Birthdays & New Adventures

We've entered the Jackson birthday season. Jonathan turned 8 today. He woke up and declared to the household, "It's finally my birthday!" Here are some pictures of him enjoying the gift opening part of the day...
Here he's happily discovering a Lego Space Shuttle, which in his words, "I've wanted all of my life!"Another big event happened today. Matthew packed up his car and drove out to Bath, NY for his internship at the Christian radio station. ( www.fln.org )
It has been amazing to see how God has brought this internship into reality. A major concern for us (as parents) was where Matthew would be living while in Bath. Matthew wasn't concerned and was ready to camp out all summer, if necessary. Thankfully, the person from the radio station that offered Matt the internship told Matthew that the station has an apartment that he can use for the entire internship...rent free! All he has to pay for are the utilities and wi-fi, if he wants it. The apartment has a washer, dryer, fridge, stove, microwave, couch, chair, & table...and just over the past day, they moved a bed in for him to use.

As the last items were placed in the trunk of the car, Wayne pointed out that the duffel bag Matt was using has followed Wayne around the world in his Air Force travels (it still has Wayne's military id label on it!) and now it's traveling to Bath, NY.It's going to seem mighty strange not having Matthew around this summer entertaining us with his latest ad lib song, funny story, or listening to his laugh, but it's a wonderful thing seeing God bring the pieces together for our son to use his gifts and talents in such a great way. We are abundantly blessed!

Beauty of Spring

Here are some pictures from around the farm which give a hint to why Spring is my favorite time of year...

Another Animal Transport Assignment

This morning Wayne and I delivered 14 chickens to the processor and I want it duly noted that my sheep didn't smell half as bad as those chickens! Half way into our 50 minute trip, I commented that we needed a picture of our latest animal transport. Wayne said that the picture couldn't capture the full experience...as he rolled his window down further and put the vent on full blast. Thankfully we didn't need the heater! Ah-h-h the joys of farm life.

Critters on the Farm

This past week the alpacas were sheared and now look extremely skinny. I'll have to get a picture of them, but I'll post the other pics I got around the farm this afternoon.

This is "Noodle Neck" one of the turken roosters that came in a barnyard 'laying hen' flock that my dad had sent to Marc last year.This is 'Timmy' one of the bucks we got last year. He likes to sleep in an old doghouse.
And here are the newest additions to the farm..."Licorice" and "Bit O' Honey"...
You may remember that last Mothers' Day my wonderful family sent me on vacation to Maine and New Hampshire for some rest and relaxation. I started the time away in New Hampshire by attending the NH Sheep and Wool Festival. This year I couldn't make that far of a trip so my husband gave me a 'day trip' to Lee, MA to see and get some wool on legs. Marc joined me on my journey.

A week or so ago we got a call from a friend who works with the Cooperative Extension. She told Wayne there was a very interesting post on the list serv that Cornell runs listing available livestock and/or requests for livestock. We checked out the post...2 merino/cormo cross rams looking for a new 'fiber only' home for FREE. Wayne told me to go ahead and reply to the posting and later in the day he called the woman who posted the sheep. She had posted for a friend and told Wayne that the sheep were wonderful fiber animals. Later that night the owner of the sheep called. She and I talked quite a bit and to make a long story short, the next evening I called her to say we'd like the sheep. We arranged for me to drive up to Massachusetts this a.m. to bring the 2 boys home.

I have transported rabbits and goats in our van, but I never expected to transport sheep! Once we got them into the van they settled in for the 2.5 hour trip to their new home. We stopped for gas in Lee since it's 5 cents cheaper on that side of the border, and I wondered if the people behind us at the pump could see what we had in the back end of the van when I took this picture.We stopped for lunch and the sheep waited patiently. While Marc was eating his tacos, an inquisitive sheep tried sniffing his lunch.These 2 cuties are definitely a wonderful Mothers' Day gift!

Open House at the Unadilla Market Place

The shop we are involved in has been planning an open house and Saturday the 30th was the big day. We had a lot of people come by and see what the shop has to offer. There was an art show of area high school students' work, which was very impressive. We had a vendor demonstrate his lathe and show some of his bigger projects such as bedposts. Another lady had children painting plaster of paris molds to get an idea of how she paints her concrete lawn ornaments. I brought my spinning wheel and some of Katelyn's rabbits to demonstrate spinning. People were amazed that the rabbits sat quietly in my lap as I harvested their fiber and spun it into yarn. A boyscout from the popcorn sales booth came over and asked if I'd teach him how to spin. He did a great job and was able to take home a sample of yarn that he spun.Here's Gabe spending some time with one of the rabbits...
Gabe was a great salesman also. After he finished holding the rabbit, he asked if I wanted to buy some popcorn!

Taking the rabbits to the open house resulted in Katelyn selling two of them to a woman who plans on spinning their fiber. She has another potential buyer interested in spinning the fiber. All that hard work of caring for them, is paying off.

The day was a great success. We met lots of people and all were enthusiastic about the shop and eager to support it with their business.

Update on Marc's Riding

Marc continues to take a weekly therapeutic riding lesson at a local stable. On the day of these pictures, the wind was whipping around the corner of the stable and the horse was nervous so they used a lead rope as a safety precaution. Typically, Marc rides by himself with the helper just walking alongside in the event he needs assistance.He really enjoys his time at the stable and you can see in the pictures how much straighter he rides.Katelyn would love to take riding lessons. Someday she hopes to fulfill that dream, but for now she likes to tag along to Marc's lesson. Here she is helping a volunteer exercise a blind horse that lives at the stable.

Little Men

I got a couple of pictures of the two youngest on Resurrection Sunday and had to share...

"May"-be I'll Just Catch Up With Photos!

I didn't post much for the month of April and now that we have the photo situation resolved, I'll use this first post of the month to catch up on some pictures...

Jonathan in his "hat" creation.
Ian has grown so tall over the winter!Captain makes himself comfortable while I spin...
Jonathan and one of his favorite activities...Resurrection Sunday Matthew dressed up in a suit. Dad got a picture of Mom and son...