Two Sparrows in a Hurricane

She’s fifteen and he’s barely driving a car
She’s got his ring and he’s got the keys to her heart
It’s just matter of time
They’ll spread their wings and fly

Like two sparrows in a hurricane
Trying to find their way
With a head full of dreams
And faith that can move anything
They’ve heard it’s all uphill
But all they know is how they feel
The world says they’ll never make it, love says they will

There’s a baby crying and one more on the way
There’s a wolf at the door with a big stack of bills
They can’t pay
The clouds are dark and the wind is high
But they can see the other side

Like two sparrows in a hurricane
Trying to find their way
With a head full of dreams
And faith that can move anything
They’ve heard it’s all uphill
But all they know is how they feel
The world says they’ll never make it, love says they will

She’s eighty-three and he’s barely driving a car
She’s got his ring and he’s got the key to her heart
It’s just a matter of time
They’ll spread their wings and fly

Like two sparrows in a hurricane
Trying to find their way
With a head full of dreams
And faith that can move anything
They’ve heard it’s all uphill
But all they know is how they feel
The world says they’ll never make it, love says they will

Here’s what we see roaming out in the pasture. When I was in high school I never, ever, ever dreamed I’d be seeing this on my own property. Pink is definitely not my thing, but it is Kayla’s! 

So, I must say, it is all well and good! It blesses my heart to see my daughter dote on her horse. Thanks to grandma, she gets to wear this one when it’s cold. (It was a high of 22 the day of this pic.) A matching summer sheet will be donned when her summer coat requires protection for those events. Doree now sports a bright pink halter, too. That’s-a-my-girl! Kayla sports pink very well. “Not I,” said the fly. “Not me,” said the bee. “Not you,” said the shrew. “Not now,” said the cow. “Good night,” said the …

Wow! It’s 2010. Remember when we were little and there was all this talk about 2010. It seemed so far away. Here it is! What are we going to do with it? What are you going to do with it?

We have one really big plan. We’re having a baby this summer. There are many emotions being experienced in this house. Some very raw. As some of you know, as some of you experienced with us, in Feb., 2005, we had John. Forty-five days after he was born, he passed away. I will say some of the children are really nervous and afraid of complications during the pregnancy and with the baby. God is working on faith and hope in each of us. The end of November and most of December, I was really sick. Fortunately, Ray was home to pick up my slack. I feel like I woke up three days before Christmas. The morning (Ha!Ha! More like all day sickness) is easing. I’ve had lots of help from this gel-cap called Morning Ease by Solar Ray. Lots and lots of help from Ray and the kids, too have helped us all through.

Not only are we having a baby,  we’ve got 9 ewes to lamb starting in March. Four goats to kid in May. Ray purchased two dairy heifer calves that we’re bottle feeding. Lord willing, Huber Heritage Homestead will be teeming with little ones!

Happy New Year!

Luke has given me the most challenges for birthday  cake choices. He always picks watermelon. This year I got away with putting watermelon as decoration. I didn’t drain the natural green color long enough so it ran.  Winnie the pooh is eating watermelon in a watermelon patch. The cake was yummy. It was yellow cake with apricot filling and chocolate frosting.

The kids had to come up with their own costumes this year. Andrew sewed his own camo. This was his first venture with a sewing machine. He didn’t even have a pattern! Luke came up with his own scarecrow and made his own hay. I painted his face. We spent the evening at the skating rink. Fun was had by all!

Recently, our family took on many first ventures. We butchered our own hog. We butchered our own goat. Then we made one of my mostest favoritest, deliciouso, perfecto sausages on the planet, LINGUISA! It is really hard to come by good linguisa around here. You can get the run of the mill not super-flavorful at every grocery store linguisa. My goal was to create  genuine flavor and texture using all natural ingredients while using goat meat with pork fat. The flavor bursting from every bite was superb. The texture was not spot on, though. Recipes called for a dice with the knife instead of a grind. I sacrificed. Less time for the grind. When we started the stuffing of the forcemeat, Kayla was completely gung-ho hands on deck. She wanted to see how she fared compared to Mike Rowe! She did quitewell. That’s 22 lbs of linguisa!

We ground out 12 lbs of pepperoni. Last we tackled 28 lbs of large breakfast links. Everything and everyone kept warning about blowing the casings. We made it through with only one blowout! How many 13 year old girls can put on their resume “linker”!?

The boy received a nice sum of money for his birthday from various relatives (thank you, Grandma Norma, Grandma Karen, Auntie Katey, Grandpa Ray, Auntie Andrea & Uncle Kenny, and Auntie Hazel!). He is a boy who likes big toys. He knew what he wanted and right where to get them. The Bionicle took about six hours to build. It was over 800 pieces!

I am just going to start over. So much has happened the last months, there’s no way for me to catch up. I will take special note though; Kayla recovered nicely. She is out riding regularly and the steer is “beef”.

A thought I had this morning-

How can we as individuals require or demand those around us to “know us”, when we do not yet fully know ourselves? As we begin to know who we are, we start changing because we have seen what was there. Thus having to learn again about who we are. Only to go through the process again and again.

This thought this morning has made me realize that I, as an individual, must teach those around me about who I am as I learn about who I am and not suppose they will see whom I will have become.

My daughter, Kayla, was injured the other day by her steer. She seemed fine Sunday night. We went to the Harpers’ for dinner and she was running around all crazy playing tag and stuff. Monday she complained of being sore. That was to be expected. I had her do her chores anyway. She moved a bale of hay, fed steers 18 lbs of grain each, and other moderate duty chores. Tuesday she complained of more pain on her side. I had her switch chores with Andrew. He was feeding goats that only consume a 1 1/2 lbs of grain a feeding. Wednesday afternoon we went to pick cherries. She didn’t look so hot. She wasn’t sleeping well. I was slightly concerned. Our friend Richelle was concerned about her appearance. I had her sit in the truck instead of gleaning. Thursday morning, Ray called me and queried about her condition. She was still in bed. My husband is not a man to rush off to the doctor’s office for any reason. My radar went sky high on sensitivity when he requested me to take her in if she wasn’t any better.
Kayla awoke and wanted to take a shower. Her chores were done for her. When she came out, she stated things weren’t right with her bowel movement. I took one look at her. I announced to the boys to hustle and get dressed, “We’re off to the Emergency Room.” We scrambled. Fortunately, my friend Christy was able to pick them up a couple of hours later. Bless her heart. Kayla and I were there for hours. The doc ordered an xray and an ultrasound and blood work. Kayla came back from the xray afraid. She described the technicians expression as one that saw something unexpected. So I really started praying. I also contacted some others to pray in agreement. The ultrasound tech came in and started her stuff. Concluding her report, Kayla saw her note a bunch of stuff about her liver. She really was trembling with fear now. I sent a text crying out for “all hands on deck” for prayer warriors. As a mom, inside I was freaking out myself, outside I was trying to remain calm and composed for my daughter’s sake and my own.

The doc ordered some pain meds for Kayla. He gave her the lowest adult dose of Vicodin. Oh my that was scary!!! She got up to go to the bathroom and almost passed out on the way back. The nurse caught her (I thought the nurse was staying with her!). They got her back to bed and her blood pressure was a whopping 85/44. No more Vicodin for this kid.

The verdict was in. A crack in the liver. The doc couldn’t believe she was so tough. He said, ” Most people with blood pushing on the diaphragm like that are in excruciating pain. When she came in here, she had a look of being really constipated. You never would have guessed her liver was bleeding. I told a couple of my colleagues and they didn’t believe me. A thirteen year old girl in here with a bleeding liver with nothing but  a look of constipation. She is tough…”

He also admonished her to not play rough at all and light duty for quite a while during the liver’s rebuilding process. Thank The Lord she is all right. Time to rest and recoup. It’s been a long day.