A Quiet Little Woman

this is the first time i've ever gotten tagged!! i actually got tagged with this twice in the same week!!

i was most likely playing with a friend after a day of schoolwork, or curled up with a good book with my mind off somewhere in a distant land.

b) go to institute (I'm taking a class called "The Gospel and the Productive Life" It's VERY good and teaching me so much in the area of balancing my life!!) - done

pretty much anything healthy and delicious!! I love fruit, both fresh and dehydrated, muffins of all kinds, cookies (made with honey of course ;), and for a extra sweet treat - breyers ice cream with newman o's (organic oreos).

pay 10% to tithing, travel the world and study history in depth while in the places where things happened, buy a huge farm, fix it up, and put what's left in savings while generously giving to all in need! oh, i'd also go around the world and do service projects in third world countries.

violence in videos

This past week we have been watching a movie as a family, a VERY long movie I might add! I really was enjoying it, but feeling kind of like I shouldn't watch it as it was really violent and there were some inappropriate things (nothing bad, just enough to make me uncomfortable). I woke up one morning after watching it the night before and I felt terrible!! I felt unclean, full of bad thoughts and just down right terrible!! I prayed to feel clean again, and felt like I shouldn't watch it again. On sunday in sacrament meeting I just didn't feel worthy to partake of the sacrament and renew my covenants, so I was praying and praying and commited that I wouldn't watch the rest. It was really had to keep my commitment, as the rest of my family watched it... but I felt clean and pure again!!

Interestingly enough, I have been so angry the past week! I usually am not a very angry person, but I have been SO angry! I didn't want to be, I just was! I have been praying that I wouldn't be and remembered something I had learned from an email I had recieved awhile ago. This is a video that everyone should watch (How Television Affects Your Brain Chemistry -- And That's Not All!)!! It is only 4 minutes long, but so good!! We are all being brain washed when we watched tv and movies!! Scary thought! It's no wonder I was feeling violent, I was watching Robin Hood!!

This experience has really made me think about my movie standards... as a family we have commited to not watch anything worse than PG. We don't even watch some PG and G as they are so crude and disgusting!! But I think that I need to raise the bar on my movie standards and become better. My church has a booklet of standards that we are supposed to live (you can go HERE to view it if you want) and under Entertainment and the Media it says "Do not attend, view, or participate in entertainment that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in entertainment that in any way presents immorality or violent behavior as acceptable... Depictions of violence often glamorize vicious behavior. They offend the Spirit and make you less able to respond to others in a sensitive, caring way. They contradict the Savior’s message of love for one another."

I pray that I may be able to change my movie standards and wisely use every moment for the glory of GOD, in the service of others and for the edification of myself!!

“If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things” (Articles of Faith 1:13).

curly girl catch up!!

okay, I've learned my lesson, ALWAYS save a draft when you start, then half way through and again towards the end!! I had a long post all typed up and well.. it's gone!! Here is a brief version as I don't have time to type it all again!!

I'm sorry I haven't been doing curly girl updates, I just don't usually have time to do it everyday!! Plus, my new blog has been keeping me busy!! Guess what! I have now been doing the curly girl method for 2 weeks and I think it's working great! I've only shampooed (is that a word??) once as we retired a flag and I had lovely smokey-smelling hair!! I've also used the baking soda/water a couple of days as I've had slightly greasy hair a couple of days. But, I would say that is pretty good for not washing for 2 weeks!! (i can just picture all the disgusted looks, "no washing or brushing for 2 weeks and you expect us to think it looks good??" no worries, it's looking pretty good!) It has actually been a little less curly than usual, but I remembered something I learned from the curly girl book... the top part of your hair is called the canopy and it is exposed to LOTS more than the rest of your hair (wind, sun, chemicals, etc.), so it just might take awhile longer to rehydrate! On sunday the top part of my hair was really wavy and frizzy, then next layer was better looking, but the bottom layer was simply beautiful... moist and curly!!! I hope and pray that the rest of my hair starts looking like that!!

So, has any one else been trying the curly girl method?? If so, have you had any luck? OH, and on a side note, Belle asked about taking care of straight hair... here is a link from a curly girl website on taking care of straight hair! I think that a lot of you straight haired (believe it or not, that IS A word!!) girls might really be wavy ones in disguise!!

guess what!!!

I have a new blog, now don't panic... I'm not getting rid of this one, just adding a new one. And before you think I'm getting obsessed, let me explain.... I've had many people (here on my side of the world) ask me to share recipes, and I simply don't have time to type them all up and give them out. SO, I decided to have a blog devoted to cooking and healthy eating/living so I can share all the information at once! Be sure to stop by... and if you see anything that looks good, try it out and let me know what you think!!

give away

Jocelyn is having a give away at her blog... for an adorable Pondur Me baby shirt! Be sure to stop by and enter!!

love is not...

Yesterday I watched Sense and Sensibility with some friends, and re-heard this inspring sonnet.. doesn't it just conjure some great pictures in your mind of absolute devotion?? I just thought that I would share this wonderful thought with you! I just LOVE shakespeare, and am going to be starting reading the complete works this week. My sister and I just love talking in old-fashioned language... oh to live in the by-gone old days!!

Curly Girl: days 2 &3

Day 2: My roots were quite greasy when I woke up, but my ends were kind of dry, so I washed the top of my head with the only shampoo that is allowed BAKING SODA and WATER (1 TBLS to 1 CUP), and then conditioned with coconut oil. My hair still seemed greasy that day, but better (I think it is starting to adjust!).

Day 3: Today when I woke up my roots were still a little greasy, so I washed again with baking soda and water... but just a tiny little bit. Then I conditioned with coconut oil and scrunched like you are supposed to. It's didn't seem as curly at first, but then it was after! I had to clean at my grandma's today, so I put my hair in a bun with some bobby pins, and my sister told me that my hair looked like Nancy's hair in "Pollyanna" (the 2004 version, an EXCELLENT movie!!). Quite a compliment, since I LOVE Nancy's hair!! She ALSO said that on the first day she thought that if my hair kept looking like that (very greasy), she was going to have to disown me!! (he, he ;) My hair has been changing, which is very encouraging!! I had about a 5-6 inch area on top of my head that wasn't curly, but it's starting to become very curly!! And even when I pull my hair back into a loose bun, I still have waves, which is VERY cool!!

And while we are on the topic of hair... has anyone here used hairsticks? I found some VERY neat instructions on how to make you own here. I really want to make some, so hopefully I'll be able to get some made in the next little while. Oh, and I also found a website that has some beautiful hair-do's using hairsticks!! Have a most wonderful rest of this terrific thursday!!

an attitude of gratitude

Yesterday was a HORRIBLE day! Things happened, or didn't happen, and I have just been feeling like everything I have wanted has been taken away. I was in the bathroom for a minute last night and was crying to God saying "Why have you taken so many things away from me that I wanted or thought I needed!?"

So I looked around, and saw the toilet paper... something we all take advantage of, but all have and use! And so I thought, "I am grateful for toilet paper!" Since I can only see with my glasses on, I thought "I'm so grateful for glasses so I can see!!" I have been focusing on what I don't have, or what I wanted... instead of being so grateful for ALL the blessings that I have been given!! So... I've decided that I am going to start a gratitude list and go to 1000! I'll try to do 20 things a day, or if I'm feeling extra grateful, I'll do more!

3) my sister#1, who doesn't live with us, but I love her & know that she loves me!

7) my sister #4 who has so much energy and can give me an extra boost when she has energy and I don't!

9) my little sister in heaven... I love her and miss her, but know that I have her looking out for me in heaven!

10) my little brother in heaven... now I have another sibling in heaven that I have to look forward to meeting someday!

12) my computer, that gives us options to learn so much.. just at the click of a button!

14) my beautiful dryer... makes it so easy to dry and makes clothes clean smelling!

17) our beautiful 15 passenger van, which makes it so easy to haul things for others!

18) my glasses ;), I love putting them on each morning and being able to see clearly!

20) little woman, who is such a good friend to me, even though I've never met her... I'm so grateful for her prayers!!

My Curly Girl 'do: day 1

Well, fellow homesteaders... I've been trying for awhile to make my own shampoo, use different things (like baking soda, egg), use a multi-purpose soap, and MANY other things to try and save money. I stumbled upon a new way of washing hair awhile ago... or actually UNWASHING! I just got my new book in the mail yesterday "CURLY GIRL", read through it... and promptly started it this morning. I know from my own experience that it can be down-right mortifying to have curly hair at times, it never does what you want, curls the WRONG way, and can be just plain ornery! So, I've decided that I'll journal my journey and you can follow along and hopefully glean something!

Ever since I was a little girl I have had curly hair, it used to get straighter as it got longer, but the past few years it has gotten down-right crazy!! We've been changing our diet and changing our lives too... and I feel so much better! My hair must too, because where it used to be wavy, with some ringlets... now it looks like a perm! In fact, LOTS of people have asked me if I got a perm, or asked if I got a haircut (nope, just my curly-curls drying!). But I've still had a ways to go as it was quite dry and didn't quite do what I wanted it to. Hence the reason I bought the book...

The curly-girl way is to not just get rid of harsh shampoos and styling aids that strip your hair of essential oils, BUT to get rid of EVERYTHING! UNPLUG the hairdryer, straightener, curler, etc, throw away your hairbrush and THROW OUT the shampoo!!

So, today I didn't shampoo, but followed the curly-girl method... just rinsing, massaging and conditioning (with coconut oil). Well, to be perfectly honest with you, it didn't work so well!! BUT if at first you don't succeed, TRY, TRY AGAIN!! My hair is a little greasy (actually a little more that greasy!!), but certainly LOTS curlier than usual!! Lorraine Massey (the lady who wrote Curly Girl) says that it can take 2-3 weeks for your hair to regain its moisture... so I'll give it awhile! I'll keep 'ya all posted on how my locks transform (at least that's what I'm praying for!!). So, do any of you have curls that have been driving you crazy, or caused you to shed a few tears? If so, join me on my journey to better hair!!

A special kind of love

The most important kind of love that I feel is from my Heavenly Father... to quote a quote we have posted on our wall

Recently I have been feeling SO much love from and for Heavenly Father! One of the lessons I have been learning most of all lately is that it doesn't matter what ANYONE else thinks of me... because I have a Father in Heaven who loves me more than words can express! His shoulder is the only shoulder that I can cry on ALL the time, His arms are the ones that I love to be comforted by, and His praise is the praise that is the only one worth earning! His love is never wavering and always constant... and I have SO much to learn so I can make my love for others like HIS.

Even though I don't know who my future husband is... I have in the last little while developed such a love for him! I think that this love truly is starting to become like God's! My sister and I were talking the other day and she said that she wants to come and stay with me when I get married, and I said "Oh, but you have to give us time together!" It was rather funny because I was getting rather defensive of someone that I don't even know! I've started to realize that this love is a very special kind of love. I love lots of people... friends, family, neighbors, and lots of other people... but there are two kinds of love that are set apart, very sacred and special! The love that I feel for my Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, and the love that I feel for my future husband. Those are both loves that I won't feel for ANYONE ELSE!!

I think of my future husband often and pray for him daily, and I can't wait to meet him!! All you unmarried girls out there (and boys too!) learn NOW to love your future spouse with ALL your heart and save that love for them, don't give it away!

My future husband...whoever you are, wherever you are... know that I am learning to love you with all my heart, and I'm keeping it special and pure JUST FOR YOU!

some farmgirl laughs!!

A few weeks ago I had to run down the road to get my little sister from an activity at our church and my only shoes nearby were my rubber boots (whoops, just typed boats, but in reality they are since I have quite large feet!!), so I slipped them on and ran to the church. I waited and waited for her to come out, but she just wasn't coming so I decided to just go in and get her. One of her leaders opened the door to the room just as I walked up to it, and she took a good luck and me and didn't say anything! (I was wearing a beautiful floral skirt and the classic dirty farmgirl boots, I had recently cleaned out the chicken coop!!)

I came home and walked in the door, my mom took one look at me and said "you didn't go like that did you?", sadly I just nodded my head. She then asked... "did you go inside?", again I just nodded my head and we all started laughing!

We have a new subdivision going in just above our house and this particular lady happens to live in the largest house up there... we just kept coming up with crazy things we could do if we invited them over. We said that we would invite them over to play games JUST as we cam in after the evening chores, with our fresh goats milk, and a basket of eggs... of course with our dirty boots and our farmer hands! It's become quite the family joke!!

THEN, just today as we were in the car together and we had just picked up the aforesaid sister from another activity... my mom said "I never told you this, but..." she had just called the leader a couple of days ago to ask if we needed to wear church clothes to a family event that evening, and she said "I am, and you can... just don't wear your boots!!" Then when we were there the same evening she came up to my mom and said "just had to see if you were wearing your boots!!"

Eggs from our chickens, milk from our goats, and honey from our bees!! Can you believe that?? And we recieved them all from the hand of our most gracious GOD!!! Isn't it amazing to look around you and see what HE has given us!!?? I love HIM so very much and delight to be HIS daughter... a simple farmgirl!

Courtship: A pure, whole heart

One of the most frightening things now days is how quickly and often people change from one boyfriend/girlfriend to another!! To quote a girl I once heard "he changes his crushes as often as he changes his pants!" What state is this world in??

A couple of years ago I stumbled across a small book called "The Three Weavers". This book started my heart on a journey that I'm still on! It is a story of three girls who are born to three weavers who are neighbors and friends. When they are born, an lady comes and gives them a gift of a loom, and the girls' job is to weave a cloak for the prince that will someday come to marry them. One of the girls just wastes her weavings on the common boys in the neighborhood, another falls in love with a shepherd... but the third has a wonderful father who teaches her to save her weaving for the prince that is someday coming for her. She keeps a yard-stick in her window that has the measurements of a true prince on it... multiple people come and she asks "is he the one?" But they never measured up to the true measurement of a prince. Finally her prince comes and she is able to marry him because she has made a cloak fit for a prince, while the other girls can't go with the princes' that have come for them, because they gave their weavings away until they didn't have any left.

I had done the very same thing when I was younger... given my heart away little by little until I don't know how much I had left. About the same time that I came across "The Three Weavers", I came across a book called "Emotional Purity". This book is life-changing! I would highly recommended it to ANYONE, everyone has something they can learn from its pages! Little by little God had been tutoring me, and teaching me the joys of having a whole heart to give to my future husband and the importance of emotional purity (for a great object lesson of purity of the heart, visit the emotional purity blog).

One of the most important things that I learned was from a video called "Victory over the dating spirit". This WONDERFUL video taught me that I was SO guilty of a dating spirit, BUT the most important thing that I learned was that I could ask GOD to give me a full, new, and completely pure heart for my future husband! I am so grateful that the atonement of Jesus Christ that makes this possible!

BUT, lets be honest with ourselves and our very human hearts... sometimes there are people that you just REALLY like and you can't seem to get out of your mind! What do you do then when you are honestly and truly trying to keep your heart pure and whole and you just can't seem to overcome? The simple answer is to PRAY!! There is a certain young man that used to come to my church, and every time that I would see him it would be such hard work to get him out of my mind. I couldn't stop the feelings from rushing into my heart, but I certainly prayed my HARDEST for help to keep my heart pure. I would pray that those feeling would be taken away unless he is the person that I'm supposed marry. It usually isn't right away that it happens, but over time, the feelings that hurt my heart so bad are lessened and then my heart is filled with a simple sisterly love. I'm by no means perfect, but I'm trying... and that's all that we can do! It's part of our test here on earth, to see if we can overcome the natural man and conquer our emotions. Here are some simple things that we can do to keep our heart pure and whole for our future spouses!

* Remember that a dating spirit is where you allow your mind to wander and wonder. If you want to have a WHOLE heart to give to your future spouse, you can start today by not thinking about anyone in a romantic way. One of the things that has helped me most is to think of all men as my brothers!

* Something that I have done to help me stop having a dating spirit and start loving my future spouse with all my heart, is to keep a journal where I write him letters. Sometimes my heart has been so full of love and longing, and instead of wasting those feelings on someone or something, I pour out my heart onto paper! I can’t wait to give it to him when we are married and talk to him about the struggles I had waiting for him and the pleasure I had in writing to him, even when I didn’t know who HE was!

* Another thing that I love to do is to pray for my future husband. I started doing this a few years ago and I’ve only missed a couple of nights. Sometimes I pray for specific things, like courage or strength, but usually I just pray that God will bless him wherever he is and in whatever he is doing! Besides praying for your future spouse in your kneel-down prayers you can pray for them whenever you are tempted by someone else. There was one time when I was pressing cider and there were some young men working with us, and I started thinking some dating spirit thoughts. But when I realized what I was doing I turned those thoughts to my future husband. I prayed that he would be blessed with strength and started thinking how much fun it will be when he is working beside me... maybe even helping me with cider!!

* And one last thing that you can do is to get a purity ring. They are very simple yet they are great for helping you remember to keep your heart pure, and also to help you remember that your thoughts need to be centered on GOD! (go to www. generationsofvirtue.com to see these beautiful rings!)

Just remember that our hearts are very human things, but God can help to overcome our dating spirits if we will just ask. And if our hearts have been left with different people, he can give us a whole, new one so we can once again be blessed with a WHOLE, PURE HEART!!

Courtship: What is the difference between courtship and dating?

Sorry this post has been so long in coming, life has been a little crazy here lately! We had a surprise snowstorm and my angora rabbits got wet, so I had to bring them in and blow-dry them (he-he ;), then one of our goats got REALLY sick and we were afraid that she was going to die, but we fixed her up only to then have her dry up on us! So, we gave her some blessed thistle and walnuts and she is fine now (be sure to keep that in mind all you goat keepers, and if you have other helps for us, we would love it!). So, on to courtship...

In an article I found about the difference between courtship and dating, it says that "dating" only started about 80 years ago, around when the car was invented. Before that time (as in old-fashioned stories), the young ladies weren’t allowed to be alone with young men and had to have chaperones, while the young men had to ask the father’s permission to court or even to see his daughter. When young people were given the liberty of leaving their families to go “out” with someone, things started changing. At the same time that cars were invented and things started moving from families to individuals, women’s suffrage was happening and I personally believe (feel free to contradict this opinion or ask me questions) that all of this was part of Satan’s plan to ruin families.

So what is the difference between courtship and dating?? Well, to get started here are 5 things taken from the book “Old-fashioned Courtship and How it Works Today” by Jeff and Marge Barth:

1) “The main element that makes courtship different from dating is that it involves parental input, counsel, and guidance from both sides of the relationship; whereas dating generally does not consider parental advice as necessary, important or even all that desirable.” They go on to state several examples from the bible where parental guidance was one of the key factors: Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Rachel, and Boaz and Ruth. “Contrasting to those successful examples we see with Samson what may be considered a clear example of our modern cultural practice of dating. In fact, in Scripture we do not find a single example of what might be considered a successful relationship resulting from a dating type arrangement such as: Samson, Dinah, Esau, and Genesis 6:1-3.”

2) “Courtship doesn’t begin until both young people reach a marriageable age, whereas dating commonly occurs among teens who are nowhere near the age where they would be able to make a wise decision about a life partner.”

3) “Unlike the often temporary design of dating, courtship is primarily intended to be the beginning of a permanent relationship; it should be entered into with each side having the intentions that the purpose for the courtship is that it will consummate in marriage.”

4) Courtship involves more than just finding a Godly young person to spend time with and eventually marry; but finding someone that will complete and complement them.

5) Courtship requires and builds faith in those involved – a relationship where young people are trusting God to work his perfect plan. Whereas dating involves little faith or discernment and is often guided by passions, emotions, and immature self-gratification.

So, to sum it up, the main differences between courtship and dating are: parental guidance, waiting 'til you are old enough for marriage, intending the relationship to be the beginnings of a PERMANENT relationship, finding (well, actaully allowing GOD to find ;) someone that will complete and complement you, and last, but definatly NOT least... courtship requires more than just being there, but it requires and builds faith!

People in the world don't even care about any of the above 5 things... dating is very, very ME-CENTERED!! As a christian, isn't it my duty to glorify God in everything, even every relationship in my life? I think that one of the most pathetic things ever is to see little girls having crushes on boys, and not even having their parents care, in fact, they think it's cute! I have one little piano student (a boy age 8) ask me about every week... do you have a boy friend? And another student (a girl also age 8) ask me... aren't you in love with someone?? And the answer to both of those questions is a loud and definate NO! There are people that I think are amazing and like a lot, but I want Heavenly Father to write my perfect love story... so I wait and prepare my hardest and meanwhile... learn to love God more!

I think that the most important difference between dating and courtship is that in courtship... YOU TRUST GOD!! May we learn to trust God more in every area of our lives... even the area of romance!

You can tell you're a farmgirl when...

...your most favorite magazine is a seed magazine and the most anticipated package of all year is... seeds! We've been ordering from a GREAT seed company called SEED SAVERS whose mission is to stop heirloom varities from going out of existence. When you look through their magazine you'll see things that you never would have thought of... like strawberry spinach (actually has little berries on it), black tomatoes, and other strange things! We just got our order a couple of days ago, and are getting ready to plant things inside tonight (the last frost date here is in May, so we have awhile!) Here is the list of what we are planting... I'm so excited!!

A day in the life of this farmgirl

I watched some great GardenGirlTV movies and learned a lot about shearing, carding, spinning and knitting angora. I'm VERY excited to shear/pluck one of my rabbits next week, then I'm going to breed her! Then later this afternoon I went outside and cleaned a rabbit cage, put the poop in the compost bin, rinsed out the cage, and brushed his fur. I've had quite a few people tell me that they are interested in buying some babies from me, so I'm thinking that I'll breed both of my does. And actually, I think that one lady is going to trade some does for WEAVING LESSONS!! What fun!

Our milk goat was bleating for me, so I decided that I'd go and visit her when I was finished. So I went down there and was holding the baby, and I forgot to close the gate all the way... and Sophie escaped! I decided that it wouldn't hurt us any to get some exercise, BUT then I couldn't get her to get back in her house! It took me about 20 minutes to get her and the baby back in the shed! She was getting kind of mad at me, and I had to pull her the whole way down... OH, my arm is SO sore!! OH, and guess what else! In the next little while we are getting Sophie's sister and one of her babies (as soon as she has them that is!), and then we just found the cutest little goat about 100 miles away that we are going to get too! THEN we'll have 3 milking goats, and some of their babies! Our homestead is just blooming under God's most gracious hand!

And to end the day, I made some sourdough bread. I made the start a couple of weeks ago, and it makes the BEST sourdough bread! We've been out for awhile, so I decided that I would make it tonight, and then I saw a sourdough variation for dill/walnut bread, so I made one loaf of that too. I actually didn't have any soaked dehydrated walnuts out, so I used pumpkin seed instead! It has to rise for 12 hours, so I'll bake it in the morning and I'll tell you how it turns out! I tried hand kneading the dough instead of using the bosch, and it worked great! I'm definatley getting some FARMGIRL muscles here! I think that strong arms are some of the greatest things that someone can have! Well, hope you enjoyed a glimpse into a day in my life, it was a very calm one... I have a MARATHON day tomorrow so I better go wash the dishes AND get some rest!!

Alex ;)

COURTSHIP

Since I've decided to court, not date, I've gotten a LOT of questions about what I AM doing. Since this is such a huge topic, I've decided to take it apart into different sections and just post a little at a time. Here are the different topics I'll be addressing:

* and last, but definitely not least, resources I've used to learn more about courtship, and stories that have blessed my life.

To start it off, be sure to stop by Little Woman's blog and read about HER courtship! It's so encouraging to see young women who have trusted Heavenly Father to write their love story and have had their prayers answered! I just keep praying to Heavenly Father to send my future husband asap, but still in his perfect time... so it must just be time for me to rejoice in being HIS daughter! I hope that this series blesses you!!

Oh, and be sure to go and listen to THIS wonderful song written by a VERY young boy, he was 6 when this was recorded. I love how he sings about saving his heart for whoever his future wife is... what vision for such a little boy to have!

attack of the dog

On Saturday afternoon we were peacefully finishing up the last session of our church's General Conference and the phone rang... we weren't going to answer it because we were watching conference, but then the answering machine came on. Our next door neighbor said that he was walking past his window and happened to look out and saw a dog in our chicken coop!!!!!!

We all jumped up and looked out the window, there were chickens lying all around the pasture, and feathers everywhere. We all (well, the girls at least) started sobbing, and my brother ran downstairs to get the gun. My mom, dad and brother all ran outside and were going to try and catch the dog, but he ran away. Lukily the animal control officer lives just around the corner, so my dad ran around the corner and beat on the man's door. Then followed a mad chase to catch the dog. My dad, the animal control officer and a police man that joined them all started following him. Then ended up catching him, and he was actually a very calm dog, he didn't even growl. My uncle came over to help put some of the chickens out of thier misery, but ended up not doing it. The dog had killed 3 and mauled 5 others. They were trying to find the last of the missing birds, but couldn't find it. And eventually she came out of the neighbors yard unharmed! Yesterday 1 more died and today 2 more died.

We are all just so sad!! We were just starting to get about 42 eggs a week! We have been blessed with 8 baby chicks, but it will be months till they start laying. I don't know why any of this had to happen, but am trying to LEAN on God for all my support and for the comfort of my soul!! There were so many talks in General Conference that just spoke to my soul, and I am so grateful that I had the opportunity to watch 8 hours of conference before this happened! There were quite a few talks about how everything is for our good and to give us experience, and how life is a test. How did I do on the test that Heavenly Father gave to me? I'm trying to DELIGHT in the Lord and everything that he has given me... even the hard times!

Angora Rabbits, Part II

I forgot to mention one very important thing about angoras! Someone asked how you get the wool off... (whoops! sorry about that!) There are 2 ways, you can either pluck or shear them.

1) Plucking... don't panic, this doesn't hurt! They naturally start shedding/molting every 3-5 months, and when there is wool on the floor of the cages, it's time to pluck! I'm not sure that I'm up to this method yet... but plucked wool actually sells for more money.

2) Shearing... I found a great movie that shows how this is done, I think that I'll start with this method! You don't even have to strap them down, they will just sit on your lap... sometimes they can be a little fidgety, but I've read that they are usually really good! Here is the link for the shearing MOVIE that I found, this is actually part of a series that details making a baby hat, beginning with shearing the rabbit, to raw angora wool, spinning, knitting, and then giving it away!

Angoras are actually quite inexpensive to keep! I bought a 50 lb bag of Mana-Pro rabbit feed for $18 and it will last my 3 rabbits a little more than a month! The only other thing that you have to buy for them is papaya tablets, it keeps them from getting wool block (where their intestines get full of wool that they've eaten, and their digestion stops working). I think I paid $7 for a 500 count bottle.

Hope you all don't get bored of hearing about angoras! I probably be posting a lot more in the future as I start shearing, spinning and breeding! Farm living is a lot of work, but also a lot of fun!!

Angora Rabbits

~ angora wool is 7 times warmer than sheep wool and artic adventurers use angora thermal underwear when they go adventuring!

~ angora wool doesn’t itch like sheep wool, so you can forget about wool allergies!

~ plus in addition to having a great, adorable pet, you can spin the fiber and make home “grown”, home spun, home knit creations!!

I’ve wanted angoras for quite awhile, and just about 2 weeks ago I called a lady that lives about 3 hours away to ask if she would have any babies to sell in a little while. WELL… she was selling her adults and even coming down my way that very day! So I got 3 English angora rabbits! They were a little pricey, about $75 a piece, but they came with the cages, water bottles and feeders too! I was worried that they wouldn’t adjust well, but they are doing marvelously. I was able to buy 2 does and a buck so I could breed them, and I plan on having babies in May sometime. And guess what! Angora wool sells for $7 an ONCE!! Quite pricey, but OH SO SOFT!! I named my rabbits Zipporah (named after Moses’ wife, a Hebrew name meaning “little bird”), Knightly (named after my very favorite Jane Austen male character from Emma!), and Azalie (which is another Hebrew named meaning God has protected).

I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for providing me with these rabbits! I know that if we just WAIT (something that is very hard for me!) and patiently TRUST in HIM, HE will provide!!

Here again, here again, jiggety jig!!

I'm back!! I thought that I might come back after a while, and well.... here I am! I really just needed some time to refocus myself and my life, and while I haven't accomplished that entirely, a lot of interesting things have happened since I've been here!

We truly are homesteaders now! We've been blessed with more chickens, more beehives, and milking goats!! Also, I just got some adorable angora rabbits! I also had some really bad heart problems last month and was healed, which is a miraculous story! AND I turned 20!! The Lord's hand has been unmistakably working in our lives lately! Life is good, though hard... as HE has been making us over in HIS image!!

I've decided that I need to have a purpose for this blog, and not just have it be a random venting site. I really have a burden for helping other girls my age, and helping others in their quest for homesteading and a closer relationship with GOD!! So, I’ll be deciding what I’m going to do in the next little while! Thank you all so much for your great blogs! Even though I haven’t been commenting, I’ve been reading and I think you are all so great!!