For the following week plans set into motion for a new home for the little goats. We chose a location that already had a small structure which we could convert to a shelter. We knew we would need a tall fence in order to keep them in. We did not want to invest a great deal of money in case we decide we don’t want to keep them. Also, since we had only a short time to prepare for them the fence would need to go up quickly. We bought two loads of slab lumber from a nearby sawmill, mostly cedar. We already had a lot of cedar posts from trees that had been cleared for our electric line to be installed.
At last the fence was completed along with a gate that hubby agreed to let me design and build…since I really wanted to help with the construction. I might add that my design had the gate hung backwards actually. I liked the look of the cedar and wanted the wood grain to show when I went to the gate. Yes, I know quite silly. Yet, my sweet husband went along with my idea. The pen for them has quite the “rag-tag” appearance but we were proud to have it finished in time and with little expense. Later we plan to construct a larger pen for them.
The next day we drove back to the lady’s farm to pick up our purchase. She had them in a small pen so they could be easily caught for transport. Did I mention these goats are not gentle? The lady’s son was present and caught them and loaded them for us and away we went. When we got back to our place I went and opened the gate to their pen while hubby caught them and carried them to their new home. Needless to say the poor things were terrified after all the trauma of being moved. This situation was not at all helped by our 88lb. Black Lab “Dixie” who saw them as a threat to “her” territory, I suppose. She barked loudly and ran to their fence, which in turn had them running from one end of the pen to the other, as if looking for a way out. After we got Dixie away from the fence they finally settled down in a far corner.
On the following afternoon four of our grandchildren came over to see the new “family members” which had been named “Cream & Sugar” because of their color. We all discussed how terribly afraid they were because they are in a strange place with people they are not familiar with and a huge dog they probably see as a predator. The children did so well remaining calm and keeping their voices down. They sat down inside the goat’s pen in order to seem less threatening. They watched the goats and the goats watched them. All was well in the safe confines of the pen.
Suddenly, Dixie came running toward the pen, barking! All sense of calm quickly vanished. Both goats sprang into action and ran, as it were, for their lives. Sugar, already deemed to be the more adventuresome of the two, sped right past the startled children who were still sitting on the ground. All at once that little goat came to the part of the wall where the gate was, and that connected to their shelter building. Like a flash those little hooves ran right up the side of the fence, up onto the roof and she jumped to the ground and ran like lightening. It was all I could do to grab and hold our dog back. In an instant the goat was out of sight. We had the children come out from the pen while we tried to figure just what to do. The only one of us that possibly could have run fast enough to catch the goat, if we could find it, was Dixie… and I doubt she could have.
Within a few minutes Cream, the goat sibling left behind began to bleat and a pitiful sound it was. We were all still standing around still half in shock at what we’d just observed. Just as suddenly as she had made her exit Sugar reappeared. She sped toward the pen and took a giant leap, landing back on the roof then with another leap wound up right back in the pen from which she had just escaped. The whole family roared in laughter, well except Dixie, which I still held tightly. I think she was even in shock. She made no further attempt to chase the poor frightened goats.
After the children had gone home I got to thinking how very much the behavior of these little goats compares to my own at times. Sometimes I find myself feeling “pinned in” by circumstances. I get uncomfortable and rather than being still and calmly seeking what the Lord would have me learn from the experience, I “bolt”. I begin to look for a way out or a place I can hide rather that face whatever the situation is. I’m sure I have missed many blessings in my life by taking thoughtless control rather than being content and trusting the Lord to protect and provide for me right where I was.
My hubby quickly got busy and built the fence a bit taller, hopefully enough to prevent a reoccurance of the events earlier today. I hope the goats have realized that the open area outside their pen feels even less safe, however I doubt it.
This day is coming to a close and it is now dark outside. The goats are safe and secure in their pen with a nice bed of straw inside their shelter. Each day they will become more adjusted to our family, even Dixie. As I sit here comfortable and safe as well, I am happy the Lord allowed me to think of the analogy and to be reminded He has a path for me and that I need to trust that He will always care for me.
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