...cow that is...

We welcomed little Daisy Lee into our farm family this morning.

Ironically, we've enjoyed sunshine and warm temperatures here for the last week or two.  Gorgeous weather to birth in a field if you happen to be a cow.  I talked with Clarabelle extensively over the past 2 weeks about how perfect a time it was to have her calf.  She listened attentively and then waited until tropical storm remnants blew in from the gulf coast and decided it was her time to shine. 

Not that I'm criticizing her choice of dates...at least she gave birth ON her due date...I've not been that timely  in awhile with my babies.   

We're officially old pros at this, I guess, now that this is our second calf and we've been enjoying our first calf, T-Bone, at the dinner table for about a week now, but it still seems pretty fun and exciting.  If you like birth stories and want to review T-Bone's story...I actually live-blogged his birth...here, here, here, here, and here .  I didn't have time to do any blogging this go-round.  We were sitting at the table after breakfast getting ready to do some school work when Joshy looked out the window and saw Clarabelle in the back of the pasture moving differently that she normally does...he said, "I think Clarabelle's having her calf."  I quickly went out (with Susie, Sammy and Becca) to check it out, but while she seemed a little uncomfortable, nothing visible was happening.  I went back inside and about 30 minutes later I put Becca down for a nap and went out without little ones to see...i walked halfway across the pasture when I realized I was looking at hooves and a head emerging...I turned around and ran back inside to alert everyone...the kids ran to the neighbor's house who wanted to witness the event and I quickly called and cancelled Julia's flute practice and was back outside in less than 5 minutes...well, every momma knows alot can happen in 5 minutes...if it's the right 5 minutes...about 3 contractions and a birth.  So, I missed it...when I arrived on the scene Clarabelle was cleaning up her calf...in the rain...

Again, I'm not going to criticize a momma in labor...much...'cuz Clarabelle is an excellent momma...but she did decide to give birth right adjacent to a manure pile.  Poor Daisy Lee flopped around alot trying to find her legs...right on top of the manure pile...in the driving rain...covered with all of the gunk associated with birth...it was downright lovely.  I almost felt bad for all of the stuff that poor Clarabelle had to lick off her girl.

Anyway, after an hour or so, the rain was picking up and Daisy still hadn't stood, so we got smart...with T-Bone, Brittany and I carried the 50-lb. calf into the barn from the far-end of the pasture.  Julia had the bright idea of putting Daisy in the Radio Flyer wagon and pulling her to the barn...it worked beautifully...

Once in the barn, we were able to hold her up to get her a feeding.  Once she drank a little from her momma, she was able to stand if we stood her up.  Another 2 hours later when we checked on them again, she was standing on her own and even trying to frolick...though she usually frolicked and then flopped to the ground...but at least she was trying. 

So much fun!  Just in case you missed my insinuation about T-Bone earlier in this post, I'll say it again so I have it on record, too...we had T-Bone processed last week...and now we have a freezer FULL of meat.  The kids were very excited about it.  Sammy has been going around telling everyone that T-Bone's MEAT and we're going to eat him.  Thankfully, due to our name for him, most people simply agree with the 3-year-old that, yes, indeed, T-Bone steak is "meat" and are even a bit impressed that a 3-year-old has such advanced tastes to be a steak connoisseur.   

Becca Joy is at such a fun age.  She is such a sweet, cuddly baby.  She plays so well by herself.  When she wakes up in the morning, usually before I'm ready to wake up, I bring her into the bed with me and she just snuggles with me for awhile.  When she tires of that, she slides to the floor and just plays with her baby doll for another 15 minutes until I can drag myself out of bed.  She's such a sweet face to wake up to !!

One quirky thing that we've noticed about this sweet girl is that she loves to sit in things...boxes, baskets, tupperware...anything that she can fit in...or try to fit in... she'll just climb in with her baby and sit for awhile.  She likes to be pushed around, too, but it's not required...she's perfectly happy just...sitting...

This tupperware container is, hands-down, her favorite seat...just her size!

One morning while I was trying to wake up and Becca was just playing near my bed, she started fussing...after I watched her for a little while I realized she was frustrated...the thing she wanted to sit in just wasn't working for her...  Can you look at the next picture and figure out what she was trying to sit in???

...yep...the little Alaska candle that she took off my nightstand...she was convinced she could fit inside it...perhaps her depth perception is not fully developed...and of course I didn't allow her to eat all of those goldfish off of the floor...I shared them with her .

In other news...Sammy's head is healing nicely...but this week he has tried diligently to get himself a new "ouchie"...This is where I found him when I came back outside after running inside for a moment...

...and this sweet young lady, quite possibly, was one of several accomplices...

Sammy was pretty excited about getting up, but was, understandably, a bit nervous coming down...not as nervous as me, however...and not as nervous as I'd like him to be ...

Couple more side-notes...T-Bone our Jersey steer has been delivered to the "processor"...we are now on calf-watch...Clarabelle is due anytime now to give birth...so my milking break is coming to an end...I'm ready...I'm officially a milk snob...there's nothing like fresh Jersey milk...and I will be reminding myself of that in the dead of winter when I'm dragging myself out of bed in the dark...there's nothing like fresh milk...there's nothing like fresh milk...there's nothing like fresh milk...

We haven't made it to the state fair yet, but I realized I did take a picture of Joshua the day he made his cake...so here he/it is...

YUM!!

...and on to other news...we've been working HARD for the past 4 days.  We'd been dreaming and developing plans for a piece of our property for some time now wanting to add some fruit trees, blackberry vines and blueberry bushes.  We had gotten as far as 2 weeks ago cutting down a brushy area to start clearing for the blueberry bushes that we wanted to get.  That same day, I got an e-mail from a friend at church that said someone was selling out their "pick-your-own" blueberry farm that they had just started the year prior...YEAH!  They had 500 plants available, and we would have loved all of them, but since we haven't yet planted that "money tree" we had to settle for 45 bushes. 

So, on Saturday we began digging holes.  We had NO IDEA how hard our ground was going to prove to be...ROCK.HARD!!!  Friends of ours from church came to help and they were SUCH a blessing...We worked about 3 hours with them and accomplished 16 holes...2 feet in diameter and 12-14 inches deep.  They had to go and we set to work on the remaining 29 holes.  David then came up with an ingenious plan that really made the work go much more quickly...we just tilled the hole area until it was totally loose, scooped it out...stuck the tiller in the hole... tilled it to death...scooped it out...repeat...  What a life saver...our arms and backs were breaking!

A friend and I picked up the bushes on Sunday while David and a few more friends (did I mention we are blessed with incredible friends???) continued digging holes.  The kids and I have spent yesterday and today planting away and we're finally done!!  I can't wait to have our own blueberries!!  Praise the Lord!  I was just amazed at how God worked out so many details in a way we wouldn't have planned it had we done things in our way and our timing.  I love to see that God really does delight in showing us His love for us by putting His fingerprints all over things in our lives that seemingly are inconsequential...just because He can !

Sammy LOVED the holes...and he loved all the rocks we found!

After about 2 hours of tireless digging David inquired again as to "why" we had decided to get all of these blueberry bushes...after a few more minutes he mused, "I don't really NEED  blueberries!"  The boy worked HARD!  He's not always thrilled about work, but he'll always see a job through to the end which is such a blessing to me!  It's nice to be able to count on a job getting done when you send a child to do it.  Unfortunately, poor David ends up with LOTS of extra job because of that positive character trait...a trait that is still being worked on, prayed for, and lacking in certain other more hightly distractible and younger household members .

Row 1...

I did alot of work while Becca napped, but whenever she was outside with us she just sat in one place for an hour at a time and smiled at everyone and everything (of course in this picture she found her passy).

Next topic...

Sammy was the recipient of a wooden swing to the head courtesy of his 4-year-old big sister.  Apparently, they had a stand down...she wanted to swing and she had possession (9/10 of the law, I hear)...he wanted to swing and he had position...  She then used her "possession" to remove his "position".

...and finally, last topic...

Meet Mop-Top, or Mop-Head...a rare-breed rooster that has finally gotten old enough to find his cocka-doodle-doo (did you know that roosters have to learn to crow...the first few days that they begin they sound hilarious!!  Who knew?!?!)

Oh, did I say "has gotten old enough"...I meant "HAD gotten old enough"...

It seems that Mop-Top got his Top Mopped or chopped or...whatever...

Let me explain as briefly as I can.  I've twittered before about Max, our collie, preferring a distant neighbor to us...well, we finally put him on a runner so he would stay put.  Well, his "girlfriend", a 6-month old husky named Sheba, decided she couldn't live without Max and has now left her home and come to stay with Max.  No big deal...except...she likes to kill chickens.  One a day for about 4 days.  She only eats a little bit and then the rest of the dogs enjoy finishing off their treat...they, no doubt, are chearing her on.  Well, before she got taken back home yesterday, she got a hold of MopTop!  Not a huge loss, we don't really NEED another rooster...but I soooo wanted to have a picture of him...I just love his head-feathers!

I was resigned to not have my picture when Julia brought me MopTop's head this morning...looking so perfect...I had to get a picture.  Sammy couldn't figure out where the rest of him was...but he followed my instructions and threw the head to Max...who promptly devoured it, feathers and all...gross!  I hope Sheba stays home now!  The chickens are apparently, and rightfully so, terrified...I've only gotten about 8 eggs total in the last 4 days...from 40 chickens...or make that 36 chickens.  UGH!!!

If you happen to go to the North Carolina State Fair this year, a certain 6 year-old boy would love for you to stop by the education building to notice who won the "Chocolate or Mock Pound Cake" division for children 9 and under.

...and if you come visit us,, the same sweet 6-year-old boy might just make the award winning apple pound cake for you...and then maybe we'll get some, too!  Out of his practice run and final run creations, we ended up only keeping 1/4 of a cake...Joshy wanted to share it with everyone else !

Great job, Joshua!  We're proud of you! 

(P.S.  We haven't actually been to the fair yet...we just got the report from a friend...I'll try to post a picture when we go)

Back in the day when our numbers were fewer, I always seemed to make too much of whatever I was making...a huge 9x13 of enchiladas, a 4-qt pot of chili,  a double batch of cookies, etc.  We always ended up having leftovers for a week of the same thing and I inevitably threw stuff out that we just got tired of.  I couldn't figure out how to cook for just 2 or 3.

Thankfully, that problem has resolved itself rather quickly in the past few years...our little ones didn't seem to eat much early on...I could make 2 sandwiches to feed 3 kids and when we went out to eat we could usually get away with 1 kid's meal per 2-3 kids. 

Well, our little bird-mouths are getting much bigger.  We now only have leftovers 1-2 times a week and it's just the scraps from several meals combined.  ...and who knew a 9-year old boy could eat nearly a dozen muffins in a day?!?!  I actually really like seeing my kids ENJOY food I make...David's Sr's affection for food is what made my mom love him first...he would just swoon over everything she put in front of him and because of his (heartfelt) reactions, she LOVED to cook for him.  I can see the same thing with my kids...when they enjoy what I put in front of them, it makes my task of feeding them so much more enjoyable!  It's fun to cook for people who enjoy and appreciate what they're being served.

Another thing I noticed this week that is such a huge perk of having  a slightly larger than average family...I get to eat ALOT of different things without getting too much of anything...take these past 2 weeks for example...Here's a list of things that we've made (other than normal breakfast, lunch, dinner):

• 2 batches pumpkin cookies (96 cookies)
• 3 batches snickerdoodles (120 cookies)
• 2 apple pound cakes
• 2 loaves banana bread
• 1 peanut butter pie
• 1 chocolate pie
• 1 batch no-bake cookies
• 4 dozen blueberry muffins

That's alot of stuff in 12 days time and what do we have left to show for it???  about 1/2 of a chocolate pie (that we made today), 1/2 a piece of peanut butter pie (Happy 65th birthday, Papaw!!), and a half-dozen or so cookies.  Now, before we had so many good eaters I would have been a good bit plumper after making all of those goodies...but now, I get just enough (and then some) to satisfy my sweet tooth...and when it all gets eaten before I'm fully satisfied, well, I still have those yummy ghiradelli chocolate chips in my pantry that stave off any chocolate attacks and an ever-ready supply of ice cream in my freezer!

Our oldest three are working towards earning Presidential Fitness awards this school year.  We meet with other homeschoolers once a month to track their progress and they work on the "events" at home during the rest of the month. 

The events are sit-ups, pull-ups, shuttle run, 1-mile run, sit-n-reach, and I'm sure i'm forgetting one or two...  Anyway, I remember doing this when I was in jr. high or so and i really enjoyed it.  I don't think I ever got the top award because I was not flexible enough...never could sit-n-reach to meet their specifications!. 

They are all very excited about it and LOVE timing themselves while they're practicing.  Right now they are on target to meet their goals and apparently David's side of the family has a flexibility gene because our kids are doing what I could not back in the day.

David (Sr) and I decided to pretend we are in shape  test our own sit-up skills tonight and, well, we now are just hoping we have enough muscle left to get up in the morning.  The kids enjoyed a good laugh at my expense...Joshy pushed me up from behind while David and Julia watched the timer and pleaded with me to try harder.  In my pathetic defense, laughing made it a little trickier AND, I kept reminding them, my stomach muscles have been ravaged by the 6 sweet kids I carried for a total of 55 months (9 months each plus all of the overdue days gives me another month ) that are now laughing at their wimpy momma!  I still was able to get 15 in a minute with Joshy's assistance (he may be complaining of arm pain tomorrow).  David beat me with 25...and the kids whipped us both with about 40 each, give or take.

For what it's worth, I can do more pull-ups now than I could in high school...could be from carrying around kids for the last 9 years, or hauling 50-pound cattle feed bags for the last 2 years, or a combination thereof.  In any event, we'll focus on the positives...I'm STRONGER than I was 20 years ago!!!

At this time last year I was way overdue with Becca and mighty uncomfortable, wondering if she'd ever decide to be born!  She was finally born at 11 days overdue.  We are celebrating Becca's first birthday tomorrow and I am always amazed at just how fast a baby's first year goes...it seems like just last month I was cradling a newborn...but my newborn disappeared overnight and now I'm busy chasing a very stealthy, destructive force of a toddler around the house. 

She brings us so much joy, though!  Just tonight a cat got in...a fairly common occurrence...and as soon as she saw it she started to chase it into the other room...the cat, not wanting to get caught by anyone and put back outside, moved a bit faster than Becca could, but Becca had heard us call cat's names plenty of times before...you know, the sing-song voice you use when you're calling someone out of hiding..."Smo-key"...or "Kit-ty"...well, of course, Becca can't say those words, but she got the sing-song part down perfect.  Long after we had caught the offending feline and tossed him out the door, Becca wandered the house, peaking under the couch, pearing around corners "calling" the cat.  It was so precious!

Here are some pictures of sweet "Becca Boo" (perhaps a nickname she'll ask us to cease and desist at some point...but until then...)

 Oh, wait a minute...did I just post that picture???  That's not our sweet Becca...that's some sweaty, smelly, screaming baby I surely don't know...I'll try again...

ahhh, now that's more like it...THAT'S our sweet, passive Becca...just before she started screaming .

Becca is at the stage now that there are only 2 viable options for holding her...me and Julia...all others are closely screened and then summarily rejected...unless options 1 and 2 are not within sight, smell, or sound, then she's been known to make substitutions. 

Look at her just stand there like I wanted her to...such a good girl...and she's smiling, too!!!

Hey, wait a minute...what's she doing...we're standing...we're smiling!!!!

I'm outta here!!!

God has gifted my oldest son (9) with a pretty incredible memory...which can be a really good thing when I say, "David, what did I tell you I needed to get at the store?" and he can rattle off 10 things...it's not so good when he is able to recall every unkept promise, every harsh word, every time my words and actions haven't lined up.  So, I've asked God to impose some amnesia on him in certain areas...still waiting for that to take affect .

David loves to read...he devours every book on the shelves and he loves to read his Bible, too.  It hit me again just how much he absorbs the other day.  I was preparing dinner and went to the freezer to grab some chopped up onion only to find that I had used the last of it.  So, I went to the produce drawer in my fridge.  I picked up the bag of tortillas that were laying on top and was greeted with a bunch of growing vegetables of some sort...maybe an abandoned zucchini from several months back along with some rotten onions, etc...it wasn't all identifiable.  GROSS!!  Am I the only one that happens to?  Anyway, as I was pulling it all out, I asked David to go ahead and take the trash out as we would not want to have to smell the contents for very long.  Never one to miss an opportunity to comment about a situation, David said with a twinkle in his eye, "You know what the Bible says about mold, don't you, Momma?!?!?"  

 "No, sweetheart, what does it say?"  I replied cautiously.

"Well, it says if we find it in our house we're supposed to take everything out of the house and leave it for, like, 7 days and then someone's supposed to come in and declare it clean, or something"

"Ah, yes" I stammered, "...that must be in one of the books of the law in the OT...well, praise the Lord we are not under the law, but under grace, and besides," I reasoned, "I don't think they had bleach back then..."

I looked it up tonight wanting to make sure it was actually in there before I posted...so, for your reading pleasure...here is the law on mildew in a home in Canaan...in case you find yourself in the same situation as me...

Cleansing From Mildew - Leviticus 14:33-57

 ³³ The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, ³⁴ "When you enter the land of Canaan, which I am giving you as your possession, and I put a spreading mildew in a house in that land, ³⁵ the owner of the house must go and tell the priest, 'I have seen something that looks like mildew in my house.' ³⁶ The priest is to order the house to be emptied before he goes in to examine the mildew, so that nothing in the house will be pronounced unclean. After this the priest is to go in and inspect the house. ³⁷ He is to examine the mildew on the walls, and if it has greenish or reddish depressions that appear to be deeper than the surface of the wall, ³⁸ the priest shall go out the doorway of the house and close it up for seven days. ³⁹ On the seventh day the priest shall return to inspect the house. If the mildew has spread on the walls, ⁴⁰ he is to order that the contaminated stones be torn out and thrown into an unclean place outside the town. ⁴¹ He must have all the inside walls of the house scraped and the material that is scraped off dumped into an unclean place outside the town. ⁴² Then they are to take other stones to replace these and take new clay and plaster the house.

 ⁴³ "If the mildew reappears in the house after the stones have been torn out and the house scraped and plastered, ⁴⁴ the priest is to go and examine it and, if the mildew has spread in the house, it is a destructive mildew; the house is unclean. ⁴⁵ It must be torn down—its stones, timbers and all the plaster—and taken out of the town to an unclean place.

 ⁴⁶ "Anyone who goes into the house while it is closed up will be unclean till evening. ⁴⁷ Anyone who sleeps or eats in the house must wash his clothes.

 ⁴⁸ "But if the priest comes to examine it and the mildew has not spread after the house has been plastered, he shall pronounce the house clean, because the mildew is gone. ⁴⁹ To purify the house he is to take two birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop. ⁵⁰ He shall kill one of the birds over fresh water in a clay pot. ⁵¹ Then he is to take the cedar wood, the hyssop, the scarlet yarn and the live bird, dip them into the blood of the dead bird and the fresh water, and sprinkle the house seven times. ⁵² He shall purify the house with the bird's blood, the fresh water, the live bird, the cedar wood, the hyssop and the scarlet yarn. ⁵³ Then he is to release the live bird in the open fields outside the town. In this way he will make atonement for the house, and it will be clean."

 ⁵⁴ These are the regulations for any infectious skin disease, for an itch, ⁵⁵ for mildew in clothing or in a house, ⁵⁶ and for a swelling, a rash or a bright spot, ⁵⁷ to determine when something is clean or unclean.
      These are the regulations for infectious skin diseases and mildew.

I think I've set a personal record...almost 3 months without a post...you'd think I was busy or something?!?!  I won't try to update you exhaustively on our summer...we had a great one...here's the highlights.

• planted a garden
• watched the garden drown in spring rains (we literally sunk in to our knees if we ventured in)
• what survived the spring rains, we watched scorch in the summer heat...didn't think to do much watering after the spring drowning...the plants, however, forgot about the spring rains eventually.
• contemplated a better place to put the garden next year.  Enjoyed our 2 green beans per person dinner treat.
• Endured garden envy, but also enjoyed the fruits of other people's labors...fresh tomatoes, green beans, peppers, corn...etc...it's not all bad being a garden failure
• Enjoyed a summer free of responsibility.  There were literally weeks where we didn't go anywhere except church...what a blessing that was after a busy year!
• Enjoyed the air conditioning about 1/3 of the summer.  I'm thankful for that 1/3...and I'm also thankful that it's September now and opening the windows actually helps.
• Killed approximately 62,573 flies
• Started enjoying what will be a 3 month break from milking the cow 2 times a day.  I'm sure she's enjoying the break, too...
• hatched a half-dozen more home grown chicks
• gave away a rooster gone evil
• 2 cats "disappeared"
• 1 cat hit by a car
• Kids are conspiring to add a cat or two since they seem to be dropping like flies...I kinda like having only 3 cats.

Umm...that was all off the top of my head, so I'm sure I'm missing a bunch of stuff...surely we did more this summer...anyway...on to the point of this post... 

We capped our summer off with a wonderful, glorious, relaxing, amazing time at the beach.  Seriously...it could not have been better.  We got to go with good friends (the Ball's) and my parents for part of the week and it was just refreshing!  Thought you all might enjoy some pictures, along with some lame commentary...

Becca turned 11 months old and started walking at the beach.  She LOVED the sand, she loved the water, and she loved the waves!  ...and she was a major momma's girl all week.

...and now for the obligatory "line-'em up" shots...the kids did GREAT for our "photo-shoot"!!

Garrett (11), David (9), Julia (7), Virginia (7), Joshua (6), Isaiah (4), Susanna (4), Samuel (3), Rebecca (11 mo).

We came to the beach when Samuel was almost a year old, but this was his first real experience and he LOVED it!  After playing in the ocean the first time, we were back at the beach house and he pointed out to sea and said, in all seriousness, "God made that big pool!"  Best line of the week!

Sammy's pants were always so full of sand that his tan line is half-way down his bottom...cutest plumber at the beach, if you ask me!!

My friend, Susan, was our resident sand sculptor and delighted the kids making Julia a mermaid, Virginia a princess, Susanna a ballerina and Sammy a surfer-dude. 

Here Julia seems to be deep in thought...when she saw the picture she promptly informed us..."I was going potty"...um, thanks for the info, Julia...let's all just go back to thinking she was lost in some deep, profound thought and forget she said that!

We enjoyed lots of friendly competition playing "spoons" and "Sorry"...Yes, I said friendly...very friendly ...we're not at all competitive in our family.

...and enjoyed lots of good food...see, Susan's already eaten one of the crab's legs...or perhaps he lost that leg in the sea somewhere...yeah, we'll go with that!

Susanna and Isaiah enjoyed a rivoting conversation while everyone else played in the water.

All of the kids got along famously...er, the girls got along...and the boys got along :-)...and at times they got along together. 

Joshua was always ready to carry more sand toys than should be legal to the beach each time.  Amazingly, he carried them back to the house, too!

All of the kids loved catching the waves on their boogy boards! 

On our final full day at the beach we spent about 6 or 7 hours on the beach.  The kids, with the help of David Ball, built a pretty nice "turtle fort".  They determined, as the day wore on, that they were going to defend the fort against the impending tide.  The next series of pictures are from their valiant, though ill-fated battle to fend off the ocean...

...ready for battle...looks like the front turrets have already succumbed to the power of the sea...

"Sacrifice your bodies!!!"  "Defend the fort"

"Repair it, repair it"..."Bring in more sand"..."Defend the fort"

..."Defend the fort, er, what's left of it!!"

Our faithful warriors were undeterred by the relentless bashing of the sea against their fort...they decided to try defending it with boogy boards...the sea just went around the boogy boards...but, wait...maybe we can just surround what's left of the fort with our boogy boards...that's gotta work!!!

...OR NOT...  'til the very end they fought valiantly...I even heard one warrior unwilling to accept the inevitable defeat, saying defiantly..."There's still a mound there!!"

That's about it...I hope you enjoyed the pictures...we sure enjoyed taking them !!  I'll leave you with a beautiful sunset picture taken on the porch of the beach house where we stayed...breathtaking!!

I couldn't have picked a more perfect man for me if I had actually known what I was looking for!  Thankfully, God knew I didn't have a clue...and He gave me David anyway!! 

Even when I know I've blown it with my kids countless times, I know they're going to be ok...not because of me, but because they have a daddy that loves them, invests in them, delights in them and doesn't give up on them (or me!!)!

We love you, Daddy!!! (I can't figure out how to imbed a video still, so click here to see...)