Sorcha's Babies

Hi friends,

We had a most pleasant surprise yesterday (Sunday). Sorcha, our new goat, gave birth to 2 beautiful little does at 1:30 pm.

Our breeder had told us she was pregnant, but we didn't think she was since she was so small, especially compared to how huge Helena is when she is pregnant.

Compared to Helena, Sorcha looked malnourished.  ;)

But, when the boys went out to the barn yesterday at 1:00, they came back saying Sorcha was acting as if she was in labor. I went to the barn, and sure enough, she was. I  came back to the house, gathered some supplies, and went back to the barn about 10 minutes later. And in that short amount of time, she had already delivered the first baby, and was cleaning her. We figured that would be the only one since Sorcha was so small. We decided there was no way she could have more than one.

Wrong!

 We were helping Sorcha clean off the baby, when Ian said, "Mom, another one is coming!" I looked over and sure enough, there was another baby on the way. But Sorcha's rear end was right at her water bucket, and the baby was heading right into it! I jumped behind Sorcha and caught the baby just before she landed in the bucket. Whew! Never a dull moment around here!  :)

We haven't named them yet (I am open for suggestions), but they are so cute!

Girls - finally! We had been praying for females so we could get more milk for our family, and He answered. We are so thankful!   :)

 

Both babies are doing great, and since they are both females, we are considering keeping both of them.

Have a great day, friends!

"Come and see the wondrous works of God.." ~ Psalm 66:5

Helena's Babies

Happy Monday, friends!

We had an exciting, yet sad, week last week: Helena's babies  arrived on Thursday afternoon. We noticed signs of labor about 11:00 am. Things continued until about 1:00, when labor intensified and Helena was definitely in focus mode...

After several minutes of pushing, a little buckling arrived first -  in a breech position. I immediately began cleaning the amniotic sac off his face so he could breathe since Helena was concentrating on cleaning off his rear end.

He was big, strong, and healthy. The children immediately named him Socrates.

He is a cutey, isn't he?  :)

 

After a few minutes, Helena seemed to be going back into labor, so we knew that another kid was on the way. But this baby was delivered while Helena was standing up. I caught the baby; she was breech, also. But, sadly, she was stillborn, and very, very small. She was beautiful: solid black; her fur was almost velvety. So we named her Sierra, which means velvety black. We buried her at the edge of the woods under the big cedar tree and put a marker on her grave. 

Between losing Fiona, and losing a brand new kid, my children have experienced more loss than we would like.  And since the loss of my Dad last summer, it seems as if I can't shield my children from death, no matter how hard I try. It keeps coming and coming.

So we are learning that death is a part of life, this life at least. But there will be a day when there will be "no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying.." ~ Revelation 21:4.  And we long for that day.

"Even so, come, Lord Jesus!" ~ Revelation 22:20

Wednesdays With Words

Since I have gotten back into keeping, I  have been setting aside time for myself  to read some books that I have been longing to delve into. I have a large stack of books that I am reading, but on Monday, while reading one of them, a passage jumped out at me and I simply had to write it down in my commonplace book.  

The book is

Something Beautiful for God - Mother Teresa of Calcutta and is written by Malcolm Muggeridge.

While organizing books in our school room a couple of weeks ago, I re-discovered this book.

  I had forgotten that we had this little gem, but it is fast becoming a favorite of mine.

As you can see, it is small, unassuming, but it is packed with wonderful words.

The quote I jotted down is found on pages 29-30 and is Mr. Muggeridge's version of a section of St. Augustine's Confessions:

"Oh God, stay with me. Let no word cross my lips that is not Your word, no thought enter my mind that is not Your thought, no deed ever to be done or entertained by me that is not Your deed."

I thought about those words all day yesterday and the connection they have with 

 Psalm 19:14: 

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart 

Be acceptable in Your sight,

O Lord, my strength and My Redeemer."

 

As always, this has been a timely reminder for me. The Lord knows just what I need to hear, when I need to hear it.

Have a lovely Wednesday, friends.

Sharing with Celeste

And Dawn.

Fiona and Sorcha

Hi friends,

I am thankful for a new week, because last week was a  really rough one. First, we had yet another snow storm, dumping 12 inches of snow on top of about 6 inches of snow that hadn't melted from the previous storm.

The barn was practically buried in the white stuff.

The temps dipped down into the single digits. It was so cold, the water in the goat trough froze and Banty's babies had the opportunity to hone their ice skating skills.  ;)

But the worst part of the entire week was Friday morning, when we lost one of our dairy goats, Fiona.

Here is Fiona last spring with one of her bucklings, Titus, chewing on his Mama's beard.

 Now, losing one your livestock is costly, financially speaking. But Fiona was so more than just one of our livestock; she was a pet and very much like a member of our family. We are still not sure what happened to her. She was very unlike her usual quiet self on Friday morning when I went to the barn; she was very vocal, as if she was trying to tell me something. But when Asher checked on the goats later that morning, he found Fiona dead. We were all shocked, and so saddened. We still are.

But I want to back up a bit. A couple of months ago, I got an email from our breeder, Mary. She asked me if would be interested in a pregnant doe since she was trying to downsize her herd. We prayed about it and decided that since Fiona wasn't pregnant, we needed another goat to provide milk for our family. We accepted her offer.

Mary was supposed to deliver the goat in February, but couldn't because of the winter storms coming through her area. Every week-end she planned to bring her down was postponed due to bad weather. And every week-end that the goat didn't arrive, we were disappointed. We were very eager to meet her.

Finally, on the morning that Fiona died, Mary called me and confirmed that she was delivering the goat that very evening!

So, exactly 12 hours after we lost Fiona, the Lord graciously provided us with a lovely Toggenberg/Alpine doe, whom we named Sorcha (pronounced "Sorka") Isn't the Lord's timing always perfect, friends? He provided Sorcha exactly when we needed her.

And isn't she a beauty?  :)

The name Sorcha is the Gaelic version of Sarah, meaning brightness.  And she has definitely brightened these dark days after losing Fiona. While we are still mourning the loss of Fiona, Sorcha has made the loss so much easier.

She and Helena are getting along well, except for an occasional  rumble at the hay rack.  ;)  She is due next month. 

But before Sorcha's big day, Helena is first: she is due in a couple of weeks.

Iodine, clean towels, and all the other birthing supplies are close at hand. The only thing left is a last-minute cleaning of the barn. So almost everything is ready. The goat stork cometh.  :)

Have a great week, everyone!

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