My Cup Overfloweth

Katarina is home!

Our new goats are home!

And Kate brought me a very special Christmas gift--a goat!

I know that you are all saying "what is so special about that, you already have umpteen zillion goats!"

Let me tell you, there is something special about this goat!

His mom is SG Little-Rainbow WBC Fr Toast. She was the #1 goat for milk production for her breed in 2006. His dad is Kastdemur's Kiss This, with a long string of champions in his background, including several reserve national champions. To be honest, to be in possession of a goat like this after only six years in goats is incredibly exciting. I think Katarina and Lynn Flemming were disappointed because I was relatively quiet and maybe even nonchalant when they placed his collar in my hand but I think maybe I was just distracted and overwhelmed by Katie being home, all the goats being unloaded, etc. As the hours go by and I think more and more about it I am just humbled and literally brought to tears. It is not simply having the chance to own such an awesome animal but also the gratitude to my daughter who sacrificed both months away from home and a great deal of her hard earned money (interns at goat dairies don't make a whole lot!) for her mother and the family business. God is so good, how did I ever come to deserve this? The truth is I do not deserve this but it is all God's grace that has blessed so generously.

Then add to this the fact the chance to host in our messy, chaotic, overwhelmingly noisy home someone like Lynn Flemming, a breeder of such exceptional animals for so many decades, an inspirational cheese-maker and American Dairy Goat Association judge...and my heart is full of emotions that are beyond description. To truly enjoy the visit, wish it was longer and that we were neighbors was just the cherry on the top of my goat milk ice-cream sundae! I was able to pick her brain and ask questions about the practicalities of goat dairying and this was wonderful. In many ways we feel like we are inventing the wheel here. It was nice to be able to act questions about the day to day issues and hear how someone else handles these situations. I think this relationship, begun by Katarina living and working there for the past four months, will prove invaluable and a great confirmation regarding our efforts and goals.

So...we have eleven very sweet, very nice girls for the dairy that I get to know (how fun!) from one breeder in New York, two more girls from Lynn Flemming (actually one is Katarina's and the other with a very fun and slightly odd story connected to one that I hope to share in the next few days) and a dream buck that will influence the direction of our herd for years to come.

And my baby is home, not just for Christmas but to stay.

How much more full could my cup be? It cannot. It truly overflows.