If they could talk....

My alpacas are so funny..... They are each so different in personalties, quirks and habits. The other day Emily and I were thinking about what each of them would say if they had to write a letter; it was hilarious what some of the things we came up with were! So I decided to share the chuckle with y'all and share the letters....

First would be Bella Mia's letter. Mia is my drama queen; quick to spit at you, quick to give you a kiss, always getting her own way.... A true diva. ;) This is probably what she would say:

Hello? Heeeellllllooooo!? First off, why am I writing a letter to you? Shouldn't you be writing a letter to me!? Well, we'll settle that later. My name is Bella Mia; Which means 'Beautiful One', I think it fits me pretty well. I looooooove life! For fun, I like to try and stomp the barn cats, pull on Marina's tail, spit at Mira and roll in the dirt. Ah, life is good.... My owner is pretty nice too. She and I go on these walks every morning, and I get to choose where we go! The other day, we decided to visit the other humans who live inside the people barn (aka "house"), but they wouldn't let me come inside. That made me mad. Right now I'm mad at my owner. I don't know why; it's just fun to be mad. Well, enough said. I only do autographs from 10 am, to 1 pm, so if you want one you'll have to try and get to me sometime then. Chow!
~The all important Mia~

Life is never boring with Mia... Next would be Marina, my white Huacaya. 'Rina loves her food, and would probably continue eating even during a hurricane.

Ummm, Hi. My name is Marina. I like my name, it reminds me of food. do you like food? I like food. I like it how it's so munchy and crunchy and it usually tastes so yummy! With age comes wisdom, and I have both. Throughout life I have learned many a thing. One: Don't try and spit at your neighbor while you have food in your mouth, because you end up spitting all your precious food out and then you don't have it any more. Although, it is kind of fun watching them recoil in disgust..... Two: I've learned that if you suck your stomach in really hard, you owner will sometimes give you more food, because she thinks you're underweight. I'm pretty fluffy so this takes much talent to do well. And three: When trying to avoid getting your dose of dewormer, you should very sneakily put your tongue in the way and then merely spit the offending stuff out when you owner has turned away. Favorite pastimes? Eating grain, eating hay, eating grass, playing with the water in my bucket and sleeping. Speaking of eating.... I think I hear my food calling.
May the food be with you! --Marina

Yup, that's 'Rina. :) Salinda and Mira were pretty hard to do as both are pretty shy. Here's my sweet Sayla girl.

Hi there, I'm Salinda. What is an alpaca supposed to tell a human? Hmmmm, well for starters, I'm 12 years old, which is pretty old for an alpaca, and I've had quite a few babies in my time. I'm expecting another by the end of April too. My owner treats me like a queen! I get Raspberry leaf, and kelp powder, chamomile, peppermint and even Thyme! I think she worries about me having a difficult birth, but I'll show her. I haven't had nine babies for nothin'. Life is pretty quiet around here, which is nice. I enjoy standing in the sunlight, grazing with my friends and watching their antics together. Hmmmm, I can't think of anything else, really. So I shall end my little letter here.
Sincerely, Salinda

Lastly, but not leastly, Altimira.

Greetins', My handle is Altimira but most jus' call me Mira. I'm a bit of a plain Jane, never have cared for flounces and other such things. I'm the leader of the herd, which is pretty fun I guess. Although, of the late, Mia has been trying to be top in pecking order. But I squash her flat every time and then she goes off and sulks. Like Salinda, I'm gettin' on in my years, but I'm actually a year younger than her. I'm expecting my eighth baby in September. The weather's been pretty cold lately, lots of frost and rain. I'm not particularly fond of cold weather, because that means that the barn cats will be sleeping in our hay at night. And I don't like it when they do that. I spend my days watching grass grow and counting cars as they go past. It's a good way to spend one's day.
Well, look both ways before crossing a road, and always carry an umbrella with you when going out. ~Mira

I'm still trying to crack through Mira's shell, but I'll get her in the end....

Thus ends this post. ~Caitlyn

Wishing all our readers....

A Blessed and Christ-filled Christmas!!

The King's Child authors

Places to hide Christmas presents from nosey kids

Christmas is almost here! But where to hide those presents so no one will find them? Here are a few places that should work....

1. In the oven. Just please make sure that you take the gift out before baking!

2. Up the chimmney. This is an especially good spot; if you don't mind a little bit of soot on your gift.

3. Inside the turkey. Come on, who on earth would think to look inside the Christmas turkey for their present!

4. Underneath the cat. Just give him lots of food and try to keep him in one spot. You can't go wrong!

5. On top of the mantle. No one would look there because it's too easy.

6. Underneath the car hood. I guess it would have to be a smaller sized gift to fit in there....

7. Inside the piano. Just don't let anyone tune it for a few weeks.

8. Inside a tissue box. If you try this one, let me know how you managed to get the gift in there and then put all the tissues back in. ;D

Merry Christmas!

~Caitlyn

This is Real. This is Life.

~Megan

Ahem, methinks they're multiplying...

A week after bringing Mia and Marina home, a problem came up that began to escalate. Mia (my dark brown girl) was treating Marina (my white huacaya girl) like her own baby. Meaning, if I went near Marina, Mia would immediately begin spitting at me! This continued to escalate until finally Mia tried jumping on me and pinning me to the ground! I had no clue what to do about this, so I e-mailed the owners.

They apologized profusely for Mia's behavior and thought that perhaps another alpaca around would help even things out. I was flat broke, so I knew that I wouldn't be able to buy the female that they were bringing over. However, they hinted darkly at my keeping her. The new arrival's name was Altamira (alt-uh-meer-uh), and was soooo pretty! Standing at five and a half feet tall (that's tall for an alpaca!) and eyeing me with huge liquid brown eyes, I wished that I could afford her. When the owners were getting ready to leave they surprised me again! First they asked: "Would you want to keep her?" Of which I said "Yes!" They then continued to say that she was mine.

For free.

I was so happy! Three alpacas! Then they dropped the next bombshell.

Oh, and she pregnant by the way. She's been bred to a pure black male and she is due in August.

Now imagine my dumbfounded look as they continued still more!!

"But, you really shouldn't have just one baby around as that can cause behavioral problems, so would you like another pregnant female?"

Gracious! I've gone from two alpacas to six! So today, my fourth girlie came. This new one's name is Salinda (say-lin-duh). She's my beauty of the bunch. The color of ivory, the feel of silk, the biggest eyes I have ever seen! That's my girlie. :) Oh, and Salinda is due around April 30th!!

They weren't quite giving them to me for free. When they found out that I spun, we made a deal. two pregnant alpacas for spun alpaca fiber! They've given me four pounds to spin so far.

I offered to give both babies to them, as they have done so much for me; but their only answer was, "what if we helped you sell them?" :0 They assured me that they were just happy that the girls were at a good home. They had tried selling Salinda before, but they just couldn't find a good enough home for her. A lot of people ask me what's wrong with the alpacas, since they were given. There's nothing wrong! These girls are show quality, breeders! (well, Mia is just a pet since she can't be bred) They were a gift! A blessing.

Sure enough, with two more girls out here, Mia calmed down and I can handle Marina all I want.

It is so nice looking outside and seeing my own alpacas outside!

My Mia... She is still my top favorite. She comes up to me and rests her head on my shoulder while I rub her silky neck.

Salinda. Isn't she lovely?

Marina! Alas, she is rather camera shy, so getting a picture at all is something! She is very docile, and I gave my first SubQ shot on her today! She's my one huacaya girl.


And last but not least. Altimira. She and Salinda are both 11 years old, but their fiber is still incredibly soft! I'm praying for a pure black female baby from her!

The question is not "why have alpacas", it's "why NOT have alpacas!"

I am blessed.

~Caitlyn

What can I say!? 'Tis the season!

Of the late I have been bubbling over with posts that I have been wanting to do here; but either A: I don't have the pictures that I need, or B: I don't have the time! December is a busy month over here! December highlights are always:

Scrambling to finish Christmas presents.

trying to find a matching pair of gloves to wear outside into our 20 degree tundra (it's cold to me!).

Hauling water out to the barn because the water pipes have become frozen.

Giving thanks that I don't have to milk any dairy animals anymore that have to be milked in the cold.

Clunking around in rain boots that are frozen stiff.

And then of course there are the not-so-seasonal things going on:

Putting the finishing touches on my new yarn website (almost done! I will give y'all the site name as soon as it is finished!)

trying to bury our water line, which is back breaking work. But I' ve learned a lot! I am now a proffesional polaski (don't know if that's spelled right, but you know what I mean) user. Alas, the frost came to soon and there is still somewhere around 30 or 40 feet still unburied.

Tee-hee, getting a few more girlies out in the barn (I'll try to post about that tomorrow!) God is Good!

Dreaming up vintage dresses ([sigh] yet another post a'coming)

And enjoying velvety alpaca kisses and nuzzles..... :)

~ A busy, but blessed, Caitlyn

I stood back --- And watched....

I am amazed.... And humbled.... And blessed.

The Lord is good!

Before I get to far, I want to warn you that this post is going to be ridiculously long.

Ever since going to the Flock and Fiber Festival back in September, I have been snooping around, hunting down some fiber animals of my own. I really didn't care if I got sheep, goats, llamas.... I just wanted my own source for fiber! But, I had in error in my ways.

I was trying to do this all on my own. I never asked the Lord for guidance, I just floundered about on my own. Oh I found plenty of animals that I thought were perfect; a lady was giving her herd of angora rabbits away for free, there were some pregnant llamas for $50, the cashmere goats for $25.... You get the picture.

But the timing was never right. "Oh yeah, I would need some feed and cages for those rabbits.." "Oh, I don't have the money to buy enough hay for those llamas..." "That's right! Those goats would jump right over that saggy part of the fence..." Etc.

Finally, in my frustration, I prayed and said: "Lord, I give up! Your will be done, if you want me to have some fiber animals I will trust you to work it out, if you don't want me to have any, please grant me contentment."

It was like having a huge weight lifted. I could now go about my daily life, knowing that it was in His hands. :)

A few days later, while trying to find some good quality alpaca wool (remember? I gave up looking.) I stumbled onto a website called 'mahartalpacas.com' These people were about an hour away and had very nice alpacas. Okay, I couldn't help but look at their 'pacas they were selling. Scrolling through the list I saw the usual, $6,000 thru $12,000 for alpacas.

Then I saw it.

What's this? A female huacaya for $100!!! And they're having a 50% off sale!! That would make her $50!!! Needless to say, I was kerflummuxed.

I didn't do anything at first, aside from showing my mom. Instead I prayed about it.... And prayed about it, and prayed about it some more. I really felt that this was the Lord's will, so I e-mailed the owners....

There were still a lot of things to think about though! I would need a companion, hay, feed, ect. But I never felt worried, I was merely along for the ride. The Lord was the one who was busy working it all out. And I got to watch it first hand.

After getting the okay from my dad, I set a date with the owners to come see Marina, the female alpaca. I learned that the owners had tried and failed to get 'Rina bred for a couple years, so they were just selling her as a fiber pet, hence the price. She was a lovely blue eyed white, with a lovely temperament to match it. While we were at the ranch, visiting, the owners introduced us to Bella Mia, the most beautiful, dark brown, female, suri alpaca I had ever seen. She too was unbreedable because she had birthing problems. I had seen Mia on their website, but didn't pay too much attention because they were selling her for $500.

When we were beginning to leave, they asked if I would consider a package deal for both girls. I was thinking, "Hmmm, they'll probably offer something like $250 for the pair, and I can't afford that." But I told them I might consider it.

"Would you take $50 for both." That was their offer.

My answer was something like "I beg your pardon!?"

They said they would be happy knowing that Marina and Mia would be at a good home, so money wasn't a big deal. They also offered to sell me some hay for a super good price!

I thought I would burst with happiness and excitement! The Lord provided a companion and hay!!

On the day that we picked the girls up, the owners surprised me again! They were giving me a free sack of feed (one sack stretches a looooong time), medicines and then, she wouldn't let me pay for the hay!!!

I am so happy with my girls now. :) Mia is my drama queen, who never does anything halfway. Marina is my laid back sweetie. Both are so friendly that I can barely believe it!

I did warn you that this post was going to be long, didn't I? Sorry. :-/

Because of the rainy weather, Emily hasn't been able to get any great pictures of the girls, but here are some okay ones.

Hmmm, Emily is so captivated with Mia that she forgot to get a good picture of Marina! That'll have to be the next post I guess...

I stood back --- and watched.....

~Caitlyn

Can't

Can't
by Edgar Guest

Can't is the worst word that's written or spoken;
Doing more harm here than slander and lies;
On it is many a strong spirit broken,
And with many a good purpose dies.
It springs from the lips of the thoughtless each morning
And robs us of courage we need through the day;
It rings in our ears like a timely sent warning
And laughs when we falter and fall by the way.

Can't is the father of feeble endeavor,
The parent of terror and half-hearted work;
It weakens the efforts of artisans clever,
And makes of the toiler an indolent shirk.
It poisons the soul of the man with a vision,
It stifles in infancy many a plan;
It greets honest toiling with open derision
And mocks at the hopes and the dreams of a man.

Can't is a word none should speak without blushing;
To utter it should be a symbol of shame;
Ambition and courage it daily is crushing;
It blights a man's purpose and shortens his aim.
Despise it with all of your hatred of error;
Refuse it the lodgement it seeks in your brain;
Arm against it as a creature of terror,
And all that you dream of you someday shall gain.

Can't is the word that is foe to ambition
An enemy ambushed to shatter your will;
It's prey is forever the man with a mission
And bows but to courage and patience and skill.
Hate it with hatred that's deep and undying,
For once it is welcomed 'twill break any man;
Whatever the goal you are seeking, keep trying
And answer this demon by saying: "I can."

~Megan

Wisdom of Jane Austen

"It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury accrue either to body or mind; but when a beginning is made -- when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt -- it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more." ~ Jane Austen

"Felicities of rapid motion", I like that.... :)

~Caitlyn

Goodness! Has it really been a year!?

We have now officially been writing this blog for a whole year.

(Que for applause) ;D

We want to thank everyone for their encouragement through the year! Thank you for visiting, for commenting, for everything! All three of us have been very blessed. :D

Thank you.

~Caitlyn, Megan and Emily

Because I like it....

Some of my readers may remember this picture from last year.... But I just had to put it up again. :) It's still my favorite picture that Emily has gotten....

~Caitlyn

Gone!

Hurray! My braces are finally off for good! :D

~Caitlyn

'Shrooms

That's what we call mushrooms anyway. ;D

A couple weeks ago we noticed the most adorable little mushrooms growing under one of our pine trees. While they are most likely poisonous :( they are just too cute to pull up.

See?

~Caitlyn

Veteran's Day

Today is Veteran's day, as y'all know. I'm suddenly finding myself thinking about our veteran's more and more. As it's been said, I'm indebted to them and I can never repay them, both to those who laid down their lives for their country, those who lived for it and those who are fighting for it yet. I'm beginning to realize just how much I owe them. They are in my prayers daily.
THANK YOU, VETERANS, FOR WHAT YOU HAVE GIVEN!

As an aside (for those of you who care about this sort of thing), Guess what happened today, ninety-one years ago at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month?
You got it! On this day, ninety-one years ago, the armistice was signed, ending World War I!
I know, I'm kinda weird.

~Megan

A father, daughter day.....

It is soooo nice having a professional photographer for a dad! This year I had my senior pictures done (am I really that old?), and dad and I had a fun morning together.....

For a while I had hoped to have my senior pics done in a lavender field, but in the end we went with the traditional fall colors. It was cold that morning! But luckily you can't tell that my teeth were chattering in the pictures. ;)

Dad got a lot of pictures, but I think that these three are my favorite.....

~Caitlyn

We really are still here.....

I apologize for being silent for so long.....

But methinks life gets busier and busier as one get older.....

The autumnal changes and colors are in full swing over here, bringing new changes and days with it....

Senior pictures (I'll post a few of those soon!), last year of school, praying about college decisions, chores, teaching, learning, living..... that's life in a nustshell....

I got a job, spinning for a yarn company, but decided that I could do better selling my own yarn than spinning for someone else. So I quit that job and am now increasingly busy, getting my own online yarn store started......

The days are wrapped in a colorful scarf, tinged with goldenrod, scarlet and amber...... Emily and I enjoy walking through the crunchy leaves at dusk together.....

All three of us work harmoniously upstairs together in our sewing room..... You here piano pieces being played, spinning wheels purring, pens scratching..... we never say much, but then, there's never a need; we know each other's thoughts......

Life is busy, but I enjoy it.... I love waking up in the morning and seeing all the lovely colors out the window, then beginning my day.....

I am enjoying life to the fullest.....

~Caitlyn

Differences

Life is odd. Or more appropriately, we are odd. Three sisters, so close and so much alike, yet so different.

Emily's little corner with her beloved keyboard...

My domain, where I reign happy as a queen, might be accurately described as a 'war-zone'...

Caitlyn's territory...


Her spinning paraphernalia takes up half of the sewing room. This is her 'scanty fiber stash'. -wink- ;D

~Megan

I am so blessed....

The past two weeks have been so overwhelming for me; it's been blessing after blessing, with the timing so perfect that I can barely fathom it.

The biggest blessing was the Mountain Dulcimer.....

I've been wanting a dulcimer of my own for years, but I could never find one that was in my price range. Then, a friend of my mom's said I could borrow her's for as long as I wanted!! These instruments are so fun. Delightfully loud (I like loud instruments ;D) and delightfully easy. You don't have to know how to read music either, which is a huge plus for me as I don't know how.

Here's a video of me playing 'Power in the Blood'. (sorry it's sideways!)

Delightfully loud.

Delightfully easy. ;D

~Caitlyn

This made me smile

I found this cute you-tube on a sheep breeder's website. If you're wondering, these sheep are called 'Jacobs' and interstingly enough, many of them have four horns instead of just two. :)

The title is "lambs popcorning"!




Here's slide show of some really nice looking, 4 horned Jacob sheep. I really like these sheep and have often thought about getting a few. :D






~Caitlyn

I never would have guessed.....

That my sisters and I would ever be interested in archery.


It all started when little brother Jacob got a small bow of his own. While it was on the small side, Meg and Em were still able to use it, and so they began working on their aim and dreaming of someday getting a bigger bow....

And me? Well, for the longest time I never could figure out why the girls liked it so much; Jacob's bow was entirely too small for me so I never tried it. I just watched them shoot this teeny thing and then go hunt the arrows down when they missed the target.

Yesterday, we went to a small archery place (Kutch's archery), because Megan finally had enough to buy a bow! She tried a couple of compounds and a recurve, finally deciding on a compound for her first. The owner of the shop ordered the bow that she liked and it should be here early next week! Meg actually hasn't tried this particular bow yet, so the owner said that if she doesn't like it than he'll just keep it and we can try another.

Ahem, while Meg was trying out the recurve bow, I hesitantly asked if I could try it. Oh boy.... I was hooked!! While I certainly never got a bull's eye (I never even managed to hit the actual target!) I really enjoyed using it. I tried a compound, but I loved everything about the recurve. It's definitely more challenging than using a compound bow, but that's one of the reasons that I like it so much. Because, once you've mastered a recurve, everything else is easy! I also really, really like it how they look like a "real" bow. Just a simple curved piece of wood with a string. :)

I'll bet you can't guess what I'm saving for now, can you? ;D With luck I will be the new owner of a recurve bow in three or four months!

Who would've guessed that we would've ever entered the world of archery?...... ;D

~Caitlyn

Fun at the Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival

Saturday, September 26th was a day that I will remember for a loooong time.

Emily and I, along with some friends of ours, all went to the annual Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival, which is held in Canby. In all, we stayed 6 hours.... 6 Hours of everything fiber related..... From raw fiber, to yarn, to herding demos, to the sheep themselves! It was a blissful day.

We started the day out by watching the herding demonstrations; that was really fun! You could tell at a glance that the dogs loved what they were doing.



And Emily got a video!! The dog in here cracked me up. It was a red Border Collie, and his method, as you will see, was to crawl a few paces and then glare the ducks where he wanted them. I had heard about how Border Collies used their eyes to move stock, but this was my first time to ever see it!

Then began the actual shopping....

I looove these shades of yarn. Natural colors are always more beautiful than dyed, at least to my mind that is. :)

But I will admit that these skeins are pretty.

Ahem, my purse was a good deal lighter after I went home.... But you should see all the lovely fiber I got!!

This is my favorite picture that Emily got.

Art

Food for the eyes.

This was my favorite booth. Look at all those drop spindles!!

Art

Later in the day we wended our way to the animal barn. I met many a nice sheep there. ;)

Okay, so this fellow is actually a goat, not a sheep. He made me laugh. :D

I really like this little goat. Maybe someday I'll get my own Angora goats...

I mean, how could you not like a face like that?

I'm sure my friends think I'm 100% weird now; but I couldn't help but say 'how do you do?' to all the animals that I met. ;D

All the sheep there were so beautiful.... From the tiny Shetlands to the huge Wenslydales, you could tell that their owners really loved them.

But alas, all good things must come to an end. The drive home was fun too though, as we all sang hymns in the van.

T'was a very good day....

~Caitlyn

Just as He unfolds the rose....

I found this poem and liked it so much that I just had to share it with you all!

It is only a tiny rosebud,

A flower of God's design,

But I cannot unfold the petals,

With these clumsy hands of mine.

The secret of unfolding flowers

Is not known to such as I,

The flower God opens so sweetly,

In my hands would fade and die.

If I cannot unfold a rosebud,

This flower of God's design,

Then how can I have wisdom

To unfold this life of mine?

So I'll trust Him for His leading,

Each moment of every day,

And I'll look to Him for HIs guidance,

Each step of the pilgrim way.

For the pathway that lies before me,

My heavenly Father knows,

I'll trust Him to unfold the moments,

Just as he unfolds the rose.

~Anonymous

~Caitlyn