Pregnancy Test--Positive!

Before anyone gets too excited, let me hasten to inform you that the pregnancy test was for our half-Jersey, half Angus little cow who has been faithfully giving a gallon and a half of milk every day for months.

Back last summer, a neighbor had offered to let our cow and calf run with the bull in the neighbor's pasture back in the summer for a couple months, but when we brought our cow back home, we never did know if the cow was bred for sure.

 Carrie especially, who has been the daily milker of the cow and the main maker of cheese and all things dairy, needed to know whether and when to dry this cow up.

If she is expecting a calf, you are supposed to dry her up and stop milking a couple months before the birth so that the energy and nutrition will be going into a healthy calf rather than milk for the ranch family.

Sooo--Carrie did some research on how to find out if a cow is expecting--without having to pay mega bucks to a vet.

She ordered a cow pregnancy test online, and then researched how to manage the test.

Because if you know anything about cows, they are probably not going to stand still and just do what you want them to do in order to get the test working (details dispensed with).

Nothing on a ranch that is associated with cows, horses, goats, and chickens happens by magic, although some things happen by accident or mistake, and other things happen when you are not looking.  

(Today I was looking by accident and saw just how FAT our cow was! Who needs a pregnancy test anyway?)

But a month ago was one time we really did need to know whether the cow should be dried up, because if not, we would happily go on milking her and making butter and ice cream from her wonderful cream. 

Well, as you can see by the first picture on here, after Carrie came back into the house with her little glass vial successfully filled with enough cow liquid to do the test, everyone crowds around to watch how to do this. 

Carrie puts a certain number of drops of something into the vial, and then we have to wait ten minutes. It is very important that you set a timer and not read the results too soon or too late. 

The stuff Carrie put into the vial reacts with the liquid and the color changes if the cow is pregnant. 

And you are supposed to be able to tell about how far along the cow is,

by comparing the color of yellow, blue, or green to the chart of colors.

Well, we waited and compared and discussed and decided.

Yes, the cow is pregnant.

And yes, she will probably have her calf in two to three months. 

So, yes, we must dry her up. 

And so we await another one of God's little new miracles--a new baby calf on the ranch.

Three Crosses Through the Frost

Three new crosses went up recently on the outside of a church building that used to belong to the Jehovah's Witnesses and now belongs to an evangelical fellowship. On a frosty Sunday morning, Jonathan and I couldn't help noticing the three newly-fastened, beautiful crosses--and the three trees standing just opposite them.

 It was a frosty morning, cold in every way, but our hearts were warm with the thought of three trees, and three crosses, and especially the middle cross, and Him Who died on it.

He loved us while we were yet sinners, when our hearts were yet hard, stubborn, cold, and frosty toward Him.

 We come to Him with cold hearts and sinful souls, and He comes to us with forgiveness and peace.

                                                       You just have to come--just as you are. 

Repent and believe.

He will warm your coldness, soften the hardness, and straighten the crookedness. For with God nothing shall be impossible.

And He will fill your heart with His love and peace.

Ten Cousins--and Five to Mexico

Saturday three of my nephews arrived to spend the weekend here on their way to a mission project in Mexico. I managed to remember to snap a photo of them Sunday night before they and our two oldest boys left in the wee hours of Monday morning.

                      Ezra was a very courteous help to Carrie while she was doing dishes Sunday.

                              She kept him highly entertained with various conversation topics.

We found out that Samuel (M)'s birthday was to be Monday, so we managed to find a couple things around the house to wrap for him for birthday gifts, including this yard-long Snickers. (The only stipulation was that he had to share with the other boys on the trip to Mexico! :) :)

The girls had made homemade peanut butter ice cream for Samuel's birthday.

And we ladies had boiled eggs and peeled them for the boys' Monday breakfast, as well as packed other edible items into a tote. Ezra sat down and helped Carrie make sandwiches for Monday's lunch which would happen on their way through New Mexico and Arizona. 

I told the five boys my story of my harrowing experience traveling through Mexico 29 years ago on my way with missionaries to Honduras. My traveling companion and I watched an obvious set-up along the road as we were waiting to follow the missionaries to try to find another hotel for the night. We noticed that the same truck that had parked behind us at another hotel that had been too expensive, was now following us, and had pulled off the road near us. We watched at least six or eight men jump out of the truck, and two swing under it like the truck was having a problem. The others stood there watching us ladies in the car and the missionaries in the truck.

 We knew better. It was a setup that was even obvious to a greenhorn like me. I was fighting with the VW's gearshift which had been giving us trouble, and winding up my window while my fellow traveler shouted out the window to her parents, the missionaries, "Watch those men!" Then she wound her window up, too, and I took off as fast as I could in front of the missionaries in the truck, so that they would be between us and the men who were trying to stop us ladies for no good reason.  

We ended up swerving into the first hotel we found along that pitch-dark road, nearly rolling the VW as I did, I turned in so fast. I didn't stop until I was directly under the lights of the entry way with lots of people standing around. Only then did I stop, finding myself extremely shaky. The missionary family in the truck pulled in behind us, and we watched that other truck stop in a hidden spot behind a big sign. 

This hotel was expensive, too, but we stayed that night anyway. 

We warned the boys to be alert at all times, never to leave one boy alone in the truck at any time. We pray for God's protection, but we can't withhold our boys when they feel they are to go help a missionary with a construction project.

As you can see, I had a bit of a time getting a good picture! In this one above, after the boys had been silly on the first picture, I told them to "look pious," so Ezra is doing so (while Carrie is photo bombing!)

                                                        Now who is photo bombing?

 

Now I finally got a good picture. 

May the Lord bless these boys as they work for a week with an independent missionary in Mexico.