Choo...Chooo...

We took a family day yesterday, and pretended we were
tourists...not really. We had some free tickets to ride
the train at Strasburg Railroad and visit the Choo-Choo
barn . We had a fun day just being together...pretty
rare during the summer months. We are looking
forward to one last trip to the beach next week, and
celebrating Matt's 34th birthday before
we get another flock of 75,000 chickens to try to
keep alive. Yee-haa!!

The little goat.

So...little Addie was born last Tues. and her mommy died on Thur. Sad, sad days here on the King farm. That Thur. and Fri. were a real struggle to get her to take anything from a bottle, but by Fri. night, she was doing much, much better! She is now jumping around and becoming adventurous in the barnyard and LOVES her bottle. We are working on weaning her down to just 2 feedings a day...

Kaden's First Soccer Game...

Kaden joined a 4/5 year old soccer team this week, and here he is stopping for a quick shot before his first big game today. He has practice one evening a week, and then games are held on Saturdays. All are held at the PLC in front of our house...how could we NOT let him? :)


He got to take Corner Kicks all game today which was kinda fun. "My favorite part of the game was kicking the ball." (Shooo...that's good, right?)

This is at a 3 min. quarter break they have...His other little friend from church (sitting on the cooler) is Andy.

Not sure what's going on here, but there's not a lot of kids gathered around so I got a clear shot with my camera. :)

One of his biggest fans...

And yet another of his biggest fans...between coloring pages. :)

A day filled with "new".

Matt had been away at a hay auction this morning, and I was out with the kids, and noticed the mommy goat "Princess" who we have been watching to have her babies, was definately out of sorts. Upon a closer look, I knew she was in labor. (It was all coming back to me so quickly watching her...yikes!) She was pacing and maa'ing very quietly, and was leaking a bit of fluid. So...I called Matt asking if we knew what we were doing. :)

Upon confirming my suspicions, I came in and hopped on the internet to see what I could find. To my surprise, I found a lot of helpful information on "kidding goats" and some great pictures of fetal positions. We were anticipating Princess was having twins...which made me a bit more nervous...
Princess did infact have twins. Little Addie was in the most perfect position for goats to deliver...her brother; however, was in the most compromising position, and even with the assistance of Matt, did not survive. :(

This is Addie at a few hours old, recooping from her journey into the world...

This is Princess recovering from her most exhausting morning.

Birth continues to be an amazing process whether human or animal. Kaden was also watching...it was so fun to watch him process it all and make an attempt at answering some of his questions as to why things sometimes go wrong.

So, please pray for a safe (and fast...did you know a goat's delivery should happen in 20 min,... and if it's taking longer, it's a sign of trouble?) delivery for our much anticipated child... due Sept. 30th. And stop by to visit Princess and Addie if you are in the area...And us too. :)

Playing Basketball with Freddy.

Matt was trying to play around with our camera "video" feature...the video itself is not so good...a lot of the ground or blacktop shots, but I guess it's a start. :) Kaden was trying to teach Freddy to play basketball...Hopefully our next video venture will be a bit more polished.

The lives of our children...

Sometimes I feel completely overwhelmed at the thought of having four children. I am too little for this...how in the world did I get to be thirty already? There is no way I am up for the task of being in charge of these...little people? The Lord has used some books and reading I have done to calm my spirit on many days. After coming off a very busy and exhausting weekend, I read this verse...

Pour out your heart like water

in the presence of the Lord.

Lift up your hands to him

for the lives of your children.

Lamentations 2:19

I cannot let my mind think of all that could go wrong in the lives of my children...or me, even...it is too draining and depressing to think about. So... I will be reminded of the necessity of falling to my knees in prayer for my precious little ones...in hopes of conquering all the wrong in this fallen world.

"The Cousins" are here...

My brother Matt and his wife Naomi, and their four children, are in Pennsylvania for a few days, and found a few hours to spend with us. Kaden refers to only these cousins as "the cousins", not sure why, but it's certainly a term of endearment! We can pretty much always count on a baseball game when these guys are in town...thanks for appeasing Kaden guys. He really loves you. Have a safe trip home.