Here it is, the end of May and I have caught back up with the blog.
The baby currently baking is 18 weeks now. I have my anatomy scan this Monday! I am feeling movement daily which is always a reassurance. We have foregone any preliminary testing on the baby this go round, partly to save money, partly because I changed OBs right during the critical testing times, and partly because I didn't want the stress of it. So the anatomy ultrasound will really be the key to finding out how this baby is doing. Prayers, please!
May brought the close of another homeschooling year and the close of Caroline's first year in preschool. It's nice to have the freedom of summer vacation.
We attended our first goat show of the year last weekend and we constantly come in behind an excellent herd of Lamanchas that have made quite a name for themselves. It is a great honor to place just behind them every time, but of course we are anxious to get some goats who can compete at just a slightly higher level. We are participating in linear appraisal this year which will basically give each goat in our herd a score so we can make decisions on herd improvements, breeding, etc. So this is exciting!
Our garden is performing incredibly well this year thanks to more consistent weeding and the lovely goat manure compost that I was able to work into the soil.
In the evenings we have started having family bible reading/discussion and prayer time. This is new for us to do as an entire family. We used to pray the rosary as a family and then fell out of that routine, and realized that if our kids don't see us in God's word and hear us praying more personally to Him aloud, how will they form their own personal relationship with Him? So this is our start to showing them how to read, pray and live out the Bible as a family.
That's enough for tonight! Look soon for the June issue! 😉
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
One Post a Month: April
Let's get caught up! April was busy. 3 birthdays and a traumatic goat delivery.
First off, Caroline turned 4. She wanted to go to "Old McDonald's" for her birthday... because it has a playground. Apparently our kids are Happy Meal and playground deprived.
First off, Caroline turned 4. She wanted to go to "Old McDonald's" for her birthday... because it has a playground. Apparently our kids are Happy Meal and playground deprived.
The very next day was Ian's birthday. He turned 6. His request was to eat at Buffalo Wild Wings (because they have gamepads to play video games while you wait for your food)... again, deprived! LOL!
At some point in the middle of the month our last goat was due to kid and she had a terrible delivery with tangled kids trying to come out with the wrong presentations... it was a mess. But in the end, everyone survived and today mom, Doeling and buckling are all thriving!
At the end of April we had Isabel's 11th birthday!! She chose to go to a cupcake bakery and we all chose a different cupcake. They were amazing.
Somewhere in April there was also Easter. We tried to take pictures after Mass by that was a joke.
And I think that about sums it up. 😉
Sunday, March 26, 2017
One Post a Month: March
Phew....I'm sneaking March's post in a few days early. I feel like our family has been hit by the plague this year...a plague of sickness. After all but one of us caught norovirus at the beginning of March (I think it was March? All this sickness is running together), now Caroline (3) has the flu....and what appears to be pink eye. Poor kid. We cannot catch a break. I used to read peoples' posts on facebook and think, "Wow....their family is always sick!" And now, well, I am that family! Sadly it has caused us to miss quite a few days of co-op this year, which has been super frustrating.
In more positive news, we celebrated Rob's birthday with a surprise for the kids! You can watch the video below and see for yourself!
This past week, the only goat due this month successfully had twins all by herself! I was checking her every hour....or sending a child to check her. After the last report, I thought, "Ok, I'll go out to the barn and check on her in an hour." Of course with four kids, I got distracted and got out there probably 10 minutes after she had finished kidding. A buckling and a doeling. They are doing great.
Sickness
Baby Goats
New Baby on the Way
I think we've covered all of March in those 3 topics!
I've been feeling quite sick with this baby and had to cancel a trip to see dear friends who we were supposed to meet in Asheville. :( That was a disappointment. I am looking forward to feeling better, having an appetite and getting rid of the queasiness.
In more positive news, we celebrated Rob's birthday with a surprise for the kids! You can watch the video below and see for yourself!
This past week, the only goat due this month successfully had twins all by herself! I was checking her every hour....or sending a child to check her. After the last report, I thought, "Ok, I'll go out to the barn and check on her in an hour." Of course with four kids, I got distracted and got out there probably 10 minutes after she had finished kidding. A buckling and a doeling. They are doing great.
Sickness
Baby Goats
New Baby on the Way
I think we've covered all of March in those 3 topics!
I've been feeling quite sick with this baby and had to cancel a trip to see dear friends who we were supposed to meet in Asheville. :( That was a disappointment. I am looking forward to feeling better, having an appetite and getting rid of the queasiness.
Friday, March 10, 2017
One Post a Month: February
February brought life and death to our little farm. We lost one of our goats during labor due to complications from pregnancy toxemia. I will spare you all the details, but we believe she was pregnant with triplets and both the mom and kids died before they could be delivered. It was the first loss of one of our dairy goats and it really felt devastating. But the next day, life goes on and there are farm chores to do and other animals that need to be attended to, so you go on. We had a successful kidding of our favorite dairy goat, Cameo. She had a buckling and a doeling. Then last weekend, our goat Matilda kidded a healthy buckling. We are expecting at least one more doe to kid out in March.
At the same time that baby goats began to arrive, so did our postal shipment of 27 chicks! 11 meat chickens and 16 laying hens of various breeds. So to say that it has been busy around here is quite the understatement. February is also the month that we plant potato seeds, so the garden was worked, tilled and plowed into rows, and we have both Kennebec and Red potatoes again this year in the ground.
Near the end of the month, Rob and I attended the Ignited By Truth Catholic Conference which takes place here in Raleigh. It is always so spiritually invigorating and encouraging to go to this conference. What a faith builder to hear such great speakers! Fr. Michael Gaitley, Abby Johnson, Leah Darrow, Julie and Greg Alexander were the big names there. My mother-in-law babysat for us and we were able to attend the whole day.
February is an odd time for us as the anniversary dates of both of our Triploidy babies bookend this month. Francis Marie (13 weeks gestation) on 2/6 and Mary Grace (21 weeks) on 2/28. The chances of having one baby with this condition are so low, but to have had 2 babies with triploidy and both dying during the same month of the year....it's just so unusual....hard to wrap my mind around this reality sometimes. Isabel and I were coming back from a play out in Durham the day before Mary Grace's anniversary, so we stopped by the cemetery (on the way home....which is normally way out of the way for us, so we seldom visit) to add some flowers.
The same tiny blue flowers were growing around the baby headstones that were there February 2009 when we buried her. I remarked about how Isabel picked a handful when she was nearly 2. She didn't remember. They happen to be my favorite flower even though I think they are just a wild grassy weed ;) http://marygraceholmes.blogspot.com/2009/03/grave-marker.html
Bearded Acres White Pearl and Bearded Acres Cannonball
Kids getting positioned for photo shoot! ;)
At the same time that baby goats began to arrive, so did our postal shipment of 27 chicks! 11 meat chickens and 16 laying hens of various breeds. So to say that it has been busy around here is quite the understatement. February is also the month that we plant potato seeds, so the garden was worked, tilled and plowed into rows, and we have both Kennebec and Red potatoes again this year in the ground.
Near the end of the month, Rob and I attended the Ignited By Truth Catholic Conference which takes place here in Raleigh. It is always so spiritually invigorating and encouraging to go to this conference. What a faith builder to hear such great speakers! Fr. Michael Gaitley, Abby Johnson, Leah Darrow, Julie and Greg Alexander were the big names there. My mother-in-law babysat for us and we were able to attend the whole day.
February is an odd time for us as the anniversary dates of both of our Triploidy babies bookend this month. Francis Marie (13 weeks gestation) on 2/6 and Mary Grace (21 weeks) on 2/28. The chances of having one baby with this condition are so low, but to have had 2 babies with triploidy and both dying during the same month of the year....it's just so unusual....hard to wrap my mind around this reality sometimes. Isabel and I were coming back from a play out in Durham the day before Mary Grace's anniversary, so we stopped by the cemetery (on the way home....which is normally way out of the way for us, so we seldom visit) to add some flowers.
The same tiny blue flowers were growing around the baby headstones that were there February 2009 when we buried her. I remarked about how Isabel picked a handful when she was nearly 2. She didn't remember. They happen to be my favorite flower even though I think they are just a wild grassy weed ;) http://marygraceholmes.blogspot.com/2009/03/grave-marker.html
Sunday, January 29, 2017
One Post a Month: January
Since I have been an incredibly slack blogger, I've decided to do a post a month for 2017. I mean, that is 12 posts.
For. an. entire. year.
I can't fail at this, right? ;)
I won't guarantee what will be in these once a month posts, but I will guarantee to do one each month.
For starters, I am glad to see 2017! I LOVED getting to see Cooper meet all his milestones and all that beautiful baby newness and joy that comes with adding a child to our family in 2016. His first year was such a blessing. I found myself staring at him a lot over the year and being mesmorized that God would see fit to bestow this little gift onto our family.
Cooper is cruising everywhere, eats like a horse, is by far the biggest baby we have had (finally we had a kid break 20 pounds by 1 year!), and says "uh oh" and "go-go-go". I would love to have another easy baby like him.
My New Year's Resolution was to drink more water. I am happy to report I am succeeding! I aim for 6 16 ounce glasses a day, so 96 ounces/day. What's crazy is that sometimes I am still thirsty. Before this I was a terrible water drinker. I was just too busy before to stop and think "I need to drink", but my dear husband and I now compete to see who can drink the most water each day, so that has helped to keep me on target.
On the farm, we are getting ready for baby goats in just 3 short weeks! We love our dairy goats here. We raise only Lamanchas, and recently created a Facebook page for our farm, Bearded Acres. Lamanchas are one of the less common dairy goat breeds in our area, so it is a neat way to connect with other goat people who also love this particular breed. I will be really happy to get back to drinking our raw goat milk. While they are pregnant, our goats are dry (not milking) and we have been drinking grocery store cow's milk. And when you are used to fresh goat's milk...well, there's obviously no comparison. Regardless, it's about to get busy around here.
While life trucks on with all of our daily happenings, I can't help but feel like I am watching the majority of the world slip into this dismal abyss. Woah, she jumped off the deep end with that one, you are thinking! But truly, are there only a few sane people around anymore? I have this deep sense of needing to become detached from everything I can that is not spiritually beneficial. TV, Facebook, media & news.... I don't think my family will let me throw the tv out, but I feel like we are short on time for preparing our spiritual "nests" if you will. I keep thinking, if Christ came tomorrow, am I ready? Have I done everything in my life today that He has asked of me?
Deep thoughts, I know. But I can't shake them lately.
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Your hearts. Your homes. Your family.
For. an. entire. year.
I can't fail at this, right? ;)
I won't guarantee what will be in these once a month posts, but I will guarantee to do one each month.
For starters, I am glad to see 2017! I LOVED getting to see Cooper meet all his milestones and all that beautiful baby newness and joy that comes with adding a child to our family in 2016. His first year was such a blessing. I found myself staring at him a lot over the year and being mesmorized that God would see fit to bestow this little gift onto our family.
Cooper is cruising everywhere, eats like a horse, is by far the biggest baby we have had (finally we had a kid break 20 pounds by 1 year!), and says "uh oh" and "go-go-go". I would love to have another easy baby like him.
My New Year's Resolution was to drink more water. I am happy to report I am succeeding! I aim for 6 16 ounce glasses a day, so 96 ounces/day. What's crazy is that sometimes I am still thirsty. Before this I was a terrible water drinker. I was just too busy before to stop and think "I need to drink", but my dear husband and I now compete to see who can drink the most water each day, so that has helped to keep me on target.
On the farm, we are getting ready for baby goats in just 3 short weeks! We love our dairy goats here. We raise only Lamanchas, and recently created a Facebook page for our farm, Bearded Acres. Lamanchas are one of the less common dairy goat breeds in our area, so it is a neat way to connect with other goat people who also love this particular breed. I will be really happy to get back to drinking our raw goat milk. While they are pregnant, our goats are dry (not milking) and we have been drinking grocery store cow's milk. And when you are used to fresh goat's milk...well, there's obviously no comparison. Regardless, it's about to get busy around here.
While life trucks on with all of our daily happenings, I can't help but feel like I am watching the majority of the world slip into this dismal abyss. Woah, she jumped off the deep end with that one, you are thinking! But truly, are there only a few sane people around anymore? I have this deep sense of needing to become detached from everything I can that is not spiritually beneficial. TV, Facebook, media & news.... I don't think my family will let me throw the tv out, but I feel like we are short on time for preparing our spiritual "nests" if you will. I keep thinking, if Christ came tomorrow, am I ready? Have I done everything in my life today that He has asked of me?
Deep thoughts, I know. But I can't shake them lately.
Prepare, prepare, prepare. Your hearts. Your homes. Your family.
Monday, July 18, 2016
Our Father times two!
Our "confession church" has a new priest. Woah, what did she just say? Yes, we have what I have dubbed our "confession church". It is a parish only 7 miles away and we pop in there on a Saturday afternoon when we are in need of the Sacrament of Confession, because it is soooo close and sooooo quick. But it is not the parish at which we regularly attend Mass.
So I just thought Isabel and I were going to pop in to confession, but there was a long line which filled up the entire back pew nearest the confessional. So Iz and I went to the next row, thinking it would be clear that we would be next in line. It wasn't clear to the people who came in next, and they did not speak any English. So we got bumped back by 2 people. Confession here lasts from 4pm to 4:45pm, because Saturday evening Mass starts at 5pm. It was 4:42 when I got into the confessional, and this wonderful new priest greeted me with a warm double handshake and told me, "Thank you for coming today!" He was so warm and joy-filled....Jesus was practically seeping out of him. That sounds weird, but he just radiated Jesus' love.
He gave me 2 Our Fathers for my penance.
I thought to myself that was a little strange. I mean, I've been given just one Our Father, or an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, or a triple set of those, or a rosary....but never just 2 Our Fathers.
Regardless, I went and slowly prayed them.
Then we went home.
And at home, I had some time after dinner to open up my favorite new book The Ordinary Path to Holiness, to the next chapter. I'm reading this book at the speed of slow, because I don't want it to ever end. And yet I do, so I can know all that I can learn all it has to offer. Anyway when I opened the page, it was this:
So I just thought Isabel and I were going to pop in to confession, but there was a long line which filled up the entire back pew nearest the confessional. So Iz and I went to the next row, thinking it would be clear that we would be next in line. It wasn't clear to the people who came in next, and they did not speak any English. So we got bumped back by 2 people. Confession here lasts from 4pm to 4:45pm, because Saturday evening Mass starts at 5pm. It was 4:42 when I got into the confessional, and this wonderful new priest greeted me with a warm double handshake and told me, "Thank you for coming today!" He was so warm and joy-filled....Jesus was practically seeping out of him. That sounds weird, but he just radiated Jesus' love.
He gave me 2 Our Fathers for my penance.
I thought to myself that was a little strange. I mean, I've been given just one Our Father, or an Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be, or a triple set of those, or a rosary....but never just 2 Our Fathers.
Regardless, I went and slowly prayed them.
Then we went home.
And at home, I had some time after dinner to open up my favorite new book The Ordinary Path to Holiness, to the next chapter. I'm reading this book at the speed of slow, because I don't want it to ever end. And yet I do, so I can know all that I can learn all it has to offer. Anyway when I opened the page, it was this:
So I began to read it. So many goodies in this chapter, I can't give them all away. You need to go read the book, but from the CCC (2763):
The Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers...
In it we ask, not only for all the things we can rightly desire,
but also in the sequence that they should be desired.
This prayer not only teaches us to ask for things, but also
in what order we should desire them.
Wow. So the next evening, Ian opened up the children's Bible to read the next chapter (we had skipped reading a Bible story on Saturday night). And it was this:
A one page Bible "story". Simply The Lord's Prayer.
Our Father times two.
Now, I haven't quite figured out what the Lord is telling me here other than I'd better get focused on this prayer and spend some time meditating upon it. Maybe pray it twice a day? ;) I mean, it couldn't hurt. But clearly, it's a sign, right?
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Pretty sure it's broken.
My big toe, that is. On my right foot. You know, the driving foot.
Yesterday morning I scrambled to make a grocery store run and pack up all the kids, make sure meals were planned, swimsuits, sunscreen, bug spray, sleeping bags and various other camping accouterment was ready. Because yesterday was the first day of homeschool camping weekend, which has been one of our favorite family activities for the past 3 years. Typically, I send them off to a campsite, roughly an hour away and then I join them with the baby in the morning, returning home in the evening so I can take care of a.m. and p.m. goat chores.
I was so excited.
They had all been shipped off (well, except for Cooper, obviously).
It was 6 p.m. Friday.
I decided to go out into the garage to search for a backpack so that while I was with Cooper in the Ergo on my front, I could easily carry my baby gear on my back.
My mistake was that I entered the garage barefoot.
Or maybe that I didn't notice the 2.5lb brick-sized transformer or transistor, or whatever the heck Rob told me the black-box-shaped-thingy-with-wires-hanging-off-it was that fell 5 feet, straight onto my foot, as I pulled out the backpack upon which it sat.
At first I thought, "Oh crap....that was really bad, but okay....it's going to be okay." Until I started to feel nauseaus from the pain. Whatever....it was just a smash... got in, assessed it...still hurts, but at this point Cooper needs to go to bed, so I go and nurse him with my foot starting to throb and put him to bed.
Goats need to be fed before the pain gets worse.....have to feed goats. Just truck through it. But, our 90 year old neighbor is out and of course he wants to bring 2 loads of vegetable scraps to the goats, so I need to help him, because he is, well, 90 years old. At this point I am not limping....I guess I was pumped up on adrenaline...and this is good, because I did NOT want him to know that I was in pain or he would have tried to help me feed the goats. *Goat feeding time can get pretty rambunctious!* I did not want any more injuries for anyone!
While I am helping him, he tells me, "Angela, Robert picked a good wife to get all those kids ready for camping, and their clothes packed up and such. You're a good wife." That was so sweet of him, I think I was blushing....or else I was starting to get really hot because I thought I was going to pass out. Might have been the pain creeping in.
I finish the chores and get inside and reassess and it doesn't look horrific! You know, like if you googled "broken big toe", you would get all kinds of abominable looking toes. And mine is just red, not really even swollen, but my nailbed is definitely black and awful looking.
I put my leg up and by 7pm I realize I need some ibuprofen because it is really starting to throb...it hurt enough that I could actually tell when the ibuprofen "hit" my system and started to take a tiny bit of the edge off. I tried to go to bed around 10pm and the sheets on the bed hurt my toe. So I went back out to the couch....it seemed like there was absolutely no position in which I could get comfortable.
I realized that I would not be joining the camping group the next morning. I could barely limp to the kitchen for more ibuprofen. How the heck was I going to traipse around a campsite, with roots and all, down to the lake, carrying a baby in the ergo when I could barely hobble to the kitchen? Heck, I wouldn't trust myself to drive with that foot!
I started to let the disappointment sink in as I realized the situation. Coupled with the guilt that I would be leaving my husband on a camping trip with 3 of the 4 kids....plus the pain of my toe. Argh. But as I thought about it, I realized that I needed to just accept it. Accept the pain. Heck, who am I to be whining about a broken toe when there are people with way harder and more painful situations at this very moment? Grow up, Angela! This is an opportunity for God to work!
I finally got some sleep.
When I woke up in the night, I took it as an opportunity to pray for others. To pray for the safety of the campers. To pray for those who have turned away from their faith. To pray for a sick friend. To pray for the nation. To pray for a mother who lost her baby a few months ago.
Don't complain, just pray. Don't whine, just let God work. I can always be His tool if I cooperate with Him. In. every. moment. even the broken bone type of moments.
Cooper woke up twice to nurse. When I got up this morning, my toe was painful, more swollen and stiff, and it was all I could do just to make it out to feed all the animals, let alone think about milking them. I turned the babies loose to their mamas and let the babies do the milking this morning. But over the day, the pain has been better. I've rested and iced it, spent a lot of time lying on the ground playing with the baby. Read, prayed the rosary, prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, talked to God, listened to music.
For whatever reason, I wasn't supposed to be on that trip. Disappointment happens every day. Pain is all around. But so is our Lord. Always with us. Always with a plan that we cannot fully see.
Just trust.
Yesterday morning I scrambled to make a grocery store run and pack up all the kids, make sure meals were planned, swimsuits, sunscreen, bug spray, sleeping bags and various other camping accouterment was ready. Because yesterday was the first day of homeschool camping weekend, which has been one of our favorite family activities for the past 3 years. Typically, I send them off to a campsite, roughly an hour away and then I join them with the baby in the morning, returning home in the evening so I can take care of a.m. and p.m. goat chores.
I was so excited.
They had all been shipped off (well, except for Cooper, obviously).
It was 6 p.m. Friday.
I decided to go out into the garage to search for a backpack so that while I was with Cooper in the Ergo on my front, I could easily carry my baby gear on my back.
My mistake was that I entered the garage barefoot.
Or maybe that I didn't notice the 2.5lb brick-sized transformer or transistor, or whatever the heck Rob told me the black-box-shaped-thingy-with-wires-hanging-off-it was that fell 5 feet, straight onto my foot, as I pulled out the backpack upon which it sat.
At first I thought, "Oh crap....that was really bad, but okay....it's going to be okay." Until I started to feel nauseaus from the pain. Whatever....it was just a smash... got in, assessed it...still hurts, but at this point Cooper needs to go to bed, so I go and nurse him with my foot starting to throb and put him to bed.
Goats need to be fed before the pain gets worse.....have to feed goats. Just truck through it. But, our 90 year old neighbor is out and of course he wants to bring 2 loads of vegetable scraps to the goats, so I need to help him, because he is, well, 90 years old. At this point I am not limping....I guess I was pumped up on adrenaline...and this is good, because I did NOT want him to know that I was in pain or he would have tried to help me feed the goats. *Goat feeding time can get pretty rambunctious!* I did not want any more injuries for anyone!
While I am helping him, he tells me, "Angela, Robert picked a good wife to get all those kids ready for camping, and their clothes packed up and such. You're a good wife." That was so sweet of him, I think I was blushing....or else I was starting to get really hot because I thought I was going to pass out. Might have been the pain creeping in.
I finish the chores and get inside and reassess and it doesn't look horrific! You know, like if you googled "broken big toe", you would get all kinds of abominable looking toes. And mine is just red, not really even swollen, but my nailbed is definitely black and awful looking.
I put my leg up and by 7pm I realize I need some ibuprofen because it is really starting to throb...it hurt enough that I could actually tell when the ibuprofen "hit" my system and started to take a tiny bit of the edge off. I tried to go to bed around 10pm and the sheets on the bed hurt my toe. So I went back out to the couch....it seemed like there was absolutely no position in which I could get comfortable.
I realized that I would not be joining the camping group the next morning. I could barely limp to the kitchen for more ibuprofen. How the heck was I going to traipse around a campsite, with roots and all, down to the lake, carrying a baby in the ergo when I could barely hobble to the kitchen? Heck, I wouldn't trust myself to drive with that foot!
I started to let the disappointment sink in as I realized the situation. Coupled with the guilt that I would be leaving my husband on a camping trip with 3 of the 4 kids....plus the pain of my toe. Argh. But as I thought about it, I realized that I needed to just accept it. Accept the pain. Heck, who am I to be whining about a broken toe when there are people with way harder and more painful situations at this very moment? Grow up, Angela! This is an opportunity for God to work!
I finally got some sleep.
When I woke up in the night, I took it as an opportunity to pray for others. To pray for the safety of the campers. To pray for those who have turned away from their faith. To pray for a sick friend. To pray for the nation. To pray for a mother who lost her baby a few months ago.
Don't complain, just pray. Don't whine, just let God work. I can always be His tool if I cooperate with Him. In. every. moment. even the broken bone type of moments.
Cooper woke up twice to nurse. When I got up this morning, my toe was painful, more swollen and stiff, and it was all I could do just to make it out to feed all the animals, let alone think about milking them. I turned the babies loose to their mamas and let the babies do the milking this morning. But over the day, the pain has been better. I've rested and iced it, spent a lot of time lying on the ground playing with the baby. Read, prayed the rosary, prayed the Chaplet of Divine Mercy, talked to God, listened to music.
For whatever reason, I wasn't supposed to be on that trip. Disappointment happens every day. Pain is all around. But so is our Lord. Always with us. Always with a plan that we cannot fully see.
Just trust.
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