a week ago
parker casually mentioned to buck how
wide our
goat looked. in the same breath he said there could be
no way.
goatie had gotten out only a
handful of times, during the
renovation of
goatie's home. as we were leaving for
mothers day dinner,
parker went out to
feed the animals. he noticed something in the corner of
goatie's pin. he ran inside,
yelling for the kids and i to come see.
quincy was in her
element. without hesitation she hopped the fence and was loving on the
baby kid. the others did get a
glance or two, but she had
quincy wrapped. 
we're
new at this. this is my first "farm" experience. i feel like
i've come a
long way. i could have cared less about
animals before. 6 baby cows, a piglet and a
kid later...things have changed. i found myself in
tears tonight as
parker announced that baby
goatie wasn't going to "make it." she lay
exhausted, and
starved in the straw. baby's
mum had rejected her, or she wouldn't
suckle...we don't know. we said a family
prayer....the kids didn't make a peep. our neighbors, and somewhat
experienced animal people are always the first ones i run to. at
9pm, she quickly grabbed her shoes and came to see what she could do. they don't
breed goats. parker milked the mum in the meantime, and was trying to bottle feed the baby. occasionally, using every once of energy she had, she would let out a yelp. and i would sob. quincy was silent. parker's cousin was contacted, and quickly came over. he held the kid, and rocked it-it was amazing. he dipped his finger in the mothers milk, and tried to get baby goatie to suckle. nothing. i stood there helpless-i felt like an idiot. i brought my kids inside, while they took the baby to another neighbor, a goat "expert." they fed it by a tube. they told parker as he left, "don't count on it." our baby will stay with them for the next couple days, as they try and bring it back to life. and we will patiently wait for good news. 
my little kid is
walking all over the place.
12 steps is the record! she is getting so big!
