Christmas Happenings

I don't know about you but my Christmas Holidays just flew by. I feel like my head is still spinning from all the activities! We enjoyed each and every one of them and I wanted to share a few pictures to remember our good times.

Our local Christmas Parade was at the beginning of December. We always look forward to it! My guys are enjoying the parade. Can you see Parker sitting in his Dad's lap? I think he waved at everyone! It was so cute.

Here is one of the many antique cars my father-in-law owns. He is riding in the back seat with his best friend "Daisy".

Another one of his cars filled with friends.

One day we got together with friends and made gingerbread houses. We laughed and cried (some of the houses fell!). All in all it was a great time to share with loved ones.

We were fortunate to be able to go to Universal Studios for a day of fun!
Luke being silly!

Time for lunch break.

Parker's favorite game in the arcade. We couldn't pull him away.

Two tired little guys. They were such good boys the whole day.

One night we got together with long-time friends just for fun. We moms are best friends and our girls, thankfully, also became best friends which makes it really convenient for girls night out!

Yes, Kay is wearing a basket on her head! She is so goofy!! Fun Times!

Brooke (middle) is pregnant, by the way. That is why Nicki has #3 up and Jess is holding Brooke's belly.

My boys made new friends with Kay's grandsons, Chance and Trevor. We had a blast one evening at Downtown Disney. We visited the Lego store.

Which kids are real and which are lego people?

The boys built lego race cars and spent much of the evening racing on this track. They loved it!

Our meal at Rainforest Cafe was adventurous as well as delicious. During our dinner we had unexpected rains and the elephants came to life roaring and lifting their head. I don't know if you can tell but that is an elephant right behind us. He was very noisy!

We have a tradition at our house. On Christmas Eve we make our annual Fruit Salad. This fruit salad comes with memories of past holidays spent with our Granny Mathews who is no longer with us. The oranges MUST be sliced the way Granny did it to get the best flavor. Yummy! This ritual brings the family together with much conversation and laughter. It tastes better when we all contribute! After being refrigerated overnight, it is always the dessert we look forward to the most.

Looks delicious! Can't wait till tomorrow!

We always have a church hayride with Christmas caroling. We ride through the surrounding neighborhoods singing and sharing Christ. Then we come back to church for a chili cook-off and Foreign Missions Auction.

What a wonderful Holiday Season our family was privileged to enjoy. We are so thankful to God to be blessed with such great family and friends. How about you? How was your holiday?

It Must Be In The Blood

In December of 2008 my nephew, Mark, graduated from the Florida Highway Patrol Academy. He is an awesome nephew with a very bright future. I was not able to attend the graduation which makes me very sad. I would love to have been there along side his family. Isn't he handsome!

But this is only part of the story. My brother, Ron, is a Lieutenant for FHP where he works as an Equipment, Compliance and Testing Officer. John, his older son, graduated from FHP in June of 2005. So, Mark completed the family FHP force! Unless the ladies in the family are feeling a little "law enforcement" in their blood...Rhonda? Karen? ; )Here is my dear family from left to right, my niece Rhonda, my nephew Mark, my brother Ron, my nephew John, and my sister-in-law Karen. I don't have a picture of my nephews' sweet wives, Laura and Veronica, but I am sure they were there for the celebration also. This was such a special day!

I am so proud of my nephews and brother. They have worked hard to achieve their goal and they are men with outstanding character! And hey, if I ever get stopped by a FHP I can throw a few names around. Who knows, it may help me out!

Animal Rescue 911

Our home is becoming known as the animal shelter around these parts. All family and friends know that whenever they find a homeless or orphaned creature they can call us. We usually have an extra pen and lots of loving arms to accept just about anything. This all started many years ago when Brad, now 17 years old, wanted to work with animals for his vocation when he grew up. At that time, we lived in a very confining neighborhood so his love for animals was limited. However, since we have moved out in the country things have really changed for him and his passion has spread to the two younger sons. We have raised countless abandoned squirrels, snakes (against their will), opossums, raccoons, dogs, cats, rats, pot-bellied pig, the list goes on and on. I thank the Lord that my boys have a love and respect for God's creation. They have learned so very much about the different animals, insects, and reptiles that He created. We have various resource books with wonderful pictures and information. The pages of many books are worn down by curious fingers searching how to feed or house a particular pet they captured/rescued. This is home schooling at its best!

Over the holidays, we have opened our home and hearts to two more needy pets. On his way home from church one night after dark, Monroe saw a man on the highway near our house. He was pointing to the ditch on the side of the road and was very excited. My sweet hubby stopped to see if he needed help and found that his dog had been hit by a car. There was a language barrier so Monroe wasn't sure he understood the gentleman. After making a phone call to a friend that speaks Spanish, Monroe was able to understand that the man had given his dog to a friend that didn't take care of the animal and had let the dog run lose. That was how the dog got hit. The man wasn't able to care for his pet and asked Monroe if he would take the dog. Of course you know what his answer was! So, we now have a bull dog mix puppy that the boys named Otis. He is a cutie. He is recovering just fine from the accident. No broken bones just a badly bruised hip. I suggested the name "Lucky"! ; )

On Christmas Eve we received a phone call from some dear friends. There was a stray baby goat roaming in their neighbor's yard. They also live out in the country but the owners of the goat neglected it and pretty much didn't care if it lived or died. We learned that the mother died giving birth to this lovable little doe. That is all we know about her. I have no idea exactly how old she is. We are bottle feeding her. We appropriately named her Eve.

I don't know what animal the Lord has for us to shelter in the future but as long as we have the means to feed and shelter it we will say "Yes!"

The Last Christmas Present

It was getting dark on Christmas night as I went out to feed the goats and our pregnant cow, Missy. Everyone showed up for the evening snack except for Missy which is very odd because she is usually waiting for us at the gate each night. I walked out to the pasture to look for her and to my surprise this is what I found. Isn't she beautiful!

I was shocked to see this newborn calf lying in the grass! For a split second I wondered where it came from because we had been outside throughout the day and didn't notice anything different with our cow. The pasture is in front of our house in plain view. I guess our Missy was in labor and we didn't even realize it!

Now let me back up and give some more details on Missy and explain why we didn't know when she was suppose to calf. A "few??" months ago (I have learned how important it is to keep notes) we came home to find the fence that separates our pasture from the neighbor's pasture was leaning in one spot. Hmmm...that was strange until we later saw the neighbor's bull coming to visit our carousing little heifer! Apparently they had a rendezvous in spite of the fence. We wanted to wait until she was at least 18 months to 2 years before breeding her as we were told this is best for the heifer. We are pretty sure she was old enough. Just how old is Missy??? Well, we got her as a calf but we don't know how old she was when she came to us and did I write down the date we got her? Noooo, but you can be sure that will not happen again. I am learning these things.

We anticipated seeing the birth and had planned to invite Hannah and her family over to watch. We have never seen animals give birth except for our dog. We missed this opportunity but next time I will be more prepared!

Now our next farm lesson will be learning to milk our cow (Oh Marcy, how I wish you were my neighbor right about now!!!). Missy is pretty intimidating to me and she looks much bigger when I am squatting down near those powerful legs. We are not going to try milking for a couple of weeks. In the meantime, Monroe is going to build a milking stall. For now, we are taking treats of fruit and petting her. She is very protective of her calf and will not let us touch it. By the way, she had a baby girl...errr...I mean a heifer. We are still trying agree on a name. We want something "Christmasey". So far we have come up with Mistletoe, Holly and Merry Bell (that is Ms. Kay's suggestion). What do you think? Does anyone have any other ideas?

We have some other Christmas additions to our farm. I'll write about that tomorrow.

With a grateful heart,

Pam

T-Bone Wins Round One

I just thought I would share this little story about our first steer that we raised. We got him when he was very young. I fell in love with him right away. That cute little white patch on his nose was too much! Well, we decided to name this little guy T-Bone to remind us why we have this animal. My family has watched T-Bone grow up. Finally the day came to load him up and take him to the butcher. So, one Saturday morning we all went out to the pen with a heavy heart but very confident that we would get this big fellow loaded with no problem. The goal:

Get T-Bone

to go in here

That should be a cinch, right? Now I know for all you experienced farmers and horse people out there you are probably shaking your heads and laughing right about now. But you see, we parked this borrowed horse trailer out in our pasture for a couple of weeks and fed Mr T-Bone in it each evening. He would just waltz right in, get his treat and leave. However, we didn't take into account how intelligent cows really are. You might even say this big boy out-smarted US!

On this particular morning, we put his treat in the nose of the trailer just like always. In he went...ahhh so easy...we should be on our way in no time. Brandon, our photographer, had a birds-eye view on top of the goat pen, out of danger.

Then, as soon as we would walk up to the back of the trailer this is what he did...

We tried repeatedly but each time T-Bone was ahead of the game! After awhile we all were sick of that cute -little white patch-steer. And by the end of the morning, we were frustrated. As for T-Bone? Well, he was so mad that he was blowing at us! He was pretty worked up as you can see here.

A couple of weeks later we finally did get him loaded but in a different trailer, a cattle trailer with open sides. I do miss him. Now we look back and laugh at that Saturday morning and at out mistakes too!

Brrrrr! A FREEZING DAY IN FLORIDA

What a busy week we have had! I love to enjoy this Holy Season unhurried. I have purposely planned to not have a full schedule-infact, my calendar was pretty much clear. However, the Lord has been so good to us and blessed our family with some activities we would have otherwise been unable to enjoy! How could we say no? Here is just one of the exciting days we have had.

We had such a great time at the Gaylord Palms Ice Show! We went with our best friends which made it even more special. This awesome exhibit of ice is really unbelievable. The pictures do not capture the beauty but at least you get an idea of the exibit.

Each year 30 artisans from China are brought to Orlando to the Gaylord to begin the ice sculptures. The results are magnificent! We learned that the "blueprint" involved an ice sculpture of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer but there was a problem. The crew, being from China, didn't have any idea who Rudolph was. The story had to be explained to them before they could begin. I thought that was an interesting little fact.

The gingerbread house looked good enough to eat. Don't you agree?

It doesn't take long to tell Santa what you want for Christmas when his lap is a bone-chilling 9 degrees!!

And this nativity scene was the most beautiful of all to me! Absolutely breath taking!

An icy walkway.

My boys with the penguins.

And the highlight of the tour was the ice slide! This is as close as we Floridians will get to a sled ride!

At the end of our tour and just in time we found the kleenex dispenser! Hope you are able to read the cute sign the kids are standing by. A nice touch.

What a great day! What a great Heavenly Father to bless us with the "little extras"!

Farm Chores Make Strong Boys

My boys don't get to go to the gym to work out but that doesn't mean they don't get a work out!



I am sure they would RATHER be at the gym but this work out builds character as well as muscle. I have seen a difference in them (character and muscle!) since we have moved here. There are times they tend to get lazy but that can't last for long. There is always a chore to be done! Don't get me wrong, I do have a battle on my hands some days getting them motivated. They know, however, that we can't afford to leave things undone.

One late afternoon, Dad brought home our hay for the winter. We use the hay for bedding in the goat pen until it gets all soiled. Then it goes in the hog pen. I know that's gross but let's face it-hogs are not very clean animals and they don't seem to mind a bit. We also put the hay in the cow pen. On very cold snaps the hogs get fresh hay as well. The chickens need hay for their laying baskets. As you can tell, it is a much needed item on a farm.

Anyway, the older guys had to unload the hay from the trailer and put it in the loft of the barn.



Here they are, so happy to be working at night loading hay. Can't you just see it in their darling faces???

I am very proud of my guys. They have learned many skills that will help them later on when they have a family of their own. Those firm biceps and abs are just an added bonus!!

Have a great day!

Pam