“But Jesus said, ‘No, go home to your friends, and tell them what wonderful things the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.’ “
-Mark 5:19
During the beginning it sometimes felt like this day would never come, but during the past 6 weeks God’s faithfulness has never failed. Today I am happy to announce that Evie is finally home!
Just wanted to let you all know that Evie is doing really good today. She definitely is a strong fighter! My dad says she has “Evie-tude”! 🙂 Last night she was a naughty girl and pulled her feeding tube out. As long as she keeps eating this can actually be a good thing because that means she’s eating totally from a bottle or Mom! Here’s a couple pictures of Evie, completely “tube free” (no ventilator, cannula, IVs or feeding tube!!), and a picture collage that my aunt put together. If you would like to visit Evie’s Facebook page, just click on the link here.
Hello dear readers! Most of you know about the crazy journey my family has been on since February 25th. The last time I posted here feels like a lifetime ago! Since things are finally slowing down a little, I finally have some time to write about what’s going on.
For those of you who don’t know, my sweet sister Evangelene is a very special baby. She was born with a right sided Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. CDH is a birth defect that occurs in about 1 in every 2,500 babies. It pretty much means the baby has a hole in its diaphragm. Your diaphragm is a special membrane that separates your organs and chest cavity. Since Evie was born with a hole in her diaphragm some of her organs  were up pressing on her lungs.
When she was first born the doctors realized something was wrong when she wouldn’t start breathing. She had to be intubated (put on a ventilator) and rushed to Children’s Hospital in Buffalo. What followed was a very scary time to say the least!
On Friday, March 1st Evie had surgery to try and correct the CDH. The doctors hoped to put her intestines back down where they belonged and sew up the hole in her diaphragm. What they discovered was that Evie was more unique then they thought. Not only did she have CDH, but she also had Hepatic Pulmonary Fusion, making her  1 of only 8 babies in the world! Hepatic Pulmonary Fusion means that Evie’s liver was also up in her chest cavity and was joined to her lung.
Although Evie may be classified as having a “defect” it is obvious that she is a perfect baby girl and God is holding her right in the palm of His hand. It’s weird, even though I would never wish for the road my family has been on, I am also grateful for the many blessings God has given us in this hard time. The love and prayers of our family, church and friends has been incredible! The flow of meals and offers of service has been amazing. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for and been there for us!
Through this difficult time God has been so good! Evie’s liver is still joined to her lung, but it was discovered that each organ has its own separate blood vessels. This means they may be able to be separated at some point. Evie is no longer getting help from the ventilator or nasal canula, and is completely breathing on her own. Her feeding tube is only being used at night, during the day my mom is able to feed her. She no longer has any needles, IV’s or PICC lines poking her! All my family can say is glory and thanks be to God for His faithfulness and protection!
Evie continues to wow everyone who comes in contact with her. Thank you for your continued support and prayers! If you would like more timely updates about her progress you can check out her Facebook page: For the Love of Evie.Â
OK guys, I’m no longer referring to calves. She, as in MY NEW BABY SISTER, has just arrived! Evangelene Lorraine Richmond weighs 7 pounds 6 ounces and is 20 Â inches long.
I’ll post some pictures once Dad has a chance to send me some. Just wanted to let you all know!
For those of you whose heart just skipped a beat, thinking I was talking about my mom, I do apologize. Just so we’re clear, I DON’T mean my dear mother. Nope, I’m talking about my Jersey cow Ruby who just gave birth to twin heifers (girls)! Although my mom hasn’t delivered yet, she is in the hospital right now and we’re expecting a phone call soon!
Since Dad and Granny are with Mom, I’m holding the fort today. While I was making lunch my uncle sent me a text and told me that Ruby had calved (given birth). I asked if the baby was a boy or a girl and he said girls. I simply assumed that the plural girls was a typo, since it is very rare for cows to have more than one calf at a time. According to the University of Tennessee, there is a less than 1.3% chance a Jersey will give birth to twins. When Uncle Chuck texted me again, he asked if I wanted him to feed them. My heart raced a little at the word “them”, but I shrugged it off as meaning feed the  calf colostrum and Ruby some post-calving electrolytes (which is something we sometimes do if we think the cow needs it). When I asked him to clarify he said Ruby had given birth to twin girls!Â
I am so excited about this double blessing! Here are some pictures of the little sweet hearts! I wonder what I should name them? Any suggestions?
I promise to post pictures of Mom’s new baby as soon as she arrives!
“I can’t imagine a man really enjoying a book and reading it only once.”
―C.S. Lewis
Have you ever had a book that feels like an old friend? No matter how many times you read it, it still makes you laugh and cry all over again. Opening its dog-eared pages is just as comfortable as slipping into a pair of well-worn slippers or snuggling down into a favorite blanket.
That’s exactly how I feel each time I read The Story of the Treasure Seekers by Edith Nesbit. Although this is my first review for The Classics Club it’s probably my sixth time reading it (don’t worry, re-reads are allowed). There’s just something delightfully charming about this children’s story first published in 1899.
The book follows the adventures of six siblings, named Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel and Horace Octavious (H.O.),  living in turn-of-the-century England. Since their mother is dead and their father is preoccupied with the family’s financial troubles the children are pretty much left to themselves. They decide to each come up with an idea of how  to “restore the fallen fortunes of the House of Bastable” and try each one. This involves them in many humorous and exciting adventures, from being detectives, to marrying a princess (it really does happen!!), to digging for buried treasure.
I love how each of the children have their own believable personality and flaws, as opposed to being cookie-cutter “angels”. Even though they are “poor” and motherless, their creative imaginations and love of books prevents them from ever being bored or feeling sorry for themselves. In fact, their selfless generosity is what ultimately leads to the happy ending of the book (but I won’t say any more 🙂 ). My favorite character was probably Oswald. The narrator’s identity is supposed to be a secret, but you quickly realize that it’s him (there’s a chapter titled “The Nobleness of Oswald).
I never realized until today that one of my favorite authors drops a hint of  The Treasure Seekers in one of his books. At the beginning of The Magician’s Nephew by C.S. Lewis it says:
“This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandfather was a child…In those days Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living in Baker Street and the Bastables were looking for treasure in the Lewisham Road.“ !
How cool is that?
This is a wonderful book if you’re looking for a short read that is sweet and funny!
Book: The Story of the Treasure Seekers: Being the Adventures of the Bastable Children in Search of a Fortune
Author: Edith Nesbit
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Finish date: Uh…sometime this month (can’t remember exactly, oops)
Book list number: 1 of 205
Favorite quotes:
“It is one of us that tells this story—but I shall not tell you which: only at the very end perhaps I will. While the story is going on you may be trying to guess, only I bet you don’t. It was Oswald who first thought of looking for treasure. Oswald often thinks of very interesting things. And directly he thought of it he did not keep it to himself, as some boys would have done, but he told the others”
“Albert’s uncle says I ought to have put this in the preface, but I never read prefaces, and it is not much good writing things just for people to skip. I wonder other authors have never thought of this.”
“People think six is a great many, when it’s children. …they don’t mind six pairs of boots, or six pounds of apples, or six oranges, especially in equations, but they seem to think that you ought not to have five brothers and sisters.”
” ‘I shall print all your poems, my poet; and now what do you think they’re worth?’Â
‘I don’t know,’ Noel said. ‘You see I didn’t write them to sell.’ ” (Oh Noel, you and I truly are “brother poets”! That’s exactly how I feel!)
“And the little girl was carried away screaming, and kicking with her little thin legs and her buttoned boots, and between her screams she shrieked: “Common children! I am glad, glad, glad! Common children! Common children!”
“If you hold a guinea-pig up by his tail his eyes drop out.”
“O reader, have you ever been playing Red Indians in blankets round a bedroom fire in a house where you thought there was no one but you—and then suddenly heard a noise like a chair, and a fire being poked, downstairs? Unless you have you will not be able to imagine at all what it feels like.”
(OK, I’d better stop, because I could pretty much write the whole book here as favorite!)
P.S. Technically I didn’t “read” this book, I listened to it in audio form. If you’ve never heard of Librivox, you should totally check it out. They have hundreds of public domain books on audio that you can listen to for free, and many of the readers are quite good. Or, if you would prefer reading the book yourself for free try Project Gutenberg.
Today is my blog’s first birthday! Whether you’ve been around since I started blogging last February or you just found me today, thank you for following my corner of the blogosphere!
I was inspired to start this blog so I could talk about life on a farm, but also to share my passion for Civil War reenacting and books, among other things. This coming year I hope to blog a little more frequently and give you some really great posts about how cows are cared for on our farm. But I need your help! What would you like to hear me write about? Maybe you have a question about dairy farming, history or growing up in a family of nine soon to be ten. Leave a comment or shoot me an email with your suggestion, I’d love to hear from you!
Thanks again for following along, I hope to celebrate many more blog birthdays!
P.S. Thank you to everyone who is thinking of and praying for my mom! I know she really appreciates it. I promise to post pictures as soon as our bundle of joy arrives!
“In reading great literature I become a thousand men and yet remain myself…I see with a myriad of eyes,but it is still I who see.”Â
―C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism
You may have noticed my new blog page called The Classics Club. Pretty much it’s a page for my Classics Club book list. I discovered this club from the wonderful blogs of Miss Dashwood and Petie (lovely blogs written by two very sweet girls! Check them out if you haven’t already!). Basically the idea is to make a list of at least 50 classic books, read them within 5 years and write a review on your blog after you finish each book.  Of course once I got started I couldn’t stop, so here is my list of 205 classic books (unless I cave and add more 
 ) that I hope to have read by 5 years from now. When I read  a book I’ll cross it off the list and link to my review.
Let me know what you think or if there’s a book that needs to be on there!
“Emma has been meaning to read more ever since she was twelve years old. I have seen a great many lists of her drawing up at various times of books that she meant to read regularly through—and very good lists they were—very well chosen, and very neatly arranged—sometimes alphabetically, and sometimes by some other rule. The list she drew up when only fourteen—I remember thinking it did her judgment so much credit, that I preserved it some time; and I dare say she may have made out a very good list now. But I have done with expecting any course of steady reading from Emma. She will never submit to any thing requiring industry and patience, and a subjection of the fancy to the understanding.”Â
― Jane Austen, Emma
(hopefully my attempt won’t end up like Emma’s!  )
Number of Books: 205
Book read so far: 0
Start Date: February 17, 2013
End Date:Â February 17, 2018
In my last post I told you a little about the bloodiest day in American history, the Battle of Antietam and showed some pictures from the actual battlefield. Now I’m going to share pictures from the reenactment.
Special thanks to Stephen Hardman from Hagerstown, MD for emailing me all the Antietam pictures! Photos that say Stephen Hardman were taken by him. All photo editing and color effects was my doing.
With more than 22,000 casulties the Battle of Antietam was the bloodiest day in American history. Fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland, this battle was part of General Robert E. Lee’s plan to bring the war to the North. Lee thought that invading the Union state of Maryland would give war torn Virginia a reprieve from the fighting and perhaps even make slave-owning Maryland part of the Confederacy.
In September I was able to attend the reenactment that took place during the 150th anniversary of the battle. A small bunch from our reenacting group headed down to Maryland and met up with some more Bucktails there. This was the biggest reenactment I had ever been to, so it was pretty exciting! Since I was only one of two ladies from our group that were going I had a great time hanging with our guys and learning from them about the battle.
The reenactment was held on a farm close to where the battle took place, but not on the original field since that is preserved by the National Park Service. On the second day we were there we did have a chance to go visit the actual site. This was only the second time I had been to a real Civil War battlefield. I think the part that amazed me the most was being able to see some of the landmarks and features that had been there since the battle. Reading about a battle is one thing, but actually seeing the rifle pits that were dug by Confederate soldiers or the Sunken Road that Union soldiers attacked makes it much more real and impactful.
Some of the things we were able to see were….
Antietam Creek, the (Union) namesake of the battle. The Confederates called the battle Sharpsburg, after the town near where the battle took place.
Burnside’s Bridge, where Union Major General Ambrose Burnside and the Ninth Corp attempted to cross Antietam Creek and attack the Confederates on the heights above. Even though there were only a small number of Confederates, they were able fire down on the Federals from the heights above the bridge and hold them off.
Along with the Confederate rifle pits (that unfortunately I couldn’t get a good picture of) and the bridge itself, there was also a tree they think has been growing there since the Civil War! It’s called a witness tree.
Another thing I saw was the Dunker Church, where fighting took place as the Federals attacked the Confederate left flank. The ironic thing is that the Dunkers themselves were pacifists. The original church blew down in a storm in 1921. The church that stands there now was actrually reconstructed using as many pieces as possible from the original.
The Sunken Road was one of the three main areas of fighting during the battle. The Confederates were stationed in a road that had been wore away into a trench from use. The Union forces tried to overcome the Confederates, but it took over four hours until they were sucessful. Casulties were so high the road was nicknamed “Bloody Lane”.
This is what it would look like if you were a Confederate in the Sunken Road:
It would be really hard to see the Union attackers until they were practically on top of you. Conversely, if you were a Union soldier you wouldn’t know where the Confederates were until you almost fell into the trench.
After visiting the battlefield we went and saw Antietam National Cemetery where 4,776 Union remains are buried from the Battle of Antietam and other battles from the Maryland campaign (including South Mountain and Monocacy).
If you would like to learn more about the Battle of Antietam check out these links:
National Park Service – Antietam
Civil War Trust – Antietam (the animated map on here is great!)
My next post will be pictures from the reenactment!
The Farming Daughter 