Forgotten History

This evening, I was watching some YouTube clips, when my elder sister, Danica, came into the room. She remembered a video we'd often watched as children. It's called "*Young Folk's History of the Sabbath" by Jim Arrabito. I looked it up, and found these two clips.

Young Folks History of the Sabbath (Part 1)

Young Folk's History of the Sabbath (Part 2)

It is the whole video in two halfs. It is made for children, but meant for teenagers and adults too. I enjoyed re-watching it with Danica's children. Caleb (3) sat spellbound the whole way through.

After watching "Young Folk's History of the Sabbath", I remembered another video we'd watched when little. It was "Israel of the Alps". By Jim Arrabito too. It is the forgotten history of the Waldenses. It is for people of all ages. I remember loving it as a child, and now also as a teenager.

Watch first part of Israel of the Alps here.

I'm not sure how much the clip above shows...as I didn't get to watch it all. But it wouldn't be the full thing, as it's only 27 mins. So I thought I would post a link for where you can buy it.

Israel of the Alps

Young Folk's History of the Sabbath

I fully recommend these two videos. They are amazing. One of a kind. Very well put together, very interesting and fun.

Also after Jim's death, his wife put together another, more detailed film on the Sabbath. It is "The Seventh Day: Revelations from the Lost Pages of History"

This set is more made for teenagers and adults, but children can watch it too.
You can get it on Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Seventh-Day-Revelations-Pages-History/dp/B000M52KAQ

I also give my full recommendation for this set too.

Note: *It used to be called "Children's History of the Sabbath".

The Night We Made National News

Caleb and Seth (right)

"Jana, have you seen Seth?" Danica walked into the house.
"No." I replied. "I haven't."
"Well, I've gone over the whole house yard, and can't see him..." Her voice trailed off. Though we didn't know it at the time, it was going be a long hard evening ahead of us.

It had been a normal day for us. Other than going to town for a bit. After lunch, Seth went outside, as usual. He loves to be out-doors. At about 5:00 pm, Danica checked on Seth. Then after a bit, she decided it was time to take him for a walk. (He loves walking, so we take him for a walk every day before he goes to bed.) It was after going to get him for the walk, that we had the above conversation.

Before I go on, I am going to go into a bit of detail about the neighbours property.
It is a 25-30 acre block that has 3 gullies on it. It's basic bushland, with lots of blackberry bushes. They had given us permission to walk on it, since they don't live there. So we have a path on it, and we walk on it pretty much everyday. On this property are 4 dams. Also there are many similar sized farms around us, all with their own dams too.

Since it was getting later, we figured that I should stay at the house with the other two children, Caleb (3) and Hannah (1), while Danica searched for the missing Seth (7).

I'd put Caleb to bed, and was working on getting Hannah to sleep, when Danica came in again. Seth hadn't been found. She phoned Nathan, her husband, who advised that she keep looking. He had to be around.

In the meanwhile, I called my other sister, Cherith, and told her what was going on, and asked her to pray. She advised me to call the police. But I was hesitant to do so, as I wasn't sure what I would say. Or, what if Danica found Seth, and then the police came out to nothing?? I put Hannah in bed, and then called mum up. She also told me to call the police. I told her why I didn't want to. She promptly told me that she would call them then. "Goodbye."

A few minutes later, the phone rang. It was someone from the police station. I answered their questions, and they said that they'd send some police out straight away. The phone was hot in it's cradle when Danica walked in. I told her that the police were on their way out. She called them back. They needed to bring a dog. It should be sure to find Seth.

Bare moments passed, and the police had arrived. No dog. They started with questions. Then searched the house. And then the yard. It was quite dark by now, as Danica had been searching for 3 hours before they arrived. It was approximately 9:30 when they arrived. They had searched the yard when more police arrived. They called for a chopper and a dog.

An hour later, more police had come. SES (State Emergency Service) had also arrived... but no chopper or dog. I asked a policeman what was happening. I was informed that the chopper couldn't come, as where it was stationed at the moment, there was too heavy cloud cover to safely fly it to our place. The dog though, was on it's way.

The police wanted everyone to stay put while we waited for the dog as to not mix up the scents. In fact friends came to be with us, but they were kept at the gate. Waiting for this seemingly never-appearing dog... Though Danica convinced them to take her in their 4WD down the neighbors vacant block that is right behind us, to check the 4 dams for any signs of Seth. When she returned, she was much relieved. There had been no signs of him being near the dam, or in it.

While I waited, I had a steady stream of facebookers asking me for news. Any news. Lots of people were chatting to me, asking what was happening. Everyone was letting us know that they were praying.. and always asking for more updates. It amazed me how many people knew about it, so quickly too, and were praying aswell.

Someone commented in the morning and said,"Facebook has just redeemed itself." I actually had to agree. :) Thanks to it, in only moments people across the globe had heard about it and were praying. Close to (or over) a hundred in Australia, and others in America, Vanuatu, PNG, the Solomon Islands, and Europe. The phone was constantly ringing too. But that's not what I'm blogging about...

It was near midnight when they let our friends through. We talked to each other and the police... and prayed.
At 2:00 am, I was spent. Yawning, I walked to my room. Turned off the light and fell asleep when my head hit the pillow.

When I woke up, it was morning. The first thing I asked was "Has Seth been found?"
I got a very joyful reply: "YES!!!"

Danica filled me in on what I missed:

At 2:30 am, Seth was found. :D They had made a human chain a meter apart and had been doing a line up search. There was about 50 people, neighbours included, participating. They had been working their way across the paddocks, when they heard Seth call out.* I don't know what he said, but about half of the line-up group went and found him.

They took him in a police car and it was about half an hour later before Danica got him back. An ambulance came, to check him, and make sure he was alright. He was fine. He had only one scratch, and that was from eating blackberries. He was thrilled to see his Mama again. When she first saw him, he was humming "Great is the Lord". He happily had a warm bath, but before he had could even get dressed, the news reporters had arrived. So she took Seth outside to them, and they videoed away.

Seth had a good sleep for the rest of the night, and is very obviously happy to be home. All day, he's been giving us lots of hugs. I'm so happy we still have my dear nephew.

We want to thank-you all for your prayers. God heard and answered them. We appreciated your support too. It meant a lot to us.

*Seth was about 100 metres from our usual walking path. Danica had looked all over the rest of the paddock except for that part. Because of changing winds, though she heard him once, she couldn't make out where he was.

Oh, and the bit about making national news. Don't believe it? Well, you can watch it here.

Baby goat blessings

"Mum, where is Selah?" I looked around trying to spot the 6 days overdue doe.

"Over there sitting on the grass. She looks like she's going to kid doesn't she?" Mum eyed the doe. "Well, I hope she kids today," I commented also watching Selah. "The rain has paused, and just nice weather."
"Lets go look at her."

When I checked her, I could tell that she was going to kid - very soon.



Moments later, the first baby was out. A doe!!! In between the appearance of the next kid, I noticed the clouds. They were dark navy. How long would it be, til they let down the bounty? I turned my attention back to Selah. The second kid was on it's way out. Since she was standing up, I caught the kid to break the fall. Another doe!!


Blessings were meeting us on every corner. First, the rain had held off for Selah to kid. As this wasn't just any rain, it was the flooding rain. It rained non-stop for the next 3 days and nights.

Secondly, we were blessed with, not one, but two doe kids!! As I walk past the kids, sleeping or playing, I smile when I remember all God's goodness.

^ Sarepta ^

^Sarepta^

^ Sojourner ^

SES air-drop

Wow! I heard one of the loudest noises in my life, and almost certainly felt the strongest wind! Standing within a few feet of a helicopter almost knocks you over! One of the most novel things ever, having one of them land on your place! Oh, and it was the SES!

Oh, why did they come? Sorry! I didn't tell, you did I? You can find out here.

Forest Gold Website

Finally! We have up a website! It is Forest Gold. It's just been put up, and we'd love comments. :)

My adorable niece~

Photo Credits: Christella

How it all started...

"Quickly! Finish eating! I see a herd of goats at the neighbors*!" I turned enthusiasticly from the window.

"Oh come on Jana! It's LUNCH time." Elisha gave me a scowl. "I'm not giving up my lunch for a wild goat!"
"Well I'm going!" Able said as he jumped up. "Lunch or no lunch."
After a brief pause, the four of us burst out the door and grabbed for our shoes. We were off on yet another goat chase.

Goat hunts. To us, that spelled fun. We were ready for one any time. Though we didn't generally go on goat chases in the middle of lunch, they did happen quite frequently. Our goat herd was steadily increasing, with kiddings and catchings. Mum decided that something had to happen. No, she knew we'd never get rid of our bright and cheerful pets. Her decision? It was time to get some goats that had some use other than being weed eaters. And we don't eat meat. We thought hard. The only solution was to get... Dairy goats! Yep, that was what we needed now! Mum went internet surfing a bit and finally found a registered Togg herd that was being sold. There were 3 pregnant does, 1 buck, and 1 doeling. Elisha bought them. They were our starter dairy herd.

A few months later we experienced our first kidding season with dairy goats. Triplets everytime. Things were going good! With the kids, we decided it was time to find out about the Dairy Goat Society. How much was membership, what about registering kids? Though the yearly membership fee was quite a bit for our starting farm, we decided to give it a go.

My kids, Zing and Zeste, and I.

Three years later, we're still in goats. Loving every bit of it. Learning what feed to give the goats (Thanks to Pat Colby's book). How to worm them and then doing it naturally. (After all, what you put into them, goes through their milk into you..) Helping with births. The fun of naming the kids and seeing how interesting a name we can give them. Bonding with them. Facing the problems and getting through them. It all gives a satisfaction that feels good. I personally have 5 goats. Two are beautiful little bush does and the other three are purebred British Alpines. Names are: Chrissy and Misty. Kenita, Zwingli and Zeleste. (Misty is Chrissy's kid. Zing and Zeste are Kenita's kids)

Kenita's face.

Back to the goat chase.... We stormed down the backstairs from the veranda, Elisha stabbed a potato onto his fork as he ran. He told us that he didn't want to be cheated out of his lunch. I didn't really get why he needed the fork, but anyway! As we headed over the paddock, it started raining. It was just a drizzle, but it was enough to get us lightly wet. A previous time I'd complained to Able that the reason that I never managed to catch any goats myself, was because he was always off running before I could even start! So, to be fair, this time he said he'd let Stella and I go first.
He left us with instructions as to what we were to do. Then he and Elisha disappeared into the overgrowth. Stella and I concentrated on the herd, naively nibbling the grass.

"Ready, set.... GO!!!"

Stella and I jumped out at our cue. The goats wheeled around and started running. The boys ran after us, easily overtaking us. I realised that it was time to accept the facts. I just wasn't fast enough to catch a goat. And certainly not with thongs on! Since it had rained a bit, it was slippery and there were bindies (prickles) everywhere. I slowed to a stand still as I passed someone else's thong. Not thongs, thong. There was only one. It was Able's. I picked it up and headed on in the direction I'd seen the goats go. When I reached the fence, I started wondering where the rest were. I couldn't see anyone! I walked alongside the fence. Dusky forms. Who? What? It was Able and a goat.

"Able!" I gasped. "What is it?"
"A doe." He panted.
"Umm, how'd you get so muddy?" I wondered out loud.
"Well," he explained, "I was chasing the herd and they went under this hole here in the fence. I figured that if they could go under it, then I could too!"
"But that wouldn't get you that muddy!" I interrupted.
"I know," he continued "so I'm chasing this goat and suddenly we're going down hill. And since it's just rained, I slipped and started rolling."
Ah... I got it now.
"And then I found, to my surprise, that I could roll faster than I could run!"
He was talking very animatedly. And I was seeing it all happen in my head. I couldn't help but laugh. Wow!
"So I rolled so fast that I rolled into her! Before she could start rolling too, I grabbed her leg. And then came back up here."
I envied his ease in catching them. Or maybe, just maybe, was it how it how he told it? I smothered a sigh of dissapointment. Another chase and I didn't catch anything. Oh well, I thought to myself, this girl is nice enough. I'm going to make friends with this blue-eyed black beauty. That's Dolly.

Thanks to the goat chases, I have a top favorite animal. Bet you can't guess! ;-)

*the neighbor didn't live there, he just came every 3 months to check up his horses that were there. And yes, we'd asked permission.