If the phrase was ever true that a picture is worth a thousand words then the picture above says more than I ever can in this post. To say that my middle daughter is an animal lover is like saying that Jesus kinda did some cool things for people – it would be a gross understatement. She absolutely adores animals, but has also come to understand their purpose on our farm. She knows that we raise cattle for food, hunt deer for meet, and that pigs too are best when grilled or bar-B-Qed.

But that does not stop her from helping make sure all the calves and cattle get their vaccines and vet checks, that the momma cows have all the food her Daddy will let them have (she would feed them and me out of house and home), and that everyone is well on our farm. Already she has good eyes to tell if an animal is not coming up fast enough for their supper, or limping, or has an injury that needs her Daddy to fix.

Then, we get to how she is with the horses, dogs, and cats. I am very glad we live on a farm or I would have every stray dog and cat in three counties at my house. But I digress, I meant to talk about her finding the colt on our farm.

Here is the story, a friend of ours had to go out of town right when his mare was due to raise her colt. So, knowing of Brian and Roy’s experience with horses and of Brie’s love of horses – he ask if we would horse sit while he was gone. Well, Brie took this to heart and began checking on his horse three to five times a day. Late, one night, after my older daughters dance recital was finished and the rest of us were tucked in bed, she and her Daddy went one more time to check “her horse” for a colt, and under a full moon, Brie and Brian’s patience paid off and they found a little stud colt. Brie was not as wild about having to hold him,and give him a tetanus shot and dip his umbilical cord but she stayed right with Brian and I (oh yes, there was the quick side trip back to the house to wake up Mommy – the doctor aka vet to assist with the medical stuff) as we took care of all the post birth well colt care.

Once, we were back at the house though the questions began. “Mommy, how did the colt get inside the momma horse?” “What was that stuff you called afterbirth?” You should have seen my Farmer Boy hubby squirm at those – but with understanding of her curiosity, and at a level for her age, I answered the best I could. And then I explained to my hubby, as she lives on a farm and sometimes spends all day helping him with Artificial insemination of cattle or drawing blood to pregnancy check our cows – of course she has questions about reproduction. Now, she has taken to wanting to be responsible for all the squirrel dogs (aka Mt. Curr Dog’s) on the farm, even as far as their breeding and keeping up with who is “in heat” for her Daddy on her iPod calendar – it’s my opinion that she deserves the best answers to her questions that I can give, before her friends answer them for me.

My Farmer Boy Husband’s approach of avoiding any issue that has to do with our girls growing up and changing into young women is funny to me as a woman and a doctor. Especially, when he, as a farmer, spends most of his day on our farm worrying about when or whether something is pregnant or needs to be. So, after talking about how wonderful baby Silver (the colt) is and the facts of life, we tucked in Brie with bedtime prayers – and my prayers were about how thankful I am to get to raise my kids this way, with this loving man – Even when he turns squeamish about the facts of life – I guess that is why God made both Mommies and Daddies to answer little questions late at night.

If you live in Tennessee you may have been aware of the recent debate over House Bill 1191 by Representative Andy Holt, or you may not. And you may certainly be wondering what this has to do with changing my ringtone, but be patient all good things come to those who wait – or at least keep reading.

Well, this bill has to do with animal cruelty, undercover video/photography, and timeliness of reporting these abuses to the authorities. The bill passed through both house and senate, but faced some push back from supporters of HSUS, which really came as a surprise to me because I would think an animal rights group would be all about timely reporting of animal abuse. Well, they weren’t. This bill, which has since been vetoed by our Governor due to potential concerns raised by our Attorney General about long term legal battles it could lead to, was in its intent designed to strengthen Tennessee already stringent animal cruelty laws. This bill, had it passed, would have required reporting of any video or photographic evidence of animal cruelty to the proper authorities within 24 hours. (Again, I still don’t really understand why HSUS had a problem with this, but they did.)

One of the more well known advocates against House Bill 1191 was Carrie Underwood. And now, a lot of my friends in agriculture think I should change my ringtone ( it’s Blown Away by Carrie Underwood) just because she and I were on opposite sides in this debate. (And given my stance on Cracker Barrel and their opinion about crate free gestation in pork, you might think I would have changed the ringtone already) But, I haven’t.

Here’s why, maybe I have grown a little from my Cracker Barrel rants – not that I am planning on going back in one any time soon. Or maybe, as a Mom, I don’t want to push too hard, fearing my two young impressionable daughters will turn out more like Ms. Underwood than me.

I may not like that there are people in this country that care more about their pets than the fact that 1 in 4 children in America are hungry, or that more than a few senior citizens have to choose between food and medicine. Animal abuse occurs in this country, and it should not be tolerated period. As a Mom and a physician, forgive me if I worry a bit more about hungry children, abused and beaten children, children whose parents are hooked on drugs, seniors choosing between medicine and food, etc. etc. I also, cannot fathom why, when solutions to the problem of animal abuse are proposed, Animal Rights groups and Animal Rights Advocates like Carrie Underwood, were against the bill, because it would limit the time that they would have to film and take pictures for propaganda footage that is used to raise money for their organization. These groups were more concerned with raising funds than STOPPING the abuse. Please help me understand that.

But, the fact is Americans have the right to choose what is important to them. If animal rights groups feel that the right to shoot undercover footage and to continue to allow animal abuse to go on for months in order to raise money from the footage, well, I hope HSUS and Ms. Underwood are happy with the Governors veto.

For me, I hope that the bill gets reworked and resubmitted next session, but I am keeping my ringtone. Because even though we stand on opposite sides of animal rights issues, I still like her music – and I don’t want to drive my daughters into imitating her opinions. But, I am dying to ask her where she gets the leather for her shoes and purses? Maybe she only has vinyl.

It has been a difficult year for us. I have been told over a hundred times that building a home is the hardest time a married couple will have, and although Brian and I have not slept in separate rooms or had any terrible fights it has been fretful at times. Add to that my decision to change jobs and you can imaging how rough this has been. So, as someone who has known The Lord from a young age this has been a year of trials for me.

Now first off, I am not – nor do I ever stress to be – anything close to perfect. I use curse words much more often than I should. I watch movies that I shouldn’t. I even catch myself gossiping when I know that is wrong. I am driven and expect everyone I work with to work as hard and with as much drive as I do, because people’s lives depend on it. So, like David before The Lord in Psalms

Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
Psalms 51:1-3 KJV

And, if you ask those that know me I am sure they can tell you many more of my sins and faults, but as a child of a loving father in faith I am not afraid to admit them and ask for help. Being adult enough to admit these faults has been a new thing for me this year. Also, these admissions have helped me in my struggle with our religion. Now, most people would question me here on what is the difference between faith and religion, as they should. See, I was raised in a different religion than the church where I now worship, but this is the adult intelligent choice I have made for my family. So, I struggle with minor points of religious doctrine.

But dealing as a doctor with people of all faith and of none, and of all religions and of none, I cannot afford to be narrow minded in how I interact with patients in regards to how they relay their concerns of faith. Whether I am speaking with an elderly patient who has enough faith and comfort in her religion to speak about advance care plans with the peace of one facing the end of her life as one going to meet an old friend who promises a release from pain and suffering, to the conversation with a grieving family member asking “why me – Why would God take this thing, or person, or whatever – what did I do to deserve this?” Speaking with patients about Christian faith is at least something I have some background in. Understanding the peace that can pass understanding, and personally being able to relay that knowing the answer to “why God” may never come and may be not for us as children of God to know.

But where I struggle as a physician, dealing with crisis of faith even in my new job, when I “loose my heart of a servant” is when I am trying to help families of different faith ideologies or of no faith at all. See, I have my faith, but the biggest part of my job is not forcing my faith, morals, or any aspect of my personal belief systems onto a patient. So, not knowing anything about Wicca (for example) or the religious rites of Native American tribes, how do I not offend by inserting my Christian beliefs? How do you help when you don’t where know to start?

Wanting to help and be a supportive physician, whether it’s as a family doctor of ten years or your emergency room doctor of twenty minutes – I want to think that there is a way and a time for concerns for a physician’s faith and for that of their patients.

I realize that patient’s faith may not be as big an issue in other parts of the country but here in Tennessee, where I live, faith is a huge part of patient’s lives. There are still families that don’t speak to certain members over issues of faith, issues of sexuality, or even issues of different religions. I wish I had had more formal training in how to handle these issues that are so deeply personal to my patient’s lives, so I felt more at home in this area, but I am glad that through my own faith in my Lord I am finally able to try to handle this complex minefield of faith.

Here are some first looks at Ella’s newest 4-H project. Having completed pigs, now we are on to sheep.

It’s been a few fun filled days off. My oldest has been recovering from having her appendix removed last Monday. We have had several days of snow here in upper middle Tennessee. (That’s not that strange for early March either) and we are still finishing our house

So, what do you do to spend time on snow filled evenings after your kids are wore out from playing in the snow and you are wore out from packing, sorting, and a multitude of other details involved in building a new house. You sit a play UNO past bedtime of course.

Now picture this, I am sitting in my bed trying to play UNO with a 7 year old and a 4 year old. (Well, he will be 5 in six days) I am playing my hand, sorting his cards, trying to help him read the words like REVERSE, and keep up with the 7 year old ( she plays to win ). All in all a great evening in mommy land.

And this morning, I am back to work and its rained all the snow away, so the kids are back in school. But, it was fun watching Brie and I loose to my 4 year old son.

Yes, as someone who married into the farm there were a lot of things I did not understand, but the men And women who choose to make their living providing the food and fiber so that I can make my living making Tennesseans well are a determined bunch. They work cold, wet, hot, and long hours so you and I can choose to argue about how they provide food for us. I for one would rather say thank you and go on.

I have been blessed to make many friends in agriculture and I have never yet met one who was more worried with a PROFFITS than what was happening on their farm and their land. I hope by reading my stories more people can realize that I for one have never met a Factory farmer. And I have met a lot of farmers.

Well, it’s been a bit since I put any pictures from our new house on here. So, here is my most recent.

This afternoon our exterior was finished except for shutters and gutters. We went with Hardy Board and it looks great.

A friend of mine helped me make a surprise for my farmer husband. He took Miratex and made it into our farm brand to hang on the house.

I think it turn out pretty spiffy. So did my hubby.

Thanks again Russell.