Who knew the power of goats?

Being two days before school starts I was in my classroom organizing and filing. On my desk there was a mound of papers that I’ve been meaning to sort for a while. Time being of the essence, I got to work. As I was going through I found something I’ve been looking for for a while now – Aha! I found it - a slip of paper about a local goat rescue place. I’d called last year after seeing them on the school bulletin as a place needing volunteers. When I’d called the owner told me she needed folks to come weekly to first to clean (think: poop and LOTS of it!) and then spend some time cuddling with the goats. At the time, I’d made a mental note to call back and get M signed on as a volunteer.

Yesterday upon finding the goat rescue information again I called. Twenty minutes later (the owner wouldn’t be available later in the afternoon) we headed there for a tour to see if it would be somewhere where M could do some volunteer work. (We feel it is SO important for her to help others and it helps her brain get out of the ‘woe is me’ rut she can sometimes fall into AND her school requires it every year so why not start now?)

We arrived, got a tour and met another volunteer and the owner AND of course, the stars of the show, the goats (who were all rescued – some of whom were born at the slaughter house) and the lone injured but healing horse who hangs with the goats.

M immediately started asking, “Can I pet the goats?” to which there was a resounding, “Yes! Please do!” While there she got to help dress a goats back leg that needed mending, she picked up bad apples off the ground, hung out with the goats that were chomping (literally) leaves off the bushes and hang with the horse. She eagerly wanted to do anything she could to help!

We were there maybe a little over an hour and when it was time to leave, M didn’t want to leave. She begged for me to let her stay. “Please! Please, mom? Can I stay?” In the end she had to come with me (I had more work to do at school) and on the way to the car, within ear shot of the owner, she started with pleading to come back tomorrow. “Well, I told her, to come back tomorrow; ALL your homework needs to be done.” (we'll be volunteering officially starting next week) “Ok, I’ll do it all!”

(Is this my child? Has she been put under a spell? No, she just loves to help animals, which is great, because this hasn’t always been the case….More on this later in an upcoming post.)

Before I go, today is tomorrow, and she is working on her homework so if we get there today, I’ll get some pictures and post them soon.

One last thing...I've been told it is a bit confusing on how to leave comments...I'm working on this but for now, just click where it says, "0 comments" (or however many there are)...

Ps…if you’re interested in learning more about how you can help out with the goat rescue, email me and I’ll send you the information… nwadoptivemom at gmail dot com