Growing Pains

As I mentioned in my previous post, we have been playing the waiting game at our house, with our animals, our children, and decisions about our near future.  Well the wait is over on most accounts, but now we are experiencing some GROWING PAINS, that we sometimes have to go through while waiting and once the wait is over.

First of all, our 20 something eggs that our broody hen was sitting on never hatched, so we had to throw them out and start over.  A week ago we put 38 eggs in the incubator, and after candling the eggs today, we have 31 viable eggs that should be hatching out in about 2 weeks.  Of course we cannot keep ALL 31 chicks with the 19 chickens we already have, we just don't have the room and need for all of them.  I am sure we will have to give some of them away, so if anyone would like some chicks, just let us know!!!  Our chickens are GREAT egg layers and since we have expanded our animal enclosure so that they can "free range" ALL the time, we seem to be collecting more eggs than before.  We have white, brown and blue egg layers (and some of all 3 in our incubator). If you or anyone you know needs and chickens, PLEASE LET US KNOW!!!

Some of our children have also been experiencing growing pains when dealing with some tough life decisions and situations, some more difficult than others. #3 had to go through some "growing pains" last week while on her 8th grade trip to the OBX.  What should have been the BEST time of her life so far, ended up being the WORST time when some of the other girls she was with showed their true colors and were just being down right MEAN AND UGLY with her.  She was only half way through her trip when all that started.  She couldn't even enjoy the rest of her trip and told us she had a TERRIBLE time after that happened and she didn't enjoy it at all.  The worst part about the whole thing is that she was afraid to "tell" any adult chaperones about what was going on for fear that she would get in trouble and be sent home.  She wouldn't even tell her daddy what happened because it made her feel so bad, she had  to tell her older sister about it so that sister could tell her dad.  I was gone on a trip, too, when she came home, so I didn't even get a chance to talk to her about it untl I got home the next day!!!  Talk about feeling HELPLESS, that's the worst feeling in the world to know your child is in pain and Artie had to tell her when she got home that she had not been accepted into the early college high school for next year, something she had taken upon herself to pursue.  So she got a DOUBLE WHAMMY in just a couple of days time.  I guess at some point in life we all have to learn to take the good with the bad, but her BAD just went to WORSE when she found that out and her sadness to DEEP SORROW and DISAPPOINTMENT!!  Growing up is so hard and having to learn these lessons is even harder, but at least she had the courage enough to set her mind to do something and doing it, even though the end result was sadness and disappointment. On the flip side, we have a GREAT group of youth who she can call friends who showed their love and support to her when she was falling apart. The upside in all of this is that she proved to all of us that if she sets her mind to doing something that even though her efforts will not always end in success, she can still set goals and work hard to achieve them.  God must have bigger and better plans for her and we know that there is a reason and purpose to everything he allows to happen.  There is a reason she will be  @ Crest High School next year, and her 8th grade science/math teacher has encouraged her to pursue trying out for Cross Country next year.  This will give her something to work for this summer, and something she can be involved with other students she knows, that will make her transition from middle to high school a lot easier and smoother.  THANKS BE TO GOD FOR WISE AND CARING TEACHERS!!!

On a final note, we all had to experience some growing pains last night when we had one of our goats go into labor with OUR very own "first" set of kids here at Hubbard's Haven. She started showing signs of labor about 5:00 this afternoon and by the time we all got back home from McTeacher's night around 8:30, she was going into active labor.  By the time I had gone to the store and back by 9:00 her water had broken and she was working VERY hard, harder than we thought she should be, to deliver her babies.  I was in the midst of bathing #6 when Leeann came running in and said "IT IS HAPPENING!!!  WE CAN SEE THE FEET!!!" I rushed to get little bit out of the tub and dressed, still dripping wet to get outside to see what I could do to help.  After about an hour, she still hadn't delivered and was really starting to struggle. We could see 2 feet, but then it looked like another foot was coming, too.  You see goats, like most farm animal, should be born front feet first and nose/face to follow.  It appered our kid was coming out back feet first and then front feet BEFORE the head.  We immediately called inside for Trey to come help and called our friend, who sold us our goats and has tons of experience delivering goats, told her what was going on and asked what to do.  I thought if we didn't do something FAST we might just lose mama AND the babies. Not long after that, we saw not 2, not 3, but 4 feet being delivered at the same time (2 front legs and 2 back legs).  Our friend told us how to grab hold of what appeared to be the back feet and gently pull them out with each contraction.  She then told us she was on her way to help!!!  Trey was able to get the back legs and nearly half the body out, when we saw a nose and realized that BOTH kids were being delivered at the exact same time SIDE BY SIDE.  He was almost in tears for fear and worry about trying to safely deliver hims, without hurting him and putting mom and the other baby in danger. We tried to no avail to push the 2nd baby back in to deliver the first safely (at the time he was kicking his back legs) but her head was pushing against her brother's chest, in essence crushing his rib cage, and we weren't able to save him (apparently they were identical twins in the same sac which is why they would account for them being born simultaneously). Luckily, she was born quickly and safely after her brother just as our friend arrived to help.  Our lucky little goat has been named "Lucky Storm" since she is EXTREMELY lucky to be alive and was born in the midst of a lightning storm.  She is the first of our goats to have our name Hubbard's Haven.  Trey is grateful to have been able to save her and mama, but saddened that brother didn't make it.  I guess this is just another one of those hard life lesson to learn about "farm living" and raising animals.  But brother goat gave the ultimate sacrifice, his life in exchange for sister.  Sad over our loss, but rejoicing in the fact that we still have new life to celebrate. 

You know it would be just our luck that our first delivery on our own would be such a difficult one, but now we know what to expect and how to handle things for round 2 and 3.  For although the wait is over for us by experiencing our first delivery, we still have 2 more rounds to go with our other goats.  Praying that our growing pains will not lead to more tragedy, but rejoicing in the fact that we can go through them together and experience the joy of success in the new life we will receive.

I suppose you can liken all this to our Christian life and the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. He never promised us that life would be easy and we would not experience pain, BUT he did promise that He would be with us and showed us that if we endure through it, we can experience the joy that new life in Him with bring, if we just believe and never give up on HIM, ourselves and each other.  Sometimes we must experience the pain and sorrow in order to look to Him for the strenghth, help and guidance to get through it all, knowing that the ultimate prize still lies ahead and we must keep pressing on.

Philippians 3:12b, 13b-14
I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me... forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I PRESS ON toward the goal of the ultimate PRIZE of the upward call of God in Jesus Christ.

Despite of what has happened in life, what we are currently going through or what we will go through, we must ALL keep our eyes on the prize.  If Leeann had given up and not tried to work through her problems this week, or if Trey had given up on trying to deliver our goats, then the end result could have been disastrous or even FATAL.  But they were persistent and took it upon themselves to not give up or let circumstances keep them down and out, but persisted and pursued solving their problems HEAD ON.  We all need to remember that no matter what is happening around us we must focus our lives on the ultimate goal set before us.  KEEP YOUR EYE ON THE PRIZE and God will bring you joy in sorrow, comfort in pain and Peace in knowing that all things work together for good if we trust HIM!!!!!