Papa

My husband's grandfather "Papa" went home to be witht Jesus on Monday night.

He'd been not feeling well for close to a year. They finally figured out it was cancer last fall. He did some radiation treatments but they didn't help.

He was going downhill fast. Last Friday he started having trouble breathing and they called in hospice.

Monday morning we got the call that he probably wouldn't last thru the day.

We loaded up our kids & headed down to California.

We got there about 4-4:30.

Papa passed about 6:30.

He was at home. Surrounded by his family.

His wife of almost 60 years. His 3 daughters. 2 son-in-laws. 2 of his 7 grandchildren. 2 grandchildren-in-law. And 5 of his 16 great-grandchildren were next door.

It was so hard but such an amazing thing to be there for Papa & Grandma.

Papa was awesome. He & Grandma made me feel like I was 1 of their own. I loved having grandparents again.

Growing up I only had my Grandma, Mimi, and she has been gone for a long time.

Papa loved to go to yard sales, junk stores, antique stores.

 He & Grandma knew what my little collections were & they would often pick up a treasure for me.

 A few years ago they gave me this beautiful antique print in a gilt frame. It is of 2 horse called "Midnight and Moonbeam".

I have 2 other prints of the same horses which I have had for years.

They are 2 of my favorite things.

 Papa & Grandma knew how much I liked them & were always on the look out.

They finally found one on one of their many trips.

 They bought it. Packed it back home with them. And saved it until the next time they came up to see us.

 It hangs in my living room in a prominent spot.

I love it. Not just because of what it is, but because of what it represents.

They cared enough to know what I loved & want to get it for me.

They thought about me.

I will miss Papa very much.

I'm so grateful to have had him in my life for these last 15 years.

Blessings.

Barnyard babies

 

Our twin bucks. 3 days old.

 

Our new peepers.

And The Biscuit 10 days after the accident, healing nicely. No swelling. No bruising.

Blessings.

Big Day

Big day around here!

Today is my oldests 21st birthday! Wow! I was 7 mths pregnant with him on my 21st birthday.

Wow. Doesn't seem possible.

We brought home 16 new chicks today too. A dozen cornish cross meat birds & 4 pullets they threw in for free for buying chicken feed

We want turkeys too, but they won't be in until Friday.

That's a truly fascinating you say, but why are you blogging about this in the middle of the night>

Well...

We have 2 brand new boer/nubian bucks in the barn! That's why! And we just finished getting them settled into their new world.

We scrubbed 'em dry.

Dipped their navels in iodine.

Gave their mama a nice drink with goat drench mixed in to perk her up.

Made sure each one got a nice drink of colostrum.

And gave them a each a shot of BoSe because one looked a little iffy on his hind legs.

Our area is selenium deficient & we do supplement the goats but sometimes the babies have a few issues & need a shot.

We also put up the heat lamp to keep them warm.

Spring is definitely here in our barnyard!

So HAPPY BIRTHDAY 

to the my favorite oldest boy

And for those of you wondering: The Biscuit is doing great! The swelling is gone & the bruising is fading. God is good!

Blessings!

It isn't easy being green...

First, I want to thank everyone for all of their kind words & prayers. The Biscuit is doing amazingly well. The swelling is going down. He went all day yesterday without any Tylenol. And he is as full of life as ever. He is ready to go, go, go. We are still saying "No, no ,no" & trying to keep him still but we are losing the battle .

God is good.

Happy (late) St Patrick's Day. We have fun with this day, do you?

We wear green, eat green, make green crafts & read about the life of Patrick who was really an amazing man.

So, being as a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll stop typing & start pasting.

My broken little Biscuit

 

Our breakfast yesterday

 

The rainbow shamrock cake we made

 

 

 

And the shamrock pants I made for my oldests birthday this Sunday

 

It's amazing what you can do with a little food coloring

So we are hangin' in there. We (Mom & Dad) are still pretty traumatized & tend to get teary eyed for no reason. We also spend a lot of time just holding our baby. We've considered a bubble wrap suit but haven't figured out a practical application yet .

Blessings.

E.R.

God is good.

Today, during junior church, a large, heavy, wooden, folding table fell on The Biscuit.

 I picked him up, I didn't see a mark on him.

I put him to my shoulder to comfort him.

I turned to look at him.

The skin on his forehead was sliced open & the entire front lobe of his skull was exposed.

I clamped my hand over his forehead to slow the bleeding. I screamed for one of the ladies to help me.

She took one look & ran to the sanctuary for help.

I yelled after her to get our friend who is an EMT.

She stuck her head in the sanctuary, where they were in the middle of the service, yelled our friends name & said "We need you! There's an emergency!"

I was just standing in the kitchen, with my hand on his head sobbing over & over "Please Jesus, please."

People came running. They started to work on him from behind me while I still held him over my shoulder. I just kept praying.

My husband came & took him from me.

I just stood there sobbing & praying. My daughter came up to me & I grabbed onto her.

A friend came up & grabbed us both & held us, praying.

I could hear the men working on The Biscuit. Talking about what needed to be done.

Our Pastors wife led me into the office. Our Pastor was in there on the phone to 911. She held me & prayed with me until I was calmer.

I went back to my baby.

My husband was holding him. Another man had a damp towel & was holding it over his head. Our friend, the EMT had his radio & was arranging transport. He even tried to get a helicoptor.

It was decided that we would head out to meet the ambulance.

I left my other children in the care of our Pastor & his wife.

With my husband carrying him & the other man holding the towel on him, they carried him to our friends car.

We 3 got in the back, holding him between us.

We drove to the ambulance station 10 miles away.

My husband & I got in the ambulance with him. The 2 attendants were wonderful Christian friends of ours.

It was a long 45 minute drive into the hospital. They were constantly monitoring him & holding the skin on his head together.

He cried & cried & cried.

I sang "Jesus loves me" over & over & over again. It's his favorite song.

We finally made it to the hospital.

We were there 4 hours. It took 1 hour for the doctor to sew him up. He has stitches inside & outside. He is glued & steri-stripped.

He appears to have no brain trauma. He is responsive & acting like himself.

He looks like Frankensteins baby.

I think I aged 10 years today.

I'm sitting here now holding my little broken baby.

Thank you God for my baby. Thank you for putting all of those people into our lives to help us.

Friends followed us to the hospital, waited for us & then drove us home.

Our pastor sent home pizza with our kids.

Our entire church prayed for The Biscuit before they closed the service.

This has been one of the worst days of my life but it has been full of so many blessings.

Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so.

Little ones to him belong. They are weak but he is strong.

Blessings.

Update

My husband just returned from speaking to the manager of the Comfort Inn on Mistletoe Lane in Redding CA.

The manager informed him that last night, just before leaving, he overheard part of the phone conversation regarding our lodgings. He instructed that we were to be approved & that they had 2 cribs available.

It was apparently the corporate employee who manned the phones who gave us the wrong information & refused our lodging.

The manager explained that the fire code does stipulate 2 adults per bed but that it is up to manager discretion how to enforce that when small children are involved.

So if you are in Redding Ca & need accomodations, The Comfort Inn on Mistletoe Lane is indeed a family friendly establishment which does have cribs available for those who need them.

I hope no one finds this slanderous.

Blessings.

Comments

I posted a blog about a negative experience we had.

I often post about places we go & things we do.

If it was an enjoyable experience at a business I often post the contact information.

No one has ever had an issue with this.

Yesterday we had a negative experience with a business. I blogged about it & included the contact information.

All of the sudden I'm slanderous.

I opened my blog for opinions.

The people who disagreed with me apparently couldn't just disagree with me.

They had to accuse me of being cheap, slanderous & endangering my family.

Wow. I never bothered anyone when I reccommended a business.

But warning folks of bad business practices is not allowed. Who knew?

I'm so glad this is a mostly Christian site otherwise I can't imagine the things that might have been said.

I also had a visit from the illustrious "Anonymous". She even managed to threaten me on behalf of another blogger. Wow. She's good.

I find it fascinating that she is SO free with names & personal contact information of OTHER people but will not even sign her name.

This is my blog, my thoughts, my experiences. If I offend I apologize, that is never my intention. If you disagree me, please just say so & refrain from calling me names & making accusations.

I  am not opening this entry to comments.

If you want to yell at me, you'll have to wait until the next time.

Blessings.

Discrimination? You decide.

 

 

Today was my first real encounter with discrimination against ‘large’ families.

My husband called to make reservations at a hotel.

We wanted to use our ‘points’ to get connecting rooms so we could have a little privacy.

Well, first of all the hotel “The Comfort Inn, on Mistletoe Lane in Redding CA” has no adjoining rooms.

Okay, no problem. We’ll take a regular room with 2 beds.

Sorry, you have too many people for one room.

I beg your pardon?

Now, if you have read my blog at all lately, you know that we have been travelling extensively, as a family for the last 3 months. We have stayed in multiple hotels, once with all five kids and the dog, and had NO problems.

We even stayed at that very same Comfort Inn on Mistletoe Lane less than 30 days ago with no problem.

But today, 2 adults and 4 children- ages 13, 10, 3, & 1- were too many people for one room. It was a violation of the fire code.

Um, okay.

So after 4 phone calls and going around & around & AROUND with this, they finally seemed about to get past the ‘fire code’ issue.

Their next objection?

The hotel would normally charge us extra to use a crib but they don’t have any cribs. (They are sounding really family friendly aren’t they?)

So, we’ll have to bring our own crib.

We don’t have a crib. Our baby sleeps with us.

You don’t have crib?

No.

How about a playpen?

Nope.

Do you have anything like a crib?

How about a cardboard box?

Apparently one cannot travel with a baby and stay in a hotel without a crib. Whether you actually use one or not.

The moral of this story is: we were refused lodging at The Comfort Inn on Mistletoe Lane in Redding CA because we have too many kids for their liking.

Needless to say, I am not writing this from The Comfort Inn. I am writing this from our suite at the The Quality Inn on Hilltop Drive in Redding CA.

They have no problems with our 4 kids or our dog & we are quite pleased with our room.

If I can figure out how, I am going to send this blog post to the Comfort Inn folks along with an e-mail expressing our displeasure at their family-unfriendly policies.

I believe we were discriminated against for having more than the ‘politically correct’ 1.8 children per couple.

What do you think?

Blessings.

 

Edited to add: I tried to close comments to this entry to prevent any more name calling. As a result ALL of the comments disappeared. That was not my intention but I do not know how to get them back. LKS

New Harness

Ooooooooooooo! I am so excited!

Last week I traded one of my pony harnesses for a horse sized harness that fits my mare.

Yesterday, I took her over to a friends(who knows WAY more about driving than I do) & we harnessed her up & adjusted everything to fit her. My friend pointed out a few straps & buckles that were missing off of my harness--easy fixes.

We ground drove my mare for about an hour. She taught me some neat tricks to tune up both the mare & my driving skills.

Today, the local wheelwright came over to look at my little wagon. He gave me an estimate for making new shafts.....you ready?

$200!!!!

That's all! I was so afraid it would be way more than that & I would never get them made. He's also going to do the fixes to my harness.

He's a busy guy so I have to wait in line  but I am just so excited to be moving forward on all of this!

In July the local driving club is having a wagon train-camp out. I am so hoping everything will be all set & ready way before that & we can go. That just sounds so fun to me.

We also have a local parade in July that I want to drive in this year.

I have been waiting & wanting to do these things for so long & I am so excited!

Did I say that?

Blessings.

Deutschland

We are wrapping up our 2 week study on Germany this week.

Today we had our authentic German meal .

We had wurst, kartoffelpuffer w/ apfelpüree & schwarzwalder kirshtorte for dessert.

Very yummy.

Especially that torte .

Here's our wurst, kartoffelpuffer & apfelpuree

 

 

and our schwarzwalder kirschtorte

 

It was fun planning, cooking & especially eating our German food.

We did a great French meal too, a few weeks ago. Unfortunately we didn't get any pics . It was right in the middle of all of our travels but we had some yummy Creme Puffs with that one.

Yes, I do have a thing for desserts. They are my favorite to make (and to eat of course).

We are really enjoying our "My Fathers World" curriculum this year. It gets the whole family involved. And the meals are an added plus because it causes us to branch out of the 'norm' and try new foods.

Next week we are jumping continents and headed to Africa.

I'll let you know how it goes .

Blessings.

Good Samaritan

Sometimes people surprise me.

Sunday afternoon my daughter & I drove into town to pick up some supplies.

Our first stop was the feedstore.

After making our purchases we hopped in the car to go to our next stop.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. Clickclickclickclickclickclick. Uh oh.

The cashier who had just checked us out, was in the parking lot getting the mail. She came over & offered to look under the hood & see if it was something simple like a loose wire.

Two of the 'yard guys' came over to see if they could help.

It was generally agreed that the problem was my corroded battery cable connectors. The younger 'yard guy'--who was late teens, early 20's maybe-- brought some tools over & proceeded to clean my connectors.

The other 2 folks went back to their jobs.

'Kyle' cleaned  the connectors & then I tried to start the car.

Clickclickclickclickclickclickclick.

Kyle tried a few other tricks with no luck. Then he called his dad, who is a mechanic, to get his advice.

The general consensus was that the connectors were too far gone & the starter was not getting enough power to turn over.

Kyle suggested I buy new connectors (there at the feedstore) & he would install them for me (do you just love this kid?)

I protested (feebly) & then bought the connectors ($4) which Kyle installed for me.

Did I mention that throughout all of this, he continued to load out customers --with a smile-- and then come running back to fix my car?

After the installation of my shiny new connectors, my battery didn't have enough juice to turn over. Kyle was going for the forklift when another customer noticed what we were doing & pulled his truck over to give my car a jumpstart.

After hooking it up & giving it a few minutes to charge it was time...

VroooooomvrooomvrooomVroooomVROOM

WooHooo! Kyle did it!

I thanked him profusely!

I wrote a letter to the store letting them know what a jewel he is.

And my husband & I are planning to pick up a gift card to drop off for him tomorrow.

Do you not  love this kid?

I do.

He was such a blessing to me.

So, the next time you breakdown, I pray the Lord sends you a 'Kyle'.

Blessings.