Monday, March 28, 2011

Changing my heart

You know alot of times the biggest problem with people is that they tend to look at the faults of others instead of looking at their own faults.
How many times have you heard people say, it's not me that needs to be changed, it's him/her!
How many times have you said in your own heart ...
"I'm right, it's not my fault....doesn't he/she see how awful he/she is being.... the argument wasn't my fault, if she/he hadn't been so silly about the whole thing it wouldn't have started! Besides, I was right anyway"
I know that those thoughts have come from deep within myself MANY times, way to many. I'm slowly starting to realize who I'm responsible for.
Think about it.
Are you responsible for everyone else's attitude or your own?
I'm realizing more and more that it doesn't matter how terrible the other person is being (whoever that may be), the Lord says that I'm supposed to be responsible for my response, my actions and my thoughts.
Even if we are being falsely accused or judged, if we respond in an ugly way... we are being as terrible as the person who is accusing or judging.

1Peter 2:20
For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.

You would be surprised how it works to your advantage.
Arguments cease, friendships are restored and relationships are improved
Trust me, I've tried it. 
And you can't really argue with God's word can you?
Even if things don't work out, you can know... that you made God proud
And that is really all that matters.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Calves coming out of my ears!

I have been meaning to do this post for quite a number of days... I have 2 excuses :) 
First was that I have been REALLY busy. Between helping with hauling grain, being in charge of calving, plus all the regular stuff that needs to be done, I did not really have much time to spare!
Secondly since photography is not my most favourite thing I wasn't very motivated to take pictures of all the cows and calves to show you all.... but I finally got out there today :)

So here is a run up of ALL the cows that have had calves in the past week.... hope I don't bore you to much!


Texas was Dad's first cow (named Texas cause of her HUGE horns)
This cow in the picture below is Texas' first calf's first calf....Small Fry's Twin. Small Fry's Twin's mother's name was Small Fry... cause she was a small cow, since her daughter was also a small cow... we named her after her mother, hence the name Small Fry's Twin!
Both Texas and Small Fry are gone cause of old age. :(
Small Fry's Twin had her calf March 19th. I was able to attend and assist with the birth... my most favourite part of calving!





I didn't want to interrupt the calve's meal to take it's picture... so this will have to do :) He was our first bull!





This is Curly, she is name Curly for obvious reasons... um, she is Curly :)
She had her calf March 19th all by her lonesome. I had noticed that she had broke her water, but was unfortunately busy when it was born.
Curly has the SWEETEST low mother moo (there is a certain moo that cows do to talk to their calves... we call it the mother moo :)... love it!





And here is her calf. I had to help the babe suck. But the Curly was nice to work with, so it wasn't so bad. As you may or may not have already noticed, we put pink tags on the girl calves (heifers) and blue on the boys (bulls).





This cow is Spinner. She got her name because when she had her first calf and Dad was helping her... she spinned in circles, no joke.
She had her calf on her own while we were in church on March 20th.

        




Another bull! He is our first and only calf so far with true Hereford markings.





This is ABS. Her name means "All By Self"... can you guess? Yuppers, she had her first calf all by herself :) She did the same this year the morning of March 21st.





Here is the calf. We had to bottle feed it cholesterol because it needed help sucking and mama was to nervous to let us help her. So we gave it milk, and then sent it back out to ABS with some energy. That's all she needed to get sucking on her own.





Here is Teardrop! Her name comes from the brown "tear" on the right side of her face. I also found her calf the morning of March 21st. 





Here is her SWEET calf... our first totally brown one!

       




I forgot to take a picture of #5 (yup, she has a number for her name... I'm assuming that she used to have a tag with that number on it), but I did get one of her calf born March 21st. Her tag is not sideways on purpose, it's like a earring and they move very easily :) I think this calf kinda looks like a bunny... what do you think?
I was with the cow when she gave birth. She lay down on a slight hill with her feet pointing uphill. I didn't think of it while she was having her calf, I just was concentrating on making sure that the calf was born safe. Once it was born I realized that #5 couldn't get back up! She had tipped on her back to far and if cows are tipped like that for to long they can bloat and die. So I "encouraged" her to get up by pushing and yelling :) She finally made it up by wiggling herself sideways on the hill and getting up from their. It was a good thing I had been there cause even though she may have eventually got up on her own, the calf still had the sack unbroken around it (I had broken it when I was pulling the calf out) so it probably would have suffocated before the mother had a chance to break it. So... ya I was just glad that everything worked out.
The calf needed help with sucking cause her mommy's bag is HUGE. This was one time that I was SO thankful that cows eat their afterbirth. It takes them a LONG time and they usually stand pretty still when they are eating it. Since the cow wasn't very nice, this allowed me to help her calf easier.





This is Patch and her calf born on the 22nd. She is named for the Patch on her face (obviously :).  I'm not sure what happened to the calf's ear but as you might be able to see, the one with the tag in it is kinda droopy, poor lil guy looks so sad :(
He needed help with sucking as well. Patch did NOT want to co-operate, so I spend most of my afternoon trying to get her to stand still! But all's good now! :)






This is Molly. Her name came from Amanda Munck! She had her calf while her and her family were out here last spring... I needed a name, and she had one :) I took Nathan with me to check the cows a couple times and he kept forgetting her name and calling her Charlie... silly boy :)






I think her calf is my favourite so far... just look at that sweet lil face :)
She was born on March 23rd and also needed help sucking, but Molly was just WAY to nervous. So we ended up having to bring her into the barn and feeding her chop to get her to stand still. Dad helped the calf suck.  





And this is our newest addition! Logo had her calf early this morning.
The name Logo might seem kinda strange to you eh? Well, she has a look-alike that is named Pogo, so Dad wanted to give her a similar name, since Logo rhymes with Pogo... Logo it was!






It was REALLY cold last night and into the morning, so I was very thankful that the calf was alright! She even sucked on her own :)





Ya, so that is about it! I'm real sorry that I have left you all hanging for so long. I hope to get back into blogging regularly again!
Have a blessed Sunday!

Jennifer❀

Monday, March 21, 2011

Busy.

I'm sorry that I haven't been blogging lately.
I think I can sum it all up by saying that we had 6 calves in 3 days.
Saturday we had 2, Sunday 1 and today we have had 3 so far! Two of the three calves that were born today needed help sucking... so I was hopping busy with that!
There will be pictures and stories to come of all the new additions... sometime after the blizzard that is supposed to hit tomorrow. Yes I did say BLIZZARD!!!
We Manitobans know better than to breathe a sigh of releif when March 20th hits, it may be officially spring, but Winter seems to want to pop back every once in a while!

Be back soon!

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Life goes on....

We had a calf die on Sunday
Coaco Puff (the cow) had been trying to have her calf all day, so when Mom and Dad got home, I got Dad to come out and take a look at her. I felt like something was wrong.
And it was a good thing we checked her out...the calf was breech.
We had to help her get the calf out and everything seemed to be fine. The calf was even trying to stand up when I checked on it once.
But the next time I checked on her, she was just lying there listless. I brought her into the barn, thinking that it might be that she was too cold. But sadly the calf was gone by morning.
We are thinking that either she got stepped on by mama, or that something went wrong from being born breech.
It is always really sad for me when stuff like this happens, sometimes all I want to do is sit down and cry.
But a wise man (aka, my daddy) once told me... "Jen this is something that we chose to do. Junk like this just happens sometimes, and there is nothing that we can do about that. We just have to do our best, and move on."

So, instead of dwelling on the "junk", I'm going to be happy for what we DO have. We've got 2 live healthy and happy calves, and more on the way!
The happy ending to this story is that the twin that we were bottle feeding now has a mama! Coaco Puff (the one that lost the calf) took her as her own, and now they are both happy :)

These are pictures of the twins that Megan took yesterday... are they not just ADORABLE???





Saturday, March 12, 2011

Calving has begun!

The blizzard ended at midnight. We know this because we went out to check the cows then, and again at 4:00am. Thankfully there was no calves.

We had French Toast for brunch this morning (sorry that we had it without you mom... know it's your favourite!).
The wind was still blowing ferociously until the middle of the afternoon. It was cold and nasty.
For some reason this was the day that the kids were BEGGING to go outside most of the day, and this was the only time that they couldn't (what a bummer!).
Was a nice relaxing day until about 4:00 in the afternoon when I checked the cows and found 2 calves! I thought they both belonged to different mothers, but after awhile Ker and I figured out that they were actually twins! We have not had live twins for like 6 or 7 years... so this was a surprise!

Go to Megan's blog for more pictures of the twins



Ker and I spent the rest of the day trying to get the mother (Peaches and Cream) to let both of the calves suck, but to no avail. She still only likes one of the calves. We hope to work on it some more tomorrow, but right now it looks like we will have to bottle feed one of the calves.
It's looking like we will have another calf either tonight or tomorrow, so I guess we can say that calving has officially started!

Ya, so that was our day!
Right now we are watching Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames play in "Hockey night in Canada" (GO FLAMES!!!!), so I better scat!

Jennifer❀

Friday, March 11, 2011

It always happens...

Something unusual seems to ALWAYS have to happen when Mom and Dad are gone. And this time the "unusual" is a BLIZZARD!
Ya, we are currently in a whiteout! CRAZY!
The cows tend to like to give birth during bad weather, so we are bracing ourselves for a calf to come anytime now. I would actually be surprised if it didn't happen.

Things went well today. School went along smoothly. We heard about the earthquake in Japan (as well as all the tsunamis that happened as a result), my heart is breaking for all the people that have been affected by it. The kids started asking questions about earthquakes after they heard about it, so I got them to watch a video on it for science today.
The beginning of the day was REALLY beautiful. The kids spent alot of the afternoon out there... and it was a good thing. They were CRAZY hyper today (kids like to forecast bad weather that is coming... in the only way they can.... I've tried to tell them that we have better ways of finding out now adays, but they seem to turn a deaf ear whenever I mention it :)
I cut our neighbour's little girl's hair today.
Lonnie and Sally got their pen cleaned out today, they were very happy about that (thanks to Josh!).

Mom... here is the egg count. Wednesday we got 24, yesterday we got 23 and today we got 16 (must be the blizzard??).

Jaden has decided today that he would like to start eating everything and anything he possibly can. So now we have to be VERY careful that the floor is clean before we put him down.. silly boy.

Tonight we are going to have a SLUMBER PARTY!!!!!! Complete with hairdo's, games, movies and popcorn. We haven't had a slumber party in a good while... so I'm quite excited :)

Wow, every time I look out the window the blizzard keeps getting worse! Might have to tie a rope to the house and string it to the barn so we don't get lost while we are milking tonight! That would be fun :)

I apologize that there are no pictures with this post. I'll try my bestest tomorrow to get a picture for ya.

Hope you are still having an AMAZING time Mom and Dad! LOVE ya!

Thursday, March 10, 2011

The Scoop

Note: This post is mostly for Mom and Dad to let them know how things are going and what we are doing and... stuff.


Last night was a BLAST!!!
We put all the kiddoes to bed... and the REAL party began. I'm telling you, my Grandparents REALLY know how to party :)

We started fooling around with photo booth on the Mac. Everytime we play with that thing we all laugh so hard that tears are running down our cheeks and our stomachs hurt. But is SURE feels GOOD!
As usual Grandma was in the center taking the brunt of all the laughter... but she was laughing too, so I think she was okay with it :)
We took a video as well... but I won't post it, simply because my sweet grandmother did it ONLY for me :)








My SWEET grandparents!


After all the photo booth fun, we went milking and talked for awhile. Grandma asked what we would do after they left, and we said that we'd probably do some partying! She said "maybe we'll stay and help you party then!" so they did (are they not just cool?? :). We sang the night away... that is we watched a Gaither DVD until 11:00 p.m.

When our sweet Grandparents left we stayed up a bit longer (I won't tell you how long :) and watched a movie before plopping into bed.

~~~~~~~~~

Today was alot more relaxing then yesterday.
Did school with the kids.  They got done really fast and were finished all their work by 10:30am (yup mom, I did make sure that they got everything done... no worries!).
Ker and I used the extra time to do some Wii exercising, oh so fun! :)

The rest of the day was very uneventful. Surprisingly.
No calves yet.
No hockey.
No walks.
Just plain old normalness :)

The boys played outside most of the afternoon cause the weather was nice enough. Right now they are cleaning off the rink because it is supposed to rain tomorrow :( Not good.
Brooke, Mikaya and Josiah are playing a card game together. Joey keeps saying "monkey" so I'm not exactly sure what game it is :)
Jaden is sitting on my lap desperately trying to devour the keyboard. I'm writing this all with one hand to keep him at bay :)

Okay...ah, I gotta go.
I think the card game went sour.... Joey is screaming at the top of his lungs, and Mikaya needs me to "straighten" her cards.

Jennifer❀

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Home Alone ~ Installment #2

Well, as you may have guessed by the title of this post... Mom and Dad have once again fled the premises regretfully left their home... and all their kiddoes to go gallivanting off into the sunset. Umm... that is they left us to go on a romantic GETAWAY for a few days.

All us kids have been excitedly sadly left at home to do as we please... well sorta.

This time the left-at-homeness is a TAD bit more stressful cause we have several cows that are about to pop (to put it kindly :). Your's truly tends to worry about stuff like this a tad. It's a good thing I have sisters that are quite the opposite and keep me calm... as calm as I get that is :)

Anyway, Mom and Dad left this morning at precisely 8:30am and us kiddoes watched and waved as they drove out of the yard... 2 seconds later... the party began! :) I promptly began teaching the kids school and thankfully we finished in time for lunch :)

So far the biggest excitement of the day has been going for a walk down the lane to get the mail, playing hockey, watching "Moe and the big Exit" and Grandma and Grandpa coming over!

It was a BEAUTIFUL day today. The sun was a shining and the hope of spring lingering in the air.
We were thankful that we were able to force allow the kids to play outside much of the day. The house always stays a bit ALOT cleaner when the kids are outdoors!

Well, my Grandma and I are trying to find a cute haircut for her... so I better scat.

P.s. This is a picture that Megs took after we went for our walk this morning.....




Jennifer❀

Saturday, March 5, 2011

God vs Science

'Let me explain the problem science has with religion.' The atheist professor of philosophy pauses before his class and then asks one of his new students to stand.. 'You're a Christian, aren't you, son?'
'Yes sir,' the student says.
'So you believe in God?'
'Absolutely. '
'Is God good?'
'Sure! God's good.'
'Is God all-powerful? Can God do anything?'
'Yes'
'Are you good or evil?'
'The Bible says I'm evil.'
The professor grins knowingly. 'Aha! The Bible!' He considers for a moment. 'Here's one for you. Let's say there's a sick person over here and you can cure him. You can do it. Would you help him? Would you try?'
'Yes sir, I would.'
'So you're good...!'
'I wouldn't say that.'
'But why not say that? You'd help a sick and maimed person if you could. Most of us would if we could. But God doesn't.'
The student does not answer, so the professor continues. 'He doesn't, does he? My brother was a Christian who died of cancer, even though he prayed to Jesus to heal him. How is this Jesus good? Hmmm? Can you answer that one?'
The student remains silent.
'No, you can't, can you?' the professor says. He takes a sip of water from a glass on his desk to give the student time to relax.
'Let's start again, young fella.. Is God good?'
'Er..yes,' the student says.
'Is Satan good?'
The student doesn't hesitate on this one. 'No.'
'Then where does Satan come from?'
The student falters. 'From God'
'That's right. God made Satan, didn't he? Tell me, son. Is there evil in this world?'
'Yes, sir.'
'Evil's everywhere, isn't it? And God did make everything, correct?'
'Yes'
'So who created evil?' The professor continued, 'If God created everything, then God created evil, since evil exists, and according to the principle that our works define who we are, then God is evil.'
Again, the student has no answer. 'Is there sickness? Immorality? Hatred? Ugliness? All these terrible things, do they exist in this world?'
The student squirms on his feet.. 'Yes.'
'So who created them?'
The student does not answer again, so the professor repeats his question. 'Who created them?' There is still no answer.
Suddenly the lecturer breaks away to pace in front of the classroom.
The class is mesmerized.. 'Tell me,' he continues onto another student. 'Do you believe in Jesus Christ, son?'
The student's voice betrays him and cracks.. 'Yes, professor, I do.'
The old man stops pacing. 'Science says you have five senses you use to identify and observe the world around you. Have you ever seen Jesus?'
'No sir. I've never seen Him.'
'Then tell us if you've ever heard your Jesus?'
'No, sir, I have not.'
'Have you ever felt your Jesus, tasted your Jesus or smelt your Jesus? Have you ever had any sensory perception of Jesus Christ, or God for that matter?'
'No, sir, I'm afraid I haven't.'
'Yet you still believe in him?'
'Yes'
'According to the rules of empirical, testable, demonstrable protocol, science says your God doesn't exist. What do you say to that, son?'
'Nothing,' the student replies. 'I only have my faith.'
'Yes, faith,' the professor repeats. 'And that is the problem science has with God. There is no evidence, only faith.'
The student stands quietly for a moment, before asking a question of His own. 'Professor, is there such thing as heat?'
' Yes.
'And is there such a thing as cold?'
'Yes, son, there's cold too.'
'No sir, there isn't.'
The professor turns to face the student, obviously interested. The room suddenly becomes very quiet. The student begins to explain. 'You can have lots of heat, even more heat, super-heat, mega-heat, unlimited heat,white heat, a little heat or no heat, but we don't have anything called 'cold'. We can hit down to 458 degrees below zero, which is no heat, but we can't go any further after that.
  There is no such thing as cold; otherwise we would be able to go colder than the lowest -458 degrees.'
   'Every body or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits energy, and heat is what makes a body or matter have or transmit energy. Absolute zero (-458 F) is the total absence of heat. You see, sir, cold is only a word we use to describe the absence of heat. We cannot measure cold. Heat we can measure in thermal units because heat is energy. Cold is not the opposite of heat, sir, just the absence of it.'
   Silence across the room. A pen drops somewhere in the classroom, sounding like a hammer.
  'What about darkness, professor. Is there such a thing as darkness?'
   'Yes,' the professor replies without hesitation. 'What is night if it isn't darkness?'
  'You're wrong again, sir. Darkness is not something; it is the absence of something. You can have low light, normal light, bright light, flashing light, but if you have no light constantly you have nothing and it's called darkness, isn't it? That's the meaning we use to define the word.'
'In reality, darkness isn't. If it were, you would be able to make darkness darker, wouldn't you?'
The professor begins to smile at the student in front of him. This will be a good semester. 'So what point are you making, young man?'
'Yes, professor. My point is, your philosophical premise is flawed to start with, and so your conclusion must also be flawed.'
The professor's face cannot hide his surprise this time. 'Flawed? Can you explain how?'
  'You are working on the premise of duality,' the student explains.. 'You argue that there is life and then there's death; a good God and a bad God. You are viewing the concept of God as something finite, something we can measure. Sir, science can't even explain a thought.'
'It uses electricity and magnetism, but has never seen, much less fully understood either one. To view death as the opposite of life is to be ignorant of the fact that death cannot exist as a substantive thing. Death is not the opposite of life, just the absence of it.'
'Now tell me, professor. Do you teach your students that they evolved from a monkey?'
'If you are referring to the natural evolutionary process, young man, yes, of course I do.'
'Have you ever observed evolution with your own eyes, sir?'
The professor begins to shake his head, still smiling, as he realizes where th e argument is going. A very good semester, indeed..
'Since no one has ever observed the process of evolution at work and cannot even prove that this process is an on-going endeavor, are you not teaching your opinion, sir? Are you now not a scientist, but a preacher?'
The class is in uproar. The student remains silent until the commotion has subsided.
'To continue the point you were making earlier to the other student, let me give you an example of what I mean.'
The student looks around the room. 'Is there anyone in the class who has ever seen the professor's brain?' The class breaks out into laughter..
'Is there anyone here who has ever heard the professor's brain , felt the professor's brain, touched or smelt the professor's brain? No one appears to have done so. So, according to the established rules of empirical, stable, demonstrable protocol, science says that you have no brain, with all due respect, sir.'
'So if science says you have no brain, how can we trust your lectures, sir?'
Now the room is silent. The professor just stares at the student, his face unreadable.
Finally, after what seems an eternity, the old man answers. 'I guess you'll have to take them on faith.'
'Now, you accept that there is faith, and, in fact, faith exists with life,' the student continues. 'Now, sir, is there such a thing as evil?'
Now uncertain, the professor responds, 'Of course, there is. We see it everyday It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to man. It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world. These manifestations are nothing else but evil.'
To this the student replied, 'Evil does not e xist sir, or at least it does not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of God. God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes when there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light.'
The professor sat down.

The student was Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein wrote a book titled God vs Science in 1921...

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

As a living sacrifice



Photo credit goes to Meg


Movies do something to me. When I'm watching a movie I immediately get caught up in the emotions and feelings of the characters. I'm a bad one to bawl :)


The other day we watched a movie called "The End of the Spear". It is a movie based on the true story of missionary Nate Saint and his encounter with the Waodani tribe, as told through his son Steve Saint.


The movie is very graphic and shows both the Waodani and the missionaries side of the story.
To make a long story short after spotting their location from his airplane and dropping several gifts. Nate Saint finds a beach to land on in the jungle and he along with Jim Elliot, Ed McCully, Peter Fleming, and Roger Youderian try reach out to the Waodani by meeting them in person. After one encounter with some of them, all the men were very excited and eager to see them again.
In a sad twist of events, to save his own life (the Waodani were very violent people and quick to kill when wronged) one of the Waodani men lied to his people and told them that the missionaries tried to kill them. In reaction the Waodani tribe speared and killed all of the missionaries.


Watching all of this unfold before my eyes made me realize what an incredible sacrifice that those men made for their God. To watch them become so excited about meeting with the people that ended up taking their lives breaks my heart.
Sure they didn't know what was going to happen, but I figure that they would still have done it even if they did know. As a result of their obedience... the tribe was reached and a door was opened that ended up bringing many of the Waodani people to Christ.


In watching the story unfold of those missionaries that gave up their lives for the sake of Christ, it got me thinking of the sacrifice that Christ made when He gave His life for us... He was the ultimate sacrifice.


It also made me wonder, what on earth am I doing? What have I given up for Christ's sake? How have I obeyed the calling of offering myself as a LIVING sacrifice. (Romans 12:1)
Truth is I haven't done ANYTHING compared with what my Lord has done for me.


I sometimes find it so hard to give up the "stuff" in life. The little things that become so important, something that I can't bear to think of living without. The stuff that us "modern" folk have become so accustomed to have somehow nearly replaced God himself.
Do me a favor and think for a moment what your favorite thing to do is... then imagine that God asked you to give it up, for good. What would your response be?
Now think about who your favorite person is... imagine that God asked you to give him/her up, would you do it?
Would you be able to risk your own life if God asked you to?
HE DID. And what is even more awe inspiring is that He did if for YOU and for ME.


Have you ever tried to show Him that you are grateful for that? That is the question I've been asking myself lately. 
How have I proven that I'm grateful for the incredible gift that Christ has given me? 


Luke 9:23
And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Happy Birthday Lizzy!

 

Today my American sister Lizzy's 19th birthday! Head over to her blog and wish her a happy birthday!
I LOVE you Lizzy oh so much, you have been such an amazing friend to me these past few years. I have LOVED having a friend that sees eye to eye on almost every issue in life. I feel like we have been friends forever and it has only been 3 years! Thanks for being who you are, you are such a beautiful girl, inside and out.
LOVE you and I hope that you have a VERY amazing birthday!
Your Canadian sis Jenny