a stick that looked like a gun. Then after getting a picture, he saw that the gun was too big and ackward for him to carry. Dad found him a smaller stick that looked like a pistal. Off he went, galloping down the trail. Soon, we were back at the starting line. Jordan wanted to have a turn on Bullet so we headed back to our van and exchanged the small saddle for a bigger one. Jordan got on and we headed back across the road and went down the middle-sized trail. I walked for half of the trail then Calvin got off Ginger and I rode her the rest of the way. Ginger was a lot of fun to ride. It was getting time to go home and eat dinner, so we loaded up the horses and headed home. We all had a wonderful time that day. The End. Written by Kayla, age 10


Horses and Hikes
One afternoon, our family decided to take advantege of our friend's horse trailer and the semi-warm day and go for a hike/ride. After loading the two horses, Bullet and Ginger, into the trailer, we were on our way. After arriving at the park, we backed the horses out of the trailer, saddled them up and were off! Kayla and Calvin rode first. Kayla for the most part walking beside us, Calvin fearlessly charging far down the trail in front. Then just as suddenly, he would come holloring and whooping towards us. After making a loop around one side of the road twice, we went over the road and walked it's short loop. Then Kayla graciously allowed me the privledge of taking a turn. We swapped saddles and I swung aboard. So often I have always been training a horse and so rarely, just enjoying the ride, so this was a special treat. Bullet wanted to trot, but I easily kept him at a walk. I wanted to enjoy the ride to the fullest. Birds were flitting around, the wind was gently blowing, but with a cold streak to it. As I gazed at all the different shades of colors, especially green, I was amazed at how they all fitted together into a beautiful picturesque setting. I imagined I was riding alone and back in the 1700's with Robinhood hiding with his band amongst the bushes, or maybe that I was taking a load of goods down the hill when robbers would dash out and surround me. I had a lovely time. There seemed to be a certain element of magic in the air. Then once, I allowed Bullet to trot, but before long his muscles bunched together and we were flying, flying down the trail at a grand lope. Then too soon it was time to leave and we crossed the road back to where our small trailer sat. 'Fore long however, we were hailed and turning to look saw Dad's old co-worker and friend coming towards us along with his daughter, Rachel, and dog, Jewel. We spent a while chatting and getting to know each other once again. Kayla and Calvin mounted their steeds bareback and rode circles around us. We all had a glorious time. Written by Jordan (me) age 17.

We have done so much these past few weeks that I will just have to summerize some of the smaller events and hopefully go into more detail on the bigger ones.

We have been doing some canning. We have canned Pears, Peaches, and Tomatoes, and also dried Pears, Jerky, Tomatoes and made dehydrated crackers.

We sold our horse Blue. The people that bought him have ridden him and just loved him! I am so glad. Blue was and is such a great all around horse.

One of my bucklings died, due to worms. (At least that is what I think caused it) When I noticed that he wasn't doing very well, I thought that it was because he was dehydrated. I began syringing liquid down him every hour. He seemed to do a little better, but by 2:00 a.m., I could tell that the end was near. He died soon after. It was soo sad.

We went to the Fair & had lots of fun. I will add a writing that I did on it later.

PonyBoy is still for sale. We have had a couple of interested people, but always they were too far away or found another horse.

These are some of the events that happened. If I remember of more, I will add them later. :)

Acouple mornings ago, I got my milk things together and started out the door. When I got to the milk barn Dutch door, the top was open and I saw to my amazment and horror, nine goats feasting on grain, stomping on stancions and cabient and dragging paper towels everywhere!!!!!! I hollored to Mom, who was letting out the horses and she hastened to my assistence. We were able to get them out quickly, but I was concerned about them bloating. I kept a very close eye on them and no one got sick!! Praise God! At one point during the day, it began to rain, which caused the goats to scurry back into their pens. I was disappointed, because I wanted them to be able to graze and walk around. I began to earnestly pray that God would stop the rain and he did!!

The vet came again on Wednesday. She pulled the stitches out. Granite's eye had almost healed completely! There was a little ulcer, which she said would probably become a small hard white dot, but that he would be able to see around the white dot!!! Praise God that his eye has healed and that he should be able to see out of that eye!

The vet came again on Tuesday. She took the stitches out and found that part of the eye had ruptured causing an ulcer. She did say though that the eye looked very healthy and that there is no fear of him losing his eye completly. We still don't know if he will be able to see out of that eye though. She sewed his eye back up again so the ulcer could heal & she is coming back next week on Wednesday. Please pray that he would not need anything more done that time as this is getting a little expensive :-) But, even while saying that, I thank God that his whole eye didn't rupture & that the vet has a lot of wisdom on what needed done.

Friday morning, it was cold and windy. I let three ponies, Bullet, Liberty, and Ginger, into a pasture to graze. They all ran out the gate into the pasture, which got PonyBoy excited. PonyBoy has a cateract in one of his eyes which makes him more nervous when he sees other horses running. I then went into the pen that PonyBoy was kept in. He was more excited then he has been this summer, but I didn't think too much of it, seeing it was cold and windy, which usually makes our horses a bit more spirited. I led him out and while I walked to the big pasture, tried to make him drop his head. When a horse drops his head, so his topline is level, it means that the horse is relaxed. I have been doing that a lot with him and it seems to have helped him calm down. This paticular time, however, he didn't like the idea of being calm. Also, he bonked me with his nose, which means that he thought that he was dominent and that I didn't matter. I bonked him back to show that I did matter and that I was the one who was dominent. Kayla opened the pasture gate and I led him through. It was cold, so I dropped the halter off him. He turned to leave right away, which is another sign of him thinking he is the dominent one. I turned to leave immediatly, so that I could be seen as the boss. He again didn't like that idea and no sooner then I had taken a couple of steps, I got a full print of a horsehoof on my shoulder blade!!! I turned and yelled at him and he took off running. I couldn't do anything more, so I left. A little bit of redness appeared soon after the kick, but Mom rubbed some Arnica cream on it and it disappeared. I haven't felt any pain from it and I am sure that I didn't break any bones. Praise God it was not worse and that it was me that he kicked. My younger siblings would have got it in the head. As it is, we are selling PonyBoy, we were trying to sell him before, but this adds a new desire to have him gone so we don't have to worry about any more kicks. He broke Dad's hand and has tried to kick me before, but this is the first time he has been successful in getting me. Again, thank you Jesus!

Our colicy experiance with Blue our horse

Yesterday evening, Mom noticed that Blue our Walkaloosa was not eating his hay, which is a definate sign that something is wrong with a horse. Blue was laying down, so Mom clucked to him, trying to make him get up. He finally did, but the leg that he was laying on was stiff and sore. I immediately thought of Colic, so since I was busy with Dinner preperations, Dad walked him around the pasture. Blue did not want to walk and just wanted to paw the ground, lay down, and roll. If a horse is colicing, these things mean that it is in pain. We took turns walking him around and around the field. Blue also had bulging knots in the stomach portion near his flank and we couldn't hear anything moving or gurgling inside. He was stopped up! At ten p.m., we gave him a small amount of hay and water. When he began chewing, it began his intestines working again. We started being able to hear some gurgling. We couldn't give him much hay as that would just make the problem worse, so we gave him a small amount of hay every once in a while. This morning, he was walking around and wanting to eat more, so we spread a small leaf of hay around the pasture to keep him having to move. We are hoping and thinking that he is past the danger part. Praise God!!

We had the vet out on Tuesday. Before she even had seen Granite's eye, she knew that he had got his eye poked. We pulled the stanchion out of my milk barn and put him on that. That way, less people would have to hold him, but he couldn't move around much. After the vet put some numbing eyedrops in his eyes, she gave him a couple shots of numbing medicine in his eyelids. Then she tried to scrape off the white membrane, which was actually his enlarged Cornea! The Cornea had fluid in it that made it enlarged. At first she used a Q'tip, but that didn't work, so she tried with a knife, but that didn't work either. She was able to make a hole in the Cornea, so that it could drain. When she was done with this, she got ready to sew it up. I ran into the house, I was feeling a little sick, with needles, his baaing (he wasn't baaing because he was hurt, but because he didn't like being constrained, but still.... it didn't help things!) When I got into the house, I knew that my body was trying to faint and I was trying to not let it. Mom told me to put my head in between my knees and that helped almost immediately. I then was able to go help hold Granite again. When I got there the sight that met my eyes was a curved needle 1/2 way out of one eyelid and 1/2 way out the other! The vet finished sewing him up then gave me some ointment to put in the eye twice a day. The eyelid isn't completely sewed together, so it can drain. Now we are hoping and praying that the eye doesn't explode or prolapse. We are not sure if he will be blind in that eye or not. The vet is coming next Tuesday to check up on him and take the stitches out.

Granite was born to Grommette and Molassas this year. He is now 4 1/2 months old. A couple of days ago, while we were working outside, Mom noticed that something looked wrong with his eye. I was actually working in the house at that time, so Mom came inside and alerted me. I changed out of my nicer clothes into "goat" clothes. Already he smells like a buck and I did NOT want that smell on my nice clothes! I pulled him out of the buck pen, so I didn't have more bucks around me than I needed to and looked at his eye. His eye had turned completly white with a red rim. It looked like it was protuding out of the eye socket, but on closer examination, I found that there is a membrane that forms a bit of a pocket over the eye. It looks terrible! I am not sure exactly what it is yet, but I have been giving him shots of Bio Mycin, putting drops of eye antibiotics in his eye and giving him minerals and vitamins. I will -if I have time- post updates on him.

Corbin and I have recently been allowed to ride our bike to a nearby park named Q'elium, it's more like National Forest, and hike for a couple hours. We have had so much fun. We have found a couple of geocaches. Looking for geocaches is like a Treasure Hunt. They are hidden pretty much anywhere, in any terrain. Both of the ones we found were right off the main trail, but were so hidden that it took us a while to find them. Inside the geocache is articles that people can trade (i.e.) if you find something that you like, you can take it out and put something else in.

We climbed up steep rocks, through shallow rivers, and took each others pictures in front of the waterfall.

Not long after three of the Killdeer eggs hatched, I was sent to take a book to one of our neighbors. I rode my bike, and on the way back noticed a dead bird on the road. It had been hit by a car and was quite flat :( When I bent down to look at it, I noticed it was one of the baby killdeers. I then went over to check the nest and see if the remaining egg had hatched. It had and both parents were busy taking care of their two youngens. I bent down and talked to it. One of the parents noticed that a "stranger" was too close to their babies and set up an alarm. The other parent quickly did as well and came running across the horse pasture. I wasn't much of a stranger to them, since I had checked on the nest several times during the 'setting' period, but still...they had to follow their instincts. I left so as not to cause the parents more alarm. A few days later, two more chicks died. One of the parents disappeared as well. The remaining parent and chick stuck close together and were happy and content for another couple days. Then one day, I saw the parent, but no chick was in sight. I was busy and figured that it was in the ditch or flower bed where I couldn't see very well. Later, we found out that Corbin had seen it in a hole in the ground alongside a pipe. The chick couldn't get out, since the hole was so skinny so Corbin tried to get it out and couldn't. The chick went under a slab of concrete, so now we couldn't see it either. We didn't lose hope and kept checking it every little while. Then finally the chick stepped out from underneath the slab of concrete, so I could see it again. It was struggling, trying to climb up the pipe. I reached down and slid my fingers under it. Then when I tried to bring it up, it fell forward slightly, so now it was getting stuck in-between the pipe and ground. I slid a wire down and under its bill and lifted its bill gently up. Then slid it out. It was sooo weak, it was like a brandnew chick again. It recovered though quickly and is now following its parent around the pasture.

We have a pair of killdeers that built a nest in our horse pasture. We spotted the nest on June 18 and have kept an eye on it ever since. Our family had given up on them ever hatching, but two days ago, on of the eggs hatched! The next evening, there were three eggs hatched, and this afternoon, the last chick emerged from its shell. It was still rather weak and damp. Such darling things! So small, yet they look so much like their parents!

Our neighbors generously offered to let us pick cherries and pears on their property. We couldn't let this opportunity slip pass us. So, Kayla and Calvin picked 2-4 gallons of cherries during this past week, then this Saturday, we all got ready, and walked down th to our neighbor's property. They own two cherry trees and one pear tree. (The pears aren't ripe yet.) That evening we picked 8 gallons of pears!

Hi! my name is Target, not because my 'mommy' had any intentions on using me for meat, but because of my markings. I am very colorful, sweet, and growing fast!! I will be a great buck when I am older. Okay, that is all I have to say for myself :-) Hello, my name is Jordan and I am the 'mommy' of Target. I already have two bucks and can't keep any more. His line has always had great milk producers. Target is 2 1/2 months old & growing big very quickly. He will need to be moved into the buck pen soon as I do not want an accidental breeding with my does, so if he can be moved to his new home before the older ones rub their scent onto him, I would like that very much. I have his 'real' mom and dad on site plus some of his sisters and have pictures of his grandparents. $75 All reasonable offers considered.

Today, I have sold one of my Toggenburgs. She was a yearling, produced wonderfully, and was very loving. I just have too many goats to keep them all.
Next year I am looking at having 9 goats give birth, which very well could give me 20babies! Anyways, the family that bought are wonderful and will give her a lot of care and love, besides letting her play with all their sheep!

The hens have earnestly begged me to post a story about them....oh, and the rooster doesn't want to be left out either. :-) Our family has a tradition of letting one or more hens sit on eggs each spring. This year was no different. Kayla who was in charge of gathering the eggs, left certain ones under the broody hens. I forgot to warn her that we shouldn't switch the eggs around, so some of the eggs got started a couple days later then the first ones. Three weeks later, Midnight hatched an egg. That evening, Mercy, the other hen, got off with one chick and left her other eggs to get cold. I took Mercy's remaining eggs and placed then under Midnight. Midnight sat on them for another day, then got off the nest with her three chicks. I took the remaining eggs and put them in the incubater. One chick began to hatch, but then died that night, because there wasn't enough humidity, so when I heard another chick begin to hatch, I went ahead and opened it. We have had to open eggs in the past before, so I wasn't too nervous about doing it, except that this one didn't have any hole yet. I carefully opened it and pulled the shell, then the membranes off all the while talking to it. I read on the Internet that it is best to pull some shell off then put the chick back in the incubater for 20+ minutes, then pull some more off. It was already 9:30 pm and I was tired, so I did it all in one sitting. The umbilical cord started to bleed, so I applied some Quick Stop, which helped. This chick was weak and didn't move much and breathed hard, so I thought that it was going to die. The next morning, Mom came into my room. I heard some peeping coming from her hand and sure enough, the chick was wobbily sitting on Mom's hand!!! I spent some time praising God for his blessing and mercy in letting us raise this chick. I named her ( I hope it's a her) Patience. Patience follows me around the yard, flies onto my lap, and chases bugs that I point out to her!!!! She is so special I hope she lives for many many years and gives me lots of eggs in the meantime! Mercy and Midnight took turns caring for the chicks, until one day, when Mercy got selfish and beat up Midnight, we had to put her back in with all the other adult chickens. So, I think that I have fulfilled the wish of the hens and rooster to post their story on here! The eggs came from these hens.

When my Great-grandpa died, my brother, Corbin and Mom flew down to Denver, Colorado, for the funeral. Corbin took his 100 year old banjo that Great-grandpa had given him to play at the funeral. I stayed home to watch my two younger siblings, Kayla and Calvin, tend to the animals and the house. It was a lot of fun, but a lot of work as well! One day, I looked out the window and much to my dismay, saw a coyote very near to us. It was in our neighbor's field, but was as close as it could get to my goats as it could. I went outside after telling Kayla and Calvin to stay in the house, took our two bigger dogs and a tool that is like a hoe and headed out after it. The coyote ran to the back of the neighbor's field when he saw us, then started to run towards our field, despite the dogs barking at him. I then opened the gate between our field and the neighbors and let the dogs go. They chased after him hard, but as soon as they smelled him, they quit and just watched the coyote run around them! So, I started out after them. The coyote finally jumped the fence, then began running down the road one way, then the other way, then into a driveway and back into a field. After a while he left, for which I was glad!! The evening before Mom and Corbin were supposed to fly back, Valentines was showing signs of an approaching birth. So much so, that I didn't think that Mom was going to be able to get back in time to see it. The next morning, which was Saturday, Mom and Corbin made it on the flight (they fly as standbys) which was going to get them home at 1:00. I stayed home when Dad went to go pick them up at the airport. Valentines was moving along very slowly according to what most of my goats do. Some of the signs that Valentines was showing, if they had been on almost any other goat of mine, would have meant that the babies would have born early that morning. At 2:00 pm, Dad arrived home with Mom and Corbin. Mom came out to see me and Valentines. Another while went by, then I finally went into the house to eat lunch. I changed out of my 'barn' clothes and into a beautiful dress that I had sewed. I had just barely sat down to enjoy a relaxing lunch when Kayla came running in shouting "Valentines is laying down and baaing and I think that she is having a baby!" I quickly got up and not bothering to change again, hurried outside. There was Valentines with her baby's head out. Corbin called some friends that wanted to see this birth. They didn't quite make it, but they loved seeing the babies take their first wobbly steps. Then the Hahners came over and watched me milk the goats and feed the babies. They bought their first 'milk' goats from me and so wanted to learn how to milk and take care of newborn babies. Val's baby boy was born with a couple of issues. First, he walked on the heels of his back legs. Second, he had an overbite. Thirdly, he had an eye problem. The eye went through several changes. First, it had a milky blueish/whitish over 3/4 of it. Then it had a red rim around the border of the eye. Then, it looked normal, but when I looked closly at it, it had a marbly look. Then, lastly, it went normal. So, we thought that it would be approriate to name him, 'Miracle'. These changes took a couple of weeks to complete. The little girl was born with no problems. I named her, Unity.

Unity is the brown one. Miracle is the black one.

Birch had a very start and stop labor. I would be just ready to dial the home phone when she would relax. Then a couple minutes later, she would be pushing again. I tried to time the contractions, but even the time between them would flucuate. Finally though, she was pushing close enough together, that I called Mom and she came out to watch. After starting and stopping several times, she pushed out a baby. Mom remarked that 'Target' would be a very nice name for it. I replied that the name would fit because it was a boy. Then Birch pushed out a girl that I named Jeminna. They both were beautiful and healthy. I am planning on keeping Jeminna.

Next morning, bright and early, I got up to go out and milk. I saw immediatly that milking would have to wait a bit, as Kasaw was in the process of having a baby! The baby bag was visible, so I called my family on the cell phone and brought Kasaw into the birthing stall. Kasaw didn't seem to know she was in labor, she just would walk around a bit then squat a bit, then walk around some more. She never made a sound, except when she wanted me to stay with her. When Mom got out, she advised me to check the other pens out and make sure that Kasaw hadn't given birth to a baby before I got out there. I did that & when I passed the pen where we were keeping Cherokee by herself, I said jokingly. "Maybe a baby jumped over the gate to see Cherokee". I peeked in and there was Cherokee dead. What a damper on a day that was supposed to be joyful. The only thing that I could think of was "The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, Blessed be the name of the Lord." I went back in with Kasaw and delivered a little boy. Mom thought that that was the only baby, but I was convinced that there was another. Sure enough, a few minutes later, Kasaw had a little girl! The friends that saw Grommette's birth bought them and named them Cow and Cappuchina.

The morning after the episode of finding lice on Cherokee and taking precautionary measures, so the other goats wouldn't get them, Grommette's udder filled up. I called some friends who had asked me to please let them come over and watch a kidding and set up all the articles needed for a birthing. At 10:00, Grommette began pushing, just as my friends showed up. The birth went uneventfully, for which I was thankful and a couple hours later, my friends went home. They had really enjoyed the birth & had learned a lot. Grommette had three kids in quick succession. Two boys and a girl. The girl we named Gloria, the boys Granite and Gopher. Some things that I have observed with Grommette are that she always gives birth 3 days late and at 10:00 am & that two babies are almost identical and the third is different! When my friend's were leaving, I checked Kasaw out, who was due one day after Grommette, and her udder was filling up!!! I moved some older babies into a pen that used to be occupied with chickens, moved Grommette and her youngens into the pen that the older kids were, and got the birthing stall ready for Kasaw...

Cherokee was a Registered Toggenburg that I had bought last fall. She had won several ribbions and was an excellent producer. This spring in March, I noticed that she had her hair fluffed out. There was snow on the ground and I thought that she was just cold. Then a few days later, her milk production dropped drastically. She had a very high fever & when I went to give her penicillian, my very first shot, I found to my dismay, that she was covered in lice. Actually they looked more like fleas, but I have heard that goats can't get fleas. I called all the goat people that I thougth would know something about lice & sprinkled Diatematious Earth on all their bedding, walkways, directly on the goats, and in my milk barn. Then because Cherokee had them so bad, Mom picked up some 'real' flea killer & I then sprinkled that on all the goats. When I though that I was done for a while, I also had to syringe fluids down Cherokee quite often and give her shots and make sure she was warm enough, Grommette's udder was getting full. I am always happy when a goat is ready to give birth, but this time with poisenous flea powder sprinkled everywhere and knowing that Cherokee might die anytime, and Diatematious Earth sprinkled in the Birthing stall, I was overwhelmed. After a quick shower, my spirits revived & I was able to carry on my nursing...

Velvet had her babies two weeks late in January. I read aloud to Kayla while I kept an eye on Velvet. Velvet wasn't very comfortable. She kept walking around in the birthing stall and laying down then standing up again. Whem Mom called us in to eat, I stood up to go, but then decided against eating right then, for Velvet was having a big contraction. Kayla ran inside and let Mom know what was happening. Velvet didn't have any more contractions even though her baby's head had slipped out. Mom came inside the barn then and thought that the baby was sucking in fluids. We had to get the baby out immediatly if it was getting fluids in it's lungs. I slipped my hands inside Velvet. I didn't know what I was feeling. I said a quick prayer and immediatly God let me know what I was feeling. The baby's front legs were alongside it's belly instead of along it's nose like they should be. I brought the legs forward and pulled her out. I named her Hope, because I had hope that I could get her out. We weren't sure if she was okay at first, but she did survive, for which we are very thankful. 1 1/2 later, Mom left, but she was going to be back in 5 minutes. I told her that she may miss it & she did! She had no sooner stepped inside the house, when I called her on the cell phone saying that the baby was coming! She turned around and came right back but it was already born. All this happened in about 2-3 minutes!! I named this one Blessing, because she was a blessing to her mom to be so fast and easily born. About 15 minutes after Blessing was born, Velvet began to push again. There was no progress, so I put on gloves and slipped my hand inside. This time the baby was breach (bottom first)! I gently pulled the legs back and he was born rapidly. This little boy was always tripping on his sisters or stepping on them. I named him Brother, because I was constantly saying "Brother, watch out for your sisters!" "Brother, be nice!" "Brother, be a gentleman, do NOT step on your sisters!" His full name is 'Bothersome Brother', as a joke, because I know that some people think that brothers are a bother, but my brothers are far from being a bother to me!

Every morning, when the kittens got old enough, we would put them out in our hay barn. We kept a board across the door so the kittens couldn't get out, but our older cats could. A couple of times the board would fall down, but we didn't worry much about it because the kittens would stay in the barn. One night, the board had fallen down & when Corbin went out to bring them inside for the night, he could only find four kittens. Truffles was no where in sight! We searched everywhere inside the small barn and outside & had almost given up when Mom saw a white something back behind a board. We thought that it looked like feathers, but pulled it out anyways & it was our kitten. Our dog had given her a bath with his tongue & we thought that she wouldn't make it because of her being wet and cold. Mom warmed some towels in the oven and wrapped her up in them. She gradully warmed up and survived! We found good homes for all of the kittens. Raising kittens is something that I would like to do again if I ever find kittens in need.

Grommettes Birth -

Grommette had a nice easy birth. This time I was there to see it. When I could tell that she was ready to begin pushing, I called Mom out to see the babies be born. Grommette quickly pushed out two girls and a boy. One of the girls was pure black that I named Bitty. The other girl was named Blossom & the boy, Bobby.

Suzie's birth-

Suzie started labor early in the morning & pushed out her girl and boy in early afternoon. She had a great birth.


Spice's birth-


I could tell that Spice was going to have her baby soon. Mom called us in to eat & while I was eating, Spice went into a little ditch & had her two girls. I was watching her out the window, but Spice never did show anything that made me think that she was in labor so I missed it! We named the babies Rosemary & Clover.

Grodivia's birth-

One afternoon, Grodivia's udder was full, so I knew that it would be soon. The next morning, Grodivia would go out into the field for a while then come back into the barn then go back out. I was busy doing schoolwork, but asked Mom if I could go out with her for a couple minutes. Mom said yes. When I got out into the field with her, she turned and headed back towards the barn. I followed her and sat down beside Grodivia. Soon she laid down and began pushing. When the baby bag appeared, I ran into the house and informed Mom. When I got back outside, I found to my surprise, that Grodivia had stopped pushing & was waiting for me. As soon as she saw me, she laid down and finished pushing her boy and girl out. I named the girl Snickers & the boy Hershey.


Winter's birth-


One evening, some friends were over that had goats themselves. They were the ones that got me started in goats. Rachel mentioned to me that Winter's udder was filling with milk. I checked it and indeed it was! The next morning the udder was full, so I called some friends that had let me know that they wanted to see a goat's birth. They came over and a couple hours later, Winter was in labor. It was a start and stop labor, but eventually I saw hoofs and then the baby was born. The next girl was born soon after. We named them Spring and Autumn.



Valentine's birth-



A few days after Winter gave birth, Valentines had her babies. I didn't know when Valentines' due date was, so just kept an eye on her. The morning that she had her twin girls, I checked her udder. It was empty, so I thought that it wouldn't be for a couple more days, but I had a fleeting thought that I would miss the birth. At 2:00 p.m. I went out to check her and Birch who was late by two weeks! There was Valentines' laying near a hay feeder with two girls tucked up next to her.


Birch's birth- that same day while tending to Valentines' babies I had another thought that I was going to miss Birch's birth. I hastily pushed it away. That night Birch's udder was filling, so I set my alarm to go off every 2-3 hours. At 2:00 a.m. Birch had two babies. I got there right after the 2nd was born. I sat down on a box and began petting and drying off one of the babies. Birch lay down and began pushing. I thought that it was just the placenta, but when I looked closer, I saw ears, and eyes and a nose. Another baby!! We named the two girls Hazel and Holly & the boy Hickory.

One day, our neighbor called us asking if we wanted to try to raise baby kittens. Of course we wanted to!! They were only 2 1/2 weeks old, but the mother cat had abanded them and so we bottlefed them until they were a couple months old. When we first got them, they could fit in a tiny box & lived by my bed, but they quickly outgrew that and "graduated" to a kennel. There were five of them. One was black with white whiskers named Seal, one was orange and white, one was orange, black, & white, named Truffles, and one was grey. We had sooo much fun with them. Our family would take them out on the lawn and play with them when the days were pleasant outside. We were able to find some really good homes for them all, although us kids were very sorry to have to see them leave.

Birch's birth-

Birch gave birth to two healthy kids on Feb. 10, 2006. I had know that she was going to give birth soon, so had locked her up Saturday night in the birthing stall. Sunday morning I went out to check on her and found to my surprise and delight that I hadn't quite missed it, but the kids would be born anytime soon. I ran into the house, grabbed up the towels, camera, and bottles, and raced back outside. The first one was born seconds after I got inside the birthing stall. The other one was born a few minutes later. She had a girl and boy. I named the girl Valentines, and the boy Valiant.

Suzie's birth-

Suzie had a little boy that I named Scamper. Since Suzie only had one and this was her first time, Mom had to pull him out. I wasn't there for this birth. We named him Scamper, because that was what he did best...running, jumping and playing all the time!!

Laritta's birth-

I had been checking on Laritta quite often throughout the day. I missed Bambi's birth, but saw the other two born. We named one Splash and her only girl, Spice. Larrita had a stillborn or Mummified baby as well. That was so sad. It was the first and only time that I have seen a stillborn.

Grommette's birth-

I knew that Grommette was going to have her babies any time, so I began checking on her every twenty minutes. At one of those times, I noticed that she was having a hard contraction, but I didn't know that I should stay with them at that point, so I went back into the house and set the timer for another 20 minutes. When the timer went off, I ran out to check on her again. This time I found her with two babies on the ground and the next one being born. Grommette had a girl and two boys. I named the girl Grodivia, because she was pure brown, the boys were named Tinder and Steel.

Mary's birth- Mary had her two boys on June 26, in the morning. The birth went well and easily. Calvin and I were the only ones that were home. He helped me wipe the babies off with a towel when they were born. We named them Marxy and Molassas.

Laritta- a beautiful, wonderful, first pregnant/milking doe. A couple of days before my 12 birthday, Mom asked me if I would like a pregnant Nubian doe. I am sure that you could guess my answer-YES!!! I had been at a friend's house and when their milking time came around, I was able to sit down and milk.-slowly, and sometimes missing the bucket, and cramps in my arms if I went too long- but I was milking! On my 12 birthday these same friends came over to our house while their parents went to check out the goat. I was anxiously waiting for the crunch of wheels on our gravel driveway, signifiying that they were here with the goat or not. At about 3:oo they called, saying that they were on their way back to pick up their kids & that there was a goat in their back seat! I was so thrilled- they couldn't get here fast enough! When they arrived I hurried around to the back of their car & when they opened the back door Laritta jumped out. I spent all my spare time with her, petting her, talking to her, & just being with her. I couldn't tell if she was for sure pregnant, but one day after we had just arrived home from some errands, I ran back to her pen to see if she had had her baby. (we didn't know what the due date was & I wasn't experianced enough to watch for the signs that they show beforehand) She hadn't had it, but the baby was pushing hard against her stomach and when I called Mom over, she said that it was indeed a baby pushing on her!
On September 17, 2003, I ran outside to check on Laritta. The day before the udder felt different, but I was too ignorant to know that what I was feeling was milk. I looked in one of the sheds & there she was looking uncomfortable. I thought she might be in labor & Mom confirmed my guess. While she went to get towels, camera, & bottles, I stayed so that I could keep an eye on Larrita. Soon after Mom had left, Larrita began pushing. I was nervous thinking that her birth would be as difficult as the Pygmy's had been. She however pushed Rose out with no problem. At first I wasn't sure if the baby was okay, because when it wasn't moving, but when I stepped over to it & picked it up, I could see that it was just fine. We raised Rose basically in the house. We always say jokingly that Rose learned to play the piano & wash dishes. One thing that we didn't know not to do was to play butting games with goats. We ended up ruining Rose because of it. She thought that she was stronger than us & could be dominant over us. She never did try to butt me, but Corbin got butted a couple of times before we sold her. Larrita then had a year later, two boys & a girl. I sold the boys, but kept the girl, which I named Birch.

Since this blog will be mainly about goats, I thought that I should give them their own special post. I received a pygmy doeling (baby girl) for my 7th birthday. While there, we also bought the doeling's mother & a little whether (fixed male). I named mine April, Mom named hers Annie & we named the boy Buckwheat. Buckwheat was a fiesty little thing, he never could hold still, but was always dancing on the end of the leash. When we arrived home, we realized that we didn't have anywhere for them, so we tied some pallets together and put the goats in there. The babies were so little that they slipped right out, so I had to watch them and make sure they didn't get hurt or lost, while dad made a better pen. Later we sold the whether & bought a buck (male goat). The smell from the buck was so bad that Mom didn't go outside very much & we had to keep the windows shut! He did his job though & both Annie and April had one baby each. I remember that day clearly. Annie's udder was so full that I just knew that the day had come!!! The haycutter was over & I was worried that the haycutter's noise would scare Annie. Mom and Grandma said that she would have her babies that day or the next. I pestered them with questions wanting to know exactly how a baby was born. They didn't know very much about it or they didn't want me to know. Anyways, that was the beginning steps of showing me what I wanted to do when I got older -midwifery. Back to the story... the haycutter left & Mom called me in to eat. I was just starting to step inside when I saw Annie having contractions. I knew what those were because I had recently watched a Golden Retreiver give birth. I alerted Mom and Grandma & all of us except for Grandpa, Corbin, and Kayla went out to watch. We are still not sure if we were just too new at births and panicked or if Annie was indeed having trouble. Mom and Dad pulled on the baby's legs when Annie had a contraction, I prayed, and Grandma was right there to help with whatever needed done. Soon the baby was born. A little girl that we named Augustina, because she was born in August. April had her baby the next night. Her baby had one of his front legs back alongside his belly instead of out with the nose like it should have been. We again pulled that one out. He was named Tino. They both grew well & were very healthy. We sold them a year or two later.

I was 6 when we signed on our new home in the country. We had recently moved from Salt Lake City, Utah - we are not LDS- where we lived in the subdivision. We were excited, especially Corbin and I, to have 5 acres of land to run and play on. The only pet that we had brought with us was a small dog, named Sandy. Little did we know that in less than ten years, we would have over 100 animals! Soon after we moved here, Mom took Corbin and me to pick out our first kittens. I picked a beautiful white kitten named Princess & Corbin picked out a handsome black kitten named Smokey. Princess would come running when I called and leap into my lap & would usually fall asleep giving me a hug! She disappeared a year later & we never found her again. Our family has owned several cats throughout the years and learned that cats disappear quite rapidly in the country with all the predators that we have (i.e. coyotes, owls, hawks and skunks.) Soon after we moved, Dad bought us a pony named Ginger. She is a good pony although if Calvin rides her his way ( fast and long) she does get a "pony" attitude.

Hello,


I live with my parents and siblings on a "mini ranch". I wanted to write a blog so people could learn about farm life and our family. Some of the things that I will be sharing will be the hard things about living on a farm, but most of it will be the good things that keep our family motivated to keep on farming. I hope that you will be able to learn from both. Some of my jobs around our mini farm are:

milking the goats & feeding the goat "kids"

feeding the horse and ponies their hay each evening

helping Mom with house chores

teaching my youngest brother, Calvin, violin


selling the goat milk & babies

watering the garden & other plants during the summer

weeding the Blueberry Patch

Some of the things that I enjoy doing during "free time" are:

reading

sewing

crocheting

taking hikes with my family

playing with the goat "kids"

My family consists of Mom and Dad, Jordan (myself) age 16, Corbin age 15, Kayla age 9, and Calvin age 8. We are in the process of adopting three children from Ethiopia.