Please Pray for Heather Davis and Family

Eric Davis (see previous post) went to be with the Lord today.

It was rather surreal today, as the girls and I went about an hour and a half away to meet our pastor's wife, her five girls, and another mother and daughter from our church, only to find out when they arrived that he'd been declared brain-dead and that life support was going to be removed. Our pastor's wife led us in prayer in the middle of the fabric store (and again during grace at the restaurant we lunched in), and we went on our way, shopping. And thinking how Mrs. Davis, the Davis children, their families, and their church family and friends were having quite a different day than we were, and how unimaginably difficult it must be. And how life can change in an instant.

We Bradshaws did not ever meet the Davises; some of the folks in our church family had met Mr. Davis. We grieve with his loved ones and pray for God's peace for them.

If you think of it, please pray for them.

Mary Susan

Urgent Prayer Request

Eric Davis, his family, and his medical team need the prayers of some righteous folks! He is a homeschooling, Christian husband and father of six who is also a deacon in his church. From his family's blog (See link at end of post.) and from the prayer requests we have had at church, I understand he has been experiencing some major medical problems for over a month, now.

This is the info we received this morning, following up an urgent prayer request last night:

Background:

Eric Davis was visiting a town away from his home, accompanied by his 12 year old daughter, when he started to experience severe breathing difficulties. His daughter and a passerby called 911. Eric was rushed to the hospital where he suffered at least four cardiac arrests. After this, Eric’s wife was told he would probably not survive the hour. That is when they called us and the prayers of the saints were heard in Heaven.

Current Situation:

Eric survived the hour and his condition stabilized. He is in ICU in a medically induced coma. All of the children except ______ (who has a cold) [name intentionally omitted] were able to see him briefly. The next 24 hours are crucial.

Prayer Requests:

Continue to pray for Eric’s healing.
Please pray the doctors will be able to diagnose and treat his condition.
Lift up Heather and the children.
Praise the Lord for the response of Eric’s church family, friends, and friends of friends, and how our King hears our prayers.

You can read about the Davis family from their blog -

http://lazydranch8.blogspot.com/

Mary Susan

Philip's Head

5yo son said, while talking about his small Gerber-type tool, "philips head...hmmm...Mr. Lingo has a Philip's head."

Mary Susan

Friends, Soap, and Pigs

This weekend, we slaughtered the last three of our four pigs. Good to have that done, but sort of sad; the pigs were quite entertaining, as were the turkeys, when we had them. We are left with only cows, a rooster, seven laying hens, two dogs, a cat that occasionally shows up, and a kitten that's been hanging around lately.

The freezers are full, and a big chore is done, thanks to a large portion of our church family, who came Friday and stayed through Saturday afternoon (and one family, through Sunday morning) and helped us accomplish the task.

I also made a batch of soap with the two other ladies present. This being my third batch ever, I was the experienced one! But it seems to have turned out fine, despite my inadvertant efforts at showing them how NOT to do it.

A summary of the weekend and some pics are here. And, as dd said in that post, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, TJ, Philip, The-One-and-Only-Jacob-Bob, Bryan, Kim, Colton, Samuel, Jacob, Grace, Levi, Jedediah, Faith, Paul, Tori, Bradley, Lexi, Cami, Evan, Jonathan, Harrison, Libby, and Maddie--and the ones that are on the way! We would not have been able to do all three pigs this weekend if you all had not been here ready and willing to get into the thick of things. THANK YOU!!!!!!!

Mary Susan

Galumphing Back...

...to a previous post, that is.

In reference to my "O frabjous day!" post of Jan. 9, here is a link to the original (very original) source of the language. (Discovered my spelling and punctuation were not correct!!! But have corrected those problems, I hope.)

Personal trivia regarding this poem: when I was in the 8th grade at brand-spanking new Walter J. Baird Jr. High School, I had a very good English teacher who actually taught me what a noun and verb were--after numerous other teachers had tried, unsuccessfully. And, to the horror of many, I'm sure, she did it with diagramming, which struck a chord with me. On a test, she included what I believe was a bonus challenge: we were given the opportunity to diagram a sentence from "Jabberwocky." I don't now recall which part it was, but I do remember that I got it right. And that is confirmation that she had done a wonderful job teaching the parts of speech, usage, and the language in general.

Here is a classic performance of "Jabberwocky" that everyone should be able to reference:

Mary Susan

Internet Gossip

Gossip. I'm guilty, too, so don't think I'm being self-righteous, but there is a lot gossip going around on blogs. I suppose that's fairly normal, but that doesn't make it right. I don't read many blogs--very few, now, outside of good friends', although I used to read more. Those, however, were generally Christian agrarian, and were very encouraging and informative, not gossip-mongering.

But, as I said, there is a lot of gossip out there. This is a post on a blog that I do frequently take the time to read that has links to a number of entries regarding gossip.

We know of some folks who have been and are being hurt by internet gossip--much of it being flat-out lies, from what I understand. (I have not and will not read it.) These are deeply committed Christians being hurt by others professing to be Christians. It is not a difficult task to state an opinion without casting aspersions on others; however, apparently this is not the way of some.

I pray that the folks who have taken it upon themselves to make others' lives miserable by their gossip will see the error of their ways, and that people who are being influenced by the gossip-mongerers will see them for what they truly are.

Mary Susan

Psalm 34:13 Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

Illegal Sheep and Goats Sales in TN

We received word today from a state government-watcher that tags are now required to sell sheep or goats in Tennessee--sort of slipping in a (not-so-)watered-down version of animal ID.

Here is the main part of the email we received:

I opened a letter this morning from the Tennessee Livestock Producers Association that announced that my sheep or goats must now have a Scrapie tag if I sell them at a sale barn. If they aren’t tagged, when I sell them at the sale barn, I will be charged $3.00 per animal to have them tagged when I sell them.

But wait! The letter also said that I could call USDA Vet Services at 615-781-5310 and get the tags for free. Wow, I thought. The government giving something away for free – where’s the punch in the mouth that normally accompanies their ‘freebies’?

That wasn’t the only thing that puzzled me, though. So I called.

When a nice government worker lady answered the phone, I told her about the letter and asked what I needed to do to get the ‘free’ tags. She said, well, I can fill out the application for you on the phone and then you get the tags for free (I realise now that I was remiss in asking the name of the application). So, I then asked her why they were giving away Scrapie tags to be put on animals that weren’t being tested for Scrapie. A Scrapie tag in an ear means no Scrapie, right? Wrong. She said that it wasn’t about Scrapie. They just want to be able to trace the animal back to me in case it gets sick.

“So this is just like a low-tech version of the animal id, right?”
“Right,” she said.
“Ok, you’ve answered my questions. I sure appreciate your time.”
“But don’t you want me to fill out the application for you?” she said.
“No,” I said, “I don’t think I’ll be selling any more sheep at the sale barn.”
“Well,” she said in the most authoritative tone she could muster, “you should know that you can be fined if you sell sheep or goats privately now and they don’t have an ear tag.”
“Ok, thanks, bye.” I said.

Pictures of gun-toting, uniformed tag-checkers began flying through my head and it hit me – if now I can be fined for selling something in the same condition I used to, the way I always have in the past, it’s no longer legal for me to sell that thing.
Ergo, IT IS ILLEGAL TO SELL SHEEP AND GOATS IN TENNESSEE.

Seems this one got past even the keen watchers of the government; sort of disturbing. What will be next?

Mary Susan

Also disturbing: Why am I still up?? Good night!

O frabjous day!

Yes, it is a frabjous day!

Why? Because I purged my files!!!!! Yes, my files had become a frumious Bandersnatch, whiffling and burbling through my tulgey filing cabinets--until my vorpal blade went snicker-snack, after which, with boxes of old papers in hand, I went galumphing to the attic, beamish, indeed! No more jaws that bite and claws that catch; I can use my files again!

O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!

Mary Susan

Since Christmas...

Since Christmas, various members of our family (including our church family) have helped a number of people move. First, this family moved into the area (of our church, not our home) on Thursday; on Friday, a number of us helped move some boxes and furniture (mostly office-related) from the room our church is meeting in to upstairs and downstairs rooms in the same building. (The man who owns the building is moving his business and family up here; hopefully they'll be here in the near future; we're looking forward to that time!) And on Monday, Keith and 17yo daughter helped these folks move out of their home; their tractor is staying here awhile, I understand, since we have room for it in the barn.

We sure are glad to have these folks moving in and becoming part of the community and a more permanent, present part of the church family (although you've already been a part of us for a long time)!

See you at church!

Mary Susan

P.S. Oh, yes...and post-Christmas illness has set in. I missed church this week with a sore throat and low-grade fever, which I still have, along with sinus stuff. And as of yesterday, 12yo son has developed some of the same symptoms. We had a rough time of it last year after Christmas for over two months; we'd appreciate all prayers that this year will be healthier!

P.P.S. I've had a great deal of trouble the last few months with the computer; gave me headaches (which is not difficult to do) so that I used it very little--which was more frustrating than it should have been; amazing how many times a day I think, "I'll google that...." So anyway, a couple of weeks ago, Keith ordered a flat screen after I'd tried out a laptop that didn't seem to bother me. (Our monitor had been showing its age of late, anyway, so I don't feel too badly about getting a new one.) Don't ask me what kind of flat screen; I think Keith said there were a couple of kinds of technology in flat screens, but I don't know which he got. All I know is that I can use it now without necessarily getting a headache.
So does this mean more frequent blog posts? I seriously doubt it.