Off to the Farm

Where there is a will there is a way. That’s always been the human spirit. I don’t think it is in scripture anywhere, but I’m sure that some rendition of it should be. Today has been a good day. I’m writing this fairly early for me because I don’t know whether we will try to watch a movie later. Right now Anna is watching “A Cat in the Hat” and Lisa is trying to get Julia to sleep. Good luck with that. Anyway when you are with kids all day you have to take the time when it makes itself available. But I digress, back to the will and the way.

Lisa has done a lot of research. I’ve read a great deal of it and it seems to make sense. What she has decided is that if the girls are going to drink milk, then raw milk is the best for them. I do know that it taste much better, and I used to drink it all the time when I was a kid. In fact, I remember the milkman delivering the milk in quart jars. The cream rose to the top, and the milk was so good. But like so many things in our lives, the government decided that raw milk could possibly be unsafe. They wanted it homogenized and then pasteurized and finally ultra pasteurized. But the only way to get people to buy the milk that didn’t taste like milk any more was to make it illegal to sell raw milk for human consumption. So, that is what has happened.

Every state has different laws, but basically it’s against the law to sell raw milk for human consumption in most, if not all, of the 50 states. In Georgia, you can sell raw milk as long is it is for the use of your “pets”. So everybody who can find an outlet can usually buy milk for their family. In Virginia it is totally illegal to sell raw milk for any purpose. But like I said; where there is a will, there is a way. Lisa has become part owner of two dairy cows. From each cow she gets one gallon of milk a week. So she gets two gallons of raw milk. She won sprat of the cow, so the government can’t tell her she can’t drink it. At least not yet. So today we drove out about 45 minutes to the farm to pick up her milk. She does this every week. We saw a lot of cows, but I didn’t know which one she has part ownership in. It’s fairly expensive, but it falls in with what she believes and I support her 100%.

That is only one way the government is interfering with her choices when it comes to raising the kids, but that is for another day. I think that is one or the reasons she is looking forward to Alaska. She knows there is much more independence there and less intrusion by the government. I know that she will fir in great up there. Shoot, she might even learn to hunt and fish. The farm was fun for the kids, especially Anna. We saw chickens, petted goats and tried to stay out of the mud. It was a cold dreary day, but the kids still enjoyed the diversion.

Then we went to target to buy a birthday present for one of Anna’s friends. We are going to a roller-skating party tomorrow afternoon, and I might skate for the first time in probably 20 years. I think the last time I roller skated was at Sprinkles rink in Kennesaw when Lisa must have been 10 or 12. Well, I’m game and it should be fun. I think I can still balance. It will probably be easier than ice-skating. I’m sure I will wind up doing that in Alaska soon enough. At least it will be indoors tomorrow. I don’t know when it will warm up here, but it sure hasn’t happened yet.

It’s been great being with the girls today. Julia has warmed up to me even more than she did at Christmas. Just having her in my arms snuggling her face into my shoulder is so cool. And Anna, well she is a treat. She is full of personality and has an answer for everything. Four is a good year. She is so full of self-confidence. I pray that her opinion of herself never changes. Right now she sees herself as God sees her, able to do anything through Him. She is so close to Him, and has no inhibitions about loving others. Watching her really makes me understand how we are to be as believers, and how far I still have to come to understand all that God has and feels for me. All of us should be able to spend time with a four year old just to realize how God feels about us and how much He wants us to accomplish.