And the babies look to their mummies, knowing that this is the person who will care for them like no one else.
It's a heart bond ...
Sunday, May 13, 2018
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!
Many people I know associate this song with Christmas ... or with the clever Staples back-to-school commercials.
Me?
I associate this festive song with calving. I can't wait to start humming it. Just like a kid with presents under the tree, I peer at the mums-to-be each time I pass them.
This year it was this morning. I got the phone call I had been waiting for since Valentine's Day.
"Mile Corner. Jory spotted her. He's sending you a picture ..."
And look who had shown up!
This is my sparkle and cheer time of year and is far more exciting to me than unwrapping presents. Each calf is a unique gift. And after a particularly long, difficult winter, what a beautiful way to start off the season! What should we name it?! The first baby of the year has to get named ...
and there could be a prize involved!
Here are some "Mum and Me" snaps from last year.
There is nothing that whispers hope more sweetly.
And isn't that what the most wonderful time of the year is all about?
Me?
I associate this festive song with calving. I can't wait to start humming it. Just like a kid with presents under the tree, I peer at the mums-to-be each time I pass them.
This year it was this morning. I got the phone call I had been waiting for since Valentine's Day.
"Mile Corner. Jory spotted her. He's sending you a picture ..."
And look who had shown up!
This is my sparkle and cheer time of year and is far more exciting to me than unwrapping presents. Each calf is a unique gift. And after a particularly long, difficult winter, what a beautiful way to start off the season! What should we name it?! The first baby of the year has to get named ...
and there could be a prize involved!
Here are some "Mum and Me" snaps from last year.
There is nothing that whispers hope more sweetly.
And isn't that what the most wonderful time of the year is all about?
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
Country Boy Meets City Girl
Four years ago today, the Good Rancher and I tied the knot.
Then he brought me out to live on the 855 and I quickly discovered that knot tying is far more complicated than I had ever dreamed.
Do you know how many different knots a person can tie? The Good Rancher's son tried to show me some a couple of times. I was all thumbs.
And all I ended up doing was tying myself in knots. Within a few months I had had a breakdown - previous life events I thought I had put behind me started coming to the surface and threatening to unravel my tightly coiled self. I was diagnosed with PTSD, with major depressive disorder, and with anxiety.
But look at the back of the little figurines: in his other hand, he's holding a bunch of flowers:
Nothing comes easy to a city girl living in the country for the first time - especially when the notion of girl had been discarded about four decades earlier, and most especially when everyone knows you can't teach an old dog new tricks!
I looked out the window
To see what would be
The wind was a howling
I barely could see
My thoughts went to K
Celebrating her fourth
The wind still at top speed
Right out of the north.
Oh what will she do
On this most special day
She sure as the heck
Can't go outside to play
She'll be stranded at home
Or at least so it seems
But lucky for her
So's the man of her dreams
Just another work day
At the old Triple T
The calves must be fed
The dogs have to pee
The snow does not quit
The colts' feet are froze
It's V-day as well -
Not even a rose?
She writes out his card
She makes a hot meal
And three chilly men
Say she's the real deal
But this evening the sky
Will be golden and pink
and they'll sit in their house
With some food and a drink
Then they'll play with five dogs
and they'll watch some TV
And because they're in luuuuv
It's a great 'versary!
He never even glanced at the disaster that used to be the kitchen island, and which I had hoped to clean today but never had the energy.
He just looked at me and said, "This is for you, Gorgeous. I am so blessed to have you in my life."
Actually, Good Rancher, I am far more greatly blessed.
I'm so glad we can be at home this evening as the wind starts up again and the roads are sheets of ice.
Happy fourth anniversary.
Then he brought me out to live on the 855 and I quickly discovered that knot tying is far more complicated than I had ever dreamed.
Do you know how many different knots a person can tie? The Good Rancher's son tried to show me some a couple of times. I was all thumbs.
And all I ended up doing was tying myself in knots. Within a few months I had had a breakdown - previous life events I thought I had put behind me started coming to the surface and threatening to unravel my tightly coiled self. I was diagnosed with PTSD, with major depressive disorder, and with anxiety.
Thanks to God's grace, in conjunction with my wonderful doctors and therapists, I am slowly weaving the useable strands of my old life with the threads of this new life.
The thing is that through it all, the Good Rancher has stood by me, stuck with me, cared for me, loved me. His patience has been like nothing I have ever experienced. On the days I could barely brush my teeth and comb my hair, he would call me Gorgeous.
"How can you say that? Are you being facetious?" I would lash out tearfully.
"I see your heart," he would reply. "Your heart is beautiful."
My first Christmas out here, our friends Bud and Rhonda gave me a little moment in time captured in an ornament. They called it Country Boy Meets City Girl. He's chasing after her, offering a frog which she is vehemently repudiating:
But look at the back of the little figurines: in his other hand, he's holding a bunch of flowers:
I'm positive he got the girl ...💕🌼
Nothing comes easy to a city girl living in the country for the first time - especially when the notion of girl had been discarded about four decades earlier, and most especially when everyone knows you can't teach an old dog new tricks!
Still, here we were today, wind howling and whipping steely shavings of snow into eyes and ears, winter exerting a death grip on machinery and causing cattle and horses to shuffle wearily into what shelter they could find.
My friend Merle composed me an ode for the occasion:
Subject: Happy anniversary
I looked out the window
To see what would be
The wind was a howling
I barely could see
My thoughts went to K
Celebrating her fourth
The wind still at top speed
Right out of the north.
Oh what will she do
On this most special day
She sure as the heck
Can't go outside to play
She'll be stranded at home
Or at least so it seems
But lucky for her
So's the man of her dreams
---------------------------------------------------
I was inspired to respond:
Just another work dayAt the old Triple T
The calves must be fed
The dogs have to pee
The snow does not quit
The colts' feet are froze
It's V-day as well -
Not even a rose?
She writes out his card
She makes a hot meal
And three chilly men
Say she's the real deal
The man of her dreams
Spends his day in the snow
Wheels fell off the bale truck -
To town he MUST go
Wheels fell off the bale truck -
To town he MUST go
The road is adrift
Along with their plan
For a trip to Red Deer -
Prime Rib and a flan
But this evening the sky
Will be golden and pink
and they'll sit in their house
With some food and a drink
Then they'll play with five dogs
and they'll watch some TV
And because they're in luuuuv
It's a great 'versary!
It took the Good Rancher over three hours to get to town and back.
But when he arrived home, he was carrying a package of steaks ... my favourite Tim Hortons Uncomplicated Latte ... and this:
He just looked at me and said, "This is for you, Gorgeous. I am so blessed to have you in my life."
Actually, Good Rancher, I am far more greatly blessed.
I'm so glad we can be at home this evening as the wind starts up again and the roads are sheets of ice.
Happy fourth anniversary.
Thursday, February 01, 2018
111 Days
Very few words are needed with pictures like these, which tell the story of this week:
Oxygen removed, leaving just the feeding tube. Because he had a rough time after the surgery, the little pads were left in place in case there was further need to be hooked up again.
Held secure.
"Tube and tape free!"
Mummy's and Daddy's observations this week:
"His head circumference came down by 1 cm and his skull seems more stable (less thin and fragile to touch). His hand grip is back to being strong and he is responding appropriately - a long step from the little, quiet rag doll that we saw over the previous 10-14 days. His neurosurgery team are happy with his progress and his MRI yesterday showed some reduction in the dilation of his ventricles. They anticipate about a 2 week period for things to settle out for Levi's new baseline ...
"We've been able to have lots of time holding our boy, which seems to be the best therapy for him ... and us.
"We continue to pray for protection from infection and malfunction of the shunt, but are so grateful to God for making the way clear - first to wait, and then to proceed at the right time - His time ...
"We thank the Lord that He is patient with us, He is wise and He is kind, as some have reminded us. We thank you for loving us and reminding us of who God is when the darkness hides His face."
Sunday, January 28, 2018
Certainly!
One of the wonderful, unpredictable benefits of living just off the 855 is my friendship with Leslie.
"I was born at 24 weeks and I had heart surgery then eye surgery then I had pinholes in my intestine because they fed me milk to soon so they removed some of my intestine and put a ileostomy bag on me and I came home with oxygen and had it for 3 months and then I had to go get the ileostomy bag taken off and closed back up."
There's no real logic to our friendship: she's a couple of (okay, three!) decades younger than I am. She is related to, or friendly with, almost everyone in the county; I'm a newcomer, an outsider. She loves horses; I'm scared of them. She rises to new challenges; I take a few steps back in trepidation. She'll take on anyone; I shrivel at the anticipation of confrontation.
How I met her was a little unusual. There was an election, so the Good Rancher, our friend Malcolm and I headed to the local polling station. After we cast our ballots - the GR "solemnly affirming" that I was who I claimed to be - we went to the one remaining local eating establishment for a burger.
Her folks had bought the place the previous year, and she was our waitress. We discussed voting for a few minutes and I discovered she was eligible for the first time to vote. She was uninterested.
I launched into lecture mode, using phrases like "privilege and responsibility" and "civic duty" and "women fought for this right." Probably to shut me up more than anything, she capitulated and said she would vote if I would go with her.
Her aunt registered her; she cast her ballot; by the time we walked back to the restaurant, our friendship had been launched.
Two years later, I realise we do have a few things in common: we love our dogs; we like reading; we text at all hours; we wear our hearts on our sleeves.
And now, this: this past Friday, January 26, at 2 pm, we attended the Celebration of Life for her Dad.
Last year, at the same time on the same day, the Memorial Service for my Dad began.
We both miss our Dads from the centre of our very beings ...
She seems to float just above the ground when she walks; I lumber like my favourite pachyderms.
She calls me Momma K. I call her My Girl.
Something else about Leslie: she is living proof of what a preemie can grow to be.
Here's her story in her words:
She as much as anyone is following Levi's story, is loving him and caring for him and rooting for him.
She, more than most, understands.
Our little Levi is now scheduled for neurosurgery to insert a shunt tomorrow morning, Monday, January 28, at 7:20 a.m. (Mountain Standard Time).
His mum updated us a couple of days ago: "He's so strong and even continues to try to breastfeed. Earlier he was having lots more events with clusters of heart rate and oxygen drops. His eyes strain to open with the pressure ..."
As I was contemplating the journey that Levi has already taken, the accomplishments he has achieved in his short life, the joy he brings, I was trying to speculate what God might have in mind for Levi. I was trying to bear some of the burden of his exhausted Mum and Dad. And I wrote a note to the Rev David McIlveen, the minister who conducted the graveside service for my Dad's body's committal to the earth. I thanked him for the word of hope he offered from the Bible that day, certain knowledge that we will see our dear Dad again; and for the comfort his presence brought us in the days following the funeral - he stayed with our family, bracing us up through the initial pounding waves of bereavement, always pointing us to God, who has promised to be "a Father to the fatherless."
He wrote me back promptly. And in his letter he offered this reflection, which I passed on to my family:
"Recently, I found great comfort in the words of Exodus chapter 3 verse 12, where God said to Moses, 'Certainly I will be with thee.' I have thought much about that word certainly. God could have said, 'I will be with thee,' and that would have been exceedingly precious. But to supplement the message with the thought of certainly is most reassuring to us.
In thinking about Moses, I thought of my own heart in that Moses was faced with,
The uncertainty of his faith.
The unreliability of his flesh.
And the undercurrent of his fear.
Each one of these challenges God addresses with the word CERTAINLY providing the preface.
Regrettably, life and time brings its changes, and with those changes we must look to the One who changes not."
And God reminded me that as He was with Moses, so He is with Levi.
This evening I read Levi's dad's post on Facebook:
"... We are so thankful for how far he has come, and know that we are never beyond the reach of God's love, even when our feet can't feel the bottom. We've seen so many miracles through Levi's life so far, from his conception to now. We've also seen them through the hands and hearts of the incredible team caring for him.
"Unless God intervenes this weekend, we believe that Levi needs to have this pressure relieved and the only way to do so at this point is with a shunt. Of course we pray for steady hands, clear decision making, no bleeding or infection now ... or in the months and years to come, and a clean uncomplicated recovery. We know that God is able if He is willing, but more so, He is CERTAINLY with us, and with our little boy, and that will not change. Through this all, our Lord continues to still our storms and remains the same, yesterday, today and forever ..."
God is for Leslie, for Levi, for us. He is with us. His plan for Levi's life will unfold in due season - He has promised to make all things beautiful in its time.
And He will.
Certainly.
As I was contemplating the journey that Levi has already taken, the accomplishments he has achieved in his short life, the joy he brings, I was trying to speculate what God might have in mind for Levi. I was trying to bear some of the burden of his exhausted Mum and Dad. And I wrote a note to the Rev David McIlveen, the minister who conducted the graveside service for my Dad's body's committal to the earth. I thanked him for the word of hope he offered from the Bible that day, certain knowledge that we will see our dear Dad again; and for the comfort his presence brought us in the days following the funeral - he stayed with our family, bracing us up through the initial pounding waves of bereavement, always pointing us to God, who has promised to be "a Father to the fatherless."
He wrote me back promptly. And in his letter he offered this reflection, which I passed on to my family:
"Recently, I found great comfort in the words of Exodus chapter 3 verse 12, where God said to Moses, 'Certainly I will be with thee.' I have thought much about that word certainly. God could have said, 'I will be with thee,' and that would have been exceedingly precious. But to supplement the message with the thought of certainly is most reassuring to us.
In thinking about Moses, I thought of my own heart in that Moses was faced with,
The uncertainty of his faith.
The unreliability of his flesh.
And the undercurrent of his fear.
Each one of these challenges God addresses with the word CERTAINLY providing the preface.
Regrettably, life and time brings its changes, and with those changes we must look to the One who changes not."
And God reminded me that as He was with Moses, so He is with Levi.
This evening I read Levi's dad's post on Facebook:
"... We are so thankful for how far he has come, and know that we are never beyond the reach of God's love, even when our feet can't feel the bottom. We've seen so many miracles through Levi's life so far, from his conception to now. We've also seen them through the hands and hearts of the incredible team caring for him.
"Unless God intervenes this weekend, we believe that Levi needs to have this pressure relieved and the only way to do so at this point is with a shunt. Of course we pray for steady hands, clear decision making, no bleeding or infection now ... or in the months and years to come, and a clean uncomplicated recovery. We know that God is able if He is willing, but more so, He is CERTAINLY with us, and with our little boy, and that will not change. Through this all, our Lord continues to still our storms and remains the same, yesterday, today and forever ..."
God is for Leslie, for Levi, for us. He is with us. His plan for Levi's life will unfold in due season - He has promised to make all things beautiful in its time.
And He will.
Certainly.
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