We miss you, Molly!

 Well, it's a sad time up here on the farm.  A couple of days ago, we lost our sweet-natured dairy cow, our Jersey, Molly.  We don't know what happened except that she was dead when we came out one morning.  The only thing we can figure is that it must have been too much for her to be nursing 2 calves. She was not meant to have twins, apparently, and I guess it's a fluke that she did.  But she is such a great mom, that she gave everything she had.  The boys are doing fine, but the cows were a little freaked out for a couple days... after all, 4 of the 6 cows up here are hers.

We will miss her and her sweet, gentle little spirit... we are not planning on getting another dairy cow at this point, but maybe down the road.  Bye, sweet girl. You were a great family cow.

Besides that, we've been fine up here on the "hill."  The chickens are starting to lay again, and everywhere this time- behind the hay ring, on Eric's tool chest in the wood shed, on the floor of the other shed. It's an adventure searching for them and figuring out if they're still any good!  We are down to 17 chickens now.  Poor Rabbit lost all of his chicks he bought last spring- mostly predators.  And the Buff's we have left are still from the 1st batch we got 6 years ago!

The boys and I came to a big decision in that we are not going to do Classical Conversations next fall for our homeschooling.  We are going to try My Father's World, and work on it together- all 3 of us, which will be great.  They're excited to try something new, although I wouldn't be surprised if E wants to go back to CC either for the spring semester, or the following fall.  He really likes it- the curriculum and seeing his friends on Fridays.  But they will still see friends lots- whether at church, field trips or get-togethers.

Eric's contractor business is really keeping him hopping, thank the good Lord.  We've been very blessed with business!

That's all for now- love to you all, and hopefully we'll see you soon! Blessings!

Post Christmas - Pre New Year

Well, another year of celebrating the birth of our amazing Savior is over.  We've had a very quiet Christmas time up here on the "hill."  It was lovely, although we missed our loved ones near and far. The boys enjoyed their gifts- although not many, they know the real reason of the season, so we don't do a mess of gifts. We'd rather celebrate with family and friends, Jesus, and togetherness. Our love and prayers for a blessed New Year to our friends and family!

We've had a couple of additions to the "family" up here, taking place before Christmas, and all are well and healthy, thanks be to God. The twins worried us at first, since they are pretty rare, especially for a Jersey cow, but they are not only surviving, but thriving!  Molly is such a good momma.  Bad news... the calves are getting all our milk!

Meet Calvin and Hobbes...

Then, a week later, Molly's daughter, Lola, had her calf - introducing.... Blackie!

 

And now it's a nursery... wild and woolly!

We've had a little snowfall this week, much to the boys' delight.

And, much to their dad's dismay... the saturated ground makes for very slippery conditions for hauling water up hill...

Oops... hard lesson learned.

Truck is totaled, BUT, the blessing is we are getting a 2011 Suburban. Yay! This has turned out to be a HUGE blessing in many ways, not just in getting a car whose year actually starts with the number 2 ...  God's plans and purposes are amazing!

            We are all healthy and well, and pray the same for you....much love to you and yours!!