Update #5

Here is hopefully the last update on Rachel. :) She is doing very well, she was up and around almost all day yesterday. We had several wonderful families stop in to visit her and were amazed that she was outside and pretty much not even looking tired out. What a wonderful praise!!!! Her recovery has been amazing, thanks to God's healing power.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for Rachel! Your prayers were greatly appreciated.

James 5:15a
And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up.

~Bethany~

Update #4

I have excellent news.....Rachel came home this afternoon! She is a bit weak yet but is outside right now taking a little walk and checking up on her babies...Buster and Angel. We are making sure she doesn't overdo herself but yet getting her outside for fresh air. Let me tell ya, that clean country air does a world of difference when you are down. :)

Thank you everyone for your prayers. They have been much appreciated!

~Bethany~

Update #3

Well, we got to go visit Rachel today. This was the first time that the whole family has been up there and it was such a blessing to see her up and around. She got tired out pretty quick but she just had an open heart surgery too. ;)

We went up the "family room" and were able to eat a little snack. BTW, the chairs and tables are way cool.
Rachel only was up for a little bit and then we ordered her back to bed. She should be home Monday and we don't want her to overdo herself and have to wait 'till Tuesday. Elizabeth crawled in bed with her and watched part of a movie with her.
While Rachel was resting we went back up the "family room" and made cards for her. This is Ben's. :)
After making cards we went to their really cool playground outside on top of the 8 story hospital building. Elizabeth really enjoyed this one.
Anyone want to know why I love living in the country? 'Cause this is a city view. Let's see.... I think I can MAYBE see a few trees way in the back.
Grandpa and Grandma S came up to visit as well! Here's just a nice little family pic.

Thank you so much for your prayers! They have been greatly appreciated. We are looking forward to Monday and having our whole family back together. Abigail and Ben are staying at the hospital tonight and Elizabeth and Rebekah are going up tomorrow. I stay home and take care of chores. :)

God bless!
~Bethany~

Update #2

Dear friends,

I apologize for not updating everyone earlier. The surgery went very well with no surprises. Praise God! It took just about 5 hours. She did have a lot of scare tissue that took 2 hours to cut through, but other than that, nothing out of the ordinary. They put in a certified bovine (cow) replacement valve in which should last for about 25 years. By then, they are hoping to be able to do the surgery through a catheter.

Thank you so much for your prayers. Please know that they were greatly appreciated! Rachel should be coming home sometime between Sunday and Tuesday so please continue praying that she heals quickly.

~Bethany~

Update #1

Okay folks, thank you so much for your prayers. However, the surgery did not take place today as planned. Last night an emergency surgery came up and Rachel's had to be postponed. They came home this morning but are going back in a few hours and surgery will be taking place tomorrow morning at 6:30. Keep her in your prayers then. She seems to be doing well and enjoyed a day at home working and riding her horse for the last time in 6 weeks. (she'll have to take a whole 6 weeks off...:( )

Thank you for all of the encouragement sent our way!
~Bethany~

Major Prayer Request!!!!

Dear Friends,
I am coming to you with a prayer request on the behalf of our sister Rachel. She was born with a "hole" in her heart with her heart valves not working correctly. She was called a "blue baby". When we adopted her, her finger tips and lips were always blue and she was always cold. We brought her home from Ukraine (her birth place) and just 6 weeks later she was in the hospital having an open heart surgery. That was almost 9 years ago now and on her latest check up they found that the "hole" had reappeared. :( Her open heart surgery is scheduled for tomorrow 6:30 a.m. and they are at the hospital right now running tests and getting everything ready. This is not just a minor surgery as they will be taking her heart out, putting her on a "fake heart" while they are making the repairs. She will probably be at the hospital all week and the hospital is about 2 hours away so we are separated as a family right now. Please pray that everything goes well, that God will guide the doctors hands, that she has peace about it and for minimum pain. Pray for our family as we are not all together and that those here at home get along and enjoy each other. :) If you would like to post this on your blog and spread the word, I would appreciate it!

God bless you all!

~Bethany~

Livestock Judging!

Hey folks! I think I mentioned awhile back that I was taking some livestock judging classes. Anyway, so yesterday I had my competition at state! After practicing for only 5 weeks with no previous experince I really didn't feel ready but decided to try it anyway. We (the other livestock judgers and I) left yesterday morning at 6:30 and arrived around 8:30. We were out in the arena to start our judging around 9:00. We judged 6 classes; 2 swine, 2 beef, 2 sheep. We had to give reasons (explain why we had placed the class the way we did) on 3 classes (market hogs, Angus heifers and market lambs), questions (we are asked 10 questions about the class) on 1 class (breeding ewes) and just place 2 classes (breeding gilts and market steers). It went pretty well and I was feeling pretty confident once I got out there and did it. ;)

We got the official scores and then waited around for a few hours for the results to come in. Our group did very well with the Junior teams in 4H doing very well as well as the Individuals in 4H. I was in FFA only, because of some technical issues but out of probably 50- 60 other seniors, I placed 7th on reasons alone, 4th overall (with my score of my placeings), and our FFA team (there are 4 of us, Jake, Justin, Logan and I) won 1st (state)! So.......our team is now headed to Nationals! Wow, what a surprise! Nationals are held in Indianapolis in late October and they do so much more than we did yesterday so we have a TON of work to do! Still, everyone was very excited! I didn't take my camera but I'll see if I can get some pictures from my instructer (he got some).

So that's the big news for this week I guess. Oh, and Rachel and Rebekah are off to camp this week as well so it's awefully quiet around here! Be praying for them, that they are open the Gospel and stay safe. ;)

~Bethany~

Noble Co. Results

Here are the results from the Noble Country Open Show! There were 350+ animals shown in one day with many Alpine and LaMancha classes at 18 or more goats in each class. Lots of good quality too!
Gala - 1st
Alithia - 2nd
Maggie - 5th
Mandie - 4th
Hannah - 3rd
Candie - 2nd
Camillia - 2nd
Tea' - 10th
Honey - 5th
Top - 2nd
Movie - 11th
Treasure - 12th
True - 7th
Ali - 2nd & Reserve Champion
Sunshine - 1st & Grand Champion & BEST IN SHOW!!!!!!!!!

Every show turns out different but this one was a fun surprise! Sunshine went out, caught that judges' eye and held out the hold time getting first in a huge class (at least 15 or so), winning Grand Champion Junior Alpine and then Best Junior Doe in show! There were a total of 350+ does at the show so probably at least 125 juniors. Very exciting for us!

It was a fun day overall even with a heavy thunderstorm starting out at the beginning of the show! We got to see a bunch of MI, IN and OH people so that was awesome. Most have only a few shows to go to yet this year. We have our fair, possibly state fair and maybe an open show in Sept down in OH. We'll see how it goes.

Here are just a few pictures we took. We were busy most of the day and didn't get too many pictures in.

Maggie! (we needed a new picture of her ;))
Golden Rule U R My Sunshine!!!
Another picture needed. ;) This is Alithia.
And just an added picture. These were taken Thursday night when we were doing hay. That's Abigail putting bales on the elevator and a friend taking them off the wagon. His brother and I were up in the barn stacking.

As for news around here, I am taking a livestock judging class and am heading up to the competition at State on Tuesday. It will be a long, tiring day so be praying for me! Tomorrow we have all our fair sign up plus all the 4H meetings in one night. Another stressful day. ;)

So, how was everyone's weekend?

God Bless!

~Bethany~

Weekend Plans

Well, after shaving 15 goats, baling two fields of hay, going to my judging class, getting ready for a show and even fitting a short swimming trip in between, we are almost ready for the show. :) We were going to leave tonight but decided that since it is just a one day show and only about an hour away, to leave in the morning. Abigail and I are going to get up around 4:00 and shave udders and get everyone ready to go. We are hoping to head out around 5 or 5:30. We should be back by 5 or 6 in the evening. Long day, but hopefully fun and exciting. :) Those attending this show will be Dad, Me, Abigail, Rebekah and Ben. Mom, Rachel and Elizabeth are going to a dog show and doing a fundraiser for their 4H club by picking up dog manure around the fairgrounds. Lovely, huh? Let's just put it this way, I'm glad I'll be where I am and very willing to stay far away from the dog show!!!! ;)

Okay, I should head out and get some last minute things into the van. I want to be ready for tomorrow and not forget anything. Have a great weekend everyone!

God bless!
~Bethany~

Linear Appraisal Scores

We had a Linear Appraisal done on our goat herd today, the first time ever! It was very exciting and neat to learn a whole bunch of new goat stuff. :) The appraiser even gave me some good advice on my judging future so that was cool! Anyway, so here are our scores:

Senior Does
Hannah - VEEE 90
Missy - VEEE 88
Mandie - VEVE 90
Maggie - VV++ 85
Alithia - VV+V 86
Gala - VEVV 88
Camillia - ++++ 82
Lulu - VVVA 81
Candie - VVVV 87
Zoe - VVVV 86

Bucks:
Allegro - VEE/ 88
Presto - VEV/ 86
Card - VEV/ 87

Kids:
Ali - +EcA (+)
Thea' - VEcV (V)
Dixie - +V+ (+)
Goldie - VEcV (V)
Honey - VEcA (V)
Tea' - +EcV (+)
Movie - VVEc (V)
Sunshine - VEcV (V)
Top - VEc+ (V)
Treasure - VV+ (V)
True - A++ (A)
Dante' - A++ (A)

How to read Linear Appraisal scores.

Senior Does/Bucks:
1st letter - General Appearance
2nd letter - Dairy Character
3rd letter - Body
4th - Mammary

Kids (dry stock)
1st letter - General Appearance
2nd letter - Dairy Character
3rd letter - Body Capacity
4th letter (in parenthesis) - Overall rating

Score Ratings
Excellent (E) (in dry stock, Extremely Correct (Ec) = 90 and above
Very Good (V) = 85-89
Good Plus (+) = 80-84
Acceptable (A) = 70-79
Fair (F) = 60-69
Poor (P) = 59 and below

Hope that all makes sense! It's a lot to look at and figure out but it's not too bad once you get the hang of it. I was pretty happy with most of our scores (except for a few of the kids, but they change so much it's hard to determine a really good score). Lulu's mammary is a sad case in the rear attachment so that's what killed her.

We didn't get any of our hay up, it just WON'T dry! Should be able to get it all in tomorrow as it SHOULD be dry by then! ;) Oh, and on top of all that I am also attempting to get ready for a show. Yikes!

Talk to you all later!
~Bethany~

Independence Day in Review

So how was everyone's Independence Day weekend? We had an excellent time with the R family and V family. (Josh, Jenna and Brianna all have/will have posts as well).

Here are pictures of just a few highlights.
The American flag and Veterans. Thank you for serving our country!!!!
Everyone lined up. ;) We were walking around down different streets and getting odd looks. Many people in their cars strained their necks just to count everyone. For the record, there were 13 of us, almost all blonds and pretty much all in size order. Oh, and who's idea was it? You didn't guess me did you? :D
Patiently waiting for the parade to begin. We waited for close to an hour. :(
Hmmmm, just a little loud Anna?
We managed to shoot a decent picture with everyone around a rock. Look at all those girls. (10 girls, 3 boys)
An awfully cute picture of Bri and Anna.
Everyone except Natalie and Lydia.
A bunch of us slept up in the barn. 1st night was crazy (as you can see) but I managed to get a few winks in and sleep in until 8:30 the 2nd. :P
Aren't sparklers the best?
Or marshmallows. Brianna just loves them! :)
FIRE! Doesn't it look like a picture on Fireproof?
The oldest 5 of the bunch. l-r Josh, Jenna, Brianna, Me (Bethany) and Abigail
Our attempt at a pyramid. Must not be cut out for Egyptians.

Here on the farm, we have a show this weekend and have 2 hayfields cut and 1 ready to bale this afternoon. Time to get busy again! ;)

In Christ,
~Bethany~

Independence Day

Two hundred and thirty three years ago, on July 4th 1776 a document primarily written by Thomas Jefferson was signed by the Continental Congress announcing the separation of the United States from the British Empire.

America was just a tiny 13 colonies at the time. Yes, just 13 strong, dedicated, courageous colonies who fought to free this country from tyranny. They were not intimidated by a bigger force but fought for what the they believed. They fought to free this country. Because of them, we have freedom. Freedom to believe as we wish and live as we desire.

I am so thankful to live in a country that is based on the standards America is based on. I pray that she will stand strong through the storms. Today, I will celebrate her freedom. Her independence. Her strength. I will see grand displays, families traveling to come and celebrate.

For we are:

One Nation Under God,

Indivisible,

With Liberty and Justice for All.

~Bethany~

Just a note!

Hey Everyone!
Just a little update from Asher Acres. Everyone is healthy and looking forward to our holiday weekend ahead with our friends (Josh and Jenna and family). We are going to their home Friday evening and coming home Sunday sometime before evening chores. :) It's been a while since we've taken a little family vacation and over a month now since our families have been together. We always get together for the 4th of July so I guess it's just one of those little family traditions.

Oh, and I finally put a songlist on my blog! I will probably be changing the songs after a while so no one gets bored listening to the same songs. ;)

So what is everyone doing for the 4th? Do you have any little family traditions? I'd love to hear about them!

~Bethany~