Mimi & the Miracle!

So, some of you may have heard "goat" rumors...and I'm here to clear that up for you! It's true...we did get a goat. Her name is Mimi and she is a nigerian dwarf. She is 3 months old, and not completely adjusted to people. She is the size of about a 4 month old puppy, so she's pretty small. We got her on Friday at the State Fair from a "goat lady". Well...here's a little story about our goat adventures so far. Friday night we got home and put her in the yard we made for the goats (yes plural, goats are herd animals) and immediately this little sneak found her way out. So, for the night we put her in Charlie's dog kennel in the garage, where we knew she'd be safe. Saturday morning, we fixed the holes and put her back into her run. She did fine all day and we kept checking on her and everytime we'd go out there she'd run back into her house to hide. Well, at around 5 pm we went to check on her and from a standing postion she lept over the 4ft fence right into Sherry's arms. I'm not kidding...she literally jumped over the fence and Sherry caught her. I'm not sure who was more surprised, Sherry or Mimi. I wish I'd had the camera because it was an awesome moment I saw in slow motion. So...at that point, we realized that our little yard wasn't going to keep Mimi safe, so we took the extra chicken wire from the coop and spread it across the top of the goat yard to keep her from jumping out. We checked and re-checked everything and it all seemed secure so we decided to leave for dinner. I had a very nagging feeling that I shouldn't go, that I should stay to watch her but was convinced she would be fine. All through dinner I was antsy and when we finally got home it was nearly dark and I went out to check on her and she was gone. PANIC overcame me. How could she get out? This was my fault because I had a feeling (no doubt the spirit) that told me not to go and I went anyway...we spent the next hour and a half searching our yard, our neighbor's yard, driving down streets, calling people and just praying we'd find her. I need for you to really understand this virtually impossible task we were on in looking for her: she is seriously as big as Emma (as tall) and maybe even a little shorter. She is black and dark brown so now that it's pitch dark outside it's difficult to see her. She has been with us for less than 24 hours so our yard and house isn't "home" to her. She could be anywhere and if we didn't find her the coyotes certainly would have because she is still just a baby! I was truly a mess. I felt so responsible and helpless. It was at this point that I told Todd to never try to convince me that things will be "alright" when I have a feeling otherwise. Todd and I said a prayer and I pleaded with the Lord to forgive me for not listening to the spirit and asked him to please keep Mimi safe until we found her. I asked him to show us a miracle by allowing us to find her and promised him we'd be more obedient to the promptings of the spirit. We ended our prayer and Todd felt strongly to go down the street to a neighbor's house where dogs had been barking. I went inside to wash my hands and I hear a loud bleet. I ran outside and I yelled for Todd (it's like 9pm and dark outside...) he had heard it also and he made the sound back. She did it again and we were sure she was either in the yard next to us or behind us. With everyone now outside in the back yard and in our neighbor's yard we began searching everywhere for her. Dave, Todd's uncle was there, and he was up ontop of the goat house looking over the fence with a flashlight and happened to look down in the less than 5inch space between the fence and the house and there was our little Mimi, completely stuck. She had probably been there for about 2 hours and we weren't sure if she had any broken bones. We got her out and examined her and she seemed to be okay, scared, but no injuries. We fed her and loved her put her safely inside the kennel in the garage for the night. We fixed the run and the house and she can't get out now.
We offered a prayer of gratitude for the miracle of finding her. We truly wouldn't have been able to without the help of the Lord. Isn't it amazing how he can teach us things? So...this is a picture of sweet Mimi. The first day we got her she would totally hide from us and was so scared. Today, she will poke her head out of her house and if we stick around long enough, she will come up to us and smell us and if we are there even longer, we can pet her while she eats. She is learning to trust us and rely on us which is why we got her first and alone. She needed this "human" time before we added a companion. This Thursday we will be back in Albuquerque and will pick up Mimi's herd mate: Easter Lily. Lily is 2 months older than Mimi and will be ready to breed this fall.
Over a week ago, I totaled how much money we were spending on Milk and Cheese and it was outrageous and that is with me limiting the amount of milk my husband drinks. It seemed much more cost efficient to feed these goats and breed them and milk them for cheese and milk than to continue to buy the milk and cheese at the store! So...next spring we will be milking goats! Now, for those of you who've heard that goats milk tastes terrible...it does...BUT it only tastes terrible when the female goat is raised with a male goat. The males put off a terrible odor and that changes the taste of the milk. So, we aren't raising any male goats. There is a "goat lady" here in town that has male goats and will "service" our ladies for us once a year. We will then sell the babies (usually twins and sometimes triplets) and continue to milk. You can milk a goat for 10 months out of a year and you give them a 2 month break before they prepare to have another litter of Kids.
So...that's the story! I changed the title of my blog to Never a Dull Moment, because I think it truly fits what we have going on right now! We are absolutely loving it and are finding such joy in our experiences!