Those babies grow up so quickly! I was told that by so many friends and relatives!  And they were right!!! Those grinning babies of mine were soon little toddlers that would be pouting (with a poochy bottom lip) if mommy did not give them their way! As a young mother I wanted to see my children happy all the time, but I had to  learn a child's happiness does not last long and his appetites grow and are never saisfied! I had to learn from the Bible how to be a mother, wife and teacher-just to name a few of the responsibilities I had been given! My main responsibility was to please God and teach my children how to please Him too! When I turned my heart over to the Lord, then my prayers changed too! "Not my will, but Thine be done!"  That is when God stepped in and prayers were answered, my children listened and obeyed (and the Bible worked!)

When I obeyed the Lord, and did what the scriptures told me to do as a lady, child of God, & Mother then there was only God's standard to live - (instead of one for dad, mom, and each of the children!) The joy God gives from being obedient, is also the example the children need to see! The children saw God answer our prayers,  meet our needs (my husband lose his job, his brother die, and lose unemployment too-at the same time!), peace and contentment in our home (even when there are storms, disasters and no electricity!) , neighbors get saved (prepare for eternity!),  miracles beyond our understanding (we had our share of emergency surgeries, auto accidents, etc), and the family's faith grow!  Two of my home school graduates  are finishing college as engineers and another graduates next year!  They have given their lives to the Lord too and desire to God's will with their lives!  Yes, I am rejoicing with tears in my eyes because the Lord had the best plan all the time!! I was so glad I chose to go His way!

"For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings." Job 34:21 

When you live for the Lord you are glad He is watching!!! --- Loretta

 Our home place is a haven to our family (five of us), and a peaceful park to over 120 Garden Gate Rabbits, 3  labrador dogs, one kitten and  various other visiting country critters roaming the upstate! Although we have been raising rabbits for over 13 years, our family thoroughly enjoys our daily visits to the rabbit hutches to spend time with all our furry friends and their various families.  We get excited about the planning and arrival of each litter born and keep family records (also called pedigrees) of each one. Some have been given unique names such as our fawn English Lop, Prof. Clover Le Pierre.  Whenever friends come to visit us we find out that they love visiting our rabbits as much as visiting our family!

            Everyone in the family gets involved showing rabbits, building hutches, as well as caring for our rabbits and helping others learn how to raise rabbits and care for them.  Now that two of our home schooled children have graduated and are attending a christian university we expect their engineering and computer courses will produce some noteworthy improvements here. Many families from South Carolina, as well as several other states, have made pets of our bunnies over the years and have even returned to get another variety or breed of bunny from our rabbitry (another word for rabbit farm). We have also been called on to rescue bunnies in neighboring towns & cities. One morning we got a phone call from a goat farmer who needed our help.  A wild animal had climbed into their chicken coop and killed their chickens and had also climbed onto the rabbit cages and released their rabbits.  Thankfully no rabbit was injured and they were safely returned to their cages.  We have adopted rabbits and even have fostered a few to a good home.  Some of our rabbits are quite amazing  too, including one doe, named Blossom,  that raised a litter of orphaned bunnies that were only a couple of days old.  “Patch”, our Rex buck, could throw a Frisbee and “Eveready” could run an obstacle course!  The Best emergencies we have had were when people have called us Thanksgiving morning and on Christmas Eve to come buy a special bunny for a gift! I will never forget one Christmas Eve that it poured rain and we had visitors come to our door. He wanted a white rabbit! We brought a litter of white Rex bunnies that were eight weeks old and full of life into the house.  They were so cute that the man bought two, put them into his cage packed with fresh hay and told us he was taking them with the family to Myrtle Beach for Christmas! (he contacted us a year later to tell us about the first litter his doe had!)

When we joined the American Rabbit Breeders Assoc. we made more friends from all over the country. We travel to ARBA shows in various states with our bunnies. We were thrilled to win the highest award - Best in Show! 

 As we stop at restaurants and gift shops our bunnies get “special” attention and we often meet people who are rabbit lovers that cannot have a bunny as a pet. I planned a way to recapture those sunny moments and spontaneous smiles that I saw on so many faces. Those extraordinary “moments” with our bunnies were captured by my camera. Subsequently, the creation of our note cards resulted. Hopefully you will notice why we treasure our note cards. We gathered together some of our cherished things like grandmother’s hand sewn quilts, crotched doilies, an heirloom cameo locket or an antique gift to use in our cards. The Garden Gate bunnies are not your typical rabbits as you will notice!  Sailor bunnies in a row boat, gardener bunnies posing amongst the flowers, playful bunnies making a snowman, trained pilot bunnies, and elite bunnies of society are some of the extraordinary rabbits you will see on Garden Gate Note Cards! Since I love heirloom sewing there are some special touches I have handmade on a lace baby bunny bonnet, the elegant brocade dresses, lace collars and Victorian hats our rabbits don for their afternoon tea.

We have been thrilled with all the joyous reactions, comments and stories that have resulted already from people who have received our cards.  The happiness that is shared by means of a note card is one of many rewards!  We need to be reminded that   “A merry heart doeth good like a medicine:” Prov. 17:22 When we give our cards as gifts I like to think that our note cards will be a healing salve to hospital patients, a comforting kindness to a lonely soul, or a relieving respite as refreshing cool spring water would be to a parched tongue.  Garden Gate Note Cards, depicting our extraordinary bunnies, are not only endearing to hearts of all ages, but have become conversation pieces and keepsakes!

Talk with  you later!