A B C D E F G....

After doing the morning milking (cow and goats), as Andrew was doing Dad's chores, I went over to babysit "my" little girls and spent most of the day there.  I was very impressed when Johanna sang her ABCs for me!  She needed just a little help in a couple places.  She's one smart little cookie.  Tracy Jo was having so much fun going down the little slide they have in the living room.  They are both so fun!  I am blessed to be a part of their lives.

I got home just in time to help Jacob finish the supper dishes (the others were doing the barn chores), so he was glad I think.  The guys loaded out a 3rd load of our corn today when the trucker arrived.  My dad hauled grain all day again for a farmer. 

Have a good Friday.~

Bye bye corn...

The guys loaded up the 2 trucks that came today to haul our organic corn to MN.  The hard, faith-building part of selling organic crops is that it seems you end up waiting at least 30 days after they have your grain to get paid.  So, we wait (and pray that the check comes)!

I went over and babysat the 3 neighbor children that live just a mile away.  This morning, we played inside, but after nap-time this afternoon, we played outside for a couple of hours.  It was just lovely out!  I pulled the 3 kiddos in their sled for a while and pushed them on their swingset.  Then, I made mazes in the snow for them to follow.  :)

My mom got some writing done today that she'd been wanting to do.  She also made reservations at a hotel in Grand Forks for when we go to the home-school convention in March (Lord willing, and all). 

The boys worked in the shop.  Andrew finished with the neighbors' pickup and drove it over to them.  :)  Jacob worked on his snowmobile some more....

Another kid...

A couple days ago my mom's goat, Bridget had 1 huge buckling.  We had him in the house for 2 days, trying to get him up and going, but he died overnight.  :(  Now tonight, after milking Sally, I went down to milk Bridget and discovered 2 kids in the milking stall, 1 dead and the other nearly so.  My goat, Opal had kidded today sometime and apparently the kids just didn't get up and nurse as they were cuddled together, as I said, dead and nearly so.  I brought the live kid inside and now it's my turn to try and doctor it back to health/life.  Both kids were bucklings.  We were not expecting kids at this time of year, so weren't really looking for them.  Sad. 

Outside of that, this day was pleasant.  I got the bread baked; a new batch of vanilla started; filled the color-ink cartridge on the printer again; did dishes; made chicken and sage stuffing for supper; baked some granola bars; and dug out the big exercise ball I used to use when I had back problems, as I want to do some exercises on it again (not that I'm having back problems, but just for the sake of staying strong). 

Mom and Andrew went to Bismarck.  My dad hauled grain all day long, then came home and pushed snow away from the grain-bins, as 2 trucks are coming for corn tomorrow.  Jacob is still sick, so took it easy and folded some laundry for me. 

Please be in prayer for an American pastor who has been put in prison in another country....  Read more at my friend, Hannah's blog:  http://gloryandgrace-hannah.blogspot.com/2013/02/american-pastor-sentenced-to-prison.html .

An apple a day...

...keeps the doctor away, so the old saying goes.  SO, when I got home from work today (after sharing an apple with Johanna and Tracy Jo), I baked an apple pie.  :) 

The others kept busy here at home, outside of my dad who hauled grain all day again.  Andrew is taking over the morning cow-feedings for him so he can get an earlier start (that part of chores takes over an hour to accomplish). 

It looks like I need to bake bread again tomorrow.  The cupboard is bare---of bread, that is.

A surprise in the barn...

This morning, I milked Sally for Andrew, as he was heading up to Harvey early to get a 4-wheeler.  As long as I was outside, I decided to do the rest of the small animal chores and was I ever surprised when I went in the goat barn and found a new kid!  We knew the bucks had been with the does about 5 months ago, but weren't sure if they were bred, as our 2 does haven't really bagged up very much.  I held the mama and fought with the kid for a while to get it to nurse.  When the others got up, I asked them to keep an eye on the kid and when I got home from work this afternoon, the kid was in the house in a laundry basket.  He isn't doing the best right now.  My mom's been tube-feeding him, so hopefully he gets going here soon.  He was trying to stand at supper time.  I guess we'll have to keep an eye on my doe, Opal!

God Leads His Dear Children Along...

During our hymn-sing today (which was pretty quiet, due to people still not having their singing voices recovered from this cold), I chose this favorite hymn:



The first time I heard this song was at one of the first Prairie Days we attended.  A little red-headed girl of maybe 5 or 6 was singing it and it stuck in my head as a very wonderful song.  :)

We spent the day resting, reading, and watching the Waltons this evening.  I looked through the 14 seed catalogs we've received this year so far and dreamed of what I'll try to grow this year...

I forgot to mention yesterday that the boys had Jacob's snowmobile running for a while and drove it around in the snow a bit!  It's still not idling as it should, they say, but at least it goes...

Beef enchiladas are good too!

I don't know why, but when we make enchiladas, we make them with chicken.  Well, today, we didn't have chicken but had beef on hand so, yes, we made beef enchiladas instead.  Everyone seemed to enjoy them just as well.  I've come to the conclusion (in my family anyway) that if you smother anything in white sauce, it will be declared delicious.  ;)

I babysat "my" girls for the first part of the day, then came home and helped my mom with cooking and washed a ton of kettles (well, not quite that many).   We played a little ping-pong again before chores, then played Rook and Rummy after supper.  Fun times!