Hello. Boy, it has been crazy recently! I don't know where to start.

Ok. Well I have had a total of 9 ewes lamb (only two left that are supposed to lamb), and have a total of 9 lambs. Those of you who have experience with sheep will know that this is not a good crop. Ewes typically have twins, which has been the case with most of mine, but a lot of the ewes have lost one of the lambs leaving them with only one. One ewe wouldn't nurse her lambs, so I am having to feed them on a bottle. They don't grow as fast this way, but at least they are alive and healthy. I had one big lamb born. He is a single birth lamb and was the size of the week old lambs when he was born! He should make a good meat animal.

There is snow on the ground right now. It has been a rather stressful day. I worked with a man from our church all day yesterday clearing up some things so he can build a fence. I practically ran out of hay yesterday, but I was planning on putting out the sheep to pasture today, so I figured it was no problem. I have been worrying over trying to get the fence supplies necessary for putting them out to pasture, and have been trying to get several other items together for purchase, plus I was helping the guy from church yesterday, so I just plain forgot about the fact that I needed to have hay to feed today. When I woke up this morning I realized I was not prepared to feed the animals this morning. I was able to scrounge up some hay that I had left, but not much. I made a phone call to a local farmer, and they went out of their way to bring me one of their bales (which I am going to pay them for). It is wonderful to have people who are willing to help you, even when you make a stupid mistake. The fact that I over-looked the fact that I needed hay reminded me of the verse in the Bible that talks about straining the gnat and swallowing the camel. I was so concerned about the wrong projects, overlooking the obvious fact that I needed more hay.

To make everything worse, the post office called this morning and said we had chicks waiting there for us! We had totally forgotten that they were supposed to be coming soon. So we had to drive to town to get some supplies for them, and to pick them up. The roads were pretty bad, but thankfully the Lord protected us, and the car was all-wheel drive.

I have learned two things from this. One is that good friends are a blessing, and I want to be the kind of person who is willing to go out of their way to help others. The second thing is that it always pays to be prepared. Everybody is better off if you make wise decisions and plan ahead.

Well that is all I have to say today. Soon the snow will be gone, and everything should be back to normal.

Thanks for reading!

-Graham