Pickles and Ice Cream

The kids and me on our "date night" Friday night :)

So...last week, and this past weekend were very long days... :) I worked seven straight, then had the weekend off, but to be perfectly honest, having the weekend off does not constitute having a day off.

Sharon and David had date night Friday night, so the kids and I had a sleepover in my room. We watched "Horton Hears a Who" and just enjoyed having the evening to ourselves. We got in bed a little later than the "norm," and then were awake by 7:15. We lounged around the room until 8:30 when we sat down to breakfast, and then it was out to the farm to care for the bunnies.

Oh yes! I haven't blogged about that yet, I don't think... Samantha has bunnies now. Well...WE have bunnies now. It takes an army...

Samantha&Aimee, Sharon&Clayrabelle and Me&Clae
This was on day one... :)

She is "showing" breeder bunnies and a meat pen for FFA. So, currently, we have 2 does (females) and 1 buck (male). The idea is that she has to have 3 identical baby bunnies to make a meat pen. The bunnies can have anywhere from 1 to 12 bunnies at a time. The younger they are, the more babies they tend to have. However, the younger they are, the more violent they tend to be to their young...starving them, eating them, and/or stomping on them until they kill them. (So sorry if you have just eaten before reading this...)

Our does are 6 months old. That means they have just become "of age" to breed. First time mothers are more apt to be not very nice to their babies than "seasoned" mothers. So we're all hoping and praying for the best with this whole situation.

Anyway, we have to go to the farm every day to take care of the bunnies. We have to wear thick pants, thick shirt, long socks (mine are soccer socks) on our arms - with thumb holes cut out so we can use our hands, and rubber boots.

It has been raining off and on for the past three weeks or so, so the barn is, to say the least, very icky. When you step into the barn, your boots just immediately begin to get sucked into the mud - I'm talking your shoe is in sticky mud 2 or 3 inches deep...it's like what walking in sinking sand would be like, I imagine... :P

Clae (prounounced Clay) is quite the calm bunny. He doesn't mind being held, he lets us get him out of his cage without any major drama, and is generally an easy-going fellow.

Clayrabelle doesn't like being transported. When she's in her cage she loves it. When she's in your arms she loves it. It's just that in between time. As soon as you open the door to her cage, she hops and crouches in the very back corner (when they're in the back corner, you can't reach them good enough to get them out - and they're smart enough to know this :D ). So, you have to stand at the door to her cage, pet her a while, and then slowly start moving your arm back to yourself. She will follow your hand, and if it's a good day, she'll come up and put her front legs up on your chest, and then it's just a matter of grasping her quickly, covering her eyes (that's what you do to make them feel "safe" - I don't know about y'all, but if someone went and put their hands over my eyes, the last thing I'd feel is safe! That's when I'd start kicking and bucking as if my life depended on it...but these bunnies are just plain strange! :) ), and pulling her very swiftly against your body. Then your golden. She's happy and you're happy. One big "hoppy" family - yeah...that joke hasn't gotten old yet! :D

Aimee...oh, Aimee... In one week, Aimee has tried to escape each and every time she's been held. She has been completely successful twice - once jumping straight out of Samantha's arms and into the mud in the middle of the barn (Samantha was walking around with her), and the second time straight out of Samantha's arms and into the middle of her "poopy spot." She tried to escape one day while Samantha was sitting down with her, and I thought Samantha was going to pull her legs off before it was over! :) She was holding on to her back legs for dear life, and that bunny was going wild! Finally she got enough grip on her and managed to get her clutched back in her arms and against her chest. Then another time David was holding her (while standing) and she made it halfway down his leg before he regained control. Basically, the bunny just doesn't wanna be messed with.

So today, the "bunny experts" came to the barn and talked to Sharon and Samantha - the kids were out of school today (Davis was there as well, but he told me, rather proudly, that while all those people were talking, he was playing in the puddles! :D) for two hours about what we're supposed to be doing with these bunnies. They looked at each of them, and they said that Clayrabelle and Aimee have not been held and loved on, so that's why they are so resistant to us. They encouraged them to continue our efforts, and that eventually they will be used to us and get with the program.

Anyway, we spent a while at the farm taking care of the bunnies, and while there, we found out that Clayrabelle was sick, so we had to call the bunny expert and figure out what to do about that. It was time to pre-treat the bunnies for ear mites - you put two drops of a mixture of baby oil and camphophenic in each ear once a month. Samantha was holding Aimee and Davis was holding Clae. Sharon put the drops in the bunnies ears, and then she and I were just hanging out watching the kids with the bunnies...and I'll let Davis' letter tell the rest... :)

"This is a true story about Samantha's bunnies and me. Mama had just put this ear bite prevention stuff in clay's ears when I felt a very very, warm feeling running trumendously quik down my freezing cold legs. It was a very awkward moment because I felt like I was peeing on myself but NO it was CLAY!!! I speedy quik ran in the van stripped down to nothing but a towl, cowboy hat, boots and sunglasses. When I got home I felt like dried and sticky molasses. So I cleaned not just up, but down too.

Signed,

The Very Humiliated and Sticky, DAVIS

PS. Clay is still my friend."

-I typed it exactly how it was written. And I tell you, that I laughed the whole time he was writing it this afternoon, and now I'm sitting here laughing again! And of course I laughed Saturday afternoon when it happened as well... Davis told me that I could share the picture with y'all, so here it is:


We went to the rodeo that afternoon/evening, and had a magnificent time! :) The Heartland Rodeo (here in Waco) is the "last stop" rodeo before the big kahuna rodeo in Las Vegas, so this is a pretty big deal! :) I thoroughly enjoy watching it all! It is definitely an art form.

Sunday was church day, and in true form, we went from sun up to sun down!

So I'm just now finally getting to catch you up - so sorry for the long post...but I have just a little bit more...if you can hang with me... :)

If you're wondering about the title of the blog, here it comes... :)

In the last week, especially this weekend, my heart is craving home. Never having been pregnant, I don't know for sure, but I would have to assume that the craving I have for home right now has to be very similar to that stereotypical "pickles and ice cream" pregnancy craving. I crave the smells, the sights, the sounds, the people, the culture.

I crave every minute aspect of it!

I cannot wait to be back at my church.
To sit in the living room with Mama and just be together - reading, talking, whatever - just being in the same room!
To eat supper with my family on Friday evenings, and to enjoy dinner with them on Sundays after church.
I can't wait to be back to help Marcia spray paint the ground, and prepare everything the night before Field Day, and to be there on Field Day to be right in the middle of it all!
I can't wait to be able to cook in my kitchen with my cooking utensils.
I can't wait to be able to plan the menu for the week!
I can't wait to watch something on a screen that's bigger than my laptop screen!
I can't wait to sleep in my bed!
I can't wait to be back in the middle of the fellowship in the church that has knelt before Him for me as I followed after the only One that could take my brokenness and turn it into beauty before Him, and the only One that could quench the thirst that was in my soul.

I am longing for home. And soon I will be there! :D

Thank you all so very much for praying for me, encouraging me, emailing and writing me, calling and texting me - reaching out just when I needed someone most, as I have traveled this road.

Sometimes the days seem so short, and others, it seems like forever 'til I'll be back in that "Georgia State of Mind"... :)

Love y'all more than I could ever hope to put into words! :)