Undeserved Grace

C said the cutest thing at dinner today. Daddy had cooked some steaks and put one on each of our plates. C picked up the entire piece of steak on her fork and put it in her mouth. Daddy said, "Wait honey, and let Daddy cut that up for you. You shouldn't eat it that way, it's bad manners." To which C replied, "It's OK, I'm only sucking on it."

On a more serious note, little R said something profound. We were practicing our catechism and came to question 56: "How does God justify you?" The answer is: "God forgives all my sins and accepts me as righteous through Christ." I tried to explain that because Jesus took the punishment for our sin, God completely forgives us. And furthermore, when he looks at us he doesn't see us as sinners, all he sees is Jesus. So in effect, we are as clean and sinless as He is. Little R looked up at me with her sweet brown eyes and said so sincerely, "I don't deserve that." Exactly. None of us do. It's called Grace.

Accident!

Poor Chippy has had an accident! Apparently he caught a toe somewhere on the cage and in the effort of freeing himself, he broke the toe right off! The bone is completely severed at the first joint near the tip and merely hanging by the skin. I think it will heal OK, and we placed him back in a cardboard box for now. We will have to be quite careful when making his large cage. I feel bad about it, but I just didn't realize...

Open eyes

I have a bad cold and am staying home from church today. :( Church is the highlight of my week. My mother-in-law arrived on Friday for a visit. It is sooo nice having her here. Especially since I'm not feeling well, she has taken over the kitchen and children and given me plenty of rest. God bless her!

Chippy has opened his eyes! And he is becoming a chubby Chippy. He doesn't eat any solid food yet, but his upper incisors are coming in, so it should be soon. He still sleeps all day, but that should change soon also, and hopefully he will start to play. We can't wait for him to do more than just snuggle in our hands.

Demand-full day

Yesterday was what I call a demand-full day. The needs of others began at 5:30 in the morning and did not end until 10 that evening when I crashed exhaustedly into bed. Between my husband, children, and father, I seemed to have nary a moment to myself to catch my breath. Thankfully, this does not occur every day. It was just one of those days when I must remind myself that this is my ministry, that I am doing His will by meeting the needs of the people around me, and I thank Him for giving me meaningful things to do and stretching my endurance. How boring and useless is a self-pleasing life of ease. Lord, make me more like Christ.

Murder in Roaring Springs Pt.2

We in this small Roaring Springs community are relieved that the man responsible has been arrested, yet we are further horrified as each additional detail of the crime is brought to light. We are still uninformed as to the relationship that this man had to the family. We hope it was not a "random" act. But does that really matter? Would it make it any better to know that it was an estranged boyfriend or disgruntled employee? Not really. In my mind there is nothing that can make it better except to know that God is in control, and that His justice is perfect as is His love. Here is a news update: http://www.wkyt.com/home/headlines/31230924.html

Update on Chippy: We have had him now for 2 weeks and he continues to grow and develop. His eyes are still not open, but I can feel his upper incisors beginning to emerge. We have moved him to an extra birdcage we had in storage. He still has a little box and towel to nest in. He seems content there and is furry enough now that we have removed the heating pad. He begins to make small chattering sounds which entertains the children.

Murder in Roaring Springs

Roaring Springs is just a few miles from our house. Here is a link to the news story, however incomplete. http://www.kentuckynewera.com/articles/2008/10/16/news/free/doc48f6e13d1b502173048350.txt It is being investigated as a murder/arson. The way I heard it is that a house burned completely down, and a suspect vehicle was being sought in the area. I sure hope they catch him. Thankfully, it's raining today, so my kids will stay inside and I won't worry.

P.S. You were wrong, Lizzie. The electric co. actually came yesterday and successfully removed the tree!

Bouncing for joy

You can't watch this and not smile.

Riding a Camel

This weekend the kids had a blast camping at LBL with a group from church. They also had the pleasure of spending an entire day with their dad without their "safety-conscious" mom around. Mom made up for it though, by stopping at the Cadiz Hamfest with the little girls and letting Rose have a ride on the camel. When Cami saw how big the camel was and heard him making a "growling" sound she decided not to have a ride.

Chippy, the baby squirrel is doing very well. He is gaining weight and eating more and looking more like a squirrel than an alien now. Any day now his eyes should open. When I feed him, I can feel his two little incisor teeth coming in. We'd better start working on some kind of cage. I fear he will soon outgrow the shoebox. (see posts below for some background on Chippy)

Celtic Crossroads

Kate and I went to a wonderful concert last night at the Alhambra. It was a mix of singing, playing, and dancing by an Irish group called Celtic Crossroads. If you ever get a chance to see them, jump on it-- they are awesome.

Update on Chippy: He is still alive and doing fine. He is taking about 2 cc's of formula at each feeding, six times a day, so I stopped getting up in the night to feed him. We made a "nest" for him with a towel in a shoebox and placed the whole thing on a heating pad. See blog below to read more about Chippy.

Update on Bunny: She is still at my friend's llama farm, but the experts there believe that she may already be pregnant. See blog below for more about Bunny also.

A baby squirrel!

Meet Chippy. Our cats killed his mom. Rose found him laying on the floor of the barn. We decided to try to save him. We warmed him and fed him a salt/sugar/water solution with an eyedropper. He swallowed it. I got up at 2am to feed him last night, telling myself that he is probably dead. He wasn't. I drove to the vet early this morning to buy some puppy milk replacer. That's what was recommended on the internet by people who have done this before. We never have. Chippy took his new formula every 4 hours today, which consisted of 2 parts water, 1 part puppy milk, and 1/2 part heavy whipping cream. I'll have to feed him at 2am again tonight. I feel like a new mom. The kids are absolutely thrilled. They have been praying that Chippy will live, and acknowledging that it was a miraculous find. I must admit that this is exciting for me, too. I plan to teach at least two of the children how to feed him so I won't have to do it every time. But the first day I wanted to make sure he was eating. Cami, 5 years old, thinks it is so cool that you have to stroke his bottom with a tissue to make him go potty. I explained that the momma squirrel would lick him instead. Gross, but true. If anyone out there has raised a squirrel before we would be appreciative of your advice.

Breeding Bunny

We currently have two llamas at Honeysuckle Cave Farm, consisting of a female named Bunny, and a male named Charlie. We raised Bunny on a bottle after she was orphaned. Charlie came to us a year later. They are both about three years old, but have never bred. We were starting to think something was wrong with them, so today after church we brought Bunny over to a friend's llama farm to see if another male could be successful with her. Baby llamas are sooo adorable.

Will they ever come?

My husband was putting new siding on his shop today. Near the shop is a dead tree which was partially uprooted by the recent winds from hurricane Ike. This tree did not come down because it is leaning on another tree and holding on precariously to the power line. We called the power company and told them about the situation. They said they would come out and take care of it. This was over two weeks ago. Will they ever come? Will they wait until the tree falls and the line breaks?.... Stay tuned...