I mentioned a little while back that things have gotten tight around here and I was worried about how I was going to continue to care for the animals.  I was really thinking I’d have to find good homes for everyone.  Really, though, that would have made me miserable and the kids miserable as well.  I would have been worried sick over them for the rest of my life. Not to mention the fact that this is what makes life worth living – caring for these animals is my life’s calling and I can’t give up now.

Now, don’t think I am putting my own selfish need to have them before their health needs.  Far from it.  Instead we are about to attempt a big change.  If it works it will benefit us all enormously. We’re going to make all necessary repairs and upgrades to put this house on the market.

It’s been a good house for us and in some ways I do really love it, but we are bleeding money into a too – large mortgage for land that we can’t make full use of.

I don’t really know how well this will work, considering market saturation here and the fact that we owe about the same as what we can ask for it.  But we’re going to try.  If we can’t buy a small farm then we will try to rent one for awhile.   We’ve contacted our realtor extraordinaire, my uncle Rick.  He’ll make sure this house and the land are 100% perfect before listing it.  We are so lucky he knows the game so well and he knows us so well, because the whole process makes me a nervous, neurotic wreck.

Once we take this step, the next few months are going to be hard.  There’s a lot of fixing to do, and a lot of cleaning to do.  Worse yet, that cleanliness has to be scrupulously maintained.

I don’t even know HOW I am going to manage the animal pen.  You’ll probably see me doing a lot of stressing and whining as I try to hold it all together in the name of making things better for our growing family.

I will be keeping my eyes on the big picture as much as possible; focusing on sweet nuzzling goat faces and happy chickens.

Not to mention hot llama breath on the back of my neck as I wander out with feed and hay every day.

Bear with me while we go through this process, because it won’t be easy.  I’ll be asking for a lot of moral support and reminders to stay on track.

See you on the other side.