An FHE to remember!!

Every now and then, you have an experience that you know will stick with you forever. I knew that moving here would provide use with new and.......different......opportunities, but let me tell you, I didn't think I'd EVER be doing this! First a little info. Our mama goats had their cute little goatlets (kids) a week ago. Who knew that any goat could ever be cute?! There are 2 males & 2 females. Well, here's something I learned. Male goats must be castrated (yes, CASTRATED!) in order to have tender meat, be calm, less stinky, many benefits, apparently. We also have chickens running around our yard. I don't mind this, as they are great bug eaters. Except for the roosters, who think that 3:00am is the time to wake everyone up. SO annoying! With this info as a little prep, let me explain our memorable evening last night. I have to say, I have an amazing husband. The way he went about this all was so good for the kids, and we all learned some things. First, we cut the poor little male goats. Our knife wasn't quite sharp enough, but Tom got the job done. Jackson helped Tom hold the first goat, and didn't really like hearing the little guy scream so loud it hurt all our ears. (I think it was harder for him than he would admit.) The girls sat back and tried SO HARD not to cry too hard. Their lips were tight, and faces red, as tears streamed down their faces. Here's one mistake we made. They already named the little babies. The first one cut was "Jimmy". It was hard for them to see little Jimmy scream. After the first was done, Jack had had enough, so I took his place for the second baby - "George". I don't know how Tom has the guts to do it, but he does!

After our lesson on "Goat Castration", it was onto "Rooster Butchering". This one wasn't nearly as bad. YEA!!! You've heard the saying, "running around like a chicken with it's head cut off". That really has some meaning to me now! It really didn't run too much, but the kids actually got a kick out of watching a headless chicken run around. Especially Lincoln. Then Tom showed us how to skin, and cut it all up. By the time he was done, it looked just like the chicken you buy in the store! Go figure! I was so glad we started with the goats, because the rooster made no noise, not too much blood, and didn't even have a name. :D

Look at the looks on the kids faces as Tom shows them the insides! Bleh!

Nice boots Linc!

Afterwards, we went in and talked about "life", and why we are doing these things. What a blessing it is to be able to have these animals for food storage if needed. We even talked about how the baby goats got in the mama goat tummy. OH MY! During FHE, my kids (the ones who didn't yet know) learned about where babies come from!!! Like I said, a very MEMORABLE night! We all were sitting around the kitchen table and at the start of our conversation, once Keslee realized where our conversation was going, she said, "Can we please not talk about this at the kitchen table?" Her stomach was still turning just a bit! We got some pretty cute/funny/awkward questions, but by the end of the night, it really turned out to be a good experience for everyone. Even Keslee!

We really are seeing sooooo many blessings of being able to move here. It hasn't been easy, but we really feel like Heavenly Father just keeps pouring more and more out to us. One amazing blessing that we have received is that Tom's company will be doing the surveying & engineering on the new temple here. What an incredible honor this is for them! We (I) definitely miss the conveniences from the big city, but I can see now the even bigger blessings that have come to us having moved here. He really does watch out for us. It reminds me of the scripture 3 Nephi 14:11: "If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?" I know He wants to bless us, and He has. More than we know.