Learning to Live on God's Time.......

Our lives since The Man lost his job in IL have been on a serious journey towards total submission to our Lord and Savior.

In the journey towards that total submission, God stripped our lives down to the minimum.  We lost our house, we lost our car, we moved to KY, we moved to MT, we moved back to KY.  The Man lost his hot rod, I lost my horse, my goats, my "homestead" lifestyle.  But it had to be.  God has to strip you down, to get you to understand TOTAL submission.  When He says He wants total submission, He means it.  Not that God doesn't take our will into account, He loves us, but just like we as parents most often know what is best for our children, God ALWAYS knows what is best for us.  We usually don't have a clue....

That said, however, I believe that when you submit to God's will and you start figuring out that your life is NOT about you, but it's all about serving Him, there are certain things He will give back to you, IN HIS TIME and according to His will.

So when God allowed us to buy this place, I of course wanted goats again.  Did I consult God on this matter?  Well.... I thought I did, but looking back there were a lot of clues that I shouldn't be going about it at that time.

I looked and looked, and obsessed and looked for goats on Craigslist.  I found an ad for some Saanens in milk and a Lamancha from a guy a couple towns over.  We went to look at them in the pouring rain (clue # 1) with no shelter built (clue # 2).  When we got there it was obvious that he'd bought a HUGE lot of goats at the sale barn, and had only had them a couple days.  (clue # 3).  Of course because I was in what I want obsessed mode, I picked out two pretty Saanen does, milked each of them quickly to sample the milk, and then took them home.

The Man threw together a hoop shelter for them out of panels and a tarp (in the rain) and we got them settled in.
We named them Norma Jean and Ruby Sue.

Norma Jean

Ruby Sue

After a couple hours I could tell that Norma had problems.....I didn't have her blood tested, but I know she was CAE postive.  Her knees were HUGE and she was so arthritic she could barely get around.  Why didn't I notice this before I bought her??  Because I was in obsessed mode of course.  Also, although they milked beautifully it was only out of one side.  They both had a spoiled half due to mastitis.  Are we seeing a pattern here?

So then, because I was in obsessed I want it now mode, I kept looking on CL.  I had it in my head that I wanted a Lamancha.  I found one about an hour and a half away.  Went and looked at her and liked her, although she was a Mini Mancha not a full size.  She had a doeling on her and although she had small teats, she milked out easy and quickly.  So I bought her.  And her daughter...which was a really silly move since I had NO way to lock her away and therefore couldn't really milk.......
We named those two Michael and Illsa.

No pictures of Michael and Illsa due to computer crash...

In the meantime, even after getting Norma Jean's feet all trimmed and fixed up, her mobility wasn't improving, and then......Ruby Sue developed a lump, a CL lump.  So those girls quickly left.  There was no way I wanted that lump to burst at my place and risk Michael and Illsa.

Then once again because I was in the mode of "me wants what me wants when me wants it", I still wasn't done!  I KEPT looking and found a lady down in TN with a registered Lamancha doeling.  I still had all my tack from Champ and was feeling like it was time to part with it.  I had it for sale on CL and wasn't getting any offers.  I saw on the website that the gal with the Lamancha doeling had horses, so I thought I'll just email and see if she'd consider a trade.  All my tack for that doeling.  She said yes, so off to TN we went.  We traded for the Lamancha and also came home with a bred Mini Mancha......
These girls we named Jodie and Lexi

Again with the computer crash on these two.....


Lexi kidded with a lovely little blue eyed doeling that we named Deliliah.

Delilah

So there I was with 5 does and no buck to breed them to.  I was trying to milk out under the trees, in all kinds of weather, and not getting much milk because I had no way to lock Illsa or Delilah off of their Momma's.  This all started last year in March ('14) and it was now October 2014 and I was done.  I didn't feel good about any of it, because I was trying to do it on my time, instead of God's time.

Then I got a Mon-Fri 8-5 job and that was that.  I told The Man I was selling the goats.  I put them on CL and sold them in a matter of days.  Now that is because I was back in line with God's plan.  We began trying to REALLY practice total submission to God's will.  It's the hardest easiest thing in the world to do......it takes practice and it takes Faith and I still screw up all the time, but it's a super awesome way!

So, that brought us to around August on 2014.  After our pigs went to the freezer, The Man and I stared talking about how we hate to buy "store" food.  I hadn't drank milk in over a year (but that story will be another post, since this one is reaching novel proportions) and I casually mentioned that if we still had goats I'd take milk to drink with my sandwich at lunch time at work.  That prompted a discussion about him wanting to build me a milking shed, which led to another CL search for goats, this time with LOTS of prayer about God leading us in the right direction.  After several weeks of looking and saving for and getting the building built, we were on the way home from work and I mentioned to The Man that I'd sure love to have Tulip and/or Star back, but I really didn't think Jen would want to sell them.  The Man said well email and ask.....so after praying about it, I did!  And after a long weekend of waiting to hear back from her,,,,,,,,,,,SHE SAID YES!

We know this was God's plan for so many reasons, we got discounted lumber for the milk shed, Jennifer said yes, and lots more I could mention, but the point is it all went SMOOTHLY, which in our case usually means we are in line with His will.......

So my girls are home.  Both of them, and I'm so happy I can't even tell you.  Tulip will be 9 in June and Star will be 7 in March.  They were in heat the day I picked them up from Jen and so we put them in with Silo, her Nubian buck.  If they are both bred, this will be Tulip's last kidding.  I'm really not thinking she is bred, but time will tell.  She was just barely in heat the day we bred her, and she only stood for him once and then she was done.  She came in really strong about 2 days after I got her home, so I'm not sure she settled.  If she isn't bred, then that's fine.  I'm not going to be greedy.  She's a good old girl and I don't want to risk her life just because I want one more kidding out of her!

Me and my old girl Tulip

Pretty girl Star

For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it.  Mark 8:35