happiness, plus so much more
Happy Home Life Tip #25
At the risk of sounding corny, the key to a happy home life is to be open to trying new things, even if the experience doesn’t always make you feel “happy”.
I don’t know about you but I wouldn’t even want to live a life where I felt happy all the time. I’d miss out on all the other emotions, and be more like a robot than a person.
Happiness, for me, comes from having varied experiences, believing I’ll be able to handle anything, and being okay with life’s balance of easy times and challenging ones.
This skill served me well as our three ewes began to lamb this week.
We raise Finnsheep (for fiber, not meat) which are known for having multiple lambs. I can’t think of a cuter animal than a newborn lamb!
Earlier in the month our shearer predicted we’d have 10 lambs, I guessed 8, and my husband guessed 9.
Since we weren’t sure of the due dates, we spent our month full of anticipation, staying close to home, and checking the ewes ‘round the clock.
Lambing is done, and we have 8 new lambs.
You might be thinking, don’t they just lamb on their own?
Yes, and no.
On Thursday, Hanna had triplets (Ted, Iris and Sweet Pea) without our help.
Later that day we helped Phoebe deliver her quadruplets (Magnolia, Juniper, Mabel, and a sister who died at birth). Her lambs were very stuck and needed lots of help. Little Juniper is extremely small, not thriving well, and is being bottle-feed.
And lastly, Freya had her twins (Jack and Otis) around midnight last night. Had my husband not woken up to assist, we would have lost her lambs for sure.
I enjoy the followup care, so I sent my husband back to bed and stayed out in the barn for three more hours. When Freya looked great and her boys were nursing well, I took myself off to bed.
Sadly, early this morning, we found that hours later, she’d delivered a third little lamb, which was deceased, in her pen.
So, why am I sharing this with you?
Because even though our lambing experience was tiring, and messy, time-consuming, and sad…it was also wondrous, and delightful, and rewarding.
I loved sharing the experience with my husband and kids (our kids weren’t there, but were kept apprised of the progress by texts, and picked out names).
Lambing is an example of life’s balance of easy times, and hard times.
And knowing that I, (and our ewes), can handle it all, makes me happy.
Hugs,
Krista
If you’d like some help developing the “happiness skill”, please, let me help.
It’s a wonderful feeling when you feel empowered and excited to try new things, versus anxious and uncertain.
PS: Sometimes all it takes is well-worded motto. Many years ago, when having to put down a sick cow of ours, our very sweet veterinarian said, “When you deal with livestock, you deal with dead-stock”. Even though I’m an animal lover and a vegetarian, that motto always makes me feel okay.