Dyson project for young engineers

Recently I found out from a friend that Dyson (think vacuum cleaners) has a "engineering box" that they loan out free to schools.  Yay for us, homeschools qualify.  I read the below details on the James Dyson Foundation page:

More than 130,000 students in the UK and the US have tackled engineering with the James Dyson Foundation Engineering Box. Using screwdrivers to discover design clues and learn how machines work. Each year the Foundation increases our inventory of Engineering Boxes to challenge more students to think like engineers.

The Engineering Box is a reverse engineering kit that takes students through the design process by disassembling a Dyson machine – understanding how a machine works by taking it apart. It contains:

• 1 Dyson vacuum cleaner as a case study
• 7 Dyson turbine heads for disassembly
• 1 Dyson carbon fiber cleaner head as a case study
• 8 Torx screwdrivers
• Teacher’s Pack with instructions and curriculum
• Posters for the classroom


The Box and training materials are available to classrooms completely free of charge. The Box is loaned to a school for 4 weeks at a time. It’s ideally suited for students in 5th-8th grade but can be adapted for any classroom.
Use the link above to order the Engineering Box. The James Dyson Foundation will ship the Box and collect it when you’re done free of charge. You can watch a video of the Box in action here.

Wow ... I knew Hunter would LOVE it.  He has been overly fascinated with vacuums since he was a toddler and already had a good understanding of how they worked.  I figured the being "ideally suited for students in the 5th-8th grade" didn't apply here.  So I ordered a box. (You can order one by clicking here.)  

The box arrived late one afternoon.  Hunter just spread all the parts out and spent time studying them.

We really didn't need 7 of the turbine heads, but that is standard since it goes to classrooms.  (And some of the homeschooling families I know that have ordered this have lots of kids.)

He was disappointed he didn't have a lot of time that night to really get started.

 After Hunter went to bed, Solomon decided he better examine things:

The next morning Hunter flew down the stairs, into the living room, and quickly put together the vacuum.  Then he turned it on to test it.  Success!  Before breakfast he had several rooms of the house vacuumed.  (NOTE:  EXTRA BENEFIT OF THE DYSON BOX:  YOU WILL HAVE VERY CLEAN FLOORS!) 

Later that morning I began reading to him from the Dyson book that came with the kit.  And I let him read sections of the book to me so we could check off his reading time for the day.  :)  It was actually really interesting to read how Mr. Dyson came up with his vacuum and all the steps along the way.  (I finally have a good understanding now of what an engineer actually does.) Back in 1978 Mr. Dyson was very frustrated with his vacuum cleaner not working well.  So he took it apart and found out what the problem was.  Taking inspiration from an industrial cyclone he had encountered in the manufacture of another of his inventions, he tackled the job of making a good vacuum.

It took 5 years and 5,126 prototypes to finally get there.  Did you notice that?  Over 5000 times?  That is one persistent man!  

The quote on the first page of the book sums up his philosophy:  "Learn from the failures as much as the successes."

The next day we followed the directions in taking apart a turbine head.  I decided to do it too since we had so many.  Hunter really didn't need the book, but he wanted to try it exactly the way they said it.

As soon as we got them apart, I had to stop and put Solomon down for his nap.  When I came back, Hunter had not only put his part back together but mine too.  Ha!

I liked in the book how at each step of the disassembly process, the book listed out several questions.  Lots of whys to get kids (and adults) thinking.  Why were certain materials chosen?  What is the purpose of certain parts?  Why particular locations selected to place them in?  Etc.  It was interesting going through these with Hunter.  (The answers are in the book.)

Another day I read to him how to take apart the actual vacuum motor part.  That was pretty interesting too.  But Hunter was a bit disappointed because you were only supposed take portions of it apart, and not the whole thing.   I have to say I'm really impressed with how well Dyson's work and it is interesting to literally know the ins and outs of them. We get to keep the kit for a couple more weeks.  So far, Hunter has been continuing to examine parts and take things apart and reassemble them every day.  He's even got Solomon helping vacuum too.  Remember I said this thing would get you clean floors?  :)

Much to Hunter's bafflement, Solomon found another good use for the turbine head.  Using it to pile pieces from the Ants in the Pants game on it:

What about Tabby?  Vacuum cleaners and taking stuff apart aren't her thing.  She had more fun helping distract Solomon so Hunter could work in peace:

Memory Ideas and Lyme Disease

Lilly's garden is looking beautiful!  Most of the "sugar love carpet lilies" are blooming:

This week, I came across a couple memory ideas.  One is for the children of fallen soldiers.  A woman makes teddy bears from soldiers uniforms, for the dead soldiers children.  She started this project after losing her son to enemy fire in Afghanistan.  You can read about her work and see some sweet pictures in this article:  "She Makes Teddy Bears From The Uniforms Of Fallen Soldiers To Help Their Families Heal."  Then in our electric co-op magazine, I read about a woman that makes all sorts of things from the garments of someone that passed away, such as bears made from blankets, pillows from neckties, Christmas stockings, luggage tags, laptop bags, aprons, purses, etc.  (See some before and afters here.)  Her website is Memory Lane Boutique.

I so appreciate people that make things like this.  I know how much I love our LillyBear!

Frank came home from work Friday with box of guinea keets.  They are not quite 2 weeks old:

Sleeping - exhausted from the car ride!

Guinea keet

Don't squish the little guinea, Solomon!

So what are guineas good for?  Apparently they are good protectors.  They protect flocks from hawks, dogs, cats, snakes, foxes, etc.  They're not super strong, but they are supposed to be LOUD.  Good for scaring away creatures that want our hens.  They are awesome for eating ticks!  And we happen to live in Chatham County, which is full of ticks this time of year.  So once the guineas are big enough, we are going to put part of the flock in with our goats (ticks love the goats unfortunately) and the rest can roam with our chickens, and be their body guards.

Speaking of our goats, I heard a bunch of thumping and bumping in our chicken coop the other day, and some angry chicken squawking.  I peeked in and much to my surprise found our three goats were busy eating chicken feed.

So I asked ... who let the goats out??  (mehhh mehhh mehhh!)

Pippi, Cloves, Christa

The answer was Hunter.  And it was an accident.

Christa looked ridiculous from this view - I still can't believe the goats got through the coops little door.

Early this spring I made an herbal bug/tick spray for the kids and I to use.  (Frank prefers the chemical laden store stuff.  But the red bugs in particular like him so much, I can't really blame him.)  Anyway, the stuff I made works fine for the rest of us.  But we don't often bother using it unless we're going to be in the woods for awhile.  Guess we're just lazy.

I do think about Lyme disease sometimes though, and pray we don't get it.  I was very interested to read recently that Shoshanna from Bulk Herb Store (I buy herbs and get lots of herbal recipes there)  and her son Jeremiah both had gotten Lyme disease last year.  Jeremiah also had Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Shoshanna has been writing about their experiences in trying to get help, her bad reactions from medications, and how she finally helped herself and Jeremiah heal from her own blends of herbs.

People who get Lyme disease are usually put on many rounds of antibiotics to try and cure them.  It can take a long time and antibiotics can have bad side effects.  But it seems Shoshanna has had good results with what she came up with.  You can read her story here and more specifics about the treatment she created here.  She plans to go around the country speaking about her "Journey Back to Health."

The Opening of a Lily Flower and SOFT's Free Care Book (For Trisomy 18 & 13)

On Monday, the first lily finally opened in Lilly's garden!  There are hundreds of kinds of lily flowers in the world (as opposed to only one unique Lilly girl aka Little Firecracker).  This particular lily is called a "sugar carpet lily."

I just peeked out the window and see that three more have opened.  I need to get an updated picture and maybe cut one to bring inside.

This is the 2nd year I've had those lily bulbs in the garden and I was amazed at how they've doubled in height.

I consider the book Care of the Infant or Child with Trisomy 18 or Trisomy 13 by Ann Barnes and Dr. John Carey to be THE book for help in raising a child with Trisomy 18 or 13.  The book is published by SOFT (Support Organization for Trisomy 18, 13 and Related Disorders.) and is available in paperback and electronic version.  (To see all of SOFT's publications, including both versions of this book, click here.)   If you'd like the free e-book version, you will need to fill out a form, and then the link will be e-mailed to you.  You can go directly to that form here.

Here is a summary of the book from SOFT's website:  "Often referred to as 'the Care Book,' it tells of the complex issues of care and living that caretakers (parents) and these children cope with in their everyday lives.  Topics include diagnosis, common problems, surgery, milestones, mortality and more.  The book closes with a table of recommendations for health supervision, and anticipatory guidance from Dr. John C. Carey, SOFT Medical Advisor." 

I ordered this book right after Lilly was born, and devoured it.  My only regret is that I did not have the strength/courage to order it BEFORE she was born and read it.  I could have been more familiar with typical Trisomy 18 issues then.  (If you're pregnant with a Trisomy 18 or 13 baby, and are reading this, please order this book.  It will give you both hope and lots of practical information.)

One fun thing about the e-book is that there are a couple excerpts from this blog about Lilly in it.  :)  You can read about those references on another blogpost I wrote here.

Here is one little girl that is a big encouragement in the Trisomy 18 world - Bella Santorum.  (She is the daughter of Rick Santorum, who has been a Senator and has run as a presidential candidate for the Republican party.  Her mom Karen has written several books.)  Earlier this month, Bella celebrated her 6th birthday!  What an amazing milestone in the Trisomy 18 world!  Here is a recent picture of happy Bella, with her dad and mom, Karen:

Rick, Bella, Karen Santorum

"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28

Solomon's new (safer!) stool

This past winter, Solomon discovered the freedom of being able to reach things easily himself.  I have a vintage wooden stool in our kitchen and he loves to push it around wherever he wants, pull the steps out, and climb right up.  This thing has literally been all over our downstairs.  Here's just a sampling:

Helping in the kitchen

Sneaking and re-arranging things on the fridge

"reorganizing" the silverware drawer

Getting into my apothecary cabinet (herbs)

adding things to my "to-do" list

Tabby and Hunter and I have had many laughs when we would suddenly hear the stool being moved across the floor and we'd know Solomon was up to something.

It hasn't been all fun though.  As you can imagine, he's had some falls off the stool.  Amazingly he's never been hurt badly.  (He has a good guardian angel!)  But there has been a few times where his falls scared me enough I gave him a quick dose of Arnica to prevent any bruising or bad headaches.

Ok - you may be thinking "just tell him he can't use the stool."  But seriously - that's not the answer when a child is loving being up at the counter and helping me and learning so much.  A chair wasn't the answer as kids fall off chairs too.

Earlier this month, Solomon had several scary falls.  I remembered seeing a special stool with sides in a children's catalog a couple years ago (called a "kitchen helper stool"), and decided to start checking CraigsList for one.  Nothing appeared.  Then he had a very clumsy day and after those falls I thought "enough!"  I suddenly realized that the price tag of the special stool, which had been holding me back from buying it, was much cheaper than a trip to the emergency room would be.

So I got on amazon.com and ordered GuideCraft's Kitchen Helper stool.  It comes in a variety of colors and I choose red.

When it arrived a few days later, Hunter helped me assemble it.  Solomon tried it out and spent the first 5 minutes climbing in and out.  He loves it!  And I now have peace of mind and know he's so much safer.

A nice feature about this stool is that it folds up.  (Hunter is obsessed with folding it up and then opening it up.)  When folded, it is the same height, but the width is only 4.5 inches.  The stool also adjusts to 4 different heights, so it "grows" with your child.

I highly recommend the kitchen helper stool and just wish I had bought it sooner!

Finally - can you "guess the picture?"

Answer:  a box of Peeps!  (not the marshmallow kind you see at Easter though - these are Tabby's Silkie Bantam chicks.)

"For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you to guard you carefully; . . . ." - Luke 4:10

This post contains Amazon.com affiliate links.

Triple (animal) deaths on the farm

If you read The Goat Chick's blog yesterday, you already know about two deaths we had here on the farm. I have another to add to it.

I have never watched re-runs of the old TV show "Green Acres" but my husband has sung the theme song to it enough I know some of it.  Yesterday, while attempting to dig an animal grave, Tabby and I changed some of the words for the part we remembered:

Death Acres is it the place for me?
Farm livin' is the life for me.
Land spreadin' out so far and wide
Keep Raleigh, just give me that countryside.

Yes, Tabby and I sometimes refer to our farm here as "Death Acres."  Morbid I suppose, but sometimes it feels like it.  I guess that's because we just have tender hearts and are still adapting to farm living.  (And we really do LOVE living on our little farm.)  I imagine frequent animal deaths are the norm for bigger farms.

Last week Pom Pom, Tabby's white Silkie Bantum rooster disappeared.  It reminded us of Enoch, in the Bible:  "Enoch walked faithfully with God; then he was no more, because God took him away." (Genesis 5:24)

photo credit:  Tabby

Best we can figure is that in Pom Pom's case, God was really a hawk.  We have a hawk couple living on the property.

Seeing the brown Silkies in the above picture reminded me of this.  When Tabby first bought them, one of the brown ones seemed to have frequent seizures.  It would suddenly drop it's head way down, start to walk backwards in a circle, and often would fall over.  Very pitiful to watch.  None of the chicken experts Tabby contacted had ever heard of a chicken with problems like that.  I'm happy to report that after a few weeks, the problems were gone and the chicken acts totally normal now.

Last night, we found one of our young Barred Rock chickens dead in the front yard.  All the dogs were around.  Who was the killer?  Lucia is "the usual suspect."  I said she was looking guilty but Frank questioned "Can dogs really feel guilt?"  Sherlotta (Dixie's black puppy) had a mouth full of feathers.  But since the chicken's body was surrounded by feathers who knows if she was the killer or just playing with the dead chicken after.  Dixie and her son Exhaust Pipe weren't suspects in my mind.  But of course there's no way to figure it out.  Still, this has happened enough we are sadly contemplating if we need to just find a new home for Lucia, as she's got a long line of dead chickens to her credit.

My Precious (Buff) and a young Barred Rock (photo credit: Tabby)

Finally, the last death occurred sometime during Sunday night.  And for me it was the sad.  Our little baby goat, Pippin, died.

Pippin - his last photo shoot (photo credit: Tabby)

I am so thankful I spent a good part of Sunday afternoon just holding the little goat.  I thought he was so sweet and cute and loved his floppy ears.

What was wrong with him?  I never could quite figure it out.  None of his symptoms matched anything I could find for newborn goat kids online or in books.  So I want to list those things out here, in case they help some other goat owner who is Googling their kid's problems.

Pippin wasn't well from day 2.  His front right hoof had every appearance of hoof rot.  (If you have know about this, it is completely bizarre for a 2 day old kid to have this.)  We treated him for it and it did get a lot better in his 2.5 weeks of life.  A few days after the hoof rot appeared, his back leg swelled up.  It was swollen from between the top of the hoof to about 2 inches under his knee.  (I could not find anything online or in goat books talking about swelling in this area.)  That swelling went away 2 days before he died.  Then his shoulder swelled up.  Also during his life, his breathing sounded too loud to me at times.  (Goats can get pneumonia.)  Besides not being able to stand well, he was generally weak.  He didn't care for milk in a bottle - or syringe - so we got to where, a number of times a day, we'd hold him up under his mama to nurse.  (It IS normal for a kid to not care for a bottle when he is used to nursing normally.)

Pippin's mother Pippi is healthy, friendly, and has a good milk supply.  (We will continue to milk her.)  Best we can figure is Pippin inherited his grandma's bad genes.  Topaz had all sorts of leg and hoof issues, didn't produce milk, and finally had to be put down.

Pippi - does she wonder where her baby is? (photo credit: Tabby)

I do not put animals on the same plane as humans, though I do love animals.  Yet I found little Pippin's problems reminded me some of Lilly.  The weak muscle tone, inability to walk, etc.  I loved helping him and treating him and just holding him.  I guess, because of the Lilly reminders, that made me all the sadder when he died.  Deep sigh ...

Sweet little Pippin (photo credit: Tabby)

We're really hoping that Nutmeg, our brown goat, is pregnant.  (If she is, she will give birth about the end of the month.)  It is just so fun having little babies - in all forms - running around.  (Her sister, Cloves, just had twin does!  She lives with her original owner.)

"The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made." - Psalm 145:9

Book Recommendation: French Kids Eat Everything

When I was little, I remember my dad making a comment that French men were "wimps."  I asked why and he responded "they have to be, with that accent."  I accepted that and went on with my day.  Years later, I was doing a lot of research on WWII.  When I came to accounts of the Nazi invasion of Paris, I read about the total lack of resistance the French soldiers.  That confirmed to me what Dad had said about French men being wimps.

All photos from 1994, taken with a 35 mm camera, in the pre-digital camera age!

me in front of the Arc De Triomphe

In August of 1994, I traveled with some of my family to Europe.  We went to Switzerland, France, and Italy.  Switzerland was clean and beautiful.  Italy (Venice) was fascinating.  Paris, France was ... dirty!  There was dog mess on the streets and sidewalks, cigarette butts everywhere, black exhaust spewing from the cars, scaffolding covered the old buildings as workers cleaned the outside, etc.  It was not the beautiful city I had imagined it to be.  In fact, when we arrived on the train, the station walls were covered with posters featuring an ad for some play or movie that had a woman's big nude derriere on it.  (We saw this poster every where we turned it seemed.  It became the butt of a joke, pun intended.)

When I purchased something in a shop, I gave the clerk my best "merci."  He looked at me scornfully and said "You're welcome."  After we left, my stepsister C. (who had spent time in France) explained to me that everyone there knew I was an American.  She pointed at my white Reebok hightops.  Oh.  I suddenly noticed that only the American tourists wore sneakers.  Proper French people wore leather shoes.

On our way to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower

One of my first meals in Paris was at a sidewalk cafe.  I ordered a hamburger.  The waiter brought it and put it down in front of me with a flourish.  I looked at it in horror.  There was a fried egg on top of the burger!  My stepsister noticed my expression and explained that it was supposed to be like a jockey riding a horse.  I didn't get that one at all.  But I ate the egg first - by itself - then enjoyed my burger.

(Before all you France lovers get too angry with me, I assure you I still found the city of Paris interesting.  Napoleon's tomb was one of the most amazing things I have seen in my life.  Ever.  And when we later stopped in the town of Lyon, I found the people to be friendly and the area simply beautiful.)

Entrance to Napoleon's Tomb

On my April Book List I mentioned that I found the book French Kids Eat Everything by Karen Le Billon to be utterly fascinating.  (The subtitle is: "How our family moved to France, cured picky eating, banned snacking, and discovered 10 simple rules for raising happy, healthy eaters.")  This book totally gave me a new picture of the French.  Not only about their food, but about their whole culture.  (So interesting that I am going to have Tabby read it as a school assignment!)

Karen Le Billon, the author, is from Canada and married to a French man.  She convinced him to move back to the little town he came from in France for a year.  They took their two little girls with them.  It quickly became apparent that Karen and her daughters did not fit in with they way they ate.

Le Billon noticed that French kids not only seemed to enjoy eating, but ate a huge variety of foods.  They are expected to eat everything they are served uncomplainingly.  They eat well. Their obesity rate is one of the lowest in the developed world.  Le Billon's quest to understand these differences later became this book.  Note that there also a bunch of recipes at the end of the book.

I've  been sitting here for 30 minutes writing and have realized this post will be way too long if I were to write about everything I found interesting in the book.  So I'm going to jump ahead and tell you that Le Billon came up with 10 rules to get children to eat well.  I am not going to list those here, because I don't want any copyright issues, but I will tell you they are all summarized on the back cover of French Kids Eat Everything and discussed in detail in the book.  As Le Billon began to apply these rules to her children - and herself! - they all began to eat better.  As an anti-most-vegetable-eater myself, I was fascinated to read how they began to like vegetables.  To the point that the children now list beets, broccoli, and creamed spinach among their favorite foods!  Now that makes me feel like I did eating veggies when I was a kid - I want to gag.  But I also want to learn to eat them better.  I hope to apply a lot of what I read to my husband and I and Hunter.  Tabby likes way more veggies than we do.  And Solomon likes a variety of foods so far.  Of course this book isn't just about eating veggies.

My brother P. at the Musee Des Invalides (we like doing goofy stuff like this)

The French treat food differently than we do here in the U.S.  They take a long time to eat meals, savoring the food.  A small portion of a delicious dessert savored is the norm rather than the huge portions Americans gobble down.  Children are taught to eat - and enjoy - a variety.  Now that doesn't mean they like everything from the start - but instead of giving up that a child hates something, the parents persist and will serve that food again.  They say things like "Oh you just haven't learned to like that food yet."  The French do not like to eat by themselves.  They do not eat in a rush while driving or walking.  They don't give their kids baggies full of snacks to munch on in the stroller.  Kids eat ONE snack a day.  Food presentation is important - they eat off real dishes and always use tablecloths.

How about school lunches?  The French National Ministry of Education states:  "School is a privileged place in which children are better educated about good taste, nutrition, and food culture.  Good taste must be taught and learned, and can only be acquired over time."  The children are served hot meals on real dishes at tables covered with tablecloths.  "Vegetables had to be served at every meal: raw one day, cooked the next.  Fried food could be served no more than once per week.  Real fish had to be served at least once per week.  Fruit was served for dessert every second meal, at a minimum; sugary desserts were allowed--but only once per week." (Le Billon, p. 42)  A nutritionist and committee of parent volunteers oversee meal planning.  And, instead of asking their children "how was school today?" parents ask "how did you like your lunch today?"

Notre Dame - with the annoying for picture taking scaffolding in front of it

Food is an experience to be enjoyed and shared with others.  That thought alone is different for me.  I did not grow up in a house where we placed much emphasis on food - other than it should be healthy.  In fact, my mom would lament that she would rather just swallow a pill than eat because food was such a hassle.  I know I often feel annoyed when it is time to stop what I am doing to prepare food, yet again, for my family.  (Rotten attitude I know.)  I have some "foodie" friends and am always amused when they get excited about different foods they can make or want to try. ( Now I realize - that is really one way they can bless their family.)  I don't care a lot about food variety.  In fact, I ate the same breakfast everyday for 20 years!  But I know that everyone else in my family, except Hunter, do like a variety.

This book has inspired me to "change my food ways". To help me further on this quest, I have just purchased Le Billon's newest book, Getting to YUM: The 7 Secrets to Raising Eager Eaters and look forward to reading that to gain additional tips and recipes.  Though I don't know much about it yet, at Le Billon's website, karenlebillon.com, she offers both a baby taste training plan and a toddler taste training plan.  (What about ME?  How about an adult taste training plan?)

What about you?  Do you have a family full of picky eaters?  Are you one?  Would you like to change that?  If so, reading French Kids Eat Everything is an inspiring place to start!

This post contains amazon affiliate links.

When is Children's Day?

Yesterday, Mother's Day, one of my children asked the predictable question, "Why isn't their a Children's Day?"  I knew just how to answer because whenever my brother S. or I would ask that question when we young, our dad always responded "Every day is Children's Day."  Why did he say that?  Because apparently that's what he was told as a kid.

Do you think there is too much pressure to have picture perfect holidays here in America?  I feel like the media, card industry, that faceless group of "They" ("they say"), Pinterest, etc. - do.  What images do you think of when you think of Mother's Day?  I think of a mom being served breakfast in bed by happy children as they shower her with homemade cards and gifts and basically spend the whole day being cheerful and doing things for her.  Mom gets to lounge around and read and smile and praise her perfectly behaved children.  Husband is there to give her some expensive gift and tell her how great she is.  And everyone lives happily ever after.

It's sort of ironic that I have that image in my head because it's not something that is realistic - at least in my family! - or really that I particularly desire.  For example - I would HATE to have breakfast in bed!  Though I would love for everyone to be cheerful and get along for an entire day.

Special bracelet made for me by Cassie, big sister to T-18 angel Hannah

This was the first year since Lilly died that we did not go to her grave.  That made one part of me sad.  But another part of me really just didn't want to.  So then that made more of me feel guilty.

Why did it make me feel guilty?  Well that is the stage in my grieving process where I'm at.  The well documented part of grief where I do not need as many physical reminders of Lilly surrounding me and I don't feel the utter compulsion to pack my family into the car and drive 5 hours (round trip) to Lilly's grave.  And that makes me feel guilty.  I don't want anyone to think I'm forgetting about her.  I don't want her to not be remembered by everyone - to not be important anymore.  I don't want HER to somehow find out that I don't need to be as surrounded by as much of her stuff and am therefore forgetting about her.  Of course logically, I know that this is a normal way to feel, a couple years into grieving.  But sometimes logic doesn't lessen my guilt.  And yes, of course I tell myself the standard stuff "Lilly is always with me," "She's always a part of my heart," "It doesn't matter I think of her many times a day," "I will always love her," etc. etc.

I also felt guilty yesterday because I have 3 healthy children and yet still felt a bit of sadness during the day.  That made me feel selfish but honestly, I do not see Mother's Day as I used to.  After my Lilly-experience, I spend time praying for my friends that have no children yet desire them greatly.  For those that have had a long string of miscarriages and yet no living children.  For those that have children, of any age, in heaven. Yesterday I prayed repeatedly for a dear friend who was having a miscarriage that very day.

And I of course remembered my one Mother's Day with Lilly.  May 2011.  Lilly almost died in the hospital and a team of doctors and nurses worked frantically to bring her back - right before my eyes.  I watched in frozen horror.  Like a scary movie passing before my eyes.  But the good news was, they saved her life.  Even then, those doctors did not believe Lilly would leave that hospital. But she did and went on to live another 7 months, thank God.

Here is the one picture I have of Lilly and I on Mother's Day:

For a laugh - here is my most recent Mother's Day photo.  It is a nice blurry one that Hunter took of screaming Solomon and I yesterday.  (Solomon was mad because he wanted the camera.)

Ahhh .. the joys of motherhood.  ;)

In spite of the weight of all these feelings yesterday, the day passed well enough.  I made one of my favorite treats - chocolate covered coconut snowballs.  I spent time outside, both by myself and with my family, and with our ever amusing animals.  I planted some babies breath flower seeds in Lilly's garden.  I planted marigold seeds in some window boxes, and Frank hung them under chicken coop windows for me.

I researched online another issue Pippin, our new baby goat is having.  (Part of his back leg is swollen.  But from what I can tell from my research, it is not infected.)  Because Pippin is thin and just isn't thriving, Tabby and I attempted to bottle feed him to supplement his nursing.  (We figure since he can't walk well he's not able to nurse as frequently as he should be.)  Bottle feeding wasn't going well, so yesterday I got the idea to try giving him milk with a syringe.  I got out one of Lilly's big syringes like we used for g-tube feeding her, and found it worked very very well. (Thanks Lilly!) I sure hope the little guy does better soon.  He's just so cute and has such a good disposition.

Well I probably ought to leave you with a smile instead of thinking "Why did I read such a gloomy post?" So I will share a funny picture of Solomon that Tabby took at Walmart last week.  (He is wearing Tabby's sunglasses.)

Tabby has a deactivated iPhone (which she uses as an iPod) and it takes such great quality photos that I am often amazed.  It makes me wonder if I should just get one to replace my broken camera with.  I'm still trying to decide what to do there.  If YOU have a camera which you really like - please tell me about it.  Thank you in advance!

"This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it." - Psalm 118:24