That’s Not the End of the Story

A few days after the recent drama with our goat, I was driving our children to their piano lesson. Our conversation was about the stories I write as we live life on the franch. My daughter said, “If you ever write a book about all this, you will never be able to write ‘The End.’ Something just always keeps happening. You’d have to end it with ‘Just The Beginning.'” That made me smile. I think we’d wake up each morning with a little more satisfaction about our lives if we started each day like we ‘re always just beginning. Although, I can think of plenty of life circumstances where you’d want the story to be at its end. For us, we’re living one of those right now – it’s the story of our hurt goat. At first, she seemed to be miles down the road to recovery after that major laceration. The story was supposed to be finished. But, sadly, Hannah has started to show signs of a serious infection. Her leg is swollen and she has quit bearing weight on it. Food and water no longer interest her. A high rectal temperature suggests possible sepsis. My husband removed the sutures from the wound and now cleans it out twice a day. We’re administering antibiotics. To keep her from getting dehydrated, the kids have learned how to syringe feed her an electrolyte solution multiple times a day. We are all taking turns collecting fresh leaves from her favorite trees for her to munch on. And lastly, the children have added Hannah to our prayer list for our nightly family devotions. She’s only a bit better as of today. We’re praying Hannah’s story has a happy ending so that the kid growing inside her has a chance at a beginning.