Animal Therapy..

We have been very busy with the animals on our little farmette. The goaties are all pregnant. The bunny just had babies. The horses need daily work. It keeps us very busy, but I am already seeing the benefits of daily interaction with these lovable animals!

Copied from here
Equine therapy is the discipline of using horses as a means to provide metaphoric experiences in order to promote emotional growth. 

Equine therapy has shown to have many positive benefits when correctly taught by certified therapists. Some of them include:

• Confidence
• Self-Efficacy
• Self-Concept
• Communication
• Trust
• Perspective
• Decreased Isolation
• Self-Acceptance
• Impulse Control
• Social Skills
• Boundaries
• Spiritual Connection

Research indicates that interaction with therapy animals can temporarily affect the release of various neurotransmitters in the brain; levels of oxytocin (linked with bonding) and dopamine (involved in the reward-motivation system) are increased, while cortisol levels (an immunosuppressant associated with stress) are decreased.

These goats follow the kids everywhere. If they see Matia come outside, they  all come running! The goats will even crawl into the kid's laps if they sit down in the meadow. 

My kids get up and go out to the barn at 7 am and 5 pm every day. They rarely complain. They make sure their animals are fed, watered and comfortable. They love on the animals and always come back inside in a happy mood.

The horses do on occasion give us a hard time. It takes ALOT of work on my part to keep the horse part of things running smoothly.The kids are not allowed to be working with the horses unless I can see/help them. The horses can be very stubborn, especially if the kids are in a mood. It forces the kids to address their own feelings/emotions in order to deal with the horses attitudes.

My kids learn to love the animals, which is sometimes easier then loving humans. They learn to care for another living being, not just the physical needs but the emotional needs.  They learn responsibility and they see the benefits of hardwork. Taking care of animals is very rewarding for kids, especially the goats and horses. 

Field Trips!!

We had a fun field trip to a local Corn Maze. This is a trip we do annually and the kids love it! They have a summer reading program, so we get free tickets!!

The bounce pillows are a huge hit with my kids! 

We planned our trip very last minute. It was COLD! But we had a total blast! We packed a lunch and ate in the car. We have been able to find quite a few field trips/adventures that we could do this fall for little to no cost! We do all the summer reading programs we can. We are also working with a foster/adopt program that gives us funding for field trips. We pack a yummy lunch to eat in the car. Which means basically the only expense we have is the cost of gas to travel!

Family..

The beginning of Oct. My baby brother turned 21 and got baptized all in the same week. We had talked about going to be with my family, since it has been almost 3 years since we had more then 24 hrs with them.
We had purchased the horses and only had a weeks notice before the baptism, so we had decided that at this time we would be  financially unable to make the 6 hour roadtrip..


That Thursday I suddenly realized that my sick kiddoe was doing well, live was calm, I was relaxed and recovered from our LONG summer. I had every resource needed to make the trip, except extra cash.

So the kids and I prayed... if God would provide the money on either Friday or Saturday we would go...
Friday the mail came... we were all anticipating what God would provide. Nothing... Ok, well I guess we wait until Saturday.

Saturday morning we did our normal, listening to our local kids radio, eating pancakes and cleaning! We had kinda given up on going...

Then the mailman came... along with a check. yup! God provided. So we packed up, loaded up and headed out to visit family!

We had 6 kids, a wheelchair, luggage, my entire medicine cabinet, all of Abi and Abraham's food and the dog all piled into my mini van! It is truly amazing what can fit into a mini van!!

We had a fun trip out. My kids love to travel and are good travelers. We have no electronics, only the car cd player. Even bubbie did well. We did switch seats halfway through which was a huge help.

The only creepy moment was as we stopped at a rest area. We could not get the wheelchair out from under all the luggage so we had to find a potty break where I could leave see both the van and the bathroom from the entrance door.

We stopped at the rest area, it was fairly busy. We let Lady out to walk and go potty... I let the kids out to run around and burn some energy.

Then I pulled up right in front of the bathroom area. I stood at the door, so I could see both the van and the bathroom. There were 2 fancy SUV's parked down the row a bit, both had middle aged men watching us. There was a sign on the wall right on the bathroom door, giving a phone number to call regarding Human Trafficking... #shiver

I had the kids go in one at a time, so I never had more then one out of the car at a time. Thankfully after my prayers the men in the SUV left! I needed to go to the bathroom SOOOO bad... So I had all the kids get into the car and lock the door while I had  Lee stand in my spot with the car remote. I told him that if anyone so much as looks at the van he should scream and push the alarm button.  His siblings informed me that he looked quite threatening. That was the fastest potty break I have ever taken!


We arrived at my friends house around 9 pm. The next day we had breakfast at their house before heading to my parents for lunch with the family. They had planned a birthday for all the Oct birthdays. We had picked the perfect weekend to travel, everyone else had already planned to get together anyway!

We had lunch and dinner at my parents, then went to baptism at my brother's church. Several of my kids have not sat through a church service in quite sometime. Thankfully with the help of the tablet, both Nesiah and Bubbie did well!!

Monday morning we had breakfast with several of my sisters before heading to my parents. We hung out there for an hour or so then headed home! Our trip home was less eventful, altho Bubbie was sick and tired of traveling by the time we were halfway home!!

It was fun to meet my newest nephew and my friend's new baby! My kids totally enjoyed their time with cousins!