Chestnut Giants

I thought I would post a couple pics of my 4 Chestnut Giant babies there are also 4 black bucks in this litter.  As you can see I quite taken with the Chestnuts.  I love the color and hope to add a few more to my barn.

Top 3 are bucks in the order I would place them at this age.  They are still pretty young so it would be easy for this to change.  The first 2 are so close its really hard to tell.  I had thought I have 2 does and 2 bucks but one of them changed their minds and wanted to be a boy.

This is the little doe I am keeping I believe.  She soo did not want to pose at all and was in a mood tonight as well.  Thats why she is the one I believe I am keeping if she turns out to be a brat she wont be sticking around.  All the bucks are sweet as can be and so is momma so hopefully she will out grow it.  I also took pics of the 4 black bucks tonight who are DARK black but I will try and post pics later of them.  God Bless!

Mission Work

It truly has been a busy month so far!  I have started shearing the sheep but after 5 my clippers broke, just my luck!  After all the issues I have had with them I just ordered a new pair from Premier and they should be here shortly so I can finish up. If I could find someone close enough I would have them do the shearing for me but no luck getting anyone to call me back.

About every weekend this month I have had some teen activities at Church other than the one weekend I went to some concerts with some friends church and some of their teens.  Last weekend we went up to Indy for a Teen rally which ended up being very small since so many were on Spring break.  We only took up 9 kids I think which is very light for us.  However we did have a very good time and hearts were touched.

This weekend was a special blessing, the teen group had made a challenge to the adults to see who would have more volunteers show up at the new Mission work in Brownstown IN.  A guy who goes to my church is starting a new church in Brownstown and today we went up to help them re-due the building they had donated to them.  There was only 9 teens again today but we beat the number of adults from our church so the kids did a great job!  It was awesome to see some of them working so hard to help build a new church as well.  One of the coolest things though is that the Macedonian Missionary Service has came up to help build the church.  They have completely gut the building and started rebuilding it.  I was able today to help some with siding which I have never done before.  I also worked with Brant Lane which was a special blessing to me as he and his other workers go all over the place building churches and helping in any way they can.  I have heard him preach before but this was the first time I have actually met and worked with him.  They were a huge help in building the church I belong to with the building and the new parking lot we have in the works as well.  He was a super nice guy to work with and took the time to explain things to me so I was able to help them.  There was another guy named Paul who works with him who I also was able to work with and talk about funny!  He always had something to say.  All in all God really blessed this weekend and this month!  I have had a some really good times and am really looking forward to some of the things we have planned in April to do with the teen group.  God Bless!

Martin and Marigold

I came home from work today went straight to the barn and found these 2 little cuties! 

Top pic is Martin and bottom is Marigold.  She is a very dark choc color with the same markings as her mother.  I have seen Marigold nurse and do a number 2 but not Martin yet.  Both seem to be strong and doing well and Mona is a very attentive mom. 

I am hooked already on these 2!  Hopefully the sheep start lambing in a month but may stretch out for some time I am afraid the Cormo cross ram did not do the best job covering ewes (he is a bit young) so I put the Shetland ram in with his bunch to get them all but will be late lambs on the ones missed by the first ram.  God Bless!

Baby Pics

I took advantage of the warm weather tonight and clipped some rabbits and got a couple pics of the Chestnut Giant Angora babies.  This was a fun picture to take everyone bouncing all over while trying to get pics.

There are 2 does and 2 bucks I am hoping to keep one doe myself.  There are also 4 blacks in the litter.  I clipped Dusty's Amazon Woman tonight and bred her as well.  She gave me 8ounces of prime wool about 4 inches long she weights a whopping 11.5 lbs!  Sorry for the dark pic it was getting darker out when I got her clipped. 

Hope you enjoyed the pics and everyone made it through the tornadoes that came through over the weekend.  They were 30 minutes south of us but where they did hit it is very bad!  God Bless!

Angora Yarns and Prayers

Oh how I have neglected all my readers!  Its have been forever since I have posted anything.  I have really enjoyed the winter so far here in Indiana the temps for the most part have been warmer and not too many freezing days or to much snow at all.  How nice it is not to have to bust water dishes and tanks all time! 

Today we had our 2nd Saturday Spin in and Hoosier Heartland Alpacas in Seymour IN.  I took along some Chestnut Giant Angora I carded up the night before.  I have been on an angora spinning binge this week and spun a little over 8 oz of pure angora.  I typically dont spin a hole lot of pure angora I have certain colors I am "going to spin" but the sit in my stash forever and I end up selling them.  I decided it was time to get busy and spin them up myself.  Here is a pic of 2 I have spun so far.

On the left is the second clip from a Smoke Pearl French Angora.  She was between coats so it is mostly just a creamy off white.  The right is my Chestnut Giant Angora she is mostly gray unfortunately because I really like that "tweedy" look you get from spinning Chestnut wool.

On another note I would like to ask everyone reading to please pray for my mom.  She had a brain aneurysm  March 9th will be 5 years ago.  She had to go for a brain scan Monday of this week and they found another one forming right beside the one they had fixed.  She goes back to the Drs on March 2 to see what they are going to do, weather it needs fixed or they are just going to watch it.  The first one busted at work and she was in the hospital for about a month or maybe a little better.  Most of that in ICU.  I am hoping since this one was found and has not busted it will not be nearly as hard on her to get it fixed when the time comes.  It was a very hard thing to watch her go through and I hope she never has to again.  On the plus side God has brought us through this one and she made a full recovery so I am sure He has plans for this as well.  He walked with His children and carries them in times of need.  I can't help but remember Romans 8:28   And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  In times like this He uses verses like this one to bring me comfort.  There is also a song by Casting Crowns Already There that I love and brings me so much comfort.  I can't seem to upload the video here so here is along to it.  Please remember Mom in your prayers God bless you!

From the Mountains

I promised I would post some pics from my vacation to Gatlinburg TN so here you go.  We took 2 trips up to the mountains and it was amazingly beautiful to say the least.

Here I am beside one of many many small water falls we found running down the mountains.

I love watching all the rivers that flowed and it always amazed me that it never stopped coming form up the mountains.  I mean where did it all come from?

The above 2 pics were taken at New Found Gap.  The sign we read said on a clear day you could see 90 miles! 

I could not help but feel so small and minute as we drove around and stopped to take pictures.  I was totally amazed at the creation God has made.  All the beauty He created that He could come and sit among any time He likes and enjoy.  Even though God created all these amazing places on earth He still wants to know me.  I feel totally unworthy looking at His creation and it's beauty knowing He wants to a relationship with me even after I fail so many times and fall into sin.  The fact that He has all this and still sent His Son to live among us and to die so we could have eternal salvation with Him in Glory.  I had goose bumps most of the day and many times I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes as I thought all He created yet He wanted me!  I am still in utter amazement by that fact.  In fact its not just me he wants but everyone one of you as well.
Most of us know John 3:16 and can quote it.   "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
But I find John 3:17 even a little better.   "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved." 
Not to condemn the world but through Him we might be saved.  Can you fathom the real meaning of this verse?  As I was going through the mountains I was amazed its not just me but the WORLD he wants to know even though He has so much beauty He can surround Himself with when we make so many things so ugly.  Out of all the beauty in the world He chose YOU I pray you find as much peace and comfort in that as I do.  God Bless!

More Roving

I just got back from my Vacation in Gatlinburg TN late last night.  I went with some friends of mine to Winter Exteme and had an AMAZING time.  We went 3 days early so we could hang out in Gatlingburg and go to the mountains.  I will try to get some pics posted of the mountains soon.  I need to sort through them first I uploaded over 200 pics from them.  Got to hear some really good speakers and hear some awesome Christian bands as well.

I had a box of roving sitting on my bed when I got home last night.  I had sent this to Wooly Knob Fiber Mill back in June.  It took them a while to get it back to me but I am very pleased with the result.

 
 This is pure Alpaca and some of the softest I have seen in a long time!  I have some fawn from the same breeder at another mill in MI waiting to be spun.  Amazing stuff you have to sink your fingers in this to truly appreciate it.  $4 an ounce

This is the one I have been the most excited about getting back, my bright green sparkling Shetland!  I dyed this different colors of green from Teal to Kelly green and had green firestar blended in.  I typically send my roving to Stonehedge in MI to card but they do not blend in the firestar only pin draft it in so you don't get an even blend.  The guys at Wooly Knob really did an amazing job on this one.  If you like the bright sparkling stop and look at me type of roving you will love this one!  I have this on my wheel right now and it spins nicely.  $3 an ounce.  If your intersted in any of my new roving email me at psalms121@rocketmail.com God Bless!