Beginnings Part Two

Well, we thought our first day of homesteading was full enough just experiencing the auction and the car-ride home! But no... It was only about to begin. And so our name, Beginnings, as we have been calling this home, this land, this season, in only it's first week, no, first day, has been filled to the brim with lessons learned, beginners mistakes, and incredible miracles. And to think, this is only the beginning...

First day of homesteading: so full. Livestock Auction. Car-ride home with 2 pigs in the back of our Subaru- one of which was determined to get fresh air and thus tried to climb over the seat! We arrived home and let the pigs journey out to their new home: over 1 acre of forest. Rooting heaven! Well, I will not even tell the while story of being given the wrong pig (all settled up now, thankfully!), or how Axle and Melissa came and helped us move in our new piano, or how beautiful it was out in the pasture sitting beneath the fruit trees enjoying sweet rhubarb cobbler with our first dinner guests, or how lovely the table looked in that sunset light... I will not even go into details there for I want to tell of the miracle that we have seen on this very land.

So. First day complete. Dinner guests gone. Pigs settled in nicely. Or so we thought. Daniel came in from "seeing to the pigs" with eyes widened in distress.

The pigs are gone.

Sure enough- they were. Gone out the back fence. Their little nose holes poked all the way along the fence until you could see where they dug under and escaped. Escaped to where? Miles upon miles of deep deep forest with absolutely no hope of finding them.

Oh! The feelings of absolute despair! Of embarrassment! Of shameful stewardship! Of incredible disappointment!

Daniel and I prayed and prayed for a miracle. Because truly: how could those pigs come home?

Taken from their Mama.
Only in our land 5 hours.
Hole in the fence like a needle in the haystack with the multitude of miles of forest.
The only thing they know of us: taking them away.

Only a miracle.

How sick we felt. What little sleep we got!
How many times I awoke and said: the pigs!

So Sunday began sadly, telling Tirzah the pigs had run away. But we continued our day: gardening and playing in the sunshine. The afternoon was spent in the pasture: Daniel and Tirzah making and hanging a swing on the tree and I weeding the raspberry patch. Daniel went to go grab a tool from the garage and when he came back he simply said: Tirzah? Would you like to see an incredible miracle of The Lord? I looked in his eyes and knew it was true: the pigs had returned. Without even going to see them I simply fell on my knees right there in the backyard, crying in absolute disbelief and wonder and worship.

Sure enough, there they were, inside the chicken coop drinking deeply of the chickens water. The prodigal pigs. They are home!! A miracle to tell again and again.

But there is even more... Part 3... Soon!