Mama’s visitor, FBI, Millie

Mama called me yesterday morning as she was out feeding the animals to let me know that one of the traps I had set in the well house caught a rat. My first thought was that the rat had been caught by one of the snap traps so I could not piece together how the rodent was thrashing around as she described. She was quite excited by the visitor but she managed to complete the morning routine. When I got home yesterday evening she told me she had not fed the girl goats again because of the rat. I got on gloves expecting to be taking a now deceased rat out of a trap but that is not what I found. The rat had been caught in one of the live traps I had set. That made more sense. I ended up shooting the rat and disposing of it in the burn barrel. She was right in her description of the size of the rat. It was big. The body was about the span of my hand. Since we had had some luck with the trap, I reset it. That was not a comforting thought for Mama, but disposing of one rat does not usually end the problem. I expect there will be more especially since the one I had disposed of was a female that appeared to be getting ready to nest in our well house.

We are studying the book of James as one of the three classes this semester. I have always loved the book of James but what we have learned in the past two lectures has really brought the book to life. It is difficult to verbalize the wealth of information we get through the studies we have been doing through Faith Bible Institute, but I can say that it has enriched our knowledge of the Bible to the point that even our daily Bible reading has taken on new purpose because of the deeper understanding of what we are reading. When James writes about asking for wisdom, the context of the passage is dealing with trials and suffering and seeking the wisdom of God to endure those circumstances in our lives when we feel overwhelmed, disconnected from the love of God, abandoned. We are to ask God for wisdom in working through those times in a way that still gives Him the glory, still assigns Him the authority to do as He knows best in our lives. It is okay to ask why, but we cross the line when we demand an answer from Him who is our Father; an answer we would not be able to understand even if it were given to us. Each of our lives effect eternity in some way. That is something we will never comprehend. Something that only God can coordinate. My proper response is to step aside and let Him be God. Therein lies the struggle.

We are planning to go to Bowie this evening to get Millie. She has been taken care of by a billy goat out of Rick’s flock. Mama even got to specify the billy. We are excited to see the results of that breeding. I have high expectations since the three little females we have at the farm are from her last kidding. One kid would be nice; three would be outstanding. Mama and I have never sold any or taken any to the market so one of those two outcomes will be in our plans for the flock as it grows. With the three little girls we have ready for breeding in September – and Boomer more than ready to do his part – we could have some serious growth late this year.

That would be fun.