a sad morning

we lost jubilee's lambs. one light and one dark. i found her at 6 am in the middle of the birth of the second lamb. it appears that the lamb did not present properly. i pulled gently at the already dead lamb and it was then born. poor jubilee. she began the process of cleaning her unresponsive lamb. her first lamb was nearby, born sometime in the night. it also did not survive.

jubilee is mourning her lambs. she is baaing a sad call to them as she wanders out to the pasture, then to the shed, then back to the birthing place looking for them.

lessons on the farm are not always easy. but even while we are feeling the sadness of the loss, we can't help but smile at the 3 lambs we have, frolicking, leaping, and chasing each other around the pasture. and now i am keeping a watchful eye on bathsheeba, the last ewe to lamb, praying she doesn't have any difficulty.

baby pictures

clover and basil

roxie and one of her lambs

shalom

(i need a better picture of her, she is too cute!)

i couldn't resist posting a few more pictures of our lambs. we are still waiting for the other two ewes. jubilee is hanging out in the shed this morning while the others are out in the pasture grazing...maybe today?

progress...

here are our little sprouts about 1 week later. (my gardening readers will notice that we also planted tomato seeds!)

everyday gift: tender sprouts

sunflowers

about 2 weeks ago we spent the morning in the garden planting sunflower seeds in peat pots. we were so thankful for the warm sunny day. we also painted watercolor pictures of the flowers. i made a quick stop by the grocery store florist for a few stems of sunflowers to paint from life, but they had mostly roses and carnations, no sunflowers. so we had to settle for using pictures from our gardening books and the seed packets. i thought they did a beautiful job.

S's painting. (he added the latin name of the sunflower)

B's painting (this is definitely the mammoth variety!)




everyday gift: homeschool in the garden...gardenschool? ;o)

i spy...

look closely at the newly budding branches of the japense lilac bush. do you see it? a miracle is camouflaged among the brown branches...


how about now? in this picture you might also see last year's miracle. do you need a clue?

here is closer view...

it is the egg case of a praying mantis, attached to this branch in the fall by the mother who will never see her offspring. the egg case will release its nymphs in late spring, 100's upon 100's of them dropping out on thin silky threads. the wind will send them on their way.

everyday gift: another miracle in God's creation

sweet violets

i love violets. they are so humble. they don't require any special treatment. they are one of the first to greet me every spring. i love their color, not as common as the blue variety. these violets are so prolific that they are threatening to take over my herb garden, but i just can't bear to weed them out. i will have to transplant them to another location or give them to other gardening friends. that is how i got them in the first place. a dear woman at my church, and incredible gardener i might add, shared these with me a few years ago. and she told me the story of the old friend, now with the Lord, who shared them with her. the family's farm was only a few miles from here.

i would like my life to be like these sweet violets. oh, that i would humbly share joy with others without demanding anything in return. not like the hot house flowers who wilt and pout without the perfect conditions. and may the joy i share spark a chain reaction in others to give joy as well.

everyday gift: sweet violets spreading joy

hosanna with her new lamb

another miracle occurred on sunday and this time we got to watch. it was an amazing moment, one i am sure the kids will never forget. this is hosanna's first lamb and she is doing an incredible job. it is so amazing how she knows exactly what to do! we have named the lamb shalom because she was born the day after passover. and by now we have figured out that the papa is jericho, our black shetland ram, that scoundrel!

everyday gift: the miracle of new life