A few weeks ago, Abigail, age 8, asked me if she could catch a baby bunny. I said I didn’t want to have to buy food for a pet, but that she should ask dad. Cory said, “Sure,” thinking there was no way she could catch one. He said if she did, she would have to forage for its food and take really good care of it. Abigail agreed and Asher offered to set up a trap to safely catch one. Cory and I forgot all about it. Then a few days ago, Asher excitedly announced that a bunny was in the trap. Abigail was thrilled and said that she had prayed the night before that if it was God’s will, she would catch a bunny. I was so shocked I wasn’t sure what to say. Cory wasn’t sure what to say either at first when Abby told him the “good news.” You can watch his reaction here.

God answered her prayer and reminded Cory and I that we need to be more careful about thinking something could never happen. It reminded us of the time that we told Kailey that a horse would have to walk onto our place in order for us to even consider owning a horse. Well, a horse did walk onto our place, we bought it, and we had that horse for many years. That horse was a blessing, but a good reminder to be careful what we say.

Cory built a cage for the bunny that night despite the fact that we have a lot going on. He wants our kids to know that they are important, and he has time for them. I thought that was very sweet. By the next morning, Abigail decided she wanted to release the bunny. The cat had been trying to claw it through the cage, and the bunny was very scared. The bunny was released, and everything worked out very well in the end.

Not too long ago, I reported that we were getting ahead of things on the farm, but we have been blessed with a lot of rain and had some challenges in the last few weeks. The thistles and weeds are growing faster than we can keep up with them, the potato bugs and mosquitos are thriving in our large potato area, we have had weird colds go through the family, our equipment was needing costly repairs, our refrigerators were not cooling, our main computer crashed, three of our hives swarmed, and the yard was turning into a jungle. We are getting on top of the chaos this week, and the Lord is providing everything we need, (including perseverance to get the work done and sanctification as we go). We are reminded that we have much to be thankful for, and that we should rejoice in the Lord, even in the hard things.

We are savoring the fresh strawberries, asparagus, lettuce, spinach, mulberries, and small amounts of mushrooms (that we are just starting to harvest). A few of our favorite recipes right now are strawberry ice cream (here is our homemade vanilla ice cream recipe that we simply add some chopped strawberries to). We also like to sauté our asparagus in our bright yellow, pastured butter and add mushrooms at the end of the cooking process. As we sit down at the table as a family for our meals, these nutrient dense, flavorful ingredients remind us why we do this work, that is enjoyable and rewarding most of the time, but can also be very challenging.