Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Mutton Bustin Acccident

Well Sunday was the official day Justin and I received our STUPID PARENT AWARD. Our son Brayden who is 5, is entered in for the Mutton Bustin at the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo. It is unlikely he will be chosen so when he asked if he could ride our sheep in the back, we said......YES!

Of course we made sure he had his bike helmet on. Safety first!

The four of us trudged to the barn. I had
Bailee on one arm and my camera on the other. Brayden ran ahead of us, ready for his ride! I couldn't wait for some great pictures.

As Daddy got the sheep ready for the ride of its life,
Brayden began to get nervous but was ready to go.

Well, I never got around to taking the pictures. In no time
Brayden was on the lamb and daddy slapped the sheep and off it shot! Poor Brayden was holding on for dear life! The crazy ewe ran straight for the fence. Brayden was riding it sideways, refusing to let go, as his back was slammed against the fence, all along the ewe is running full speed ahead.

Daddy ran in to the rescue and grabbed
Brayden off of the sheep. By this time Brayden is bawling and holding his back and rightly so of course.......

Justin lifted up his shirt and his back looked HORRIBLE. After some love, he quieted down and let us put a cold rag on it. He informed us that he will never be riding a sheep again. We agreed that, that was a good idea.

Now a few days have passed and
Brayden is proud of his bruises. He loves telling everyone how it happened. As he tells the story Justin and I want to bury our heads. What crazy parents would encourage this????? Needless to say Brayden learned a lesson and so did we.

As parents we should have said no right away.
Brayden learned that, this was one of those times daddy and mommy should have said no and didn't, and that when we do say no, it is for his own good. Gosh what were we thinking!!!!!

It does make for a good memory though! We definitely will not forget this accident!

A Visit to the Emergency Room

Still we wait....... I keep thinking today is the day we will have baby sheep. I have thought that each day for almost a week. Okay, so now I am thinking we are a little off on our days when we "thought" the ewes were bred. With the excitement and expectation of finding a little lamb on the ground, you would think it was me that was fixing to have a baby. Justin too has been anxious.

Justin was out of town and returned on Saturday. I have to say I am relieved that nothing happened while he was gone. I didn't exactly have a plan in place for what I would do if I found we had babies.

Nothing happened that is as far as having baby sheep. That's not to say we didn't have enough excitement around here while he was out of town.

Let's see...... Friday I spent a wonderful evening with my in-laws....... at the Emergency Room!
Bailee has been fighting a respiratory infection and it worsened late Friday afternoon. Justin felt bad about being in Fort Worth and not here with his daughter and called his parents. Thank goodness Doug and Sayde met me there and kept Bailee and I company. It was a long four hours.

Poor Justin, I think he was more worried about what I was going to blog regarding his not being here for the ER visit. Doesn't he know me better than that??? (wink wink) Hey, at least he placed 2
nd with the Dorper in Fort Worth!

Well enough for now..... time to call it a day.....

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

A Few Ramblings.........

Happy Tuesday! I am so excited our five month old daughter rolled over! It was about time! I am home with her today because she is sick. I am so grateful for being able to be home on the day she decides to perform! I just hop my middle schoolers aren't giving the sub too much trouble!

Well in a few days Justin will be heading to Fort Worth Stock Show. I hope his kids do well! Last weekend was the
Kerrille Stockshow and one of his students placed very well!

I will again be holding down the fort during his absence! We are scheduled to begin lambing during the time he is gone. That should be interesting! I will post about those events. I am sure there will be great stories to tell.

Of course the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo is sneaking up on us quick! Justin is getting so nervous about it. It is because he is so passionate about it and wants his kids to do well. It is no wonder he has high blood pressure at 29! Go figure!

I am so proud at what he has accomplished in his short 1 1/2 years at New
Braunfels High School. He started out with about 6 sheep on feed and now has over 50! That is a HUGE accomplishment. It all goes well the Comal County Youth Show will be one of the first shows to have sheep outnumber goats in the next couple of years! I anxiously await that! Enough ramblings for now!

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Wife Dating Ad on My Blog.... Interesting!

How ironic it is! Here I am creating a blog to try and reach other wives of ag teachers, share my personal triumphs, dealing with the demands of my husbands career and him rarely being home, but also delight in his success.

I have a Google Ad for wife dating that keeps posting on my site. That is hilarious! I have to figure out how to block the ad on my blog. Yes I get frustrated with my husband not being home, BUT I do not in any way believe it is an appropriate ad for my blog. If you know how I can delete or block it, please let me know!

A Sheep Emergency!

Justin was in town running some errands. The errands of course were your usual grocery store run, and a "quick" trip to our local feed store and then home.

I was at home getting the kids ready for a birthday party we were going to. As I am dealing with a crying baby and trying to convince my five year old to brush his teeth, Justin calls me and lets me know that a fellow
ag teacher at a nearby school needs his help. Apparently he had a sheep that was fixing to die because of a thiamine deficiency. They were at the fair grounds having their Chapter Show. We had the medicine here that the other ag teacher needed. Justin then lets me know that he is going to run that medicine to the fair grounds immediately and hopefully make it in time before the sheep died.

I glanced at the clock and it was 3:30, we had an hour and a half to be at the party. That would be plenty of time for him to return and we could go to the party as a family. (How naive of me!)

At 4:30 no Justin....... I continued getting the kids ready and myself ready. That is a job in itself that always gets me frustrated thinking where is my other half to help me!

The kids and I leave the house at a little after 5:00. We arrive to the party and low and behold Justin is there. He had arrived shortly before us. I was relieved that he was there but wanted to run up to him and tell him how much I could have used his help in getting the kids ready. I thought better of it and decided to just keep my mouth shut!

I walked up to him with a bright smile and asked where the baby's formula was that he was in town to get. Well guess what........ he forgot. With the sheep emergency going on, he totally forgot. We were completely out of formula! He quickly rushed to his truck and said he would be right back. For a split second I thought, poor guy he is always on the run! About 45 minutes later he returns with the formula! Our daughter was just as happy for his return! She was a hungry little munchkin!

Well the night ended up very well. We had a GREAT time at the party and the sheep survived. We can chalk this night up as a success!

Saturday, January 19, 2008

The Job He Loves!



My husband has always had the dream to be an ag teacher. During his years of showing, he had a close relationship with his ag teacher. Being that he was a sheep man and absolutely loved the life, being an ag teacher was inevitable. This is his dream, this is his life, oh what a price we pay though. Don't get me wrong, I have always told him to follow his dreams and to never give up. He is doing what he loves and I know that. I would never take that from him. BUT God has blessed us with two precious children. We have a son who is 5 and a daughter who is 5 months old. It is really hard handling everything because his job is so demanding. Show season is especially hard.

When he started teaching ag, he said it would be much better than coaching because he won't be gone other than show season. I remind myself and him of this conversation during the Summer and the Fall, when many of the sales are happening. Of course then there are the many times when we have something important going on as a family and he gets the dreaded phone call and there is an emergency with an animal. Off he goes, and our plans are cancelled or put on hold. I have always wondered during this time if there were other wives out there that are going through the same things I am. Do they feel the same frustrations? Do they have to bite their tongue constantly? This is the reason I started this blog. I want to vent my frustrations but also delight in the opportunities in seeing my husband succeed and reach some students who were once considered "past the point of being saved". When I say saved, I mean getting their life on the right track again. I hear the stories of his daily encounters with the students and I know that he is reaching most of them. The lives he is affecting are endless. I delight in this and know he is so wonderful with his students.

How could I ever dream of him not doing this. His students need him as much as he needs them. With this said, I still deal with frequent frustrations of him being gone or ALWAYS on his cell phone. For instance I was in labor with our daughter and they were prepping me for a c-section and his phone rang. Not only did his phone ring, BUT HE ANSWERED IT! Oh, if I could have gotten that phone in my hands I promise it would have been in a million pieces. My goal is to blog about life as an ag teacher's wife, the celebrations and the frustrations. I look forward to fulfilling this goal!

Who Knew? Update Version..... Please pass it on.