Yesterday was the first day of Spring. We have been looking forward to Spring for some time now, hoping it will bring with it the pretty weather we have been missing for what seems like forever. When the seasons change, I’m always reminded of what we are told in Ecclesiastes:

3 There is a time for everything,
    and a season for every activity under the heavens:
²     a time to be born and a time to die,
    a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³     a time to kill and a time to heal,
    a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴     a time to weep and a time to laugh,
    a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵     a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
    a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶     a time to search and a time to give up,
    a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷     a time to tear and a time to mend,
    a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸     a time to love and a time to hate,
    a time for war and a time for peace.

New International Version (NIV)

It was fitting on our farm that yesterday was a change of seasons, because there were many of the changes taking place before our eyes. It was truly a time for birth and death, for laughter and mourning, and as always, a time for love.

Old wive’s tales link full moons to many aspects of human and animal behavior, one of those being child birth. Ask any labor and delivery nurse, and they will probably tell you they are busiest on a full moon. Well, we witnessed this phenomenon with goats this week. Seven babies in 48 hours. For the small herd in that pasture, it caught us off guard! We had a few we knew were close, but didn’t expect them all to kid in sync.

Along with the joy of birth, we experience the agony of death. We lost our beloved horse, Houdini, yesterday. Houdini came to us a few short years ago. He was one of those horses that you wished could talk, just so you could hear the stories he would tell. We don’t know how old he was, only that he was older, we don’t know what all he had been through, other than at some point he belonged to a stock contractor, then was used by a man and his sons to team rope.

Houdini earned his keep shortly after arriving at the Flying Pig Cattle Co. One Sunday afternoon, Colton and I noticed one of our heifers was in labor. We left her alone to do her thing, but when we went to check on her a little later, we noticed the calf was hung at his hips, and she couldn’t get him out. With little facilities set up at this point, we had to figure out what to do to save the heifer. We knew Houdini had been roped off of, but weren’t sure if he had ever been used in the pasture. After a short discussion, I saddled Houdini and hoped for the best. He eased up to the heifer, I roped her, and he held her tight while Colton and my mom got the calf pulled. It was like he had been doing it all his life. It was that day I told Colton he had earned his keep on our farm by saving that heifer’s life.

It’s always hard to lose an animal. They become part of the family, no matter how long they are with you. But always remember God’s word: there is a season for every activity under the heavens. While we will experience these hard times, soon the season will change, and the good times will be again.