Prairie Lasses

L-R Aleya, Sierra, Hannah, Megan
Front: JoAnna, Katie

 

Home Again

Weary travelers have returned home. It is so much fun to leave home but it is so nice to come home. Rachel is fighting the flu, Aleya has signed a contract with a cold company, every couple weeks she receives another shipment of a viral strand. Tomorrow we try to find a working groove again. It generally takes me several days to figure out what needs to be done on the ranch.
Isn't it interesting, how a house can feel so homey. What makes your home, homey?

Daily Events

So far today I have played a game of Chess, a game of Deep Sea Treasures, and a game of Pig Out. These games are very fun and enjoyable. We have not managed to get our rook game in yet this week. Our day was also filled with time spent at the Erie Wildlife Refuge where we watched a video on baby animals. This was a big hit until the baby wolves were large enough to devour the majestic buck. This caused some alarm among the young lasses. I then spent an hour in the gym playing an assortment of games and settling minor differences and spats. What is you favorite family oriented board or outside game?

Davy Crocket Visits The House On The Prairie

While diligently attempting to post, Ben's trusty laptop locked up. Hence we try again. I was in the midst of posting about my mother's unique ability to find incredible gift ideas. This year she had someone make some bonnets while she made long dresses and pinafores. Currently we have young lasses imagining they are living out on the prairie. They also were given some dolls. Mothering is being nurtured. So, apparently, we have our own living Little House On The prairie. The young men received some homespun hunting garb complete with a Davy Crocket coon skin cap. They have been hunting for wild game in the hall outside the apartment. If you venture down for a visit you may want to be very stealthily. I hear they are an excellent shot.......
My mother has the ability to think outside of the box. Coming up with ideas which generate young lads and lasses to use their imagination. Imagination is a wonderful thing.

Why I Am Not A Mother

I am sure you are dying to know how my day went with the children. The ladies left around ten, taking the two oldest girls with them. This left six children in the house. The day went fairly well until afternoon naps. My boys went down around one-thirty and should have slept until three-thirty or four. Aleya went down at one and should have slept several hours. Not to be my little friend, they were all up by two-thirty. Whining, fussing, and other assorted noises that grumpy children tend to make. After about thirty minuets they all seemed to calm down. I decided to feed the boys a tad early so they could go back to bed. It was then I discovered their were no bottles made and their was only one clean bottle in the entire house. So with Jayden wailing in the background I made one bottle and started the dishwasher. Jayden's Uncle Rod fed him while I consoled Jackson. After several years I thought I would just rinse Jayden's bottle out and reuse it. Why, I didn't think of it earlier I do not know. At some point in the midst of these hectic activities, Aleya and her cousin, Alyssa, decided it was time to start annoying each other. At one point Alyssa told Aleya Okay, I'm just gonna go away...... I must say it made me laugh. So, the moral of the story is this, God made women with the emotional make up to handle these situations with ease while men, in general, throw up their hands in despair.

Kauffman Family

Day After Madness

Well today is the day everyone will begin to return the unwanted and unfitted items they received. I have nothing to return, thank goodness..... just to fill you in on our schedule for today. The ladies would like to go out for lunch, ladies noon out. What does this mean for me? Well it means babysitting. Grandpa will help but you need to remember their are 8 children five years old and younger in the Kauffman family. Hopefully they will all sleep, nice thought anyway. Tonight after work is the guys turn......
I know I keep hammering on this idea but I would like to know what you did to make the time you spent with family special. Or do you dread spending time with your family? Whether you admit it or not this is the way life is for some people. Are you one of them?

Merry Christmas

Did santa slip down your chimney last night? Did he eat the cookies adn drink the milk? If you are wondering why your house is so smokey this morning it is because santa is stuck half way down. If I am not mistaken the dog and the cat ate the cookies and lapped up the milk. Speaking of cats, their was one Christmas about 15 years ago where we picked up a cat for my brother at the pound. This cat was amazing. He was Garfield through and through. However, he was very sick when we got him and wined and fretted causing much distress for several days before his presence could be known. He had the unique ability to playfully swat at things. However, he could become very annoyed with the human race in general. For instance, if he felt he was not getting in the last smack he would lie in wait for you in some obscure corner. When you strolled by he would leap out of the shadows, swatting with precision at vital body parts such as ankles, knees, and toes. He would make one precision strike before dashing off. I was not there when he got sick and died. He lived a life of ease and contentment once he joined our family. I would love to play a game with him again. Who knows, maybe another Cosmo will enter our lives some day and produce many interesting memories for my family. Their will only be one difference. I do not intend to let another Cosmo be the king of our castle.......
So may your Christmas be filled with the joy of giving. May you remember and treasure the greatest gift that has ever been given. God bless you as you and your family make memories that will last longer than any of the monetary gifst you may recieve.

Love Language

Gary Chapman wrote a book several years ago called The Five Love Languages.
1. Words of affirmation
2. Physical Touch
3. Gifts
4. Quality Time
5. Acts of Service
My language is words of affirmation. Rachel's is quality time. Sierra is quality time Aleya is acts of service and Jayden appears to be physical touch. We are not sure what Jackson is yet.
What is you love langauge? Are you aquainted with the book?

Trippen

We have begun the tripping part of the holiday season. I81 was very busy but traffic was moving very nicely. The worst part of our journey has now centered in the Berkley Springs conglomeration, instead of Madison Heights. Rt. 522 is two lanes through WVA and traffic moves at a snails pace. I also drank far to much coffee. This annoys my wife because it lengthens the trip.... The children did very well. We were afraid they would be fussy and crying. Sierra has been with Grandma Kauffman for almost two weeks. It is such an awsome feeling to have a daughter throw her arms around you and snuggle up against you. It sure makes a father feel special. My goal is to some how develope the relationship so she wants to visit with me when she is a teenager. What is the best way to do this? What do daughters want from their fathers?

Food For Thought

I have been developing my culinary skills lately. I enjoy concocting interesting, if not edible, breakfast delights. Tonight when I got home their were no smells to greet my nose. Ah ha, a chance to further develop this skill. I found 1 lb of sausage in the freezer which I cooked in a skillet on the stove. I wasn't to sure where I was headed but sausage was going to a be a major part of the meal. I decided I would scramble some eggs and mix the pork into the eggs. I then discovered we only had five eggs in the house. I poured a nice amount of milk into the skillet along with my five bewildered eggs. By now my wife was beginning to wonder about the edibleness of this concoction and she suggested we toss some cheese to keep the eggs company. I must say this was a very good meal. I now have a recipe for scrambled sausage/cheese/eggs. We shall call them saeseggs. Pronounced sauchyeggs. By the way toast and milk were an integral part of this meal.

Finalized Another One

Carol Anne, the notary who swore us in, is in the process of calling the court room in Fl. to finalize Jayden's adoption.

Lysteria

No, this is not the same as hysteria. This a rare disease found in the bovine species. Well, I don't know how rare it is but it is rarely found in my bovine population. This disease is also known as the circling disease. Cattle are known to begin wandering in circles and other strange symptoms. We had a cow with such symptoms about a month ago. She fell and did not want to get up. This tends to aggravate the human species. After much pleading and other assorted means of bribery, I rolled her frame into the skid-steer bucket and carried her to greener pastures. That evening she was back on her feet but was showing signs of blindness in one eye and an odd determination to go in circles. However, I was still unsure about her disease so I treated her not. The next day I asked for input from another wise dairyman. His advice included calling the vet. What a novel idea. I called the vet. I was advised to give her penicillin and a few other drugs. I gave her, Mandy, 100cc at noon and another 100cc that evening. Then I reduced the rate back to 50cc for four days. Lysteria is a result of bacteria on the brain and penicillin fights this bacteria. The normal dose of this potent drug is 20-25cc once a day. As you can tell the dosage we were using was much higher than this. This morning the test we run to check for antibiotics in the milk showed they were finally out of her system. A month of bad milk. Amazing.
Sometimes I feel like I have lysteria. I tend to go in circles and appear to be blind in both eyes…..
Maybe all I need is a big dose of penicillin........

Home Place

Christianity: What Is It?

What do you think of this? "Christianty is more than realizing you are a sinner and asking forgiveness." Do you agree?

Marriage

I saw a very interesting little article in the paper today. Someone from Cornell has done a survey. They discovered people who are married are happier than those who are not. Those who are living together are happier than those who are only in a significant relationship however, they are not as happy as those who are married. They are suggesting that commitment seems to have something to with one's happiness. I must disagree. To say that people who are married are happier than those who are not seems a little bit ridiculous. I know a lot of people who are unhappily married. They are living in survival mode. I am fairly certain this is a chronic problem in Mennonite churches as well as in the world. The other thing I found interesting about the article was the picture they had put with the article. Imagine a lovely couple sitting on the coach. The gentleman has his arm around the lady and they appear to be enjoying each other. However, in the man's hand was an electronic device called a remote. He has it pointing towards something. Because they appear to be staring at something and not at each other, I assume they are watching TV. Now, I find it hard to believe they can be very happily married if they spend a significant amount of time watching someone else live a fake life......

Computer Games

I am wondering how often computer games are played in your household. Do you as a parent allow your children to play them? How much are they allowed to play. Do you consider them a terrible waste of time? How do you decide whether a game is worth playing? How many hours/minutes do you. the parent, spend playing computer games? This question would also be for those of you who are not parents but spend time on the computer.
I may narrow this down some in a follow up post.

Open Book Test

Those of you who have access to a Hoard's Dairyman will be able to find the answer to this test with relative ease. There will be three questions on this test and the first question is worth 90% of your grade. The other two questions are worth 5% each
1. What is Cheddar Cheese named after?
2. What kind of coffee am I drinking?
3. How much snow did we get this morning?

Resolutions Part II

For all of you who are dying to know my thoughts and opinions on New Years Resolutions I will now attempt to give my thoughts.
After some thinking about it some the last couple of days I have come to the conclusion God may not have as much to do with it as we think. Okay, I now sound like a heretic but hear me out before telling me to take a long walk on the short pier. I know some people who are very disciplined and, since weight seemed to be a hot topic among those who commented I will use it as an example, would not have a problem losing weight. Just because someone is disciplined enough to make something happen doesn't mean they have relied solely on God/Jesus/Christ to help them get the job done. Granted, it would be easier if people would ask God for help. The basic reason resolutions fail is based on one simple fact. This is the fact. Are you ready?
Resolutions fail because Tomorrow Never Comes.
So, why doesn't tomorrow ever come?
1. We don't think we can do it?
2. We don't really care?
3. Nobody else cares?
4. We are basically good people?
5. God isn't a part of our lives or an integral part of our lives.
I don't think you need to be a Christian to achieve your goals but you do need to be a Christian to change your eternal destination. If you want to change your eternal destination you will be concerned about living a Christ Like Life. This is the core of Christianity. Most of my resolutions have been centered around changing something in my life which has spiritual significance. I failed many times because I did not really care. My Christianity was not important enough to me to make tomorrow a reality.

Love Part II

Ah, I see.....
Nobody knows what love is......