Downtime, Dogs and Provident Providers

We are still patiently waiting for our adoption Case Worker to make first contact with us. It has been a month and a half since we turned in the first set of paperwork and just over one month since we finished and submitted sections 2 and 3. The receptionist keeps telling me that he will be calling us soon. In the mean time, the State had yet another form for us to fill out - same information as the LDS form, only in a different format. I wonder why they have 2 forms instead of just working together and having one. Maybe it is just all part of the challenge to see if we really do want to adopt? I just sigh, and figure that one more set of paperwork is not back breaking.

We took Sky to the vet this morning. Her eyes have a weird blue glow to them and she is starting to run into things. It is very subtle and you have to be looking for it, but she is definitely having trouble seeing. The blue glow started a few months ago and we thought it was just her pupil color. Then it got bigger and her eyes were bloodshot, so I figured it was from the wind. We kept her inside and used soothing drops on her eyes. Then this weekend, Mom came out and I asked her what she thought. We watched Sky carefully, with 5 dogs running around it was hard, and sure enough, she was having trouble seeing... The vet is sending us to a specialist tonight to run some tests and provide a diagnosis. We are fairly certain that she is almost completely blind. She may be able to see shadows, but not much. We will know more tonight. We are so grateful for the great vets we have for our animals and for their expertise. I have faith that everything will work out the way it is supposed to; I just hope that coincides with what I want!

Due to the stress from that and lack of enthusiasm in general, I took today off. It is nice to be home working on adoption stuff, relaxing, and making cinnamon rolls. I wish it was about 20 degrees warmer!

The Church sent this video, Becoming Provident Providers, out about a week or so ago to help us all learn principles of avoiding debt, discerning between needs and wants, and living close to God in order to be provident providers both spiritually and temporally. We feel compelled to share this message with you. It is our sincere hope that we can all work towards self sufficiency, being debt free and becoming provident providers.



***Update on Sky*** She has glaucoma in both eyes and is mostly (98%) blind. She can differentiate some light from dark and at times can see some shadows. We have her on eye drops to keep the pressure in her eyes down, blood pressure pills to regulate blood flow to the optic nerve and fish oil to help regenerate the nerve. She will never see again, but with continued therapy and care, she will live a long life and will, we hope, get to see more shadows to help navigate. She will be going back to the vet on April 20th to check her progress on this medley of drugs; fingers crossed and prayers said; it will be good news! - Side bar - She loves the canned dog food that is used to disguise the pill and fish oil; she is also enjoying extra attention and pampering. Shigom is a bit jealous and Dozer is not smart enough to know what is going on!

Road trip!

I had a job in Walden last week and during one of the nicest days we have had yet this year, I was able to drive our zippy little work car over the mountains. It was my first time ever going over Cameron Pass, which as you can see, still has quite a bit of snow. I was surprised but it makes sense since it is so high!

I can say that I got a little turned around having the mountains on the east instead of the west!

There was a lot of evidence of pine beetles - instead of green the mountains are a dark purple color. The dark is from the green live trees and the purple is from the dead and dying trees. It is so sad to see so many trees dying from a small bug...

The folks in Walden sure are nice people. There isn't much to do in Walden, but I hope we can at least take a family road trip to Cameron Pass at some point. Days like that remind me of why we love Colorado!

Patience is a virtue

What a week! We went from the high 60s to the 20s over the span of a couple of days. I can tell; spring is on the way. The horses are starting to shed - it will be a very hairy spring around the Stout Ranch. We have one month left until kidding season; we bred both does and have bets going to see how many of what we will get. Robert is betting (hoping really) for 2 bucklings. That way we can take them to auction and our herd will not increase! I am betting (hoping really) for 3 babies; 2 doelings and one buckling. I would like to have more options for the does we keep. At this point there are too many variables to guess and making plans seems like a waste of time and energy. We will find out on April 24th! We are still having to be patient - since we have been waiting since November, I think we are doing splendidly!

We planted our seeds for the garden two weeks ago. We start them indoors during early March when it is too cold to put them outside. They will continue to grow in pots on the breakfast table until mid-May when it will be warm enough to put them outside. It is so fun to watch them pop up; small and fragile, struggling towards the light. In mere days they are 2-3 inches tall with big beautiful leaves. Last year, not knowing what I was doings, I over planted on some things and under planted on others. This year, I have a nice variety of everything and if all goes well with the hail and wind, we should have a nice harvest!

I was sitting here watching my seeds and thinking that they could be compared to the parable of the mustard seed and our struggle to increase our faith and share the Gospel. But as I sit here watching these tiny seeds that I planted a few short weeks ago struggle to live and grow I am reminded of our personal seeds and our personal struggles; how we can help each other's seeds to grow and thrive just by being more tolerant and understanding. We each face different struggles as couples and as individuals. We, each of us, has within us a tiny seed that struggles to live and grow and thrive. I don't know your struggles, just as you don't know mine. I also don't know the struggles of the rude man in the grocery line or the lady that cut me off on the freeway. But when I take the time to remember that we each have our own private impurities, challenges and struggles, it makes the small offences of another seem even smaller. How much easier is it then to forgive and uplift each other?!

Empathy by Kelly Miller

When empathy is learned
Our heart to another is turned
As births buds of charity
That we can comfort with clarity

From our own pain we see
And feel with deepened depth
Such that it is the seed
Of love's flower we'll not forget

It seems that all is moving very slowly on the adoption front. We turned in packet 3 almost one month ago and so far, not a word from the Case Worker or even the support staff. I suppose they are very busy and I like to imagine them working fervently on our paperwork round the clock! The reality is that there are several couples in line ahead of us and we will be learning the virtue of patience. Patience will become a dear friend by the time this is all said and done, I just hope I have enough patience to enjoy the ride.

We were talking about the process the other night and we realized (again) that it doesn't really matter how long it takes, our dear child and his/her Mother will be ready and waiting for us when the time is right. We keep having this same epiphany each time we start to get worked up about it. This is our constant struggle, our thought to keep in perspective, our seed that needs to be nurtured...