Showers of Blessing

One of our Old English x Modern Bantams has very recently hatched six adorable bantam chickens. Here, the mother bantam is teaching her young charges to scratch for food.  This last year has been an extraordinary year, with most of our chooks going broody in February, and they almost never go broody at this time of year. Not only the bantams went broody, but the Rhode Island Reds, too, so this has meant a dramatic shortage of farm-fresh eggs, but they are starting to lay again, now.

~~~oooOOOooo~~~

For those of you who have been praying for us – thank you from the bottom of my ♥, my husband’s pain is much better controlled for now. I think that the best thing that could have happened for him was to be admitted to hospital, as they have now given him Kapanol capsules, which the doctor had previously prescribed, but they have now doubled the dosage, so his pain is much better controlled. In hospital they also gave him STRONG antihistamines, and the HUGE spots that he had are starting to subside.

There have been wonderful lessons learned during these times, too. My son has learned how to milk effectively and to feed the animals, and my daughter has learned how to make a delicious goat stew and helps with the ironing and anything else that needs doing inside our home.

Around our home, it is the weekend, and things are so much more relaxed – God is so good as He gives us times of refreshing and showers of blessing as we wait on Him, knowing that He works all things out for our good!

Quick Update on My Husband’s Health

Today has been one of those days – firstly I went to see the physio and found out that I have a bulging disc in my spine, so at least I have a reason for the pain that I am suffering as a result of my fall down the cellar steps. Then we went shopping, during which time my husband retreated to the car, saying that he wasn’t feeling well. Afterwards we travelled home, and we had lunch when we arrived home, but my husband didn’t want any lunch – now, if you know my husband, you will also know that he doesn’t ever say no to food, especially lunch, no matter how sick he is. In fact, the sicker that he is, the more he eats – usually!

He just went to bed, saying that he was feeling cold – mind you, the temperature here has been in the mid-30′s, so that started ringing alarm bells. Then he said that he didn’t remember the journey home, so I phoned the doctor’s rooms and they told me to take him into the hospital. We saw the doctor, and she thinks that he is having withdrawal symptoms from the Fentanyl patches, which he had for the pain in his knee. He had to stop them, as he had a severe allergic response to them, coming out with HUGE spots all over his body, and they were increasing at an alarming rate. The hospital have kept him in for observation overnight, and hopefully he can come home tomorrow.

Please keep my husband in your prayers, as he is the earthly mainstay of our home. Our children have helped with most of the housework today, the ironing and milking of the goats, too, and I praise God that they have learned well, but I do so miss my husband – even if it is only for one night. He really needs to find some pain relief that works and that he is not allergic to, so any of you prayer warriors out there, please be praying for him – I know that I will be.

Oh, and please forgive me if I don’t get to visit your blogs for a short time – things here are pretty hectic at the moment, so hopefully, my friends, I shall see you all soon – God willing.

Wordless Wednesday

No Spoiled Cats in Our Home

At lunch time today, we had home-made Goat’s milk Ice-Cream, and my cat simply loves Goat’s Milk Ice-Cream. His tongue grows almost double its length, and if you could only see the look on his face – he’s in pussycat heaven! He also loves Carrot Cake, roast goat and cheese, and even has his own chair - he’s sitting in it!

This is the cat that curled up underneath my hair and went to sleep the day that we picked him up, so I decided that he was the one that could come and live with us, and after we brought him home and he started to grow,  he bit and scratched anyone that dared come near him, and definitely didn’t like being held.

He is the one that was bitten by a brown snake and survived the assault, but also the one that ran away from a HUGE rat that my daughter’s cat, Moonlight, brought down for him. Moonlight was trying to teach Jeremiah how to catch rats and mice – I’m not sure that he ever did succeed.

He is the cat that sleeps on the end of my bed and keeps my feet wonderfully warm during the cold winter months, and believe me, it gets really cold here during winter – down to -8°C (yep, that’s minus eight!) during the depths of winter. During summer, he’s the one that hid under the bed every time that the ceiling fan was switched on, and would scratch, yell and cry like a baby if you took him anywhere near the ceiling fan when it was going.

He’s older and wiser now, and doesn’t mind the ceiling fans these days. When he arrives back from his nightly sojourns in the warmer summer months, he lines up for his bowl of fresh goats’ milk, and will sit and stare at you if you don’t take the hint.

He’s such a big softy these days, and very different from the little feral that we brought home.  He’s our 10½ kilogram bundle of adorable fluff – not a fat cat, just a gentle giant, and I love him to bits. There’s definitely no spoiled cats in our home!

Tea for Two – or More!

My Cup:~

This cup has one of my favourite animals on it – the humble cat, and just in case you didn’t know – I LOVE CATS! We have three of them, one is a grey tabby, one is a black very small part Siamese, and my cat is the cat of all cats, weighing in at a hefty ten and a half kilograms and a ginger tabby, but he is the gentlest cat that we have.

I’m Having:~

Not sure if this is allowed, ‘cos it says Tea Talk, but anyway, I’m having a Milo. I still haven’t managed to try lemon and ginger tea, and for the most part I drink Dilmah Green Tea, although I sometimes have a Rosehip and Hibiscus tea Herbal Infusion.

I’m Feeling:~

• Blessed that my husband allowed me to sleep in this morning.
• Glad that the housework is over for yet another week.
• Ecstatic that my son has taken over the milking, and learned another life skill.
• Happy that the patches that my husband has for his knee are working.

On My Mind:~

• School Holidays are coming up, soon.
• My husband’s orthopaedic specialist appointment is coming up, soon.
• The Upcoming elections – I’m praying that Family First gain the numbers needed so that we, as Christians can set our own curriculum without unreasonable interference from Government bodies, especially the new Directive B4 of the Policies of the Non‐Government Schools Registration Board SA 2009/10 that was approved by Parliament on 8th December, 2009 and that reads:~

Thank you for joining me for Tea Talk. Wouldn’t you love to join us for a quiet chat over a cup of tea, or as in this case, Milo? If you would like to join this Meme, please visit Ruth and join in the fun.