Ode to Ashley

 Ashley's first picture we her mother.  The first one out of the egg.  She's dry and fluffy and the others are still trying to crack their eggs.

And her first picture with me.

 She always would run up to us and want us to pick her up and pet her.

 Yesterday a dog came and grabbed her in his mouth and ran off with her.  She had puppies to feed, but we were very sad.  This is the second Ashley that we've lost.  We prayed that God would send us joy that day and while I was sitting outside this little one came running up to me!  Not sure what we're going to do with it but we fed it outside and played with it.  It had some fun scaring the chickens.

The Lord is my Shepherd

The shepherds bring their sheep to graze in the fields next to our house ever so often and as I said before, living in a place like this, closer to the land, is such a great chance to experience God's Word.

Everytime I saw how the sheep follow their shepherd and would be lost without him, I think of Psalm 23. 

Last week the shepherds accidentally left behind a baby lamb in our field.  We heard it bleating at dark and brought it into our yard and tried to give it some milk with a bottle.  It wasn't too fond of cow's milk but what it really wanted was to be held in someone's arms, warm and safe.

 I thought about that story in 2 Samuel that the prophet Nathan tells David.  There was a poor man who had one lamb that he had raised with his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.  And then the rich man who had thousands of sheep, stole that man's lamb, killed it, and fed it to his guests.  As I held this sweet little lamb, I thought about the distress of that poor man, thinking of those guests eating his precious daughter.  I can see why David got so angry.  And yet he had done the same thing-stolen something so precious to someone else, that could not be returned.  And yet, God forgave him.  That's unbelievable, huge grace.

And I thought about how they used to have to kill lambs for sins and for passover.  I thought about putting my hand on this little one's head, confessing my sin, and then having to kill it.  And I thought about how they had to take care of the Passover lamb, and then kill and eat it, knowing that it's death was providing protection for them.  Incredible saddening, taking an innocent life.  I thank Jesus that He ended that once and for all by being the ultimate sacrifice!

 "He tends his flock like a shepherd:
    He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;

he gently leads those that have young." Isaiah 44:11

For the one day that it stayed with us, I carried this little guy every where I went.  And I held it's warm, soft head close to my heart and I thought about how Jesus scoops us up like that and carries us.  Every time I would leave the room, it would start bleating.  It was amazing how quickly it got attached to me.   It didn't ever want to be left alone and was always just looking at me with innocent, completely dependent eyes.

Well, in the end we took it back to it's mother, and she was pretty glad to see her little one again.  But I sure do miss it.