The Ladybug has been off at camp this week and it’s been just us and the boys. It’s made for an interesting change in the household dynamic, to say the least. {smile} We all miss her, but Speedracer really misses her.

Monday evening the boys and I rounded up and penned the sheep. Then a red pick up truck rolled into the driveway with a stock rack on the back. They loaded up a couple sheep and a couple chickens and drove away.

I may have cried. Just a little.

Selling lambs is hard enough, but it’s part of the cycle. Selling off adult animals is hard for me. They’ve been around for a while. I’ve feed them, watched them, maybe nursed them…I know them.

We’ve decided to make some changes around here. And honestly, I don’t know what that’s going to mean, or what it will look like over the next year. We just feel that God is leading us to make some changes and we’re taking it day by day.

To start with, we’re culling a little stricter and harvesting a little earlier this year. Our core flock is aging and there’s a difference between having a farm or homestead and having backyard pets. We want to be down to the proverbial best of the best by the start of the new school year.

We have a few new opportunities hovering off in the “still developing” stage and we’ve picked up several new egg customers this year–along with all those chickens! So we’ll be deciding whether we want to refresh with new breeding stock, or if we simply want to downsize for a time.

We also have the annual school issue hanging out there. We’ve been getting some help for the Ladybug’s academic challenges this summer, and her needs and what’s best for the boys has to come first with us. Another school change seems to be looming on the horizon.We have to balance commuting time vs time as a family vs social environment vs academic standards. Then we have to look at school work time vs farm work time vs recreation and down time. And, of course, there’s an actually cost associated with each and every option as well and we’re certainly not sitting here rolling in the greenbacks.

The picture is complex and right now it’s very fluid.

Right now the grass is growing. The lambs are growing. The chicks are growing. And it’s hot outside. The kiddos are visiting the library and seeing $1 movies and playing legos and gathering eggs. We’re filling water buckets and mowing fields and cleaning out the feed shed.

And trusting that when we need to know the next step, God will let us know.
“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Don’t be fooled–this is not as easy here, inside these boots, as it sounds on this page!

Sometimes you just have to say it over and over to yourself until you believe it.

I’m learning to be flexible in my thinking these days. It’s ok to not know sometimes and it’s ok to change your mind. There’s a time to stay the course and there’s a time to change directions. Following the Lord is the most important thing.

But I have to admit, sometimes I think New Year’s resolutions are over done. By January all the big changes and hard choices are done for us! {smile} Our “New Year” is September/October. We’re definitely more about seasons and cycles around here than about calendars!

Do you have anything big on the horizon?