Saturday, the beginning, Willie comes in to tell me, Malina is pushing. A few minutes later, we go back outside, and lo and behold, she is already done. One white and one black kid, both female.
Sunday, Willie feeds the goats in the morning, says all is calm, so we happily go to church, with Levi and Danika and grandkids coming for lunch, Sweet.
We come back home and Willie goes out to check. Few seconds later he comes back waving 4 fingers in the air. I get myself ready to go out. By the time I get out there, there are 5 kids and 2 moms, (Lini and Brinlee) and mass confusion. Which kid is mine? We get that all sorted out. Put them in their individual stalls. That should be it for the day.
Yeah right, Shortly after everybody left, we go back out just to make sure everything is good, and guess what. Three more kids. By now it is about 8:00 pm, very cold out, and momma Maggy hasn't got them all cleaned up. The poor things are shivering like crazy. So we step in to help. Willie gets some warm water, heat lamp in stall and we bring the kids in. Maggy, however doesn't want to come in. Once we get everybody into the stall, Maggy makes it very clear that she does't believe those kids are hers and she does everything in her power to reject them.
So what to do? We hold Maggy and force her to allow the kids to nurse. We work on that for awhile and finally go in the house for a break. 11:30 pm we go back out and do it again.
As well as 3:15 am and 6:45 am. Not very fun. Meanwhile Willie has gone to work. After taking Jesse to work, I come home for some breakfast, and spend some time with God.
I am praying for God's joy to be my strength, 'cause this is not easy to deal with. I am exhausted before I even start. I also pray for wisdom on how to get Maggy to accept her kids. I go back into the barn and do the morning feed routine with the extra attention for the new moms. I decide to take Maggy out of her stall and bring her kids out one at a time with a timed feed so they could all get some. While doing this, Willie phones. He suggests taking Maggy and the kids back outside where she last knew her kids. I agreed to give it a try. Just before I do so, Maggy pees. Wonderful. I take each kid and rub them in it and then take them outside. Then I bring Maggy out. I bring her right to the kids.
She takes a sniff, walks away, looks around the area and comes back. The kids follow her, and try to nurse. This time she allows them. Amazing God. I can hardly believe my eyes. She is still out there with her kids and bonding nicely. Praise Jesus. Glory to his holy name.
Before I had come out to the barn, I was ready to take Maggy and kids to the auction, or something, because I just couldn't see how I could keep these 3 kids healthy. They were so sad because they weren't getting any positive attention from their mother.
When I was praying, I said to God. "You tell us to do everything for You. My work, isn't for me, it is for You and Your glory. If I give up on this mom, I can't give you any glory. Therefore, I place their lives in Your hands, I will do whatever I can do with Your strength. I will look for Your wisdom to know what to do. I will give You glory and honor. Thank you for what You are about to do."
So here it is. His story of life on the farm. Never dull :)
