Killdeer is still doing great. I can see no signs of infection, illness, or fever in her.
She is eating, drinking, and behaving normally. She is getting on the milk stand twice a day, and though we are dumping her milk for seven days due to the antibiotics in her system, I am thankful she is doing well enough that she can produce the same amount of milk she always has.
I’m still amazed every time I look at her. And her two doelings.
The one in the picture below is almost a carbon copy of her mama.
I was thinking of naming her Phoebe, after a bird called the Black Phoebe, and it fits her because the bird is black with a white belly. She is also black with a white belly. But as I was bottle feeding her this morning and then milking Killdeer a little later, a couple of songs came to mind, as they often do when I sit on the milk stand.
The first was “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” and the second was “Just as Good.”
I even have the hymn on my living room wall.
These are the words that stick out in my mind today:
Come Though Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise…
Here I raise my Ebenezer
Here by Thy great help I’ve come…
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger,
Bought me with His precious blood
Oh, to grace how great a debtor
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”
Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart
O, take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above
You’re still just as good as when I met You
You’re still just as kind
Don’t let me forget
That You’re still the same God
Who led me through the fire
You’re still the same God
Who separates the waters
Come do what only You can do
God, I need You
And I will build an altar
“Just as Good”
Stack it stone by stone
‘Cause every Ebenezer says I’ve never been alone
My faith will surely falter
But that don’t change what You’ve done
‘Cause every Ebenezer points to where my help comes from
An Ebenezer is a stone of remembrance. A point in time where God came through in a way that only He could, and in those times, out of thankfulness and praise, people of faith would build an altar of stones and set them up to serve as a reminder to them whenever they, or anyone else, saw them.
So, I was going to name this little black goat Phoebe, to keep in line with Killdeer’s family line of being named after birds.
But I think, instead, her name needs to be Ebby.
Killdeer’s second doeling will be named Sparrow. First, she’s the color of a sparrow, and naming her after a bird is in keeping with Killdeer’s family line. But more so than that, there’s another favorite hymn about a sparrow:
I sing because I’m happy
“His Eye is on the Sparrow”
I sing because I’m free
His eye is on the sparrow
And I know He watches me
There are several verses in Scripture that tell us how much God cares for even the birds, that neither sow, reap, nor store food for themselves in barns. And yet, God watches over them and knows every time one falls from the sky.
Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
Matthew 6:26 ESV
Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Matthew 10:29-31 ESV
Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds!
Luke 12:24 ESV
If God cares for the birds, then how much more important to Him are we?
Every time I see Killdeer, Ebby, and Sparrow in the pasture, I will be reminded of God’s goodness. Of how He heard me. Of how He came through mightily on behalf of our family farm.
He didn’t have to. And I certainly do not deserve that kind of favor and grace. I can only hope that this farm and these goats will serve as arrows that point others to Jesus.
When we started this farm at the end of 2020, I could never have imagined it would become what it has… for me.
Without our small herd, and Killdeer as goat matriarch over it, I would not have Buttercup, Ferguson, T-shirt, Maggie, Presley, Ebby, Sparrow, or any other goats born on this farm. Whether the goats are still here on the farm with us or not, I carry the lessons with me always. Without God orchestrating the events that led me to owning Killdeer, I wouldn’t have the many lessons I’ve learned; there are a great number of truths He has shown me through my goats.
I wouldn’t have found healing without this farm. It has been because of seemingly small choices that have led to this point, and more importantly, so many not-so-small mercies from God. It is all because of Him that any of these things are possible.
So I will build an altar in my heart, and I’ll stack it stone by stone, memory by memory, because every Ebenezer points to where my help comes from. And when my faith falters, because I’m human and it will, I’ll have these moments to look back on and know that God was there.
He’s the God who sees. He’s the God who cares. He’s the God who loves. And most recently, I know that He’s the God who hears.
Blessed Roots Farmstead 