The End of an Era

Hi friends,

I have been wanting to write this post for a several weeks, but it has taken me awhile to get my thoughts together. And it is a sad post for me, so I really haven't been in any hurry to share the news.

It's about our dairy goats.  Since we bought them 2 1/2 years ago, I have often blogged about them. If I counted correctly, 8 times!! Looking back,  it seems as if I  have shared most, if not all, of our goat news with you all.  :)

It has been such a wonderful experience for our family. Our children learned how to care for the goats, the kidding/birthing cycles, how to milk, how to give injections, and so many other things. And the companionship of the goats was wonderful, too - they were just like pets to us. But the biggest advantage to having your own goats is you have your own supply of milk! We drank it raw because that it is the healthiest milk you can drink.

When we first started out on this new adventure, I naturally assumed that the children would eventually adjust to the taste of the goat milk....even if it took a few months. And when I first tasted the milk, I thought, "Well, it tastes good -  a little different than cow's milk, but not in a bad way - just different. The kids won't have a problem with switching over to this."  Ian and Asher loved the milk and the cheese  right from the start. But the other 3 children? Not so much. They tasted it and didn't like it. I even made them drink a small glass of it now and then. But they never could get used to the taste. They wouldn't even have it on their cereal in the morning. I waited patiently - and a long time: 2 1/2 years - for them to get used to the taste of the milk. It never happened.

So, as much as I hated the thought of it, I began considering selling the goats. I asked myself, is it financially prudent to keep 2 goats (actually, 4 goats if you include Sorcha's babies) for 2 children?  With having to buy alfalfa hay, sweet feed, vitamins/minerals, straw for bedding, baking soda (to balance the ph in their rumens), other things that went along with goat herding, I knew that we were putting more into the goats than we were getting from them. Especially considering that there are 3 months out of the year that we don't get any milk from them since they are dried off during those months to prepare for kidding. I mentioned my thoughts to hubby and he seemed to be thinking the same thing. But he never mentioned it to me before because he knew how much I loved my goats.
So we began praying about it and asking the Lord for good homes for the goats - if it was His will for us to sell them. After a few weeks, we mentioned it to the children, and although they seemed a little saddened at the thought, they understood the reasons. They began to pray with us.

Fast forward to mid-June. We decided to try to find buyers for the goats. If we couldn't find any, we would take it as the Lord's will to keep them.  I remembered that there was a Toggenberg breeder about a 2-hour drive from us who once told me to contact her if I ever decided to sell my Toggs. I knew she would give Helena a good home. After all, she puts her goats in goat shows - they are treated like kings and queens! So I called her and asked if she would like to buy Helena and without hesitation she said, "Absolutely!" She came two days later and picked her up.  I watched them go down the driveway. Helena was watching me from the back window of the truck cap as she left. She had a look on her face as if to say, "Why are you getting rid of me?" It was so sad.

Maybe to help relieve some of the guilt I was feeling, we gave Helena a watermelon treat before her new owner arrived. See that look of bliss in her eyes?  Can you tell how much she loved watermelon?  :)

That left Sorcha (and her 2 babies), who isn't purebred like Helena, but she is an excellent milker.  I advertised them online, and that evening, I got text from a potential buyer 45 minutes away. I asked her a few questions and it seemed like the perfect fit: she had dairy goats on the farm she had lived on previously, but sold them before moving because it was too much to have to move them. She has 3 animal-loving children, too. I decided this was "the one" and asked when she could pick them up. Her reply: "I can be there in two days." Wow! It seemed as though everything was happening so fast. But I took it as of the Lord...I knew that He was orchestrating it all. And it made it a little easier knowing that the goats were going to good homes.

Our granddaughters visited a few days before, and gave Sorcha and her babies some going away treats.  :)
.

Two days later, we were putting Sorcha and her babies into the animal trailer of their new owner.
And like Helena, Sorcha had the same questioning look in her eyes right before they left. So I didn't watch them leave; I couldn't. It was just too hard. I went back into the house as the new owner drove away.

Several weeks later, it's getting a little easier, but it is still hard. I try not to go near the  barn unless I have to.  It's too quiet..no bleating..no bells..no nothing. The boys cleaned it out the straw for me soon after the goats left, and I have only been in it once since then. I still catch myself looking out the front windows first thing in the morning to check on them.  I really didn't think that selling them would affect me so much.

And so our goat-heading era has come to an end. The barn is closed up..and looking very lonely. But everything will stay as it is; even the "goat crossing" sign stays put. For now.

It was great while it lasted. Thankfully, we have much of it on video and photos, so we will always remember what we learned over the past 2 1/2 years.

I don't regret one minute of it. And my children don't either.

Our Summer School

Since it's already one week into July, this post is a bit late. But I wanted to share what our summer school looks like. Many times, I have considered doing the school-year-'round thing. I really like the thought of taking longer breaks through the year, and not having the feeling of having to get it all finished by a certain date. Schooling year 'round just seems to be less stressful to me.

However, I realized that I, not necessarily my children, need some time between school years to re-charge, re-organize, and get prepped for the new year. But we don't drop lessons altogether. 

So, on Mondays, we do Math. Just one lesson. I learned years ago with my older two children that going 3 months with no Math was a recipe for disaster. In other words, they had forgotten most of what they learned the previous year. So we starting doing one lesson per week through the summer.  It keeps it fresh in their minds. And mine.  :) They also have a Spanish lesson on Mondays.

On Tuesdays, we have some type of Grammar review. Not really a lesson, but identifying parts of speech in a few lines of a favorite poem. Or playing a Grammar game.

Except for a Spanish lesson for each child, Wednesdays are really just for Mimi - we are finishing Robin Hood and are reading a chapter every Wednesday morning.

On Thursdays, the younger 4 are finishing up the Apologia's astronomy course.We have loved Science this year, mainly because we are doing living Science! (More on that in another post.)

There are no lessons on Fridays, except for Spanish.

That's our summer school in a nutshell. 

I hope you are enjoying your summer - school or no school.  :)

Keeping Company - Our Century Charts

Hi friends,

I am linking up with Celeste today to share a peek at our Century Charts.

When we first started implementing the CM philosophy in our home education, we tried Book of Centuries. It was something I was really looking forward to, and I thought my children would enjoy it, too. I was wrong. We stuck with it for almost 2 years, but they simply didn't enjoy it; it almost seemed burdensome to them. I was so disappointed because I loved the idea of recording all those important dates in timeline form.

Then I remembered reading about something similar to Century Charts, only a wall-version type of thing, in Volume 1, page 292 of the CM Series. It sounded like a wonderful idea, so I decided to give it a try. And my children immediately loved it!

Here is how we do it...


I took 2 pieces of poster board and divided each one into 6 columns.
At the top of each column I wrote the centuries that that column would cover, beginning at Creation, of course. :)

The why: to help my children visual the important events in history, and where those events fit into a timeline.

The when: at the beginning of each school week, I set aside a piece of paper to list all the important events that we read about that week. We list each one as we read about it. Then, on Friday, we add the events in the appropriate column on our century charts.

Sometimes we just record the date and event.

But sometimes we also we like to spice it up a little by adding a picture relating to the event.

While my children are filling in the century charts, I often hear them say things like, "Wow! The Great Awakening began only 31 years before The Revolutionary War began!" Or "Did you know that David Livingstone arrived in Africa exactly 20 years before the Civil War began?" They are making connections with these charts. History is unfolding right in front of them. And they are locking it in their memory.

Mission accomplished.  :)

Also sharing at the CMBC.

What I Have Learned

It has been a little over a year since the Lord called my Dad Home to be with Him. Right after he passed, I blogged about the 7 stages of grief.

I also journaled my stages of grief and realized they didn't "line up" with what I read in that internet article. It took awhile for me to become aware of the fact that there is no cookie-cutter way to grieve; we all grieve in different ways and to different degrees.

The past year has been one long learning experience for me, and the same is probably true for many others in my family.

I mentioned in an earlier post that I learned who my true friends were during that difficult time. That was a painful thing to learn.

But on the bright side..

I  have learned to slow down and savor every moment with my loved ones. Because even though the doctors were telling us that my Dad wouldn't recover, I still believed he would. And I still believed that we would have many more years with him.

I have learned to wait. The grieving process can be a very long and slow one. And I believed people when they told me that it gets easier after the first year. It sounds crazy, but I was hoping the one-year anniversary would hurry p and get here so things would get easier! Wrong. It's a different kind of grieving, but we are all still grieving..and in some ways, it's not any easier. Especially when weeks and months go by and reality sets in: Dad is not here. I am still waiting for it to get easier.

I have learned that crying is ok. For example, people asked me why I was crying for Dad when I knew he was with the Lord. (Yes, you read that right!)  Ecclesiastes 3:1 tells us that there is a season and a time for everything. Verse 4 says that there is a time to weep and a time to mourn. I wish I could have come out of my grief-fog long enough to quote those verses to those people. I wanted to say, "Just let me cry!" However, the grief was still very raw, and I was having a hard time just thinking straight.  But I have learned to never admonish someone who is crying for a lost loved one.

I have learned to listen. Sometimes one of my kids just wants to talk about my Dad and the funny things he used to say or do.  they will say, "Remember when Granddaddy used to.." So I drop everything and I listen to them as they recall those memories, knowing they are locking them away in their minds by re-telling them. And one day, they will tell their children and they, too, will know all about my Dad.

I have learned to watch....to watch my children as they grieve and be ready to help them through it. We are grieving together, but they might be grieving in a different way than I am. I am always on alert to see how they are progressing through the grieving process.

I love this graphic that I found online.

 Grief doesn't end, it just changes. And it is definitely the price of love.

Having said all that, I am so thankful that my family and I do not "sorrow as those who have no hope" (1Thessalonians 4:13). We will see Dad again, no doubt. We look forward to that day.

Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live."  ~ John 11:25

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From My Commonplace: Pilgrim's Progress

Naomi, who has just finished AO yr2, absolutely loved reading The Pilgrim's Progress this year. 

I confess that I was a bit apprehensive about the book; the vocabulary is very rich, and I wasn't sure that she would be able to get enough out of the readings to narrate. No worries - she did wonderfully. 

I love the book, too and I could have filled my commonplace with quotes from it. But one of my favorites is on page 118, when Christian asks Hopeful to explain how believing on the Lord Jesus affected his spirit.

Hopeful answered,

"It made me love a holy life, and long to do something for the honor and glory of the Name of the Lord Jesus. Yea, I thought that had I now a thousand gallons of blood in my body, I could spill it all for the sake of the Lord Jesus."  (Emphasis mine.)

Hopeful's reply makes me think of the persecuted church all over the world, and how they are willing to spill their blood for the sake of the Lord.  They are shunned by their families, lose their jobs, run out of their houses, and even worse -  threatened, beaten, and killed for claiming the Name of the Lord. 

I wonder how Christians in the US would react to persecution. Would we be willing to do the same as these persecuted believers who, when persecuted, endure (1 Corinthians 4:12)?

Or would we cower and deny that we even know Him? 

Maybe the point is to be willing to "spill it all" for Him, persecuted or not. 

June Flexi of the Month

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The June Flexi of the Month is on sale now! Click the Lilla Rose link in the above tabs to place your order!

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