Our herd, Jake; still a handful

For the last several mornings the heifers we put with the neighbor’s bull have bellowed for Mama to feed them, but they have come only in pairs or singly, sometimes with the calfs and sometimes without. This morning they were all together; all six of them; four cows and two heifer calves. Mama was thrilled. It gave us a good opportunity to check them out and see just how they were doing eating only pasture grass. They all looked really good. What I got from this morning’s encounter is that I will have to feed them supplementally when they come back onto the farm. I will never have enough grass to supply their dietary needs on the little patch of ground that we now have. We will tackle that when the time comes but it will be a good problem to deal with.

Jake is, and has always been, a little overwhelming. He is harmless and somewhat helpful but he is so full of chatter that it takes some getting used to. He is one of those talkers that does not let much of anything distract him from his conversation - including your disinterest. It is fun to watch the interaction between him and Mama; especially when she is having a difficult time keeping her mind on what she is doing as he continues to talk and talk. It is obvious that Jake thoroughly enjoys her company and though her attentiveness to him may not be all that unusual in his life, he is very pleased to be here with her. I do have a hunch that ten days will do Mama in, however much she enjoys his visits.

We have done little to keep him occupied other that go through our daily routine which is interesting enough to him because it differs so much from his normal days. But he is pretty comfortable entertaining himself and being a child of the electronic age he has the gadgets available to do just that. Being hooked to the world with an unlimited data plan only promotes such activities. Unlike many his age he is not that much into gaming but he does enjoy searching the answer to any and every question via the web. That has proved interesting at times because he can pose a query about as quickly as I can pose the question.

He returned searches for the Texas State Fair, Six Flags, Dallas City Pass and several others at speeds that had Mama’s mind reeling. Then for good measure he added in a few of his own searches to find available dates, ticket prices (that is where most of the disqualifications were made) and directions with travel times. I was impressed; not interested in any of the venues, but still impressed. 

Then the two of them turned their attention to just how to arrange for him to travel back to us at Christmas. The thought process was along the lines of spending Christmas morning with his family and having them take him to the airport to fly to us later that afternoon. He even provided available ticket prices and flight times that would definitely work. I would love to be there when he springs that on his mom.

Driving the whole process is his almost insatiable desire to see all our children, most of whom will probably be here for Christmas. These are his old playmates, instructors, confidants, pals, and lifelong friends. At times, when he was growing up, it took all of us to keep up with him. He started talking before he was two. He was reading before he was four. He was asking mind numbing questions of us before he was six. When he started First Grade he was reading on the Fourth Grade level - West Virginia accent and all. His teachers were amazed and had him read out-loud to the class just to prove to his classmates it was doable. His mom gave his Mama Kim all the credit and I know all of our seven children had a part in that because he was constantly being read to from the time he was old enough to look at a book.

The Lord has allowed us, as a family, to influence many little ones; but Jake particularly. It will be our prayers, our contact, that keep him close to the Lord because he has no Godly influence, that we know of, in his life. We are praying earnestly for the Lord to put someone in that role for him - soon.

Until then we will happily work in that role.