Stateside, sleet and ice, animal exchanges

Through a series of miraculous events, passports for Cori and Blake were expedited through the approval process in Honduras and appointments were scheduled in the United States giving Cori and Blake the opportunity to arrive stateside late yesterday. The retrieving of the passports required Nate to drive five hours each way to get the documents but the fact that the timing worked out so well was in God’s hands alone. Medical appointments are scheduled for today. This is a critical juncture in formulating a long-term treatment plan for Blake and we are praying for wisdom on the doctor’s part to understand the unique requirements of the plan to fit the country in which the family is serving. We are also praying that all the recommended medical devices and supplies are available immediately for Cori and Blake to purchase so they can haul them back to Honduras as they head home from this brief visit. That is a huge request – especially in this time of supply shortages, specifically medical supplies.

Mama is on pins and needles as we wait for word from Cori about the appointment with the endocrinologist. This appointment was facilitated by a diabetic mother of a child who also suffers with diabetes and has become an advocate for mothers of children with diabetes. The way she has educated herself in the areas of accessing the required information to understand the questions that must be answered for these struggling moms is nothing short of amazing. She has been instrumental in getting Cori all the help she needed in getting started in treating Blake as well as getting the appointment Cori and Blake will have with the specialist today.

The focus of advocacy her is more geared to getting these young diabetic patients acclimated to the insurance changes and individual treatment requirements when they come of age and are no longer on their parent’s medical insurance plan. That transition in medical coverage is a huge hurdle for these younger diabetic patients. Anyway, her help has been monumental for Cori in facilitating the contacts for the appointment and preparing for the doctor visit. As I stated sometime before, asking the right questions is key to getting the needed information in treatment protocols. Learning those proper questions is the difficult part of getting the initial help required setting up those treatment guidelines. We are prayerful and hopeful that this trip accomplishes those objectives.

This morning, as Mama and I went out to feed, I could hear thunder in the distance. Within a few minutes hail began to fall. It was small, thankfully, but it was fascinating to see the volume of tiny ice crystals as they fell. Like a downpour of rain, only in frozen form. The temperatures will continue to fall until we are in the low twenties overnight, but tomorrow we are forecast to get into the sixties with no freezes in sight for the next ten days. Last freeze? No way to know for sure but it seems likely. But just in case, I started a fire in the fireplace for Mama since this may be the last opportunity of the season to enjoy a fire. If I am not mistaken, Mama is planning on roasting marshmallows over the fire this evening. Also, perhaps the last smores of the season.

On the bright side, we can begin sowing our garden in earnest very soon. As impossible as that looks based on the weather outside today, I know the day is coming quickly and Mama and I are ready. This weekend, we will be shifting goats so the girls and boys can get together as prescribed by Mama. We will be putting three mature girls with each of our males. That will necessitate moving the little boys to the small enclosure by the bucks so that we can move the younger girls into the area the boys have been in for several months now. After the breeding is complete, we will put all the boys together. We will put all the girls back together as well. Consolidating the groupings helps us get the feeding done efficiently.

Over the next few weeks, we will be working with Nancy to sell her some of our goats. She halted the sale of at least part of the farm she and Rick had owned before his death so now she is anxious to repopulate the farm with goats. Since ours are direct decedents from her herd, we are the first stop she is making to get a herd going again. She is also allowing Mama to have a few of her Banty hens so we can get more of the little tenacious birds back into our flock.

We are looking forward to both exchanges.