Opportunity to Care

Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 

James 2:15-16

If you've followed my blog in the past, you know that homelessness is a problem I care very much about.  As much as I enjoy the snow and cool weather, my heart aches for those with no shelter as I watch those first winter flakes drift downward.  There is another group for whom I feel equal, if not more, compassion... teenagers in foster care.  I never thought about how those two groups are linked... until our church was visited by Pastor Ryan from Shelter Church, and he told us about New Family Tree ministry.

Did you know that 60% of teens in foster care end up homeless when they turn eighteen?  Did you know that one out of four homeless adults spent time in the foster system?  These are local statistics, but I'm fairly certain they are similar in other areas of the U.S. 

Pastor Ryan is attempting to draw attention to this problem, and raise funds for  a solution!  For the month of January, he is living in a van in Dayton, Ohio.  He is twittering his experience, as well as doing a daily vlog entry.  You can follow Ryan on facebook, or on his website 30dayshomeless.   He is hoping to raise funds to help support the New Family Tree ministry that will provide housing and guidance for those teens 'aging out' of the foster system.  His hope is to help these kids adjust to life in the adult world, enroll in college, find jobs, and provide shelter during this transitional time in their lives.

Please, take the time to watch his vlog and read the webpages.   Share this event with others.  If you feel the call to do something, your reward will be great.  Think what a difference you could make in the life of a young person... a person with no one else to turn to...

Blahwg's Give-Away!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!  It humbles me to think that God chose to come and live among us, experiencing life the way we do. 


Here is how I spent Christmas day...



Might as well show you how Maggie Mae, 
Sadie and I spent the day after Christmas...

Well, you've waited long enough... I'm ready to hold my contest.  What a great way to start a new year!  Just in case you didn't get all you wanted, I've got some gifts for you...

Everyone needs a little pampering.  And if you're all stocked  up on this stuff, the card is also honored at The White Barn  Candle Co.  You'll definitely be able to get rid of the barnyard smell!

I know lots of you got e-readers for Christmas. (My daughter got a Nook Color!)  Others got some good 0ld-fashioned actual books.  If you didn't get enough, or didn't get the ones you wanted, well, here's your chance.  This card is good at Borders, Waldenbooks, and Brentano's.

I'm also including a little something from the farm.  (I like surprises, so I'm keeping that secret for now.)

Here's the best part...  you can enter more than once, and YOU determine the prize package!  This contest is also going on at my other blog.  I couldn't decide whether to award the bookstore gift card there, and the other one here, or to have one winner get everything.   That's where you come in...

On the entry form below, you get to vote whether the contest is a combined prize package with one winner, or two separate prizes with one winner from each blog.  So what will it be?  Double the odds, or double the prize?

My Christmas Gift to You

Our church played this video Sunday morning.  It touched me.  I just had to share!

Buddy Sour

No, that's not Buddy... that's buddy... as in pal, friend, amigo.  Although Buddy was Nekoda's buddy, now that he's gone, Maggie is the one she can't be without.  

Horse people know the term 'buddy sour' very well.  It's when your horse gets so attached to another, it acts like an idiot when you separate them.  If you're not a horse person, here is a video that demonstrates it very well:  (have your sound on)

 

I often take Nekoda out to the front pasture while Maggie is finishing up her meal.  By the time I get back with Maggie, Nekoda has usually worked up a pretty good lather  One day I left Maggie in the back field the entire afternoon.  By the time I brought Nekoda back to the barn she was gray!  When horses sweat - just like people - they get salty, and Nekoda was covered with salty swirls that day.

I had my camera in my pocket today when I took Nekoda to the front pasture.  She's fine while Sadie and I stand there talking to her, but when we start to leave... well, you've seen it now.  When she was hanging over the fence calling, she was facing the barn where Maggie was still eating.  She'll stop to graze a little, and then go right back to running and calling to her friend. 

I decided to throw in a couple more video clips.  This one is me walking Maggie down to the front pasture.  We swing by the goats to say hello.  I can't resist the opportunity to get those babies posted here.  You can hear Nekoda whinnying in the background...

I love this one with Maggie's shadow walking down the driveway.  We came around the trees and found Nekoda getting her daily back-scratching...

A similar term is 'barn sour'.  Some lazy horses (like mine) do little to nothing but hang around the barn all day or in the pasture grazing.  Then when you try to ride them away from their favorite spot, they don't want to budge!  Some horses will go so far, and then turn around and gallop back to the barn!  Those horses can be dangerous.  Fortunately, mine don't do that, but they do sometimes get stubborn about going past an imaginary line in the drive.

I hope you enjoyed my videos.

Exciting News!

For those of you that follow my friend Anne's blogs...  (a.k.a. chicamom85)  Sassy Sasha the Lovable Shih Tzu, Comfort Food Warms Your Soul, and/or My Husband, Love and Soul Mate is on Kidney Dialysis I just heard the most fabulous news:

Her husband has received a new kidney!  The surgery went well.  Please pray that there will be no problems with rejection or infection.

On a sad note...  Anne's mother passed away this morning.  This has to be a terribly emotional time for her.  Remember her family in prayer at this time of loss.

Thank you.

To Everything... Part 2

You've heard the old adage... 'They come in threes.'  Well, they did come in twos.  I hope there are no more...

 

No sooner had our grief for Buddy eased to

bearable, than Mr J noticed Oreo wasn't acting right.

(Oreo got his name from the

big white 'O' on his belly.

As he grew, it became

more of a 'C'.)

Normally, Oreo is the leader of the pack; but on this day, the others were in the pasture while Oreo was standing alone behind their house.  That never happens!

Goats have a tight herd.  Even when Elvis played the loner, he was never more than 15 feet from the others.  When the leader takes off for the woods, the others will stop drinking to follow.  That's just their nature.

Oreo developed respiratory symptoms.  I injected him with antibiotics for a few days, and those symptoms improved, but Oreo didn't.  He grew weaker.  We've been told that goats are a lot like chickens... when you notice they're sick, it's usually too late.   That's proven true.  We started with six goats.  Lost one.  Gained another.  Lost two in one year.  Now Oreo.

Oreo was probably Mr J's favorite goat.

He had a funny personality...

always first to investigate 

current happenings.

(Whenever Sadie entered the gate,

the others would hide behind Oreo,

leaving him to determine the danger.)

This past Sunday, two-and-a-half weeks after we buried Buddy, we buried Oreo.

His grave is next to Willie's.

Rest in peace, Oreo.  We miss you!