names

This week we are doing chores for a friend. She has a hard time finding someone to care for her chickens and her baby chicks. Imagine how difficult it is for us, then ,to find help for ducks, chickens, turkeys, rabbits, cats, dogs, goats, especially if they are milking.

we currently have one doe who is milking, and giving us almost a full gallon in one milking. The other doe should have her babies soon. That's a lot of milk to be creative with. For instance, this week I've made tapioca pudding twice, vanilla pudding once, lots of milk based soups, and soft cheese twice. Soft goat cheese is a treat! I add a little olive oil and spices and salt and spread it on toast. I also plan to use it as ricotta this week...if it lasts that long!

so now that we have new goats we need to find names. . .Now if you know us, as a school-teaching family, you can't just pick any name! All of our animals have had quite the great names... For instance, our first cats were Charles Dickens, Anne Shirley, and Mercy Watson, after the children's book character. Our old dog was Napoleon Bonaparte, our new dog is Harriet Tubman. We've had ducks and turkeys named Isabel, Ferdinand, Columbus, Nina, Santa Maria... Our goats now are Benjamin Franklin, Elizabeth Blackwell, aka Lizzy, and Millie McCoy, aka Millie. Her new little doeling that we are keeping is named Olive Oatman. Both Millie and Olive have fascinating history behind the names. The real Millie Mccoy was a Siamese twin slave back in the 1800's. Olive Oatman  was a white Mormon girl who was kidnapped by the Mohave Indians and had some beautiful Indian tattoos on her chin. Fitting since Olive will grow up to have a beard! (of course we do have a few animals around with normal names like: Buttercup- from the movie-, Baby Eny, Timber and Jewel!)

As with all of my childrens names, picking names can a lot of fun. For those who were around me when I was growing up, one of my favorite things to do was to play the game of Life with my brothers and having two car loads full of kids ,each one of them named! I think it drove my brothers crazy! :-)

we sold two rabbits not long ago and I talked with the woman today. One of the rabbits was given a very unique name by her 7 year old daughter. His name is Hip Hop!

while each of the animals names have been picked after famous historical characters, my children's names were picked from family names and qualities that I wanted to instill in them. My first child 's name came from two of my great grandmothers names combined. Her name means fragrant rose, as in a fragrant sacrifice to God. The second child was named after my grandmother, with the meaning chased and pure. The third daughter child was named after my best friend and both of my grandmothers middle names. That name means "God's grace given in the home teaching us to look ahead and not behind". Very apropos considering the condition of our relationship at that time. The fourth child has part of my grandmother's name in addition to the fact that she was named after a young woman in Egypt who was murdered for her faith. Her name means bitter light and grace ,as in life can be bitter but God's grace leads us to the light. The last little one was named after some very special friends of ours from Kuwait. she also has a name that means the same as my husband's mom, and it means the same as my name. The name means princess who has made an oath to God.

I'm currently reading a book about the names of God. It's quite fascinating to see how many different names the Bible uses for him... Provider, protector, healer, Almighty...

Often we use words or pick names, (or call each other names) and don't really think about what they mean. Words have the power to injure or to heal. How often in the heat of the moment do I think to put some honey in my mouth , that my words would be sweet and edifying... Instead of harsh and demeaning? The two good things about growing old are that 1)you can change your hair color and 2)you have à little more insight into life. At least I hope so!

 I'm going to go set a pretty bowl of honey out on my window sill and see if I can catch some flies with it. (Actually I have seen fruit flies that need catching too, so maybe it's a two-for-one special!)