Bad news and good news

The surgeon kindly informed C on Friday that her anterior cervical fusion (broken neck) has officially failed to fuse. Apparently 10% of people have this problem and she is one of the lucky few. That is the bad news.

The good news is that they can fix it by doing a posterior cervical fusion (PCF)! Instead of going in the front, they go through the back of her neck and instead of using bones to fuse, they will put in two more metal clamps. The recovery is a bit more extensive since they cut 6 layers of muscle, but C is happy to do whatever it takes to get healthy and pain free. 

Her cervical rhizotomy is set for December 23, then they can fix her shoulder. We are hoping to have everything done and have C in physical therapy by late February.

We are so blessed to have such great doctors that have been able to narrow down the issues and find the correct procedures to fix each issue. C is getting blessings for each procedure and has the utmost confidence that she will make a full recovery by June!

She is off work and at home. She is filling her days resting, doing simple crafts, reading and cooking. She is starting to organize all of our photos and spends an hour each day cleaning. She is also making a trip to the temple every week! My wife is a trooper and I am such a blessed man to be married to such a patient, kind and resilient woman.

Breeding success!

The goat mating dance is so funny to watch; bucks are gross and obnoxious! If you have never seen a buck acting like a buck and are not easily offended, I encourage you to visit a farm and ask to see their bucks. They make funny faces, goofy sounds and run around like fools (much like teen boys that I remember from my childhood and some grow men I know presently)  - I love it! And our Nephi is so persistent...

We purchased Nephi and Miss P from a ranch in Eastern Nebraska. A huge goat ranch, she had 86 does, 23 bucks and had already rebred most of them. We got a gigantic discount on both our goats by buying 'off season' and doing a package deal. It never hurts to negotiate - the worst they can say is no, right?!

Anyhow, both Nephi and Miss P were dam raised and when we brought them home, almost completely wild. All of our goats are dehorned and Nephi was descented as a kid, so he isn't super smelly. Both are getting better at being handled, Miss P is hard to catch and Nephi is hard to get to stand still.  Both did very well for vaccinations and hoof trimming but I can tell that we will need to start thinking about building another structure to restrain Nephi for shots and trimming as he is already almost too big for our stand. If you have any big bucks or have seen any buck restraints, please let me know - I am having a bugger of a time finding something that will hold a 200 pound buck!

Both Lacey and Lilly are bred to Nephi for 2011 kids. Lacey is due in March and Lilly in April. Miss P gets to wait until next year for her turn, I want to make sure she is big enough to handle kidding and she is still on the small side right now.

We brought in a doe (Twila) for Nephi to 'date' over Thanksgiving weekend and she was bred this week. Twila will be headed home next week and should kid in early May. We brought in another visitor (Daisy) today. She is actually currently cycling so Nephi is being diligent about being amorous. Since she was brought mid-cycle, she may not settle this cycle, so she will be staying through January 2nd to ensure that her breeding takes. That makes 2 outsider does for our first season of being official Nubian breeders offering buck services. With the savings from not having to send our does out and these two visitors, Nephi has now paid for himself and MissP!

I have several reservations for doelings our of our 2011 crop and we will retain one buck as a companion for Nephi. I have yet to decide if the retained male will remain a buck that we might rent out or will be a wether. I probably won't be able to decide until we see what he looks like and if he would make a good breeder. I hope to get a good selection of kids this year and am excited to see what they look like.

We have the buck house "love shack" finished and the horse barn almost done. As soon as we finish the new horse barn, we can move the horse out of the buck pen and start buying fencing for Nephi. Then... We can move Nephi into his love shack and will have the kidding pen ready to go! We have always had late April kids, so having kids in early March and early April will be a challenge since March is our coldest month. Yikes! However, having bred a bit early, it will help our kids to be bigger towards the end of summer and sell better since they will be breedable in Fall.

Three years ago I never imagined that we would be hip deep in the Nubian breeding business. Never thought that we would have top bloodlines in our barn and be making enough money to have a self sufficient herd! What a blessing.

I added a bunch of goat info to our website on the Homesteading page - eventually, once our web designer has time and we have money we will move it over to the goat section. It contains basic information on our practices for goat care. Everything we do is done at the direction of our vet, who specializes in goats and only goats.

If you have questions or thoughts, please leave a comment or shoot us an email! We love the questions we are getting and enjoy getting to know so many of you from all around the world.

I believe...

The following message was shared through a Relief Society letter and I was touched and thought I would share.

"The Christmas hymn, “Angels We Have Heard On High”, is a favorite at this time of year as reminders come to mind of that extraordinary night when heavenly visitors were both seen and heard by an assembly of simple shepherds. One can’t help but wonder what it might have been like to be among those humble men who witnessed the sights and sounds of such an incredible event. Surely, in that time of need, hearts were lifted, lives were blessed and troubles were comforted.


Christmas always brings extra angels to the earth, I believe.. each and every year. Perhaps they aren’t seen descending from heaven.. nor heard singing from on high.. but if we watch and listen carefully enough we can see and hear them. They walk among us as family and friends… and sometimes as strangers, ….whose hearts are more focused in the season of giving and peace, comfort and joy.

One recent example was shared by young woman last week. For the fourth time in seven years a private airplane crash-landed in their neighborhood. Miraculously, no lives were lost, but the homes of several families were destroyed. In minutes church phone trees sprang put into action quickly assembling local wards to gather and assist. As one of those responding that night, this young woman witnessed earthly angels working the miracles of comfort and peace among the frightened and homeless.

It is not emergencies alone that cause angels to be audible and visible. The miracle of the season is often seen in the generous and thoughtful actions of those who pause to consider more seriously the needs of others. In the most obvious ways it is manifested by those who donate gifts of clothing, food, money and time to those without homes, jobs, health and/or family. By no lesser means it is witnessed in acts of consideration, love and kindness as more and more of us reach out to make life easier and joyful for one another.

Often it is simply and sweetly experienced in the gratitude of our hearts.
Again, my example comes from a recent family event, proving that angels and their blessings come in all shapes and sizes. Having miraculously experienced a peaceful shopping trip with their two young children, a young couple had just buckled the children into their car seats and were headed home. Quietly the young wife and mother whispered a soft , “Thank you, Lord,” as their car pulled into traffic. There was a moment’s pause. Then, jubilantly from the seat behind her came an angelic voice: …”Your welcome, Mom!”
In whatever your holiday may hold…may the miracle of angels be in you and around you as Christmas approaches.. May you see them and hear them, may you speak and act with them… so others may see and hear as well.".