"You have how many animals!? Why!?"

If I had a dollar for every time I have heard "You have how many animals?", "What are ya'll doing over there?", and just plain "Why?".....I wouldn't be rich, but I'd have a little extra money in my pocket each month!

I completely get it....I do! When people hear we currently have 64 animals on our small acre of land (about a quarter of it is currently not in use yet!) I get this LOOK. The LOOK that clearly says: you people have lost your dang minds! Of those 64 animals, 6 will be available to purchase soon, so our total number of animals that are 100% ours is 58.

I have to this day NEVER responded fully to those questions. I have told some friends that we're trying to take this adventure that our family loves and turn it into a small business where we will sell chicks, eggs, canned goods, goats, ducks, and quail. But that is not the whole truth, that's just a piece. There's another story that completes this puzzle that seems to just rock everyone's world.

It's because of ME! I am the reason behind the "insanity" as some have called it! Let me explain!

About 3 years ago the kids wanted rabbits BeatleDad found some and brought home GraveDigger and Marshmellow. I then found a rabbit hat I fell in love with, named him Tymber and brought him home. We were happy, we loved our rabbits and they were enough!

Then my whole world was rocked...literally. We were getting ready to go on our second trip to Disney World! We love Disney here! I had noticed (but hadn't told anyone) that I was having trouble hearing. This had gone on for about 6 months. I finally went to an ENT and they tested my hearing and yes I had some hearing loss. They couldn't figure out why and honestly they could have cared less. Basically I was told to just suck it up buttercup!

Off to Disney we went! The kiddos were having a blast, BeatleDad (who is not a Disney junkie like us) was enjoying himself also......but I was struggling. I was having trouble hearing people, I was nauseated, I was dizzy. At times I was confused and scared. But I'm hard headed and still told no one. Not even BeatleDad at this point knew everything, just that I had some hearing loss.

During the months after the trip things kept getting worse. I was EXHAUSTED all the time. Most moms are, but this wasn't normal exhaustion. This was RIDICULOUS exhaustion. I was so tired by the end of the day I couldn't get myself up out of the chair to go to the bathroom. I'm giving you guys the complete unaltered truth, I would wet myself because I couldn't get out of the chair. I was battling periods of complete deafness in my right ear. At any given moment my ear would just turn off and not come back on for a few hours, days, or even weeks. I was experiencing dizziness that came from no where. One second I was ok, the next I was walking into walls, corners, you name it. Then things got crazier and BeatleDad had had enough. I began falling over at random moments. Once while in the car, I was talking to BeatleDad and suddenly I blacked out and hit my head on the dashboard....he thought I had had a stroke, heart attack, or a seizure!! He wanted answers, I wanted answers, but everywhere I went I was told there was nothing wrong.

Then I went to our GP for a totally different reason. I had given up on finding any answers for the other craziness. But during the exam he flashed a light in my eyes and I fell off the exam table. He asked what the heck was that...I said nothing....and my children said "that happens alot, it's normal." and that broke my heart into a million pieces.

Fast forward Dr visits, and a bajillion tests and we had our answer....I have Meniere's Disease. It's a vestibular disorder that affects balance, hearing, and causes all sorts of chaos. There is no cure, and it is forever. Here's another kicker....I'm bi-lateral, meaning it affects BOTH ears, not just one. It could go away one day on it's own, or it could stay forever, there's no way to know.

At this point you're probably asking what in the world does this have to do with animals...I'm getting there, but you needed the back story first!

Now the world at this point seemed to fall apart and rapidly. I told my family and friends and they were caught off guard because I had kept everything quiet. BeatleDad and the kids knew all the craziness I had been going through because they live here, but while out and about I kept everything to myself, pushed through and carried on like nothing was happening. But now that we had a diagnosis it was time to figure out a combination of meds that could help keep everything in check, and it sent the world flying off the axis completely. I was falling all the time, couldn't hear, throwing up just because I had driven somewhere, and was confused, scared, and crying ALOT. Then on a whim, the kids and I brought home 6 chicks and a duckling.

We had been to tractor supply for rabbit feed and it happened to be chick days. Why not right!? I LOVED those chicks and the duck! Hearing their peeps everyday, watching them explore the box they lived in and laughing at all they got into. I began to notice something.....they helped calm the storms. For whatever reason, when I spent time taking care of those birds, the world was normal. I don't mean I wasn't dizzy, or exhausted, or nauseated, or that I could magically hear again. I mean the confusion, the sadness, the fear, that was gone. I could think almost clearly and I laughed. I felt as close to normal as I possibly could while taking care of those chicks. So I got some more, these were "fancy" chickens. I got a crested tolbunt, a frizzle(who didn't frizzle sadly), two silkies for Twinkle, and two English Blue Orpingtons whose parents were imported from the UK. Then we just snowballed into more ducks, rabbits, quail, chickens....and now we come to the current 64 animals!

Quackers and Shadown, our pekin and black runner ducks!

These animals have created a LOT more work for me. On top of homeschool, cooking, cleaning, taking the kids everywhere they need to be, running two online businesses, and now farming. That sounds like a crazy amount of work, and it is. I am busy from the time I get up to the time I go to bed. I am always exhausted, that doesn't go away. Sitting here typing this, I could close my eyes and just go to sleep. But these animals have given me something that I couldn't find last year and the years before....peace and pure joy. I am happy. I adore each one, I could talk for hours about them all. I'm proud of them!! When I'm struggling...you'll find me sitting in a chair in a chicken coop, or hugging my English Orps (who both turned out to be roos by the way!), or talking to the quail and laughing because they are so silly! You can find me in the nursery barn loving on a chick, goat, or rabbit.

Sure 64 animals is an awful lot...but they helped me pull myself back together during a time that I truly lost myself and fell apart. It is my belief that God lead me down this path. He whispered to me that day in Tractor Supply and said "you need them...I will show you why" I was begging for a way out of the chaos....little did I know that he would answer with farm animals!!

Now I hope to carry this even further and make this into a small business. I hope each animal I sell provides someone with joy in some way. Who knows, maybe one of my aniamls helps pull someone else out of chaos and blesses them with peace and joy.