Trash to Treasure (Psalm 139:13-16)

It has been a very busy August!! School started back and has been very....different....but students are handling it like champs!!! Demo/framing is still trucking alone.  They are mostly done with the downstairs except for cutting out and framing up some new windows and a couple of doors.

 Upstairs has been interesting.  The builder and framer have no idea how the upstairs floor has supported anyone in the past.  Almost all the joist were floating. Sadly, all the beautiful old oak floors were removed from the entire upstairs.  The floor joist had to be reinforced correctly.  They found another snake skin that was about 4 feet long. Then....low and behold they found a live snake!!!!  It was about 4 feet long and from what I have heard it was quite a sight trying to catch him...which they never did.

 They believe it was a rat snake and Keegan has assured me between, the plumbers, HVAC, electrical and framers...it would be caught!!   Throughout the demo and framing phase they have found multiple old pictures, a baby blanket, armadillo bones, 2 snake skins and a mummified mouse in the walls and ceilings.  They also found a live nest of termites in a closet, but the termite guy resprayed for no additional cost.  

 We are finalizing the kitchen cabinet layouts, starting to pick out vanities for the bathrooms, and beginning to look at light fixtures.  This week the electrician has been wiring the downstairs.  Lotus Building Group has the very best crew. They are all very good at noticing and pointing out things that we may want to rethink and always giving their opinions to help us in making good decisions.

Paul and I have been very busy also.  We found some donkeys and we wanted to get a field ready for them so they could adjust to us and their new environment before putting them in with the cows. Paul is the best.

He dug ten holes in rocky soil just so he could get the fence up that I wanted.  This time we used fence post and attached cattle panels to close off Field 3.   It looks so good!!  Last weekend we went and bought 3 new gates.  Two for Field 3 and 1 for the future Field 1.  We are still having issues with the neighbor's cows coming over to our property through Field 1.  Paul set a fence post on the opening to Field 1. The cement had to setup before we could hang the gate.  We propped the gate up on the fence until the next morning.  When we arrived the next morning, the unwanted cows had been by for a visit. They knocked over our new gate, stepped on and dented the new gate, knocked the post crooked Paul had set, and left us many piles of poop.

 I am having to seriously pray about this situation, because what I want to do is probably not the neighborly or right thing to do.  We did get that gate up, so hopefully this will at least stop our visitors from coming around our house and barn!! We also had to replace a gate by the old barn. Paul built the biggest, heaviest, nothing is getting through it gate!  

The gate that was there was falling apart, but we saved the old handmade hinges that was on it for the new gate.

Ariel (momma donkey) and Jasmine (baby donkey) arrived Sunday afternoon....in the pouring rain.  

We were all drenched, but it was totally worth it.  They are the sweetest donkey’s.... and that Baby!!!  She is a bundle of Cuteness!!!  

They are rescue donkey’s. I can’t understand why anyone would not have wanted them!! Speaking of rescue...We do have one more to welcome to Silo Springs. Skelley the kitten.
He was a rescue also. Someone in the Santa Fe area found him in a parking lot. He was very thin and covered in fleas. Paul had been wanting a barn cat, so we got him. We have all fallen in love with Skelley, especially Brantlee who says she is giving him a promotion from barn cat to house cat. Even Murf, who barks at everything has not barked at Skelley.

I’ve been thinking about rescue animals. How could someone just abandon or toss away something that’s alive and dependent on them. Our rescue animals are the sweetest animals. Skelley is the friendliest little kitten. He is the happiest and most content when he is curled up beside you. The donkeys have to warm up to you. They are a little skittish, but have a very sweet and kind disposition. I’m a little prejudice, but I think they are beautiful animals. Why would someone discard them like a piece of trash? Then I remembered hearing of people disposing of human babies before. Newborn babies found in a trash can!!  I can’t understand that. Then I remembered there was a person in my life once, who told me multiple times I was a piece of trash. Humans, who have allowed satan in their lives, will use their words or actions to destroy other people. Sometimes they simply do it to feel better about themselves. Psalms 139:13-16 says, “For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.“ Our creator created everyone of us with a purpose and planned out our days before we were even born. Some people fulfill their God given purpose, others allow satan into their lives. When other people hurt us, reject us or discard us we have to remember who we are.

Hanna Scott, in the movie Overcomer, says it best when asked, “Who is Hanna Scott?” She said, “I am created by God. He designed me, so I am not a mistake. His Son died for me just so I could be forgiven. He picked me to be His own. So I am chosen. He redeemed me. So I am wanted. He showed me grace just so I could be saved. He has a future for me because He loves me. So I don’t wonder anymore......I am a Child of God....”