I Believe: Miracles - Job 1:21

When I think of miracles, miracles that have happened to me personally, a list starts running through and flooding my mind. HaShem has dome so many amazing things for me, and through me, just thinking about it is overwhelming.

Sometimes, farmers loose some of their stock, but it shouldn't happen as often as it has for me. Almost every year for the past 10 years I've lost at least one, and I don't have huge numbers. One year in particular, I lost close to half my stock, my grades at the college weren't doing too great, and the whole situation was taking a toll on my body. How did I make it? The only way to answer that, is G-d pulled me through.

"HaShem gave, HaShem took; blessed be the name of HaShem" ~ Job 1:21

I have repeated these words of Job's multiple times because of their relevance to my life. Not only does He give and take, but sometimes He gives back, then again takes away. There are two scenarios that come to mind. . .

February 3-5, 2009 Baruch

The first part of the story of Baruch, my little blessing. The first 2 paragraphs written on February 4th, it is only the part until He gave this little one back to me. The last paragraph was written just as I'm typing up this blog post.

"Baruch (which means "Blessed" in Hebrew) was born a twin on February 3, 2009 and my house here in Lynden. That was a Tuesday morning. Wednesday, February 4, came down with severe Hypothermia. We thought he wasn't going to make it. At 8:10 this morning, I thought that he had died, he was all sprawled out in the lambing pen, twisted in odd directions, and really looked lifeless and that rigor mortis had set in already. My first thought was "If he is alive, he'll have a broken neck, leg and possibly ribs." It appeared that his mother had stepped on him repeatedly. We brought him into the house to see if he would be ok, and to warm him up. My hands were cold, so I couldn't feel that he was just as cold as I was, really cold. I found this out after, of course, when I came in from finishing my chores that Mom told me that he was cold - no registrable temp. We had diagnosed Hypothermia, severe Hypothermia. We did all that we could, 3 cc's Vit B, 6 cc's Dextrose 50%, heating pad... all we could do then was wait. And pray. And pray we did. Finally, at 11:00, he started making progress. He had the sucking reflex and took a bit of milk every 15 mins until at 11:45 had taken the whole bottle. His temp hadn't even registered on the thermometer before and now is at 99.2 (normal is 101-103). The dogs barked at something and he sat up and opened his eyes, something that I was amazed he could do. After a few mins, he was up and walking! We waited until we were sure that he was stable (quite a while) and then took him back to his mother who readily took him back, another miracle! Baruch HaShem, he is even alive, let alone walking!

Sometimes the Lord will answer your prayers with a green light, right away, sometimes it's yellow, wait, and sometimes it is a red, no. This time, for me it was yellow, wait. But he did answer my prayer to give this lamb a second chance at life, a live full of little, and big, blessings.

The next day though, he was gone. I had checked on him before I went to bed, and everything seemed fine. G-d had given him to me, taken him away, tested me and gave him back in a way that could only be explained by G-d, and then took him away again. There was a point to be made, a lesson to be learned.

January 31, 2011 Tiffany and Emunah

The first part of this post is long, so for the sake of the length of this post, I'll put a link to it HERE. If you haven't already, read the first part of Tiffany and Emunah before reading the rest of it.

Similar to the story of Baruch, I went down to the barn the next morning to find that Emunah did not make it. She drifted off peacefully, not seemingly distressed or anything. Her Momma, Tiffany, my favorite ewe, ended up with an infection and died a few days later. Emunah had been given to me, taken away, and given back miraculously, to be taken away again. Tiffany, whom I thought would've died days before, was given back to me, I took care of her the best I could, and then she was taken away again.

The whole event was incredibly emotionally draining. Lots of crying, sadness, happiness, and more crying. At the end of it all, what can you say? What can you do? Look for the lessons taught, learn them. Remember everything that happened, it may be useful to you or someone later.

"HaShem gave, HaShem took;

blessed be the name of HaShem."

~ Job 1:21

Remember everything that happened,

it may be useful to you or someone else later.

I Believe: Miracles

HaShem has worked so many miracles in my life, and most of the happened here, in the barn. It would take volumes of books to write down all the wonders G-d has done for me, so I'll have to keep writing about them as I recall and have time to post them. As for now, Shabbat is coming quickly and I have a lot of preparation to do, but I will give you a taste of that which I will write about later. I encourage you to think about all the miracles HaShem has performed in your life, write them down, and keep them in a place where you can access them when you're going through a rough spot in life.

"HaShem gave, HaShem took; blessed be the name of HaShem" Job 1:21 - This has happened countless times. Although He sometimes takes away the ones closest to me, He has given them back to me after they've died. There is hope, one must only believe. And, sometimes, after giving them back, He'll take them away again, to teach another lesson. This too has happened to me. But even in this heartache, I must remember to give thanks where it is due, for teaching me valuable lessons, and for bringing me through the valley of the shadow of death. I promise I won't leave you wondering here for too long. We'll see what happens after Shabbat, I may be able to get the story up then.

G-d has also given me my life back. I've been in a few accidents, specifically 2 a week and a half apart, which should've killed me. Nearly 2 years ago. It took until after the trauma had gone for me to realize that I should be dead, and that only by the grace of G-d am I still alive. I will write about this soon too, as soon as I can.

This has been a very helpful verse in my life,

so I put it up on my barn wall.

A few verses in Ecclesiastes...

I was reading through Ecclesiastes this summer when I was watching the neighbor's dairy, and came across quite a few gems in this book, these are only a portion of them. We have to look past when he says everything is pointless and feeding on the wind, to see the beauty of the book.

Just some very short thoughts. Nothing much really, maybe something will jump out to you as well...

"Two are better than one, in that their cooperative efforts yield this advantage: if one of them falls, the other will help his partner up." 4:9

This is what we need to look for in our next leader:

"... the greatest advantage to the country is when the king makes himself a servant to the land." 5:7(8)

"Also, everyone to whom G-d has given riches and wealth, along with the power to enjoy it, so that he takes his allotted portions and finds pleasure in his work - this is a gift of G-d; for he will not brood over the fact that his life is short, since G-d keeps him occupied with what will bring him joy." 5:18(19)-19(20) So try to find joy in the task at hand, it is a blessing from G-d!

"A good name is better than perfumed oil" 7:1

"Don't grasp just one of these rules; take hold of the other as well; for he who is in fear of G-d will live by both of them." 7:18

"To a wise man wisdom is better protection than ten rulers in a city." 7:19

"Also, don't take seriously every word spoken, such as when you hear your servant speaking badly of you; because often, as you yourself know, you have spoken badly of others." 7:21-22

Maybe this is why I love mornings :)

"In the morning, sow your seed; and don't slack off until evening; for you don't know which sowing will succeed, this, or that, or if both will do well. Then the light will be sweet, and it will be a pleasure to see the sun." 11:6-7

And this one really spoke to me, looking at the situation of the young generation of our time.

"Young person, if you spend your youth only having fun, if you use your early years just to entertain yourself, if you follow your heart as you live your life, and let your eyes be your guide; understand that for all these things G-d will bring you to judgement. Therefore, remove anger from your heart; and keep from harming your body; for neither adolescence nor youth has any lasting value." 11:9-10

Interesting that he pin points these actions as a root of anger...

At the very end, but perhaps the most important...

"Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear G-d and keep his mitzvot; this is what being human is all about. For G-d will bring to judgement everything we do, including every secret, whether good or bad. [Here is the final conclusion, now that you have heard everything: fear G-d, and keep his mitzvot, this is what being human is all about.]" 12:13-14

Israeli Grape Harvest 2011

Israeli Grape Harvest, 2011

We had roughly 250 people for harvest this year, and were blessed to be able to bring in a whoppin 304 tons of grapes for some of Israel's wineries in Judea and Samaria. We had a blast!

Our clippers, or nippers depending on who you talk to, were very familiar to me and quite easy to use. Being a shepherdess who uses hoof trimmers, this was one of the first familiar things to me - the nippers were basi

cally hoof trimmers. :-)

Look at what these vines grow in! It's a miracle that they can grow, and produce such amazing grapes. It's not just

amazing, it's a miracle.

From here....

To here!!!

25,000 bottles of wine ready to be shipped out

Here's the web sites to 4 of the wineries we were able to work in:

Psagot Winery (Wine bottles pictured above)

Shiloh Winery (Vines pictured above)

Mount Blessing Winery

This is some of my most favorite Israeli wine, just in case you're trying to decide which to get... :-)

And last, but definitely not least,

Tura Winery (No pictures, sorry...)

We had some big days harvesting. A 15 ton day in the 115 degree heat (being used to the more cold and wet climate, this was quite different), and a 21 ton day - a record setter!