I MADE IT!!!!

I made it - I picked Darin, Alexandra, Miranda, and Sydney up from the airport last night so my tour of duty here on the ranch is almost complete.  Unfortunately, the paperwork is STILL not complete so Beth, Mauricio, and Miguel are still in Cali, Colombia.  This has made everyone very sad.  The boys just get a family and then most of them have to leave them.  They are also very anxious to start their new lives in the United States and it's hard for them to understand what is taking so long.  As for me - it's just not fair!!!!  I have been away from home for over 6 weeks and I still won't get to spend time with my new nansons!  I'm also having trouble understanding.

And now for the final tally - 6 dead chickens, 1 broken lawn mower (now fixed), and numerous bruises, scrapes, and bug bites.  Not too bad.  The animals were fed, cleaned up after, the grass was mowed (several times in between the rain), the garden was tilled and planted, the barn was tidied,and  some fence and hot wire repair was done as well as keeping the house.  WHEW! Now, before anybody has the misconception that I am "Wonder Woman", let me just say that all of this really isn't as much as it sounds and I also got to do A LOT of reading and movie watching.  Needless to say, I'm a very happy "city girl playing in the country". (-:

Thank you, my precious family, for trusting me to take care of your home and allowing me to help.  I get great joy and happiness from being needed!  Now, all we need is for everyone to be together.  Take care and God Bless.

"happy city girl playing in the country" signing out.

Bruises, Scrapes, and Bug Bites

     Oh Yeah, I coulda been a country girl!!!  I was going to add "dirt and sweat in lots of places" but I thought that would be too long for a title.  I haven't had any more casualties but I'd be lying if I said that all has gone smoothly.  Nothing is easy for a "happy city girl playing in the country".  Things may get done but it seems like it takes twice as long and it's twice as hard. For instance, you would think that it would be an easy thing to put 4 horses into the back arena and tree line and keep them out of the back pasture area that is not safely fenced.  But, oh no, not for this city girl.  Meko has gotten through the fence 3 times into the back pasture!  Now, she didn't go very far because there's lots of yummy clover and grass that kept her attention, but she was still in an unsecured area which was scary.  I mended 2 places in the fence and was very proud of myself for doing that, but then she got through the 3rd time so I gave up and put them in the front pasture. That's what I get for being prideful.  I've mended electric fence a couple of times, but still can't find where it's weak.  I've gotten pretty good driving the 4-wheeler  though - better watch out, Sydney, I may give you a run for your money.  And I even sort of remembered (and figured out) how to run the really cool riding mower, but I refuse to hang from the seat like Beth in order to mow the ditches - I'll do it the hard way, with the push mower.  That is, I'll do it the hard way when I get the push mower fixed.  You see, this happy city girl broke the push mower.  But it wasn't all my fault!  I was mowing the extra dog pen where the grass was hip high (my hands are still sore from it) and I hit a stump hidden in the deep grass.  It sounded pretty bad but did start again and I was able to finish, I was so proud. There it is again, I should have known something was going to happen.  Sure enough, I started mowing the deep grass in the garden, getting ready to till and plant, and it made a horrible sound and quit again.  And this time when I tried to restart it, it REEEALLY made bad noises!!! I'm told I broke or bent a shaft of some sort.  So, we're off to the lawn mower repairman.  It's supposed to rain for a couple of days so now we'll get to see what I can break indoors. (-:

     "Happy city girl playing in the country", signing out. (-:   

God Is So Good

I already knew this, but He keeps amazing me with just how VERY good He is!  I just met my 2 new nansons via videocam and I can't seem to put into words how I feel.  I'm full to overflowing with His blessings.  Beth and Darin learned more about Mauricio and Miguel at a meeting yesterday and everything about these boys is a PERFECT MATCH for our family!!  Imagine that!? Adoption is based on faith.  They agreed to adopt these boys sight unseen and knowing nothing about their personalities, but our Father knew.  And now, because of Beth and Darin's obedience to the Father, we have 2 more precious little boys to love.  I am overwhelmed and humbled by the love and faith my children have and I am so blessed and grateful to our LORD.  Thank you, Jesus, for blessing this unworthy little "Jesus girl" so very much.  I love You so much and I thank You so much for my family.  They are everything to me this side of eternity.  I pray that You continue to bless them and take care of them.  Thank You, Father!!! 

SOMETIMES NO NEWS IS GOOD NEWS

This is certainly the case for "happy city girls playing in the country".  I have survived my 4th full day of doing chores all by myself and (except for the aforementioned 5 chickens), all is well on the homefront.

This, however, is not the case when you are waiting for other people to handle your paperwork so that you can welcome 2 little boys from Colombia into their "forever family".  It is hard being at the mercy of other people.  I, for one, would rather do things myself so that I know they are going to get done on time and correctly.  This doesn't work with government paperwork.  This being said, I just checked an e-mail that said things are finally moving in the right direction and maybe Beth, Darin, and the girls will get to be with the boys tomorrow afternoon or Friday.  PRAISE GOD!!  I know there have been lots of prayers being said during these last 13+ months and many of them have been during this last week.  It's hard to see and understand God's timing when you're sitting in the middle of it but I know He sees the big picture and is in complete control.  Thank You, Jesus!!  I'm so excited!  Hopefully I'll get to see my new nansons very soon, thanks to technology.  I guess I'll cut this post short since I was going to complain about paperwork, etc. and now it is almost over so I'd rather not jinx it.  

Good night, I must get my rest so I can rise with the chickens and do some "farm stuff".  Not really, but I thought it was sounded good.  (-:  Keep praising Jesus - He certainly deserves it!!

Another One Bites The Dust

Sad, but true, the one injured chicken died yesterday.  )-:  This brings the total casualty count to 5.  This one will be cremated just like the others - as soon as the winds die down.  They are supposed to be 15-25 miles per hour for the next few days, are you sure I'm not in Kansas or Oklahoma?  

Yesterday was relatively calm compared to Sunday.  I found where Meko went through the fence and put the boards back up thanks to Beth's "handy dandy super duper battery-operated drill/screwdriver thingy".  However, fence mending is really a two person job, 'pardner', but I managed to "getrdone"!  Then, later in the afternoon Peg showed up at the front door.  That dog climbs fences!!  When I went out I found that I had forgotten to turn the electric fence back in after I fixed the arena fence so she took advantage and climbed over or squeezed through a tiny gap in the gate.  Whichever way, she was out again.  At least she didn't chase chickens this time.  So I put her back and plugged in the fence but it wasn't popping as good as it should have been.  I walked all the way around looking and listening for where it could be shorting out but I couldn't find it anywhere so I gave up and just hoped that it is hot enough to keep the dogs in their pen.  I'll have another look around today.  I got the stalls cleaned, the manure dumped (I starting to really like that 4-wheeler), and the horses behaved very well when I brought them in for the night, so everything was calm and quiet.  

Then, at about 3:00 this morning, something woke me up.  It sounded like a telephone ringing so I got up to check it out.  Phone calls in the middle of the night usually are not very good.  BUT I COULDN'T FIND ANYTHING THAT HAD BEEN RINGING!!  OOOOOH!  Whatever!  I'm just thankful for a somewhat calm day.  This morning's chores went smoothly too so maybe I won't have anything to report tomorrow.  We can only hope and pray.  (-:  Have a great day and I pray God's Blessings to all. 

"Happy city girl playing in the country"  signing out  (-: 

Chickens and Dogs and Horses, Oh My!

Lots of chickens, 3 dogs, and 4 horses to be exact.  Add to that mix, 7 or 8 cats, and a bunny and you have the life of this "city girl" for the next 30 days while my children are in Colombia, South America getting my 2 new nansons.  Did I mention the several acres that I get to mow on this really cool (and huge) professional looking riding mower and the REALLY huge 4-wheeler that I get to drive to pull the wheel barrel full of horse manure for dumping?  Now, don't get me wrong - I love it, LOVE it, LOVE IT!!  Did I mention that I love it?  And I really am able and capable of doing all of these things but it takes me a lot longer and I'm not as smooth and graceful at it as Beth is.  In fact, I'm quite clumsy and funny looking but I manage to get the job done and I love it (I think I mentioned that already).  Even the girls drive the mower and 4-wheeler better than I do. (-:   AND the best part is that I am doing something helpful for my children - which is what I live for.  I love being out here in the country, it's so pretty and peaceful and the air smells so fresh and clean.  I can say this right now because it's not raining or storming and cold, just the normal wind.  So, with all of this said, let me tell you about yesterday, my first day on the farm:

It started out pretty well.  We left at 4 am and got to O'Hare in plenty of time for the kids to get checked in for their flight.  I even drove all the way back without even 1 wrong turn - thanks for the great directions, Darin.  I got home about 7:45, changed shoes and went out to do chores before I dropped from getting less than 3 hours sleep.  The chicken coop had been left open all night so the chickens were already all over the place and Belle and Peg were in the horse trailer (I forget why).  I fed the horses, let Peg out to potty, and put Belle's collar and leash on her to take her back to her pen.  We went around to the pen and found chickens in there so Belle starting pulling on the leash and I tried shooing chickens but Belle is strong and chickens are dumb so she got hold of one and I had a hard time getting her to leave it.  She finally let it go and I drug her back to the horse trailer and shut her in.  When I got back to the dog pen to bring her breakfast to her, Peg was chasing and catching chickens too!  She wouldn't listen to me to stop and the dumb chickens couldn't get out of the pen, so 3 more went down before I got her stopped and chased out.  I then shut her in the horse trailer, too.  Total damages: 4 fatalities and 1 injury - sorry, Beth and Darin.  So, I finished chores and came in the house, furious, trying to figure out what to do and praying that they'd come back to life.  There was cardboard and paper that needed to be burned so I decided to put them in the burn pit since there was no wind for a moment.  I went back out, they were still dead, so I scooped them up, put them in the wheel barrel, and burned them in the burn pit.  It smell like Sunday dinner around here.  End of story, right?  Wrong, there's more.

I went back out later to clean stalls.  The wheel barrel was already full so I figured out how to run the 4-wheeler (I remembered what you taught me, Sydney, good job) and dumped it and filled and dumped it again.  I took the long way around to dump it and when I started driving toward the back pasture I thought Meko looked a little far away from the other horses - sure enough, she was in the back pasture, not under the trees or in the arena that are safely fenced off.  Since the fence in the back pasture needs some repair I thought, "Oh great!"  Really, that's all I thought.  So I kept checking on her while I finished stripping the stalls and putting in the fresh bedding and decided to bring them in a little early.  The other 3 came right in without me going out and leading them in but Meko just stood out there looking at me.  When I went to get her I found that she was closed in the back pasture so she must have gone over or under the fence between the arena and the pasture.  I guess Beth and I should have put new fencing along the side of the arena and not just the back so I'll go look at it today and see what I can do. When I took the wires down, she ran into the barn and got a little stuck in the corner between Crash's stall and the tractor but she calmed and I was able to lead her into her stall.  Surely this is the end of my day, right?  Wrong, there's more, read on:

I put Belle and Peg back in their pens with their supper and plugged in the electric fence.  IT WAS SPARKING AND SNAPPING LIKE CRAZY AND SCARING BELLE who refuses to come out of her house when it's making noise.  Beth and I had just spend hours securing the fence in the arena and fixing the hot wire.  So, I kept going back and forth plugging in the fence, finding where it sparked, unplugging the fence, taping it up, plugging in the fence, finding where it sparked, unplugging the fence, taping it up, plugging, etc, etc - you get the picture.  I FINALLY found all of the spots and got them taped up.  WHEW, now that's it.  The rest of the night passed uneventfully - except for Moses randomly barking at the door and scaring me to death. Boy, did I ever sleep good last night!!  And morning chores went very smooth - thank you, Jesus.  I'm going to put the horses out in the front pasture in about an hour and be busy outside again.  Hopefully, I won't have any problems that will make for another long, boring post.

So, please pray for the happy but clumsy city girl playing in the country. (-:  And, please pray for my precious children and nanchildren in Colombia.  Be safe, my darlings, have fun and don't worry - I'm slowly, but surely, doing fine.  (-:

Milestones

I hit a milestone on Saturday (5/9) - my oldest nandaughter has just graduated from high school. I remember the first time I met her, she was a tiny, 4 month old bundle of adorable. 

The adorable part still applies.  She has always been precious and loving.  It always amazed me how much she seemed to love me even when I only saw her once or twice a year for most of her life. Beth made sure the girls knew me and knew how much I loved them - this means so much to me and speaks volumes about the precious daughter that she is.  Alexandra, my sweet Alexandra, I am amazed, awed, and humbled by the beautiful young woman she has grown to be!  She is so in love with Jesus and has such a discerning spirit for someone so young.  I love her more than our language has words to express and I hope that someday - maybe when she has children of her own - that she will understand how much I love her.  I am so proud of her! She is intelligent and has so much talent - she can sing, dance, play the guitar, and act.  WOW! So much talent in one tiny package.  Needless to say, I struggle with pride but I'm sure that the LORD understands and forgives me.  After all, it's His fault that she is so special - He made her. But with all of this going on for her, she still cares for and loves others.  Her heart is as beautiful as her features.  She is precious and beautiful inside as well as outside and for this I truly praise God!  However, it occurred to me this morning that I don't love her because of how beautiful and talented she is - I love her because she is my own precious nandaughter, my flesh and blood.  I would love her no matter what!!!  And so, another year has passed and now I have a nandaughter in college.  How did this happen?  How have I been so blessed?  I don't deserve the blessings but I am certainly thankful for them - especially my precious family.  Alexandra, you are one of the most important things to me this side of heaven.  I love you, my Angel.  "I love you" seems so inadequate for the feelings overflowing in my heart, but they are the only words I have so they will have to do.  Thank You, Father, for another milestone in my life!!!  As much as I hate birthdays, I do want to be around to witness many more milestones for my children and nanchildren.  I love You Father - Daddy - and I thank You for my precious Alexandra and this latest milestone in our lives.  I pray that You continue to bless her in whatever You lead her to do and that she continues to fall more and more in love with You. Whatever else she does, if she does that, she'll never go wrong.  PRAISE JESUS!!!