Pumpkins, persimmons, and playing in leaves

I love our little farm. We recently added three new members to our family, all within the past week actually, and while I was nervous at first it has actually been quite a blessing.


Our new additions include two squirrelly kittens and a sweet tempered goat. The kittens are sisters and have been a source of great comfort to my three year old son, Lincoln, who broke his collar bone a week before we got them. He has suffered a lot of hurt as a result, and since there is not much you can do for the injury he has had to deal with a painful healing process. He also hates to take medicine of any kind which prevented him what little comfort he may have been afforded.

Thankfully he is feeling much better now, but at the time he was acting out with lots of tantrums and a constant attitude. We really had to reign in our parenting, and stayed home a lot so that we could at least give him the comforts of a steady home environment and the knowledge of our unconditional love for him and his sister, Trinity, even when they are rotten. The doctors said it would take a couple of months for him to be somewhat healed up, and six months for him to be back to a hundred percent. Right now we are about at the two month mark and thank God he is finally back to his spunky self.

Our other new member of the family is a very kind goat that we have named Blue, courtesy of Lincoln. He was given to us by my uncle and aunt who own a larger farm where they raise goats on a regular basis. My father-in-law gave us our original goat, Dandy, when we first moved to our farmhouse so the kids would have an animal to play with, but he has always been lonely. Ever since I have been on a mission to find him a friend. Finally, my aunt was able to get us a friendly wether, who has been a great match-up with our billy. Both of our kids love to help feed the goats and watch them run and play. Having animals is a lot of work, but it definitely helps teach children (and adults for that matter) responsibility and how to take joy out of caring for God's creation.