An attempt to declare the Glory of God for what He has chosen to do with our lives. A legacy to leave to my children in the telling of it.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

The Insanity

Life.

It just has a way of keepin' on, even if you can't keep up with it.

It has been crazy busy around here lately. A birthday and an anniversary and purposely scheduled craziness might have something to do with it, but still .... crazy busy.

Five of the six poodle-pie puppies have found new homes, which means that I have five less poodle-pie puppy messes to clean up every morning. Grace has gone from one puppy to the other making them her favorites as they all leave: first D-O-G (said phonetically, Deogie) and Licorice left, then Cheesenout, and Rosie, and yesterday Chocolate, leaving behind little Boaz who is doing his best job to convince us that we do need a goofy little yellow lab. Sigh .... Rob is doing his best to stand his ground amongst all of us animal lovers.

The farm is busy, too, with six milking does now. Martha delivered last week~ another buckling. We have decided that next year must be our doe year as we are over run with bucks right now. This new guy brings the total up to 6 bucks and 2 does. Micah donned him "Stripey" as the rest of us were all pretty much named out. Lord willing, pictures to come as soon as I can spare a hand to carry the camera down to the barn amongst the three calf bottles, water jugs, egg basket and milking supplies.

Yes, we also got our bottle calves. It is more of a "going through the motions" event this year with little to no fan-fare over the black and white buggers. Again, Lord willing, pictures to come soon, and I'll try to write a detailed post of how we raise them on goats milk in the near future.

And then there are the chickens: our egg laying girls have been loving the sunshine and have been laying us lots of farm fresh eggs. In an attempt to get back on track with actually farming we have been recording eggs again. In the last ten days of February we brought in 74 eggs from 16 hens. Good job girls!

Our pullet chicks are doing great, and there are some very happy Craigslist people who bought several over the weekend. We still have some little ones in the basement waiting to graduate to the big outside coop, and some more six week old pullets waiting for homes if anybody needs them. Overall the chicken business is good for so early in the spring.

The weather has been crazy, too. We had the biggest snowstorm of the season a couple of weeks ago, and in the past two days it has been so warm that all the snow has melted. The kids dug out the shorts and flip-flops today and even took out the duck boat on the pond to celebrate.

I bought roses. This, in itself, was a significant event because it's one of those things that we used to do when Trent was here. As a reward for making it through Aldi's with two overflowing shopping carts, we would take turns picking out bouquets. When Grace saw the flower displays last week on our grocery shopping trip she asked if she could pick some out .... I woke up from my stupor enough to say yes.

Insane is how I have felt lately. If somebody would just find me a straight jacket in a cute brown and pink pattern I could be content sitting in a padded room rocking back and forth. And then don't wake me up until it's my turn to go to heaven.

The crying doesn't seem to do any good, so I have opted for the insanity behind curtain number three these days. I mean, really, how else does one wrap their brain around the fact that their son is not here? Thoughts of God and His glory and heaven consume me unrelentingly. And for the millionth time I ask: How do you go on living here? What do you live for? When you know that this is all temporary, what is worth investing in?

It's worse than having to cook three meals a day only to have it all eaten in moments and then have to wash the dishes three times a day only to get up and know you have to do it do it again tomorrow and the next day and the next day and the next day.

Oh~ and the tiny push that sent me cascading into the insanity mode: somebody stole Trent's identity and claimed him on their taxes. Yes, we were informed that we would have to paper file our taxes and prove to the government that our dead son was really our dead son rather than somebody else's dead son who was claiming that our dead son was their dead son. Uh-huh. Now you see why that cute little straight jacket might not be so bad? Who would even think up these things?

So, I humour myself with barn chores twice a day: feed the calves, feed the goats, feed the chicks, feed the calves, feed the goats, feed the chicks. It's cheap therapy.

7 comments:

Tonia said...

Its been crazy busy here too.. I am so sorry that this has happened. I wont say I cant believe that something like this would happen but I know people do things like this. Praying that it all works out.. Thank you for sharing your heart with us.. I pray for you all.. It makes my heart hurt to even imagine.. But still I pray that God will continue to give you direction.. Hugs to you..

Brenda said...

I just can't believe how crazy people are to steal Trent's identity for their taxes. That's just too much!

I'm glad the farm is good therapy. It is for me too. :D

Unknown said...

Oh dear friend, you are in my prayers daily. I hope this season brings you closer to Him. I hope you can find some joy in all of your farm critters. I am sorry you had to deal with people who are only seeking things for themselves and would use Trent's name to do it.
Those puppies are adorable. If you lived closer I am sure you would find the last one missing:)

Sherry Sutherby http://russ-stickacres.blogspot.com/ said...

I'm right with you on the insanity theory. I think it comes with the end of winter and the beginning of spring. I truly believe if it wasn't meant to be for little Boaz to become a "mitten state" pup on our farm, he was meant to stay on "Our Crazy Farm". I will keep praying that takes place...I think it was meant to be... Love the fact that your animals are thriving, even if it means heavy on the bucklings. Your hens are making up for it! And speaking of insanity, the person who got "creative" with their taxes will certainly be "rewarded" in many ways. Sinful, to say the least. I'm so sorry you have to go through that hassle... It just reminds us how wonderful it will be in heaven, where nothing like this will occur. Hugs to all the OCF folks ~ I wish I were going to see you this spring, but will suffice to follow your wonderful photos and narrative.

Donna OShaughnessy said...

I am so glad I believe in God as the final judge or I would sooooo have to take out the person who had the gall to use Trents name illegally, not to mention immorally. How do people sleep who do things like that ?!

Years ago my good friends husband committed suicide. An over worked farmer. So sad. She had 3 babies all under 6. She said the only way they got through it all was pancakes. Each day she had to get up and make the pancakes. It got her though the day.

Heres to pancakes and whatever else it takes. Prayers for you friend

OurCrazyFarm said...

Thanks for the sweet words, girlfriends. Wild, huh? I want off the rollercoaster now, please! Thank you for your prayers, even prayers for puppies:)) Your encouragement goes a long way... time to make the pancakes now...

TheLazyJ said...

Let's get matching straight jackets. I'm tired of him being dead. Although I suppose heaven is probably pretty good... It's this selfish Aunt heart that just hurts and misses him, and hurts for you.

Think of your prayer opportunities for the person that was so desparate in this life that they would have to steal a dead boy's identity to claim a bit of money on their taxes. You will never forget this event, even if you never meet this person. For His good purposes, God must want you ministering even to this person that you may have never known about in any other way. Even in this event your prayers and Trent's life and legacy are POWERFUL. That poor sucker didn't know what God had planned for them! What they planned for evil, God will use for good.