RaeRae (our bottle baby) drinks a lot of whole milk! My parents own storage units in Mattoon and make frequent trips up there to the Aldi … they have super inexpensive milk! My dad stocked up on it for us. The same day he purchased the 6 gallons, we got 6-10 inches of snow and the temperatures were sooooo cold. A few mornings started off below 0 degrees!! Instead of putting the milk in our deep freeze in the barn we opted for keeping it ice cold on the front porch. Oh the memories…and many ounces of milk! Having a baby lamb on the farm who has been rejected by its mother has surfaced a lot of emotions for me. A breath prayer I pray a lot is, “Break my heart for what breaks yours”. 1. I realize how much of a wall I had built up - not only got tougher skin but unfortunately a harder heart, too. Through the caring of animals, I have become more tender hearted again and more empathetic to others circumstances. 2. It’s stirred up in me what I can do for orphans around the world (no, I do not think an orphaned lamb is comparable to an orphaned child but I do think we can learn from the experiences around us). When I feed RaeRae, I am intentional about praying for the children who are without parents. I pray for the caregivers, foster parents, orphanages, and missionaries who are doing their part to help the broken hearted. In this season of life, we are able to financially give to individuals and organizations who focus on this need. I mention “this season” because there have been times throughout our nearly 15 years of marriage that we didn’t have much more to give over our tithe (we choose to give 10% of our income to Kingdom work). When we couldn’t give financially, we found ways to give of our time or talents (praying, mowing, cleaning, writing words of encouragement, volunteering, serving). I encourage you to pause + reflect about what this season of life is teaching you. What lessons can you gain from the experiences you are going through? I mean really…I would’ve never thought bottle feeding a baby lamb would stir so much in me. Living a life set apart, Rach Scripture: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.  James 1:27 The Message VersionQuote: Let’s always meet each other with a smile, for the smile is the beginning of love. - Mother Teresa