Farm Girls can Survive...

No matter how hard we tried, we could not have fully prepared for the Arctic blast here on the farm--and across Texas.  The grueling conditions wreaked havoc in so many ways:  single digit nights of freezing weather, DAYS without electricity or water, road hazards, human and animal deaths, a husband stuck in California on business...and the list goes on as long as the frozen days.  We're nearing the end of the blast--thankfully--though for many, the struggles will continue long after the snow and ice melts. 

What I've learned through this trying week is Texans: 1) are sustainers, 2) have a strong faith, 3) reach out both hands to neighbors in need, and... 

...the sun will come out tomorrow!   

He casts forth His ice as fragments; 

Who can stand before His cold?

From the breath of God ice is made, 

and the expanse of the waters is frozen.  

We did it; we stood before His cold.  It wasn't pretty, but we did it!  

Pure Zippy

Ella is saving lives...one species at a time.  Today's save:  Platinum Betta fish found all alone in an ever-so-tiny cup at a Houston Pet Smart (where she was actually going to get a cat toy for last week's adoptee:). 

"Mom, this should be outlawed...these fish should not have to live in this tiny cup for weeks/months...this is not okay."  "Can we save him, please?"  

Me:  Ummm...sure...what's one more mouth to feed to the other thirteen we already have.  Grab it some food, and let's go. 

Meet Pure Zippy:  the fourteenth member of the Broussard Family Farm.

Guess it was kismet that the Read Aloud book I purchased last week (and she hadn't seen until bedtime tonight) was about a fish and an intelligent, talented, struggling ten-year-old dyslexic girl who discovers "there's a lot more to her--and to everyone--than a label."   

“Everybody is smart in different ways. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its life believing it is stupid.”

Great minds don't always think alike. Be kind.