Alpaca Crazy

My mom met Sharon through a knitting machine class and was immediately taken with her lovely demeanor and her stories of her alpacas. She requested a homeschool field trip to her farm and Sharon agreed. This week, eight of our children were introduced to these friendly, but shy animals, and learned a little more of God's great creativity in the design of His creatures.

All it took was a visit to Peru and Sharon and her husband knew they wanted to raise alpacas. These sweet-natured, gentle beasts won their hearts and when they returned home to Canada, they began to fill their farm with their new "babies". Both being artists, they quickly discovered a passion that would include their animals--shearing, spinning and knitting with the alpacas' soft, comforting fibres. They purchased all the equipment they needed to run a mill and soon a business and a quaint little store were born.

As an experimentalist, Sharon spins the fibres with all sorts of interesting options: corn, bananas, hemp, and whatever will spin beautiful yarn. Her state-of-the-art equipment was fascinating!

Thankfully, Sharon was gracious and patient while our younger children touched everything in sight!

Lovely alpaca yarns spun by Sharon.

Items for purchase in her store. Of the things she has created, there's a story behind each one and she often knows which of her pets the fibres came from.

After the spinning lesson, Sharon allowed us to get into the pen with the baby alpacas. We needed to get down down low to be less intimidating and to entice the animals to eat from our hands.

We scared them away at first.

The babies weren't too sure they wanted to approach again...

 but as soon as they figured out we had snacks for them, they ventured back.

 In a few minutes, they were feeling at ease and even making friends :)

I wanted to take one or two of them home with us.

"My big cousin will keep me safe."

Oliver became buddies with the herd dog.

One beautiful, fluffy, bath mat :)

Give us animal field trips and we're a happy bunch!

(Thanks Sharon from Alpacas at Eighth & Mud)

Banana Bread Bunny

On the way home from the pet store she named the bunny, Banana Bread. She rarely sets her heart on anything, this child who is easy to please--so I buckled. It's her birthday next month and I used that as my excuse :)

Welcome, little bunny, into our hearts.

The Funeral

It was unexpected. We didn't even know he was ill. We watched him throughout the day and oh, the tears... I can't begin to tell you how many tears were shed over him as he slipped away from us. When that moment arrived, when we all knew it was the end, the funeral arrangements began. Because of the obvious sorrow, I stepped back and allowed the children to do their own thing, planning and organizing, carrying furniture out of the house and dressing themselves "appropriately". Terry and I didn't know what to expect as we were asked to attend the memorial.

We were each asked to say a few words about Jack, to share a memory. We obliged. It was easy because we all had experienced some memorable moment with him.

Terry was a little over the top but I think it seemed sincere.

Meghan, being the most heart-broken, shared her feelings about the life that Jack had lived.

We all paid our respect before the burial.

Oliver said, "He was beeeautiful."

We gathered around and said our goodbyes to our beloved fish and Terry lowered him into the ground.

There were even real tears (mostly because of her part of the funeral being overlooked--which was quickly remedied... thankfully).


Molly, the ever-lovin' snacker, passed out treats she had collected from the cupboards as "funeral refreshments".

As we dragged chairs along the grass and tidied up the remains of the ceremony, Terry thought he'd just throw a thought out there into the thick, somber air... "Wanna go pick out some new fish later on?"

Emily jumped up, nearly knocking her brother over and squealed, "Yes! Oh, yes! You're the best Daddy ever! Let's go!" She grabbed onto my husband's leg, giggling. He squeezed her small frame and replied laughing, "Well, you grieve quickly!"

Here is what Meghan posted on her own private blog (just to give you her perspective)...

Yes, the title says it, we had a funeral. Not your typical funeral where you go to a funeral home and then to the grave site and there are dozens of people, but one right in our own backyard. With the tractor running, and the customers walking around at the nursery possibly glancing through the giant windows every now and then into our backyard to see what we're doing. We had set up benches out onto the grass all somewhat circling the place where we will say our speeches, and I had made a {quite lousy} sign that hung on one piece of string tied to the two pillars of the under deck.

Daddy came home for lunch and that was our cue to get into our black dresses and other black clothing for the boys {although most didn't put black on just because}. Daddy fetched the dead smelly body from the garage and put it in a box. We all trotted out side one of us holding the box carefully. We placed the box down on the grass with the benches all around. We sat. It was my turn to say something that we liked about the fish or a memory that we will keep forever. After we all had a turn, we walked under the sign and under the deck. We buried him right where we will bury our other animals when they die. {Of course we already had other deaths of animals, but it wasn't until today that Molly had her great idea of having a funeral}.

We placed the bottom of our old deck table over the spot where we buried him so that wild animals will smell the dead fish but through a fit not being able to get at it. After this we sang "From the Rising Of the Sun". Molly had brought some treats out so we had them.It was a beautiful day with coloured leaves, and pink blossoms scattered where we were having the funeral {not planned at all!} The breeze gently blew our hair and cooled our necks. Perfect weather for a funeral.

Jack, we will all miss you dreadfully. Even though you are a fish, you were like a friend to me. When I sat on the leather couch beside the aquarium read my Bible, you would always watch with curiosity and wonder. Even though we are to get dozens of new colourful fish in our aquarium now to keep Twinkle Twinkle happy, no one could replace you. We will miss you even though we were waiting until we could get more fish because the lady said you would eat them all.

Love, Meghan Grace

Unlikely Friends

"There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." (Proverbs 18:24)

Without any brothers around, Clementine has struck up a friendship with our fish, Jack. They both bump their "noses" against the glass each day to get a better look at one another. The kids think it's the greatest and funniest thing!