Adventures at One World Farm

Do unto others?

2012-02-02T21:34:00.000-06:00

I consider myself to be generally optimistic about life, and usually see the best in others. I tend to think that the vast majority of people that I encounter are genuinely good and decent.

But I'm frustrated tonight as I've been reflecting on my trip to Target with Kai and Ruby this afternoon. I usually try to avoid trips to the store with both of them when I'm by myself because they are totally unpredictable and I never know whether everything will go just fine or if Kai will decide to exert his "independence" and express himself with kicking, screaming, crying, and whatever else it takes to call attention to himself. Today's trip was unavoidable, however, because we had officially run out of the three major staples of Kai's diet--milk, waffles, and turkey dogs. When I say "staples," I actually mean that these three items make up the extent of his dietary intake on a typical day. Very impressive parenting, I know.

Anyway, I digress. So...here we are at Target. I'm carrying Ruby in a sling, and pushing the cart with one hand while trying to convince Kai to actually sit inside the cart. I'm not even picky about where he sits--the seat or the big part of the cart--either would be acceptable. But no. Kai has decided he wants to stand on the end of the cart and hold on. That would be okay for a normal size kid, but for someone who is still the size of a 1 year old, it doesn't work very well. We made it a whole 20 feet inside the store, to the front of the produce section, when his grip slipped and he turned, falling face first onto the linoleum. It was only a fall of a couple of feet (as you'll recall, he's very short), but the thud that accompanied his head hitting the floor sent my heart into my stomach. He started wailing immediately. I scooped him up, and saw that he had the beginnings of a giant goose egg forming right in the middle of his forehead. In addition, blood was literally gushing out of his nose, onto his shirt, me, Ruby, and the floor. So I'm now holding Ruby and Kai, both of whom are now screaming, and digging in my purse to find tissues to sop up the blood. It was a pretty desperate feeling.

Not one person came up and offered to help. There were lots of people around, but they just pushed their carts around us, and two women in particular made a noticeable effort to avoid making eye contact. I don't really know why no one bothered to help me. My guess is they didn't want to be bothered with it. I don't know. But as I've been thinking about it this evening, I just can't seem to let it go. I hope that if I see a stranger struggling that I'll step out of my comfort zone for a few minutes and see what I can do to help. Because in the end, we're all in this together. I think the world would be a better place if we stepped outside of ourselves and actually gave a damn about each other.

Warm Winter

2012-02-02T11:37:00.000-06:00

I LOVE that it is the beginning of February and we can be outside enjoying 70 degree weather. This is a little different than the first week of February last year when we had that awful ice and snow storm! I took Kai and Ruby to the park yesterday after school and snapped a few pics.

Aaron and I decided that the caption for this one should be Ruby saying to Kai,

"Oh, big brother, how I envy your luxurious locks of hair"!

Kai discovered a new way to ride on the stroller rather than having to walk like a chump:

But most of the time he has to exert his independence.

"No, mama! I do it!" is his mantra, and he repeats it about 200 times each day.

We brought bread to feed to the ducks and geese, but Kai decided he needed a snack instead. Silly boy!

New Year's Resolution...about a month late.

2012-01-31T16:03:00.000-06:00

Now that I finally feel like we somewhat have things under control on a day to day basis, I guess it's finally time to tackle the next problem--me. Spending most of 2011 pregnant was wonderful in a number of ways, not the least of which was that I didn't worry much about what I was eating. I've needed to lose weight for several years now, but being pregnant gave me a reprieve for a while, at least in my own way of rationalizing it. Well, I didn't gain too much weight while I was pregnant, but that's not saying much, because I started off too fat to begin with! Now that Ruby's been here for 4 months, I have no excuse. Well, technically I can come up with any number of excuses, but that's beside the point. So here we are. I've now worked out for two consecutive days for the first time in over a year. Very impressive, I know. I'm not ready to commit to Weight Watchers, though I know it works. I just don't have the energy to obsessively count points right now, and I know that that's what it takes for me to commit to doing it. So instead, I'm trying a new, hopefully less obsessive, approach. My first goal is to get 45 minutes worth of some kind of physical activity every day. That's it. Baby steps, right?

Pla Shee's best day

2012-01-25T21:25:00.000-06:00

We've had LOTS of rain in the past 48 hours. So much rain, in fact, that Pla Shee's school was canceled due to flooding. He was literally beside himself with excitement when I told him he could come to work with me. He spent the day in my office finishing up his model of the Alamo and accompanying essay, listening to music, and watching a movie on my computer. When it was time to leave for the day, he said it was the best day ever. Who knew?

Cousins!

2012-01-22T15:30:00.000-06:00

We finally got together with the other Mitschke's and met halfway--at Kinkaid's in Fort Worth, a great classic burger place that's been around since the 40's. The kiddos had a great time goofing around, and we realized it had been WAY too long since we had hung out last. Madison and Pla Shee are both 11, and Morgan, who is five, absolutely adores Kai. And everyone loves a baby, so Ruby's got it made in the shade.

In honor of her four month birthday, Ruby tried her first taste of rice cereal today. She was not a fan.

She's much cuter without rice cereal smeared all over her face:

Cloth Diapering

2012-01-18T21:35:00.000-06:00

We used cloth diapers with Kai until he turned one and began preschool and they told us they wouldn't allow cloth diapers at school. So we switched to disposables and have been using them ever since. When Ruby was born, we stuck with disposables initially, figuring we didn't have the time or energy to deal with cloth. It was a good decision for us for the first couple of months, because it meant one less thing to have to worry about. Honestly, we were in a bit of a tailspin for much of the fall semester. I finally figured out why every thing seemed so much more difficult this time around. We adopted Kai when he was 2.5 months old. He was already smiling and cooing and just being downright adorable. No one told us that those first 2.5 months were so...ummm...hellish? Good Lord! I think we spent two months just trying to get Ruby to go back to sleep, because it seemed like every time her eyes were open she was screaming her head off. Not that we didn't love her and think that she was adorable, but she was equally a...challenge. Combine a colicky infant with a headstrong two year old and a 10 year old who needs hands-on assistance with about two hours worth of homework every night, and you have one crazy household.

We're good now, though, thank god. We've finally found our rhythm (most days), the house isn't as much of a disaster (most days), and Ruby is A LOT easier to deal with (most days). So we've switched Ruby to cloth diapers, and I love them. I also love the money we're saving by not having to buy disposables. This is especially important since we're spending all of our money on formula now as a result of my utter failure at breastfeeding (I lasted all of 2.5 months before I threw in the towel). Anyway, we made the switch about a month ago, and then this past weekend I tried my hand at actually making my own. I have a love/hate relationship with my sewing machine, which only cooperates with me about half the time. The other half it jumbles up all of the thread and jams every five seconds until I finally give up in frustration and put it back in the closet until the next time I feel the urge to get crafty. This time it only took one frustrated phone call to my aunt (thanks, Aunt Sara!) who suggested I change the needle in case it was bent. It fixed the problem and I made my first cloth diaper. It turned out super cute--it helps that I had an adorable model!

Country Life

2012-01-11T23:42:00.001-06:00

Sometimes living in the country sucks. Like when you have to rely on a well for your water, and said water must be filtered and then softened so as to not rust every appliance, bath tub, sink, and toilet in your home. Two weeks ago we had to replace our 5 year old $1000 he washing machine because the iron particles clogged the motor and broke it. Needless to say we purchased the cheapest replacement we could find. It is an "Ingles" brand and cost $309.

Unfortunately our water woes were not over. On Thursday night the water stopped working altogether. We had to have a well repair guy come out to check it out and turns out the pump broke. A cool $3000 later and we're back to having water. I have no words. Kai was quite entertained, however, as you can see in the pics.

How time flies!

2012-01-05T14:57:00.002-06:00

We came to the realization over the holidays that we have added a child for each of the past three Christmases. No wonder things seem kind of crazy around here! Our New Year's Resolution is to remain the same size family in 2012...we'll see what happens!

We spent a few days in Giddings at the end of the holiday and I convinced the boys to pose for a few pictures so I could compare them with last year. It is so amazing to me how quickly they change. But they're still my sweet little boys!

Happy New Year

2012-01-05T14:44:00.000-06:00

We've started 2012 with an ugly round of sickness, and Ruby's gotten the worst of it. This time the culprit was Kai, who brought the bug home from school and decided to be sick for Christmas. He shared it with all of us, and the lingering effects are still around, even after 10 days. Yuck. Poor Ruby got an ear infection on top of it, so I've spent this week at home with the two little ones. I just thought I was going back to work this week. So much for that plan!

Here's little Roo feeling crummy but still being a good sport donning her cute new headband and house slippers.

On a happier note, the holidays were a lot of fun, though they really flew by. Pla Shee couldn't believe it when I told him he had to go to school on Tuesday. He's already counting down the days until Spring Break.

We spent Christmas here, then I took Kai and Ruby down to Houston to visit my family for a few days. Aaron and Pla Shee met us in Giddings later in the week and we all accompanied Aaron's mom down to Rockport (near Corpus Christi) for the weekend. It was really foggy and too cold to swim, but we had fun anyway looking at condos and houses (Aaron's mom is looking to buy a place down there). A few pics from our trip:

We celebrated our 11th anniversary and the new year in our Best Western hotel room with sparkling cider for the boys and party hats. We also took them to see the Chipmunks movie. It was terrible, though exactly what I expected.

Here are the kiddos during our 8 pm "party." Kai is saying "owwie" because of the strap on his chin if you were wondering.

And here's Ruby, who decided to join the party at about 2:00 am.

Merry Christmas Eve!

2011-12-24T18:16:00.002-06:00

Pla Shee plays Jingle Bells!

Underachievement

2011-12-22T21:43:00.000-06:00

Winter is not a great time for egg production. In the spring and summer months, our chickens produce between 12 and 18 eggs per day. In winter, we're lucky to get four. So we know that most of the chickens are just free loaders for the winter months. But this takes under-achieving to a whole new level.

Happy Birthday, Pla Shee!

2011-12-21T15:09:00.000-06:00

Today is Pla Shee's 11th birthday! To celebrate, we made sugar cookies and decorated both the cookies and later ourselves. Lots of giggles ensued.

North Park Mall

2011-12-20T22:44:00.002-06:00

A trip to the mall has become a major excursion nowadays, and most of the time it is a lot more trouble than it's worth. But as a person who goes stir crazy after staying home with three kids for more than about 24 hours, I had my fill yesterday, so today we ventured to NorthPark Mall. I'm not much of a "mall" person, and I'm definitely not much of a shopper, but North Park is special because it's the mall that I used to go to as a kid. And while it's changed A LOT, it's also very much the same.

There's still the big fountain where kids drape themselves over the concrete rim. There's always that one kid whose parents either don't care or aren't watching who runs around the rim and with the slightest misstep could fall face first into the fountain. When I was little, I think the fountain used to have lights in it that made it change colors, and I thought it would shoot water really high sometimes, but it doesn't do those things any more. Maybe it just seemed bigger because I was little?

Anyway, there's the fountain. And there's Scrooge, who is a puppet that leans out of the window at the top of his house jarring and joking with his adoring fans every hour during the holidays. But most importantly, there's Santa. Otherwise known as "THE REAL SANTA." He's the Santa that's been at North Park for more than 20 years. He has his PhD in Counseling. According to Pla Shee's explanation today, the other Santas (the ones at other malls, the one that came to his school, etc.) report to this main Santa, who comes to North Park during the day to meet with children, and flies back to the North Pole in the evenings to get his sleigh ready for Christmas.

Needless to say, we were looking forward to putting in a good word to Santa today. Unfortunately we were not the only family to have this brilliant idea. When we got to Santa's photo studio at the mall at 12:30, we were told that our assigned time to have our moment with THE REAL SANTA would be 8:30 this evening.

Umm...no. On to Plan B. Plan B=Take a handful of pennies, close your eyes, think of all of your Christmas wishes, and chuck the pennies in the big fountain. Legend has it that Santa gets the message that way, too. :)

Silly boy!

2011-12-14T13:40:00.000-06:00

Yesterday evening as I was helping Pla Shee put the final touches on some of his handmade Christmas presents, Kai was playing in the living room and Ruby was hanging out in her bouncy seat. Then Kai walked into the kitchen pleading, "Zip me, Mamma, zip me"! Turns out "zip" also means button, snap, or fasten. He had found Ruby's sweater and pants in the dirty clothes, managed to put both on correctly, and just needed some help with the finishing touches--the buttons on the sweater. He was so proud of himself!

Later in the evening we headed to Pla Shee's basketball game and yes, Kai proudly sported this lovely outfit in public for all of Venus to admire. He is such a silly little guy.

A tired little boy...

2011-12-07T10:51:00.001-06:00

On Sunday I left Aaron at home with Ruby (Pla Shee was in Dallas visiting his first family), and Kai and I braved the cold to do a little Christmas shopping. This year 95% of the gifts we give will be homemade, but the presents from Santa will be purchased. I neglected to take into account that our shopping excursion coincided with Kai's naptime. As you can see from the picture*, he did not let shopping interfere with his napping plans. He was sound asleep! :)

*Please note that despite the fact that the cart is from Wal-Mart, we were not actually shopping at Wal-Mart. We were at Big Lots (which probably isn't a lot better, if we're being honest). If you want to know more about why we boycott Wal-Mart, check out the excellent (and entertaining) documentary below.

Mondays are the new Friday

2011-12-05T23:23:00.001-06:00

It just so happens that Aaron's day off is on Monday, and today I stayed home too because Ruby had her 2 month check-up this afternoon. It was so nice to hang out in our pajamas all morning, especially since a huge cold front blew in yesterday and brought a lot of nasty weather. Here's my Roo at 10 weeks old this morning:

She was 10.8 pounds, so she's doubled in size since she was a week old. Kai had better look out...we have wagers on when she'll surpass the little guy on the scale. It shouldn't be too long, at this rate!

This is Kai hanging out in his pj's this morning and cooking up an apple for brunch. He's just recently gotten into a lot of pretend play, so we do lots of "cooking" on the kitchen set that Pu Lue built, which now sits in Ruby's room.

This picture of the kitchen set was taken before we painted the walls and rearranged the furniture, but you get the idea. Kai gladly hopped in Ruby's crib this morning to show off her cute hand-painted walls, courtesy of Gigi (Ann-Marie Barker). Ann-Marie is a really talented artist, and you can check out some of her recent work on her website.

Big Brother Kai

2011-12-02T13:53:00.001-06:00

Kai created this whole set-up for Ruby to "watch tv" (it's really just a music box) with him. What a sweet big brother!

Living with guilt, and counting our blessings

2011-11-30T11:10:00.000-06:00

It's been four months since Kai's injury, and we've made it through two major surgeries and over 30 visits to four different doctors. By all accounts, he is a thriving and vibrant (and very lucky!) little boy. Despite the skull fracture, there was absolutely no injury to his brain, and we feel extremely blessed that this is the case. His right eye was not so fortunate. We learned about a month after the initial injury that his retina had detached, so he had surgery at the end of August to re-attach it. Now that it's been about 3 months since the surgery, we had another follow-up appointment with the pediatric opthamologist, who has encouraged us to patch his "good" eye for 3 hours each day. Apparently this will help his brain to realize that it needs to try to use the right eye again. Looking at him, you wouldn't know that there was a problem--his eye tracks and looks just fine. But when we patch it, it is clear that at least right now he doesn't have vision in his right eye. It is really hard to do the patching each day because it brings back all of those awful feelings of guilt associated with the accident. Also, he doesn't like not being able to see for three hours a day (imagine that!). But we're trying. And we're REALLY glad that Pla Shee is such a loving big brother, because it takes a lot of energy to entertain Kai when he can't see!

We go back to the doctor at the end of January to reassess things and to get fitted for glasses. Kai's a big fan of accessories, so I think glasses will go over well. :)

Thankfulness wrapped up

2011-11-28T15:58:00.000-06:00

I think I officially failed on my thankfulness postings...but I warned you that that was a strong possibility at the onset. I managed a grand total of 7 postings about thankfulness. Here are the links to the posts, in case you missed them and wanted to catch up:

1) General thankfulness
2) Pla Shee
3) Kai
4) Ruby
5) Aaron
6) Family and Friends

I think I'll wrap up the thankfulness theme today with a few specific thanks that are on my mind today. First, a gratuitous picture of Kai and Ruby. I am thankful that I was able to capture her smile!

I'm thankful for...

my job. I am on faculty at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, where I teach and conduct research about health and social work. I love what I do, and I love that my job is flexible enough that I can be a mom to my kiddos and also continue working. I've had the luxury of bringing Ruby to work with me since she was two weeks old, which has been wonderful. It's meant that I've been able to spend quality time with her these first months while also maintaining my involvement on projects like this one: www.wornforpeace.com, a social enterprise project with refugees on which I'm an evaluation researcher.

Here's a pic of Ruby hanging out in my office one day last week:

our farm. Even though I don't get to spend as much time as I used to playing with the animals or growing veggies in the garden, I know that this will change again over time. I love that we live out in the country and can raise our children in a small town. I love that we don't have to buy beef, chicken, turkey, eggs and milk from the grocery store, and instead know exactly where our food comes from and what it was doing before we ate it.

our church. I am grateful that we found a church family in the Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff. It has become a wonderful community of caring and support for our family, and a true blessing in my life.

my mom. She is amazing...my best friend, role model, mentor, counselor. I can't usually go much more than a day or two without talking with her, and it kills me that we live four hours apart.

everything and everyone else. I have so many amazing blessings in my life. I've lived a life of full of unearned privileges, and I am grateful for the life I've been given.

I am thankful for: family, and for friends that are like family

2011-11-15T13:22:00.000-06:00

Growing up, I always knew it was special that I had 8 grandparents rather than just four. The fact that my parents divorced when I was an infant and then each remarried by the time I was 3 meant that I had not only four parents that loved me, but the number of aunts, uncles, cousins, and of course sisters and brothers multiplied as well. As an adult, I've been blessed with another amazing stepmother and stepbrother, and all of the additional family that comes from this union as well. All of this to say that I am surrounded by an incredible network of support that extends from here in Texas to Virginia to Boston to St. Louis to Michigan to Hawaii and beyond. I'm thankful for friends that I've managed to keep from elementary school, to friends that have remained friends despite great distances, to friends that live nearby that would do anything for me and my family. When Kai was injured, and we sat in the children's hospital waiting room at 3:30 in the morning wating for him to come out of surgery, I looked around me and saw my family and friends sitting with me. When I posted on facebook about Kai's injury, over 50 of our friends sent notes wishing for his recovery, and countless others called, prayed, and visited. We received the same outpouring of support when little Ruby was born in September. So, thank you to all of you who love us and care about us. We are truly blessed.

Another Kai video

2011-11-11T13:57:00.000-06:00

Kai cracks me up. Check out his stellar stacking skills. Who needs toys, anyway?

Turkeys

2011-11-09T22:51:00.000-06:00

Okay, so I know the theme for this month is thankfulness, but I realized today that I don't think I've mentioned the turkeys, and since Thanksgiving is almost here, I figured they deserve at least a short posting. We started off with 12 poults in May. Aaron's mom raised them until they were a couple months old and less fragile. Good thing, because here we are in November and we're down to a total of 6--two toms and four hens. The others got "lost" along the way (probably eaten by coyotes or stray dogs). They've actually been pretty entertaining to raise, as they're a lot more engaged and curious than the chickens or guineas. Most of our friends and family who've come to visit think they're creepy, though. Sometimes if the bedroom window curtain is open you'll open your eyes in the morning to see turkeys peering at you through the glass. I'll admit it's a little weird. They run to greet us when we come outside in the mornings and when we pull up in the driveway in the evenings. And if you gobble at them, they'll gobble right back. Kai especially thinks this is amusing. Anyway, that's all I can think of to say about turkeys right now.

I'm thankful for: Aaron

2011-11-09T13:48:00.000-06:00

I met Aaron when I was 18 and a freshman at Baylor. We met at a frat party. I have a picture taken by "Flash" photography from the night we met. We both look like we're about 3 sheets to the wind. Probably not the ideal way to begin your relationship with your soul mate. But it worked for us. We started dating 3 weeks later and never stopped. Now we've been married 11 years and it feels like forever (in a good way). The most amazing thing to me about our relationship is that we've somehow managed to change together. I think that's been the key for us. I know I am a totally different person now than I was at 18. I'm passionate about different things, I have different values...and the same can be said for him. But somehow, in all of the changing that we've done as individuals, we've managed to change in the same direction. I'm not sure how that worked, exactly, but I'm really glad it has.
Aaron is my best friend and confidante. He is smart and funny. He is strong, emotionally and physically. He is passionate about helping refugees and other people who are vulnerable and need help. He is easy-going, flexible, and patient. He has a super-human tolerance for pain (random, I know, but since I have the completely opposite gift, I thought it deserved mentioning). He is a great dad and husband. He answers to several names: Aaron, Kai Pa (Pla Shee and refugees), and Daya (Kai--rhymes with "Maya").

I'm thankful for: Ruby

2011-11-08T11:55:00.000-06:00

Okay, it's Ruby's turn...

Honestly, even when I was a little girl, I always had this nagging suspicion that I wouldn't be able to get pregnant when I grew up. I have no idea why, but I always just felt that way. Maybe I was just a pessimistic child? So, anyway, when I grew up and we began trying to start our family the traditional way and nothing was happening, I wasn't totally shocked. We tried for a couple of years, and when we still weren't pregnant, we started our adoption journey. We knew we wanted to have children--how we got there didn't matter much in the end. So, you can imagine our surprise when we found out we were pregnant with Ruby a year and a half after welcoming Kai and Pla Shee into our family. Three kids in 2 years--yikes!
Throughout the 9 months that I was pregnant with Ruby, I reminded myself to enjoy the experience of being pregnant, because it was something that I thought I wouldn't ever experience. And I can honestly say I did enjoy it. I felt great for the most part, and despite a blood pressure issue that required more frequent visits to our midwife and a partnering physician, everything went smoothly.
The birth experience was absolutely amazing, and I am so glad that I had the privilege of being able to experience giving birth in the way that I did. I wrote a little bit about what it was like here. Ruby is six weeks old now, and is finally out of her preemie clothes and into newborn size. Today I'm specifically thankful for the fact that she slept all through the night last night--from 11 pm to 6:15 am! It is amazing what a full night's sleep can do for my attitude. She is a sweetheart, and I am enjoying getting to know her and figuring out all of her little quirks. She's already changed so much in the six weeks that I've known her, and I'm trying to soak in all of her each day. One of the great things about my job (which I'll write about in another post this month) is that I can bring Ruby to work with me. It's great, because I don't go stir crazy sitting at home, but I still get to spend a lot of quality time with my little munchkin each day. Here are a few pics of "Roo" from the past six weeks.

I'm thankful for: Kai

2011-11-07T15:37:00.000-06:00

It is impossible for me to express in words how much I love Kai, and how much joy he has brought to my life. He is truly the most amazing blessing in our lives. The day we adopted Kai and became a family of three was a day that changed us forever. Having Kai in our lives has strengthened our bond as a couple, and helped us appreciate each other more. When Kai had his encounter with the donkey this summer, I literally cried for weeks. I couldn't get over how close we could have been to losing him. Even as I type this now, tears are welling up in my eyes. He is such a precious gift, and we are so blessed that he escaped the incident with a scar and a story to tell. He is such a sweet little guy. Now that he's two, it seems like he learns something new every day. He's talking up a storm, and loves to mimic everything that Pla Shee says and does. He adores "Baby Roo," and is constantly tucking in her blanket or retrieving her pacifier for her. No matter how overwhelmed I'm feeling, he always knows how to make me laugh. He's a little tiny ball of energy with a smile that literally lights up the room.

Kai at 2 months old

6 months old

9 months old

1 year old

18 months old

22 months old

2 years old

And just for fun, a video of Kai singing his favorite songs yesterday.

I'm thankful for: Pla Shee

2011-11-03T12:20:00.001-05:00

At the Texas State Fair a few weeks ago.

If you read this blog, you probably know that Pla Shee has been a part of our family for about a year and a half now, since May of 2010. Pla Shee is 10 years old (almost 11, as he reminds me often), and is the youngest child of Pu Lue and Pa Moo, our good friends who are Karen refugees from Burma. Pla Shee lives with us and attends Venus Elementary, and visits his family and friends in Dallas on the weekends. Sometimes Pu Lue stays with us, too, during the week, so Pla Shee has lots of adults he has to answer to!

Pla Shee and Kai in November 2010

I am thankful for Pla Shee because he has added a tremendous amount of love and joy to our family. He has a fun-loving, easy going personality that makes him fun to be around. He's always cracking jokes and is literally happy 99% of the time. Pla Shee inspires me to relax and reminds me to laugh. He is an incredible big brother to Kai, who absolutely adores everything about his "ja ja" (big brother in Karen). And Pla Shee is a calming presence to Ruby, whom he cradles in the evening as his "reward" for getting his homework finished.

Spring 2011

Waiting to receive the "Principal's Award" for his

outstanding effort in 3rd grade in May 2010

I am awestruck by Pla Shee's ability to navigate between two cultures. He glides into and out of each almost effortlessly. He's playing sports for the first time in his life, makes friends easily, and just rolls with the punches. We're blessed to have Pla Shee in our family, and we have a lot to learn from him.

Pla Shee's 10th Birthday Party

Being Thankful

2011-11-03T11:52:00.000-05:00

Things have been crazy in our house as we've spent the last couple of months trying to find a new normal. Ruby has thrown us all for a loop as we're finding out what it's like to have very little sleep, full time jobs, a farm, and now 3 kids! Mostly, it's really busy, and often chaotic. But despite the craziness, I catch myself at certain moment each day thinking "Remember this time...treasure this moment." I don't want to get so caught up in the daily grind that I lose sight of the fact that this life that I have, right here and now, is amazing. So, to get this blog back on track and to keep me focused on all of the great stuff I sometimes forget to appreciate, I'm stealing an idea from a friend's blog and dedicating the month of November to "thankfulness." No guarantees that I'll remember to post every day, or that when I do remember I'll have the energy to write something that's actually coherent, but I'll give it a shot.

Introducing...Ruby Nell Mitschke

2011-10-05T12:47:00.000-05:00

The newest member of our family officially arrived on Wednesday, September 21st, 2011 at 12:00 noon. Ruby weighed in at 6 lbs and was 18.5 inches long, and was a full month early. We're glad she decided to go ahead and join the outside world, and we think she's a keeper. Kai and Pla Shee are absolutely in love with their new baby sister.
Despite having had some complications with my blood pressure during the pregnancy (hence, Ruby's early arrival), the birth itself was amazing and a really wonderful experience. We are so glad that we chose the Birth and Women's Center for our birth, and are proud to report that Ruby was born without the assistance of any pain medication and labor lasted only 3 hours. It was an incredible experience and we are honored to welcome little Miss Ruby into our family!

Kai's Magic Ball

2011-09-06T10:53:00.000-05:00

This is a video of Kai and my dad playing their "Magic Ball" game. I just can't get over how cute it is that Kai plays along. Just in case it's not obvious, the magic ball is imaginary. Now, every time we visit my dad, Kai asks to play "Magic Ball."

Road Trip finale

2011-08-10T16:10:00.001-05:00

I realized that with all of the craziness that occurred the week after we returned from our big summer road trip, I never posted pics from the last segment of the trip. We spent a couple of days in Charleston, SC, soaking up the sun and enjoying some of the "tourist-y" kinds of things in the city. It was really enjoyable and we definitely needed a couple of days of rest before our long trip home.

At the Charleston Children's Museum:

The last day of our trip we drove all the way home from Birmingham, Alabama. It was a REALLY long day, but we stopped along the way at a cute little park with fountains in Mississippi at one point in the afternoon so that the boys wouldn't totally lose it.

The pit stop worked, and we ended up making it home in time for bed. All in all it was a great trip and we're already looking forward to making a similar trip next summer with our new little one in tow as well!

Getting back to normal

2011-07-30T21:09:00.000-05:00

Just a lazy Saturday thankful for being at home and hanging out as a family.

Recounting the scariest night of our lives

2011-07-29T22:14:00.000-05:00

It's been exactly one week since the scariest night of our lives, and it seems only fitting to recount the story here if only to wrap up this crazy week and move on. Last Friday night around 8 pm, Aaron, myself, and Kai went out to feed the animals and milk Weezy, our goat. Helping to "milt eezy" is Kai's very favorite thing to do, and talks about it repeatedly throughout the day. Aaron and Kai were milking the goat, and I proceeded to feed the sheep, goats, and finally the donkeys. What I didn't realize was that Kai decided he had had enough of milking the goat and followed behind me to feed the donkeys outside the barnyard. I had my back turned, and saw just out of the corner of my eye behind me Kai running up behind the donkeys, who were eating. I shouted "No, Kai!", but it was too late. One of the donkeys, surprised by Kai's presence, kicked with its back foot and hit Kai square in the forehead. I immediately ran over, scooped Kai up, and handed him to Aaron, who ran to the car with him. I drove as fast as I could possibly drive to the nearest emergency room, which took about 10 minutes but seemed like an eternity. Aaron sat in the back seat with Kai, applying pressure to his head. Kai screamed like crazy the whole time--he never lost consciousness.

Everything was a blur once we got to the hospital in Mansfield. Kai was still screaming and thrashing around, so they had to give him a sedative so that he would be still for the CT scan. The CT scan showed that he did not have any bleeding in his brain, but that he had a skull fracture. They started an IV and placed a neck brace on him, they then called for the ambulance to come pick him up and take him to Cook Children's in Fort Worth. Only one parent is allowed to ride in the ambulance, so we decided that Aaron would be the one to go with Kai, and I drove our car. I have absolutely no idea how I managed to hold it together as I drove the 25 minutes by myself to Fort Worth. I just remember talking to myself the entire time, telling myself that I had to hold it together and could break down later.

At Children's we were taken to the trauma ER. The room looked just like the ER shows on television, and their were probably 20 people milling about, all focused on Kai. Then all of the doctors came in to tell us what they thought--a neurosurgeon, an opthamalogist, a pediatric plastic surgeon, and the ER doctor. The donkey's kick had not only caused a fracture in Kai's skull, it had also broken the bones surrounding both of his eyes. As the night wore on, his right eye continued to swell and was soon swollen shut. Kai went into surgery at 2:30 am on Saturday morning to clean out and stitch the wound. We waiting in the waiting room outside the OR for 2.5 hours. Finally they came out and told us we could go up to the hospital room.

I didn't feel relieved at first when I saw him. I didn't know what to feel. There he was, my tiny baby, laying on this giant stretcher, asleep, with tubes and beeping monitors everywhere. All I wanted to do was scoop him up in my arms and hold him, but the nurses said he had to stay in the bed and couldn't be picked up. About 30 minutes later, Kai woke up and started thrashing around the bed and screaming. The nurses relented and let me pick him up. He immediately fell back to sleep. After that, they never made us put him back in that bed, and we never did. Aaron and I held him the rest of the night, and all day Saturday and Saturday night.

We cried every time we made eye contact. I tried to sing Kai lullabies, or recite his favorite book, Goodnight Moon, but couldn't get past the first few words. We basically just sat there, crying and cradling him, for hours and hours. We pulled ourselves together when we had visitors, recounting what the doctors had told us and updating folks via text message and a few phone calls. We saw the opthamologist, who was confident that despite all the broken bones, Kai's eyes themselves were not damaged. The neurosurgeon also stopped by and said he wanted to monitor Kai to make sure that he did not leak fluid from the fracture in his skull, which would warrant emergency surgery.

Saturday evening was the first time we saw a glimpse of our old Kai. He had a dose of morphine, and immediately afterward, woke up and said "read book, Daya." (He calls Aaron "Daya").

This is the only picture I took while we were in the hospital, and I took it right after he asked Aaron to read to him.

We burst into tears and read him stories for about 20 minutes until he fell asleep again. Saturday night was more of the same. We traded off holding Kai as he drifted in and out of a fitful sleep. The next morning we asked the nurse for another dose of morphine, and it was as if a miracle happened. He woke up, and within 30 minutes he had pulled off his chest monitors, was talking and laughing, eating cinnamon toast crunch cereal, and singing songs. An hour later he was walking around the room, and within another hour he was jumping, climbing, and acting like a normal 2 year old. The neurosurgeon came by and said that he was ready to discharge us. It was absolutely amazing. I honestly thought that we would be there another week, and might even have to have a major surgery. Instead, we were told we could go home. It was really very surreal. We gathered up our stuff and headed home late Sunday afternoon. I felt like I had been run over by a truck, but had survived.
Here is a picture I took of Kai on Sunday evening.

We ended up having to head back to the hospital on Monday afternoon because we were afraid that Kai's runny nose might indicate a larger problem related to the fracture, but we had the fluid tested and were told it was "just snot," much to our relief. He was on prescription pain medication for a couple of days, and then no longer needed it. By Wednesday, he was back to his normal silly self, jumping, singing, laughing, playing, climbing, and doing all the normal things that active two year olds do. He is healing quickly, and he seems to have no memory of the incident at all. Aaron and I, on the other hand, have had to do a lot of processing this week. For me, dealing with the guilt I've felt combined with the pregnancy hormones I've got going on right now, I've been pretty much a basket case emotionally. But we're managing now, and each day it gets easier, as he continues to heal and we see what an amazing, resilient, and precious son we have. We've got lots of follow-up appointments with doctors over the next few weeks, but by all accounts, Kai has made an amazing recovery and is no worse for wear.

I would be remiss if I neglected to thank all of the amazing people in our lives who love and care about us and made the past week livable. Thank you to Dad and Ann-Marie, Holli, and Mike and Lauren, who stayed with us in the hospital until 5 in the morning. Thank you to Holli, who went way above the call of duty and watered our chickens and turkeys at 6 in the morning on Saturday after staying up all night with us at the hospital. Thanks to James, who went and bought feed for all of the animals on Saturday afternoon so they didn't starve. Thank you to those of you who visited us at the hospital, who prayed for us, who sent healing thoughts our way. Thank you to my mom and to Aaron's mom, and to my aunt and uncle, who came to help us this week after we got back home. Thank you to all of the friends who left kind messages on Facebook. Our family has been incredibly blessed to make it through this week, and your love, support, prayers, and thoughts are a very large part of what got us to this point. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Here's a picture of our sweet baby boy from this morning.

PS--We've got a couple of donkeys we'll give away for free if anyone's interested. :)

Looonnnng road trip update!

2011-07-12T15:59:00.000-05:00

Yes, it has been a LONG trip, but a great one. Just a few more days left. I had intended to update with pictures every day along the way, but have found myself exhausted by the time we get the kids to sleep in the evenings. So, alas, here are many days worth of activities all jumbled into one post.

When we left St. Louis on the 5th, we headed to Kentucky, where we spent the morning exploring Mammoth Cave, a really neat large national park. No pics from the caves, unfortunately, as there were lots of rules about cameras, bags, and other stuff that we weren't allowed to bring with us. Then we headed further east to tour the Wild Turkey Bourbon Distillery, on Aaron's behalf. The tour was short and sweet, and the kids liked to pose on the turkey out front, so fun was had by all.

We then headed to West Virginia, but nothing notable happened there, so we'll move on to Alexandria, VA, where we had the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday evening. Kai and Pla Shee were looking especially handsome. :)

Practicing their ring bearing walk...

Family photo at the rehearsal dinner overlooking the Potomac river and Washington, DC.

Me and Alex, Meredith (the bride), and Wetherly.

Saturday morning Aaron took the boys to see the Dalai Lama in Washington, DC, on the steps of the Capitol building.

My boys in their tuxedos after the wedding Saturday evening.

Tearing up the dance floor.

After the wedding we headed to North Carolina, where we encountered a crapatorium called "South of the Border" in North Carolina.

Charleston, SC beach day...

To be continued...

Road Trip!

2011-07-05T22:34:00.002-05:00

We decided to embark on a grand adventure this summer--a road trip to Washington, DC for my sister Meredith's wedding. We rented a minivan and headed out on Saturday morning for a 2 week trip. So far, so good. We're basically taking it easy, stopping at parks for picnics and playground time along the way, and soaking in the back roads of rural America. When the boys get antsy we stop and let them stretch their legs, run around a bit, and we're good to go again. Hotel swimming pools in the evenings have been the answer to expending all of their pent up energy and have made bedtime in a small hotel room at least somewhat tolerable.

Highlights of the trip so far:

Random playgrounds and parks along the way in Arkansas, Mississippi, Tennessee, Illinois, and Kentucky.

An absolutely perfect 4th of July (despite the downpour) in Webster Groves, MO spent with our friends Melissa and Mark. We were able to stay at my Aunt Sara and Uncle Lyndy's house in St. Louis which provided a wonderful break from cramped hotel rooms for 2 nights.

The Amheiser-Busch Clydesdales at the parade in Webster Groves, MO.

Looking very patriotic!

Other highlights (sorry, no pics) have included: The Rock n Soul Museum in Memphis, TN and the National Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel, also in Memphis. Tonight we're staying in Beaver Dam, KY, and the plan is to head to Mammoth Cave National Park bright and early in the morning. More updates to come!

Summer fun

2011-06-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

Just a lazy Sunday afternoon playing with the hose in the backyard...

Baby Goat Cuteness

2011-05-26T10:24:00.000-05:00

Summer!

2011-05-23T13:01:00.000-05:00

The semester's finally over, and it's time to get the blog back on track. I saw that our last post was at the end of March, so we've missed a whole month and a half worth of fun stuff to share. I'll break it up into a few categories for the sake of organization.

The garden: Our neighbor, a farmer, has been gracious enough to share some of his land with us this year and Pu Lue has been gardening several acres of traditional Burmese and Thai vegetables that the refugees can't buy in stores here in the US. It's been a great learning experience for all of us. We have pictures and more details on our refugee blog: www.oneworldoutreach.blogspot.com

Our backyard garden, though weedier than we would like, has also produced better this year. Here are the onions that we laid out to dry last night.

The animals: We have had a bumper year of baby animals born on the farm. I think we're finally finished with all of the births as of yesterday, and our total count is 9 lambs, 6 goats, a donkey, and a baby chick.

We just placed several ads on Craigslist to sell them--check them out at these links:

http://dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/grd/2396809452.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/grd/2396810302.html
http://dallas.craigslist.org/sdf/grd/2396818655.html

Our family: If you haven't heard the big news yet, our family is growing (hence the need to downsize some of our furry friends. We're expecting a baby in mid-October, and of course we are super excited. We should be able to find out the gender next week!

LOTS of lambs and sheep for sale!

2011-03-31T11:12:00.000-05:00

We now have six 2011 lambs for sale, plus a few 2010 yearlings and a couple of older registered ewes we're ready to part with. Please contact us quickly if you're interested, as we're planning to market them pretty agressively this year through Craigslist and local feed stores. You can check out some of the pics on our For Sale page.

Lamb updates and a funny story about refugees

2011-03-29T11:38:00.000-05:00

So I have two divergent topics for today--I'll start with an update on the lambs. As I posted briefly last week, birthing season is in full force at the farm. We've had 6 lambs born within the past week. Sadly, one didn't make it due to unknown reasons, so we are left with 5 at this point, all of whom are healthy and spry. I've not yet had an opportunity to take any decent photos, but plan to make it happen within the next day or so. Rest assured, they are all cute as ever. My favorite is a sweet little black ewe with a "flaw"--a white stripe on the top of her head--just adorable!

On to the other topic, which, as you probably guessed, involves our friends the refugees. I debated about whether to post this here or on our refugee blog, One World Outreach, but decided it's more of a personal story than a professional one, so I opted to put it here. This story is about cultural nuances, going with the flow, and having a sense of humor when communication takes a back seat to friendship and good intentions.
Sooo...
Yesterday I got a call at work around 2:30 in the afternoon from one of our refugee friends, Ta Paw. I've talked a lot about him and his family in previous posts and on our One World Outreach blog. Ta Paw doesn't speak much English, and I speak very little Karen, but the gist of our conversation was this:

Ta Paw: Teacher, we miss you. We want to see you today. We will come to your house now.

Me: Umm, I miss you too. Today is not good. Too busy today.

Ta Paw: We can come now?

Me: No. I am at work. No one is at home. Not today.

Ta Paw: Kai Pa is at home? (Kai Pa is Aaron's name--it literally means "the father of Kai")

Me: No. Kai Pa is out of town. He will not come home until tonight.

Ta Paw: Okay, teacher. [click] (Our conversations always end abruptly like this....for some reason the "hello" and "goodbye" parts of phone conversations are seen as unnecessary!)

Fast forward a few hours...I pick up Kai, return home around 5 pm, give the boys a snack, then load up again to take Pla Shee to baseball practice from 6-7. We get home about 7:30, around the same time as Aaron and Pu Lue (who had both been in Giddings helping Aaron's mom on the ranch over the weekend). We eat a quick dinner, get the boys bathed, read a bedtime story, and put them to bed by 8:30.

I hop in the shower, ready to get into my pjs and veg on the sofa for a couple of hours rotting my brain while watching some mindless tv, and while I'm in the shower, Aaron comes into the bathroom to announce that Ta Paw and 14 of his family members and friends are in our living room!

What can you do but shake your head, recenter, put your clothes back on, and scan the pantry for snacks for 15? Pla Shee and Kai heard the commotion and of course had to join the party. Pla Shee must have said five times "Me and Kai are so lucky! We get to stay up so late like grownups!".

While it wouldn't have been my first choice to have a houseful of people over until 10:30 pm on a Monday night with no warning (I guess the "no warning" aspect is debatable, given my earlier phone conversation), after gathering myself a bit I realized that we are incredibly blessed. We are blessed to have these people in our lives that love us and care about us so much that they think nothing of driving over an hour in the dark, in a strange new city, to visit us and tell us that they miss us. That these people, who have almost nothing, who struggle with employment, language, health, and depression, would arrive at our home with smiles on their faces and bearing gifts of frozen chicken and hand-woven clothing.

Sometimes I get frustrated because of the sacrifices we've made in our work with the refugees. Sometimes it's hard to make ends meet on one salary as we try to get our nonprofit, One World Outreach, up and running. Sometimes our "alone time" turns into something far from it, as it did last night. But at the end of the day, when I look around me and I see the faces of people who I love and who love me and my family, faces of people who have lost so much but yet still so freely give, I know that I am truly blessed. I wouldn't change this crazy life for anything.

Spring Lambs are here!

2011-03-25T10:52:00.000-05:00

We had our first lambs of the season born this week! So far we have 3 girls (1 black, 1 white, 1 black with some very cute white spots) and 1 boy (white). Here's a sneak peek of two of the lambs. I'll post more pics this weekend. All of our lambs are full-blooded babydolls, and we'll be selling them as unregistered stock this year--$300 a piece. Shoot us an email if you're interested at mitschke@oneworldfarm.com.

Spring Break in Houston

2011-03-25T10:48:00.000-05:00

We spent about half of Spring Break in Houston visiting the family and had a fantastic time at the Houston Live Stock Show and Rodeo. I'd never been, and it was really amazing. They say things are always bigger in Texas, and the Houston Live Stock Show was certainly a great example. Here's a video of Pla Shee is some kind of bubble contraption that he was just thrilled about. It made me realize that I'm getting old, as the idea of running around in a clear plastic bubble in 85 degree weather was completely unappealiing to me.

Here he is riding on a camel.

We also spent a day at the beach in Galveston, which was fun, but Kai has decided he is not so much a fan of the ocean or sand. Not good for a Marshallese boy who was born in Hawaii! Sorry for the lack of photos--forgot my camera in the frenzy of the road trip.

Kai the Shepherd

2011-02-21T11:31:00.000-06:00

We've decided Kai has a knack for herding the sheep. It helps that they are terrified of him!

Gearing up for spring

2011-02-17T12:44:00.000-06:00

About this time every year, we start getting really anxious for spring to get here. We've got lots of big plans for the garden this year, and are excited about trying out some new seeds that we imported from Thailand at the bequest of our Karen refugee friends. We're hoping that some of the vegetables they remember from Burma and Thailand and can't find in the supermarkets here will do well in our garden. Above, our garlic, which was planted in the fall, will be ready to harvest in early summer. Below, Pu Lue and Aaron working on preparing raised beds in the garden.

We bought a bunch of these magic seed starter soil discs on ebay, and just love them. They start out like the little quarter sized disc on the right, then you just add water, and voila, an instant self-contained home to start a seed indoors. So easy and so convenient. When you're ready to transplant your seedlings into the garden or a larger container, you just tear off the netting.

Aaron starting various types of pepper seeds. Chopsticks are a handy tool for this delicate task!

Kite Flying

2011-02-16T20:54:00.000-06:00

One thing we have a whole lot of in Venus is wind. I honestly think we live in some kind of wind tunnel most days. Our crazy wind does make kite flying pretty simple, however, so today Pla Shee had a go at it with a kite he had received for Christmas. As you'll see in the video below, kite flying can get a little crazy when you forget to hang on to the string. I made two trips onto the roof of the house to retrieve and untangle the kite before we called it a day. Good times. Side note: The incessant squawking you hear throughout the video is the lone remaining guinea we have from our original group of four. As you can see, she makes enough noise for about 40 birds put together.

We have water! Hallelujah!

2011-02-04T17:43:00.000-06:00

Aaron is officially my hero...he spent six hours in the well house with a blowdryer and a space heater and finally got our well running again. It was such a welcome relief that any of the wariness I was feeling about the prospect of yet another snow day was really overshadowed by the sheer joy of being able to take a real shower. I never thought I would be excited to do laundry, and I'm still not sure I'd call it excitement, but I was very...relieved.

So all is well with all of us. The sheep are in heaven, the goats, donkeys and chickens not so much. Their water containers were solid blocks of ice yesterday, so Aaron had to venture to the store to buy a new hose to get them access to water. We're supposed to reach 40 degrees tomorrow, and I think we're all looking forward to putting this behind us and gearing up for the Super Bowl. Here are some pics from today.

Kai screaming at the sheep. One of his favorite hobbies.

Not so thrilled with the snow.

Molly Wobbles waiting for her turn.

Pla Shee's miniature snowperson.

"Sledding" on a plastic box lid. Venus is incredibly flat, which is apparently not great for sledding.

Living like pioneers!

2011-02-02T22:02:00.000-06:00

This whole "arctic blast" hit us pretty hard on Monday evening with an ice storm. With temperatures not reaching over 20 degrees since then, we've had lots of togetherness time, which has been nice. What has been a lot less nice is the fact that our pipes in the well house froze on Tuesday morning, leaving us without any running water for now going on three days. This experience has really forced me to recognize how much water we actually waste everyday. I mean, I've always kind of considered myself pretty aware of water and how much I use. I don't leave the water running while I brush my teeth, I try not to take long showers, etc., but these past few days I've seen that those things are literally just a drop in the bucket. (Nice pun!).

We buy our drinking water in those big water dispensing containers anyway, so we had four of those lying in wait. Needless to say, when your water supply is not only limited but also VERY expensive, you do what you can to conserve. To wash the dishes tonight, I soaped them all up with minimal water, then heated a huge pot of water on the stove to rinse them. It took me an entire hour, or maybe a little more. Then, I scooped up the dishwater in the sink, strained it with our spaghetti strainer, and poured the water into the back of the toilet, so that it could be flushed. That whole 'if it's yellow' jingle has been a mantra in our house the past two days!

Here's a pic of my 'shower' preparations this evening. I use the term 'shower' in the broadest sense.

Pla Shee playing in the ice.

The eggs literally froze, expanded and cracked open all by themselves.

More snow is forecasted for tomorrow night, so who knows if we'll have school Friday. I think we need to move back to Hawaii...

Sheep and Donkeys for Sale!

2011-01-13T10:19:00.000-06:00

Don't forget to check out our recently updated For Sale page on our website. We've listed four unregistered 2010 lambs for sale for $300 each. You can see their photos on the site. We may be willing to part with some of our older registered ewes as well, so if you're interested, just send us an email at mitschke@oneworldfarm.com. Also, we've got our 9 month old jack donkey for sale, "Batman." He's a sweetheart and will come right up to you and eat out of your hand.

Holiday Overview

2011-01-13T10:13:00.000-06:00

We had such a great holiday this year. It was our first Christmas with Pla Shee, and really the first Christmas that Kai could actually participate in the fun. We spent time here at home and made a quick trip to Houston and Giddings to wind up the holidays.

Christmas morning at our house. Pla Shee's favorite gift: Woody doll from Toy Story; Kai's favorite gift: a green plastic dump truck. The truck is not really meant to be ridden on, but Kai seems to find a way.

We went down to Houston to watch Baylor get slaughtered by Illinois in the Texas Bowl. We took the loss as a moral victory since it was the first bowl game Baylor has been to since Aaron was a freshman in college! We had such a fun time hanging out with Mom and Dennis, but it makes me sad that we don't live closer to them so that we could hang out more often. We spent an afternoon in Galveston so that the boys could see the beach and also went ice skating one day, which has now become Pla Shee's favorite thing to do. He seems to be a natural at most things he tries--like a "renaissance boy" of sorts! :)

Later, we headed to Giddings where we explored the farm on the Gator, fed the cows, uncovered buried "treasures" in the old homestead (Aaron's grandparents' old house on the farm that has been vacant for 25 years), and visited with MeMe, Grandma Betty and Ken.

It was a whirlwind of a holiday, and now we're back into the whirlwind of school and work. In fact, I'm off to Tampa this afternoon for a research conference, so my boys are on their own this weekend. :)

We have a 10 year old boy in the house!

2010-12-20T19:57:00.000-06:00

Pla Shee celebrates his 10th birthday this week, and in honor of his big day we celebrated by visiting the Gaylord Texan's ICE exhibit. Ann-Marie made an incredible basketball cake (see below).

And, I looked up at the ceiling this morning and saw this:

Any guesses? It's a green slimy/sticky hand that Pla Shee decided to throw onto the ceiling above the front door. I know I could just pull a chair over to reach it and pull it down, but now that it's held on for over 24 hours, it seems like we should just see how long it can hold out. This could be a world record or something, I think. Anyway, it's clear I live in a house full of boys!

Farmer Kai

2010-12-01T16:54:00.001-06:00

You know you live in the country when...

2010-11-23T08:40:00.000-06:00

...instead of dropping a dead squirrel or rabbit on the front porch, your dog shows up with a cow leg, complete with hoof, skin and hair. I opted to post this without the benefit of a photo, but rest assured, it was a lovely way to start the day. :)

One Year Anniversary

2010-10-23T10:19:00.003-05:00

One year ago today, on October 23, 2009, Aaron and I got up at 4:00 am, headed to the airport, and boarded a plane for an 8 hour flight to Honolulu. We'd made the trip probably 20 times before, but this trip could not have been more different. We spent the 8 hours on the flight in relative silence, as neither of us could think of what to say that might seem somehow meaningful or significant. I think we just didn't want to jinx anything. We had been put through the ringer in the adoption world, and had faced devastation with two adoption plans that had fallen through in the year prior. But on this day, we were emotionally, financially, and physically invested in the 2 month old baby boy that was waiting for us to arrive in Honolulu that we had no words to describe the combination of excitement, relief, fear, anxiety, and joy that we were feeling.

Well, as you know, this story has a happy ending. We arrived in Honolulu uneventfully, breathed in the sweet island air and headed to our hotel. We freshened up a bit and then were called to the lobby where we were introduced for the first time to our sweet baby Kai and his first family. This is a picture of me taken with Aaron's cell phone when I was holding Kai for the first time once we got back to our room. It was amazing. I am, quite literally, glowing.

Kai is an incredible blessing in our lives, and we will always be grateful to his first family for sharing him with us and for allowing us to make him a part of our family. He is loved by so many.

So happy the fall weather has finally arrived!

2010-10-04T13:05:00.002-05:00

Life in a small Texas town

2010-09-23T16:21:00.000-05:00

With Pla Shee at Venus Elementary, it's forced our hand a bit in terms of getting more involved in the town activities, especially those that involve the school. Hence our participation in the Venus Homecoming Parade, which unfortunately was scheduled for yesterday afternoon at the exact time we had a huge thunderstorm blow through town. We made the best of it, though, and I thought I'd share some of these shots that Aaron managed to capture despite the rain.

Venus Cheerleaders and Bulldog Mascots

Yikes. Not sure how these folks are associated with the parade.

FFA (Future Farmers of America) "Float":

Whataburger "Float." Yes, those are cardboard french fry containers taped to the side of the truck. Sweet.

Pla Shee got to ride on the Elementary School float because he exemplifies "good moral character." Yes, that's a direct quote from the permission slip he brought home.

Kai hanging out in the rain watching the parade. Note the package of candy he's saving for later stored safely between his thighs. Nice.

Kai's 1st steps

2010-09-21T10:26:00.000-05:00

Well, maybe not his very first steps, but pretty close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54vfkBkiriQ

Hangin' with the donkeys

2010-09-19T11:07:00.000-05:00

The donkeys, particularly Leroy and 6 month old Batman, seem to be just as infatuated with Kai as he is with them. Every morning they greet us from the pasture and jog up to the fence to visit and beg for a carrot or some other delectable treat. This morning, we took a mental health day and skipped out on church and just hung out as a family. It was very much needed, as it has been a crazy first few weeks of fall trying to get back into the swing of things. As you can see, Kai was modeling his Romo jersey in preparation for the big game against the Chicago Bears. I think the donkeys were unimpressed. :)

Soccer!

2010-09-13T22:57:00.001-05:00

Since Pla Shee is a very typical 9 year old boy in that he has LOTS of energy to burn, we decided to sign him up for soccer this fall. He LOVES it. Even though the other kids on his team have been playing for several years already, and this is his first time, he's caught on really quickly and seems to have quite a knack for it. Tonight was the very first game for the "Funky Monkeys," who unfortunately lost 3-5 to the "Tornadoes." The disappointment at the loss dissipated as soon as he saw that each player received a Caprisun and snack--for free! Apparently it's the little things that make the difference. :)

Looking very intense!

Aaron & Kai hanging out on the sideline, cheering on the team.

Listening to a pep talk from the coach after the game:

Pu Lue and Pla Shee:

Embracing a lifestyle

2010-09-10T15:40:00.000-05:00

As you already know, we've jumped head first into our lives with the Karen refugees, and this means that we often eat, drink, play, and work as they do in some ways. Our integration with the culture became particularly clear to me this afternoon when I came home from work to find Kai like this:

To explain, Kai is sleeping peacefully in a hammock that is strung up between two posts inside our barn. What you don't see in the picture is that Paw Moo, Pu Lue's wife, is standing guard about 2 feet away and rocking the hammock. Why would she need to stand guard, you ask? To protect him from the stray chickens and goats wandering around, of course.

Kai normally spends his days in his new preschool, but, as luck would have it, he caught a cold that became another ear infection after his first week. Paw Moo was on vacation this week, and decided to spend the week here at the farm with Pu Lue, and was literally thrilled to keep Kai while we went to work. A win-win-win, for sure. Anyway, just thought that this was a great thing to come home to and wanted to share.

We have a famous goat!

2010-09-03T22:47:00.002-05:00

Well, it's official. Louise "Weazy" Mitschke has found her calling. The Hollywood scouts should be calling any day now. This morning, Weazy, Aaron, and Pu Lue were featured (well, featured is stretching it a bit) on Good Morning Texas, a local news show here in DFW. They were pitching Texas Fried Frito Pie, which is currently a finalist in the 2010 Creative Fried Foods Contest for the State Fair of Texas.

See the clip from Good Morning Texas here.

One word. Awesome.

Update on the farm

2010-09-01T10:33:00.000-05:00

The Garden: We've been so busy this summer that we haven't done a very good job keeping up with the garden. Hopefully we'll be able to turn things around this fall. All is not lost, though. We are growing some luffa sponges, which have done surprisingly well. I'm excited about being able to dry them and encase them in glycerin to use as soap. We'll see how that actually pans out in the end! We're also growing winter squash, which, despite its name, does surprisingly well in the Texas heat. And, of course, okra always seems to be able to beat the heat in Texas. I wish it tasted better! Pu Lue's been growing bitter melon vines with quite a bit of success.

The Sheep: The heat of the Texas summer is never particularly enjoyable for our animals, and this year was especially rough for the sheep. Despite having sheared them twice this summer, and providing lots of access to shade and water, we lost two rams to heat stroke in early August. This is the first summer we've lost any of our sheep, so we're trying to figure out what we need to do differently to prevent this in the future. We've also got to figure out our plan for acquiring a new ram, since breeding season is just around the corner!

The Goats: Curious as ever, and all five of them are trouble makers. They're still my favorite, though. We'd like to get Louise, our Nubian, bred this fall so that she'll start producing milk again in the spring. With Kai drinking whole milk now, it will certainly be nice to have our own supply rather than having to run to the store every five minutes!

The Donkeys: Leroy & Daphne are good as usual, and their son, "Batman," is about 5 months old. Let me know if you (or anyone you know) is interested in adopting him ($50).

The Chickens: The first chickens we ever purchased from Murray McMurray in 2007 are finally starting to show their age. We're gradually adding new hens to the coop, so our egg production hasn't suffered too much. The recent outbreaks of salmonella have certainly increased interested in farm raised local eggs, so I imagine we will continue to build up the size of our flock.

Back to School

2010-09-01T10:11:00.000-05:00

We had a really great summer! This was Kai's first summer, and so it was a summer of firsts:

First haircut
First road trip (we took trips to Houston, Austin, and Brady, TX)
First trip to a "waterpark"
First Colorado family vacation
And finally, First Birthday!

As you've probably gathered from our postings, Pla Shee, Pu Lue's 9-year old son, has been living with us since May. He has been a wonderful addition to our family, and Kai especially enjoys having a big brother to emulate. Pla Shee started the 3rd grade at Venus Elementary last week, and so far seems to be adjusting really well. I think it helps to have a smaller school environment because he feels special, and everyone knows his name. Here's a picture of the boys on Pla Shee's first day of school:

Kai started preschool (I know, crazy!) this week in Arlington. He is going Tuesday-Friday and LOVES it. He is such a social little guy, and though he is small in stature, he makes up for it with his smile! ;)

He he is the morning of his first day, complete with miniature backpack:

Happy 1st Birthday, Kai!

2010-08-15T22:38:00.002-05:00

Gearing up for the big birthday bash

2010-07-27T00:02:00.000-05:00

The party preparations are in full swing for Kai's 1st birthday! The party will be here at the farm on Saturday, August 14th, and all are invited to come join in the fun. Both the Marshallese and Hawaiian cultures make a HUGE deal out of first birthdays, and we witnessed a good number of 1st birthday celebrations when we lived on Oahu. To celebrate Kai's Marshallese heritage and his Hawaiian birthplace, we're literally inviting everyone we know to come check out the farm, hang out with the animals, and munch on a birthday cupcake or two. If you are reading our blog and would like to visit, we hope you'll join us for the party. Just shoot us an email at mitschke@oneworldfarm.com so we can give you the details and directions to the farm. Hope you can come celebrate with us!

Arlington City Pool

2010-07-22T17:28:00.000-05:00

A few pics from our afternoon at the Arlington City Pool on Sublett Road this afternoon.

Colorado!

2010-07-16T02:11:00.000-05:00

We are in Colorado this week with my mom and Dennis, my sisters Stefani and Amanda, my bff Holli, and my aunt Sara and uncle Lyndy, and we are having a blast. We are staying at the YMCA Camp of the Rockies in Estes Park, CO, in a cabin that we've rented for 7 days, and it is absolutely wonderful. I love it here. We have been coming here for family vacations in the summer time ever since I can remember, and I love that even now, as an adult, I can share this amazing place with my family, friends, and child. The weather is perfect, the mountains are breathtaking, and the wildlife is fantastic. This is a place that rejuvenates my soul and brings me closer to my family and the people I love. Besides that, we get to do a lot of cool stuff that we never do at home: ride horses on a mountain, hike through the forest, climb on big boulders, raft down the rapids, paint on silk in the craft hut, and play cards as a family until late in the evenings. Here are a few pics from our trip.

My boys on our hike to the Baldpate Inn, home of our favorite restaurant ever:

Family portrait:

Amanda, mom, me, and Holli on our hike.

Mom and Kai saw a huge elk on the road near our cabin!

Brady, TX

2010-06-21T21:52:00.000-05:00

We took an overnight trip to Brady, TX last night because Aaron had a speaking engagement at the hospital there this morning. He presents 4 hour lectures to nurses in rural hospitals so that they can get their required continuing education hours for their nursing licenses and it provides us with a little bit of supplemental income and an excuse to take road trips around the state every so often. As noted in the previous blog, we made a side trip to Fossil Rim to see the animals on the way, and then ended up in Brady in time for a late evening swim at the Best Western. Thank goodness that had a swimming pool, because I've recently found that a love of swimming is one thing that 9 year old Pla Shee and 10 month old Kai seem to share. This morning I entertained the boys while Aaron did his presentation at the hospital. We swam, visited the public library and read a few books, and hung out at a great local park, where I snapped these pics. It was a really simple, great trip and it made me appreciate enjoying summertime with people I love very much. :)

Fossil Rim

2010-06-21T21:35:00.000-05:00

We headed to Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glenrose, TX on Sunday afternoon. I remember visiting there with my grandmother and cousin when I was about 8 years old, but that was the last time I had been, and Aaron had never been. We thought it would be fun to take Pla Shee and Kai to see the animals, and it was, of course! It's a little pricey, but very cool in that the animals come right up to your car and you can feed them (very over-priced) food. A couple of important lessons learned: 1) Make sure that EVERYONE goes potty before you get started. It's a 9.5 mile drive at about 10 miles per hour that can be somewhat miserable if a certain 9 year old realizes he needs to go about 1/4 into the adventure. 2) Make sure you have more than 1/8 of a tank of gas BEFORE you start the drive. (See above reference to the 9.5 mile drive at 10 miles per hour). All in all, it was fun. I'm not absolutely totally sure it was worth the $70.00 price tag for the 4 of us, but I'm not totally unsure either. Part of me thinks the pic of Kai looking up at the giraffe made it worth every penny.

A few pics of Kai just for fun

2010-06-21T00:21:00.001-05:00

A few gratuitous photos of our bear just for fun. Have I mentioned how much I love our new camera?!!

Wild Plums

2010-06-19T21:47:00.000-05:00

Having Pla Shee stay at our farm has opened our eyes to some wonderful resources we have that we never knew about. Here he is climbing a tree collecting some delicious wild plums. Yummmm!!!

New Refugee Blog

2010-06-17T14:45:00.000-05:00

We know that some of you who read this only want to read about the farm and the menagerie of animals, and others want to see pictures of Kai, and still others may be interested in our work with refugees. Well, we've launched a new blog today that will focus on our work with the refugees in the Dallas area. We'll post stories about the successes and challenges that the families we meet are facing, and we'll post updates about our microenterprise efforts in the areas of carpentry and weaving as we try to help specific individuals create a sustainable future here in the U.S.

The new refugee blog address is: http://refugeesindfw.blogspot.com/

Most of you may know that Aaron recently resigned from his job as a faculty member at the university in order to spend more time doing outreach in the refugee community in Dallas (unpaid in the traditional sense, though high dividends in the spiritual sense!). This was a decision that we made as a family, and we feel really good about where we're headed. Sure, there's lots of uncertainty and days where I think we are a little looney, but most of the time I am able to see that we are incredibly blessed. Our lives continue to evolve, and we're rolling with it. We are already starting to see ways that we can be organic farmers, academic researchers, and outreach workers all at once. And though we do sometimes feel like we are going a million miles an hour, we've also found that amidst the chaos there are moments of amazing peace that keep us at once grounded and motivated. I can honestly say that we are living our passion, and we feel like we've found a way to make a difference. And that's pretty cool. So we hope that you'll join us on both blogs as we juggle the craziness!

Slip n Slide

2010-06-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

We have been trying to beat the heat with our crab pool, sprinklers, and new last week, a cheap slip n slide from the dollar store. Pla Shee (9 year old Karen refugee) has been staying with us, and has been a very tolerant photo subject for us as we experiment with our fancy new digital SLR camera. A few pics from the literally thousands we took:

Kai's first haircut

2010-06-11T01:50:00.013-05:00

These are the reasons we recently shaved our almost 10 month old son's head, in order of importance:
1) to be culturally relevant. In most Asian and Pacific Island cultures (including Marshallese, Kai's ethnic background, and Karen, who we spend most of our time with), it is customary to shave an infant's head during their first year. Some say it is for good luck, others say it promotes a thicker, healthier head of hair. Mostly it seems it is just because it is a tradition. So we did it.

2) his curls were a little crazy, and though we absolutely had no problem with strangers telling us what a cute little girl we had, we figured at some point he would probably need to at least have most of his hair the same length. We figured if we had to cut off the curls anyway, might as well cut it all off. So we did it.

3) it's really hot in Texas. Having no hair naturally helps keep him cooler in 100+ degree heat. So we did it.

4) it will grow back. We're sure of it. It's just hair. So we did it.

And he's still super cute. :)

Bee Crisis

2010-06-11T01:33:00.009-05:00

If you've read our blog for a while, you know that we got bees a couple of years ago (http://oneworldfarm.blogspot.com/2008/06/bees.html). They've been for the most part a pretty ho-hum part of our farm life. They're very easy to take care of, and mostly we forget they're around until I remember every so often that we should not have to buy honey at the store, and convince Aaron to suit up and retrieve some honey so I can have some biscuits with honey. For those of you who eat biscuits with jelly instead of honey, you're seriously missing out.

Anyway, Tuesday was the big day to tackle the honey problem. Pu Lue (our Karen refugee friend and a wonderful carpenter) and his 9 year old son Pla Shee have been staying with us for a while during the week, so Aaron thought it would be fun for them to get in on the action too. Here the three of them are all suited up:

This picture was taken about 5 minutes before the first bee sting happened. One thing we've learned about bees is that once you're stung once, it's like the dam has been broken and you're bound to get stung again until you cry uncle. Aaron, being oh so brave, decided to keep at it. Four stings later, he'd had enough and decided to call it quits. Unfortunately this time the bees gave him a run for his money. For some reason, he developed an allergy to the bee stings for the first time in his life and his entire body broke into hives and began to swell almost immediately. It was CRAZY!

We headed to the ER where they immediately started an IV and pumped Benedryl, steroids of some sort, and various other drugs that made him loopy into his system. We ended up getting home around 1 am once the drs and nurses were convinced that he was on the mend and would not have a permanent "pillow hand."

I took this picture of him about 30 minutes after the bee stings. I can't even recognize him! For comparison, Aaron normally looks like the photo below this one. Wierd, huh?

In all of the craziness, Bear (aka Kai) got his first bee sting, right on the noggin. He took it in stride, though, and decided it wasn't too painful once he was able to munch on one of his coconut cookies (his favorite).

9 Months Old!

2010-05-19T13:40:00.001-05:00

It is hard to believe that Kai is already 9 months old! Every day is literally an incredible blessing, and I continue to have my breath taken away by this little boy who has become my whole world.

Spring at One World Farm

2010-05-18T11:04:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my Uncle Lyndy and his fabulous photography skills for the photos!

The cutest boy in the world.

2010-05-03T11:04:00.000-05:00

Okay, I know I'm biased, but little boys don't get much cuter than this! Saturday evening we drove to Glen Rose on our way to Granbury. Glen Rose is home to Dinosaur Valley State Park, where you can dig for fossils and see real dinosaur footprints. We opted to eat a quick dinner at a bbq restaurant instead but couldn't pass up a perfect photo op in front of the visitor's center.

Me in the Bluebonnets!

2010-04-29T13:17:00.000-05:00

After I posted the pictures of Kai in the bluebonnets the other day, I came across this picture of me when I was 4 years old and thought I'd share. :)

Kai in the bluebonnets

2010-04-27T13:40:00.000-05:00

If you're not from Texas, you may not be aware that we Texans are in love with our state flower, the Bluebonnet. Come April, it's not unusual to see entire familes pulled off to the side of the highway posing the kids in the field of bluebonnets to get that perfect photo. Yesterday I literally saw a crazy mother posing her children on the median! So, one of the great perks of living out in the country I've just recently realized. All I had to do to get my pics of Kai posing in a field of bluebonnets was walk to the next field over from our house. No pulling off to the side of the highway as cars whiz by, hoping for that perfect shot. Just one more reason I love where we live!

A trip to the Zoo

2010-04-04T23:19:00.000-05:00

Easter weekend we took a group of Karen refugees to the Dallas Zoo. For most of them, it was their first visit to a zoo, and also their first ride on the train (we took the Dart Rail). It was a blast. Here is a photo montage for your viewing pleasure.

New Baby Donkey!

2010-04-04T23:10:00.000-05:00

Leroy and Daphne are pleased to announce the birth of their new daughter, Jezebel, born on Saturday, April 3rd.

Well, Leroy is not actually thrilled, exactly, as this means that his advances are bound to be shunned by his bride for at least the next 4 months. We'll assume he's happy on the inside...

This is my cousin Tyler congratulating and consoling Leroy on the new arrival.

Lambing Season's in Full Swing!

2010-03-10T18:08:00.000-06:00

We had three lambs born just this afternoon! That brings our grand total to 6--one black and 5 white. I will be posting pics on our For Sale page this weekend. For those of you who are interested in a lamb this season but haven't yet committed by paying a deposit to reserve one, now is the time. Please email us at mitschke@oneworldfarm.com to let us know you're interested, as they're going fast! Thanks!

Our little farmhand

2010-03-05T15:47:00.002-06:00

Our Crazy Life-Part 2

2010-02-21T19:23:00.000-06:00

Part 2-6 pm on Friday-9 am on Saturday

So, my phone rings. It's Aaron. He asks how things are going. Exasperated, I explain that it is not a great time. He says he fell asleep on the floor in PuLue's apartment. Perfect. I say I'll talk to him later. I have lube on my arms up to my elbows.

Aaron calls back 10 minutes later. Says he's on the way back home. Says he has a surprise. Great, I think. I could use a surprise. Maybe an early birthday present. Or a late Valentine's present. Something to make up for my traumatic sheep birthing experience. Then he tells me what the surprise is.

He's bringing PuLue and two of his kids with him. To spend the night. Perfect.

Did I mention the electricians are still here? And that we still don't have power in the back half of the house?

Fast forward one hour. On my kitchen floor I have PuLue holding a newborn lamb and a 9 year old Karen boy using a blow dryer to warm up the lamb. There's an 11 year old Karen girl sweeping the living room floor with the Swifter (she's fascinated with the battery powered trigger that squirts cleaning fluid onto the floor). We have two Mexican electricians just finishing up, and my 6-month old son Kai soaking it all in in his exersaucer. Aaron and I made eye contact from across the room and just busted out laughing. We have a crazy life, and sometimes it literally makes me want to pull my hair out, but I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Yes, living on a farm and having sheep a that decides to give birth a full month early can be a bit overwhelming. And having a husband that would literally give the shirt off his back to a Karen refugee or a Mexican immigrant to help him out can present unique challenges very often. But we are happy. And we're making a difference, albeit a small one.

Postlude.
The lamb is a healthly black ewe named "Lulu Sunflower." Lulu at Meredith's request, and Sunflower at Moo's request (Moo is the 11 year old daughter of PuLue). Both mom and baby are doing great.

The electricians finally successfully finished restoring power to the back of the house. We are now invited to Juan's grandson's christening next weekend.

I whipped up a quick dinner of yellow chicken curry and rice. The Karen are fans of most Thai food because they spend a number of years in Thai refugee camps before they come to the US. The verdict was that my curry was good, but not nearly spicy enough. :)

PuLue and his kids rejected the guest bedroom because it was "too nice," and instead opted for an air mattress set up on the living room floor.

The next morning, I made breakfast tacos--yes, even Karen refugees love breakfast tacos!

It was a pretty amazing 24 hours.

Sigh.

Our Crazy Life-Part 1

2010-02-21T18:49:00.000-06:00

Part 1--6 am-6pm

Last Friday started out like any other Friday morning. We usually work from home on Fridays, so I got Kai up and ready, and headed out the door to go to the gym for a quick workout (he's 6 months old now, so he can go to the "Kid's Klub" at 24 hour fitness). As I'm headed out, Aaron mentioned that he had asked a couple of men he had met at the clinic the day before who happened to be electricians to come out to our house to work on some electrical problems we had been having in Kai's room. Turns out he had asked them to come out on Friday. Perfect. No worries, I thought. Aaron would be at home to monitor the progress and figure out what supplies they would need.

So, I headed to the gym with Kai, did a short workout, and as I'm finishing up I get a call from Aaron. He says that our refugee friend, PuLue, is being discharged from the hospital and that he needs to go pick him up from the hospital and take him home. Okay. Not exactly what I thought we'd be doing today, but fine. I figured even with the drive to Dallas and back home, Aaron would still be back home by 2 pm or so, which would be before the electricians would be finished and we'd be all set.

I go back home, introduce myself to the electricians (who speak only Spanish, while I speak only English, unfortunately), and entertain Kai while attempting to get some work done. Fast forward a few hours to about 5 pm. Aaron's still not home, the electricians are still here. I decide to take Kai outside with me to feed the animals before dark. As we walk up to the sheep, I notice that Cecilia has a lamb's head emerging from under her tail. It was stuck. I will spare you the gory details. Needless to say, I realized immediately that there was a problem and returned inside to call my sister, Meredith, who graduates from vet school this May. When Meredith asked if I had any "lube" around the house, I knew my day had just taken a serious turn for the worse. We did indeed have lube in the medical kit, purchased a couple of years ago when we got our first animals, apparently just for moments such as these. I put Kai in his exersaucer, "lubed up" up to my elbows, and literally dove in. I am not sure who was more traumatized--me or poor Cecilia. Let's just say neither of us were happy campers at that point. Sadly, the lamb was too big and had been stuck for too long, and it was dead. Feeling defeated yet relieved, and still a bit in shock, I called Meredith back to tell her the results. Much to my dismay, she insisted I return to the scene and "feel around to make sure there's not another lamb inside there." What??? You have got to be kidding me. How is this my life??? AAAHHH!!!

So, with a big sigh, I lube back up and dive back in. Feeling nothing (though not really sure what I'm supposed to be feeling), I determine Cecilia has no more lambs hiding in her uterus and return inside again. After getting cleaned up for the second time, I take Kai back outside to resume feeding the animals. I round the corner, and to my amazement, there is Cecilia with a tiny black lamb--and this one is alive! It was at this point that I realized that I would apparently be the worst vet ever, as I had only minutes before made my determination about the lack of a yet to be born twin.

I decide that I need to tap into the people power that I have in the house, and recruit the electricians for some assistance. While Pablo held Kai, I dragged Juan back outside to help me set up the pen for CiCi and her baby. I am quite certain they both thought I was insane at that point. Finally we got things set up and as I returned inside, my phone rang again.

Yes, it gets crazier. See Part 2 for the conclusion of this story and photos from the day.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-14T21:12:00.001-06:00

Snow!!

2010-02-11T11:31:00.000-06:00

Well, it's certainly nothing like the blizzards they've been having in the northeast this week, but for Texas, this is pretty impressive!

Carl getting up close and personal:

Sheldon

Molly Wobbles, Maude, and Gertie

Relishing spring-like weather, if only for an afternoon

2010-02-10T09:50:00.000-06:00

The other day it was actually warm enough to be outside for more than a few minutes. Still a little chilly, as you can see from Kai's choice of attire (sweater + bare feet)! We are getting cabin fever, and are ready for spring to get here so that we can spend some time in the garden. For now, we settled for a little time at the picnic table visiting with the chickens. :)

A week in the life of us

2010-02-08T23:42:00.000-06:00

The spring semester started a few weeks ago, and the new and improved Mitschke clan is adjusting to the craziness that comes with living on a farm, working full time, community, and avoiding traditional day care. I thought it might be interesting to share what a typical week is like for us nowadays.

Sunday--We go to the 10 am service at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Oak Cliff, which we absolutely love. We've been going this church for about a year now, and really feel like we've found a church community that matches our values and ideas about life in general. We had a really neat child dedication service for Kai here in November, which was similar to a traditional Christening in other churches. Here is a picture of all of us after the dedication at church:

After church we drive to Arlington to pick up Christina, who has basically become part of our family now. I've talked a lot about Christina in previous blog entries. She's now in her second semester at UTA and is living in the dorm, making lots of friends and studying very hard! Sometimes we all go out to lunch together, then head back to our house on Sunday afternoons. Sunday evenings are dedicated to studying with Christina--Aaron helps with her Math and Nursing homework, and I'm the tutor for Political Science and English.

Monday: On Mondays Kai stays at home with Christina, while Aaron and I carpool to work. Christina is really great with him, and he absolutely adores her. Monday afternoons I drive back home from work (45 min. commute), pick up Kai and Christina, and bring them both back to Arlington because Christina has a class on Monday evenings. Kai and I pick up Aaron and head back home. The car definitely gets a workout on Mondays!

Here is Christina studying at our kitchen table looking very smart with her glasses on:

Tuesday: Tuesday is Kai's day with Papa and Gran-Ree, my dad and step mother, who live in Granbury, about an hour from the farm. He's the first grandchild, so he is absolutely spoiled rotten, of course. Aaron usually meets them in Fort Worth to drop off Kai in the morning, and then I drive to Granbury after work to pick him up. It's a long drive (about 2 hours total) and makes for a pretty late evening, but it's fun to visit and eat dinner together, so it's worth it.

Here is a picture of Kai with Lucy, Dad and Ann-Marie's adorable chocolate lab, on a recent Tuesday:

Wednesday and Thursday: Wednesdays and Thursdays are VERY long days for everyone in the family. Aaron takes Kai to Dallas with him both days, and they have to be in Dallas by 7 am. While Aaron is working with his students at the community health clinic in the mornings, Kai stays with Caroline (Christina's mom). Then, in the afternoons, Kai, Caroline, Aaron, and the nursing students all do community health outreach with refugees in Dallas and Garland until 7 pm or so. I work in my office at school both days (working toward tenure!). I also teach on Wednesday nights from 6-9 pm and on Thursday nights I have choir practice at church from 7-8:30.

Here is a picture of Caroline and Kai:

And here is a picture of Kai "working" with refugees doing outreach:

Fridays we usually stay home and regroup, clean the house, and do laundry. Did I mention we live on a farm?!!! Every day we feed and water the animals, let them out in the morning and put them up in their pens at night, collect the eggs from the chickens, and chase the goats out of the yard. Well, we don't chase the goats everyday, but they do keep life interesting.

All in all, we lead a very busy, full, and happy life as a family of three!

Kai meets the sheep.

2010-01-05T20:05:00.000-06:00

Kai was clearly tickled to meet the sheep this afternoon as he sits atop a hay bale giggling with delight. We had to enjoy the sun this afternoon because it's supposed to get super cold over the next couple of days, with lows in the low teens and highs only in the 20s! That's some crazy weather for Texas.

What Christmas is really all about

2009-12-14T23:10:00.000-06:00

This past Sunday we celebrated Christmas with our "favorite" Karen family, and had a blast. One of my coworkers, Beverly, and her husband, Bob, brought gifts for half of the family, and we brought gifts for the other half. It was so much fun decorating the tree with ornaments that our friend Holli donated, opening presents, and then learning how to use the presents they received. We are constantly laughing because we do a lot of pantamiming due to the language barrier. They were most confused by the nightlight in the shape of a soccer ball (hard to explain the purpose of a night light to a family who lived the whole of their lives until a year ago without electricity). Anyway, it was a lot of fun and we realized that Christmas is a time to remember those you love, and we love them!

Aaron & Ta Paw

Hae Blu Moo

Top row (l to r): Caroline, Aaron, Diane, Ta Paw, Pi Pi, Aye Aye, Beverly, Bob

Bottom row (l to r): Moo Blu Htoo, Moo Kae Blut, Hae Blu Moo, Moo Moo, Kai

A new normal

2009-12-10T21:35:00.000-06:00

I think we have found a bit of a routine after the craziness that has been the past couple of months. We've had LOTS of parties and visitors because everyone is excited to meet Kai for the first time. I am finishing up the semester this week, and then we'll both have a bit of a break until the spring semester gets started in mid-January. Kai is amazing, and truly he must be the happiest baby in the world. He is an absolute joy. We are really excited to have some time off, and we're actually getting some work done around the house, which has been fantastic. Life is good!

Our Adoption Story

2009-10-30T15:11:00.001-05:00

We have been so blessed through the adoption of our 2 month old son Kai, and wanted to share these pictures and video of his incredible birth family. Kai's birth family is Marshallese, and we have had the amazing opportunity to learn from his family about the culture and traditions of people from the Marshall Islands through food, crafts, and song. We have been privileged to spend the past week in Hawaii getting to know his birth parents and older brother, and are committed to fostering Kai's relationship with his "first" family once we return to Texas. Below are a few pictures from our time together this week, here are a couple of links to videos we shot of the farewell celebration on YouTube:

1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okXU7Noow4A
2. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls5W7y_JKlM
3. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDvcQLZt5EI

This is a photo of our two families that became one with the adoption of Kai. Taken in Honolulu in our hotel room just after we arrived in Hawaii.

At the fishmarket in Chinatown in downtown Honolulu selecting fish for the traditional Marshallese meal and celebration of Kai's adoption.

At the celebration party with auties, uncles and cousins.

Gifts from the Marshall Islands

We found our missing piece!!

2009-10-29T19:57:00.000-05:00

We are absolutely thrilled to announce the adoption of our son, Kai Lane Mitschke, who was born on August 15, 2009 and adopted on October 23, 2009. He is the answer to all of our prayers and is absolutely beautiful in every way. We are stuck in Hawaii until all of the paperwork goes through the court system and we are allowed to return to Texas with our baby, so in the meantime we are soaking up the sun and getting to know our precious baby boy.

Farm Updates

2009-10-14T11:32:00.000-05:00

For those of you reading our blog's description that this blog is supposed to be about "musings about daily life on a small family farm," I want you to know that I do realize that many of my posting are not at all about the farm. But, in blogs as in life, we live what we know, and our lives have been focused on working with the refugees we talk about in recent months.

So, to give an update on farm happenings:

The Sheep: Petey and Richie were able to retire this summer after 8 years of doing their manly duties. We took them to a wonderful Texas vineyard and Bed and Breakfast in Athens, TX, where they will spend their retirement grazing between grapevines. Tara Winery and Vineyard is literally postcard-esque. Check it out at http://www.tarawinery.com/. We purchased a new ram from our friends at Jager Acres in Savoy, TX. He is a white 2 year old whose name is Shrek, and he is a sweetheart.

The Goats: Nothing much new to report here. We are still swimming in Weezy's goat milk, and we've continued to milk her twice a day since March. We were going to dry her off in August to breed her again this fall, but decided not to because we are enjoying the milk so much. Lenny and Carl are friendly as ever, though very mischevious. They are constantly escaping from our latest fencing arrangements.

The Chickens: Despite having increased the size of our flock over the spring and summer to about 30, we are still not gettting a whole lot of egg production. We think it may be because we have 3 roosters, which is 2 too many, and they are wearing the "ladies" out. We will address this problem shortly! ;) We have invested in our first piece of yard art--meet King Rooster, who guards the chickens from hawks, coyotes, and sometimes Bonnie.

The garden: We have had TONS of rain lately, and are really happy that we tried a fall garden for the first time this year. Everything has really taken off like crazy, and we're getting more production from most of the vegetables than we did in June. This is a huge watermelon we picked yesterday. It is called "moon & stars" and is an heirloom variety from Baker Creek.

Straight neck squash from the fall garden:

More to come later!

A trip to the State Fair

2009-10-12T20:44:00.000-05:00

October in Texas means it's time for a visit to the world famous State Fair of Texas. Footlong corny dogs, funnel cakes, candy apples, the Ferris Wheel, the sculpture carved from hundreds of pounds of butter...what's not to love? While it's hard to choose a favorite part, I always look forward to the petting zoo most of all. This, of course, irritates Aaron to no end. He doesn't understand why I need to buy a $3.00 cup of feed to play with animals at the fair when we have our own "free" petting zoo at home. Right...but what about the camel? We don't have a camel, so it must be worth it.
Anyway, this year we took three of our favorite kids to the fair for the first time. If you read our blog, you'll recognize them from other pics earlier this year. We love them sooooo much. So here are some pics filled with lots of "firsts":

On the way to the fair, stuck in traffic. From left to right, Hay Blut Moo (3), Moo Blut Htoo (7), and Moo Kae Blut (8). The anticipation is almost too much to handle!

Moo Kae Blut and Moo Blut Htoo coming down the slide of the Fun House.

Moo Moo (the kids' aunt and also a kid at heart) enjoys the Fun House slide.

Hay Blut Moo gets a ride on Aaron's shoulders.

One of the many highlights of the trip: facepainting (also a first)!

The trip back home--could they be any more adorable?!!

Bubbles!

2009-09-06T21:15:00.000-05:00

We were invited to a "Thank you Jesus Party" this afternoon with the Karen refugees in Garland. Not exactly sure what a party of this sort would entail, we nonetheless showed up enthusiastically and waited for the fun to begin. While the adults were preparing the feast, we entertained the kids outside with a bunch of bubbles we picked up at the dollar store. The bubbles were a huge hit, though all of us ended up a sticky mess. Turns out a "Thank you Jesus Party" is a church service led by the Karen minister in an apartment packed with Karen refugees. While we couldn't understand the words they were saying, the experience itself was incredibly spiritual, and we felt honored to be invited. The meal that followed was absolutely phenomenal. Sort of like a Karen version of Pho, the Vietnamese noodle soup, in a way. Each person is presented with a bowl of noodles (like fettucini) that you then "doctor" with various toppings: cilantro, lime, green onions, dried onions, peppers, and salt. Then you douse it all with a big helping of coconut milk curry. It was incredible and I wish I could eat it every day.

Crazy moth!

2009-09-01T22:38:00.002-05:00

This HUGE moth was on one of the lilies that bloomed yesterday. It was seriously enormous. At first we thought it was a bird, but when we got closer, we could tell it was the mother of all moths. It had a tongue that was twice as long as its body. Too bad you can't see that in the picture. This critter is truly the bohemoth of the insect world. I am a little in awe and a lot grossed out.

Dallas Cowboys Stadium!

2009-08-31T14:40:00.000-05:00

I am a HUGE football fan, and could not be more excited that football season will be upon us in less than one week (college games start this Saturday!!!). We were extremely fortunate this weekend in that a wonderful colleague of mine who has season tickets to the Cowboys' games gave us two tickets for Saturday's preseason game. While I would normally be excited to see the Cowboys play in person, this year has even more signficance because it was our first chance to see the inside of the huge new stadium in Arlington. While the Cowboys' playing skills left something to be desired, the stadium did not disappoint. It is really incredible. The jumbo screen is seriously distracting it is so big. Cool, though. I am quite certain that I will never be able to afford to purchase tickets outright to attend another game, so I tried to soak it all in.

A beautiful day!

2009-08-30T22:42:00.000-05:00

The weather today was absolutely incredible. It is hard to believe it is still August. While I am certain it won't last long, it was a nice taste of the coming Fall, and it was wonderful to spend the day outside on the farm and not melt in the heat for the first time in a while. Sometimes when we have a day like today, it really puts everything in perspective and makes me appreciate the little things and the reasons why we chose to live where we do, doing the things that we do. I thought I'd share a few snapshots of the "little things" that I appreciated about today.

A caterpillar eating our passion vine. We've got hundreds of them, and they turn into the most beautiful orange butterflies. Every time I see one I think about Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Great book, by the way. I thought everyone had read this book as a kid, until Aaron told me he had no idea what I was talking about.

Here are the guineas, all grown up! They are VERY noisy, just like everyone warned us. I think they think they are chickens, because they seem to like hanging out with them and eating their food, rather than hunting for grasshoppers. But Aaron seems to like them, so I guess they're here to stay.

A beautiful lily that bloomed this morning for the first time since we planted the bulbs two years ago. It sure took a while, but the payoff isn't bad.

Christina goes to college

2009-08-24T22:53:00.002-05:00

As most of you know, we very much enjoy working with Karen refugees who live in Dallas. I've posted about one of our dearest friends, Caroline, in the past. Caroline is a Karen refugee who has become a friend, cultural liaison, interpreter, and advisor over the course of the past three years. When her youngest daughter, Christina, graduated from high school in May of this year, we were so excited! Christina applied and was accepted to UTA, and last week we took on the role of her "additional" parents, shopping for school supplies, room decor, and textbooks to prep her for college. She's got a great place to live (thanks, Nada!) and a great bike for transportation (thanks, Beverly!) and just finished her first day of classes. We are thrilled for Christina, her family, and the entire Karen community as she begins this new journey in her life and we will be right beside her every step of the way!

Here is Christina posing on her new pink bedspread:

And here she is with her proud mom, Caroline: