Fourth Newsletter: An Announcement

I send out a monthly-ish newsletter. This is the the fourth one, from May 2015, sans photos that accompany it when it goes straight to your inbox. If you’d like to see the whole thing, pictures and all, sign up here!

Mama Goat is Capacious! or, Waiting is rewarded!

I promised I’d send the next newsletter when I had an announcement, either about baby goats or the next novel draft. I had high hopes I’d beat Mama Goat on my end of the bargain, but alas, no. I also had hoped Mama Goat would deliver on her promise on Mother’s Day, but alas, she waited until the day after. But never mind that! The (human) Kid and I spent all afternoon sitting with Mama Goat while she labored, petting her, giving her compliments, and waiting. The wait was worth it.
It’s really hard to get a good picture of so many moving targets (because, wow, are they already bouncing around a lot), but here are Mama Goat’s five (5!!) baby girls, at almost exactly 24 hours old. I’m having a hard time getting much of anything done (uh oh) because they’re just so fun to watch. And it’s also fun to watch this other kid… petting a still-wet baby, and in the next picture, a day-old baby (“I’m holding my first baby!” he said), boinging along with the goaties as they test out their acrobatic abilities.

Inspiration: It comes from so many places

While we were waiting for Mama Goat’s babies, The Kid and I put to use some things we learned while reading Kate DiCamillo’s book Leroy Ninker Saddles Up last week. Oh my goodness, what a sweet, funny, adorable book! We both loved it. In it, Maybelline the horse “enjoys the heck out of a compliment” and “is the kind of horse who gets lonesome quick.” We tried to make sure Mama Goat wasn’t lonely during her hours of labor (we sat with her from 2:30 PM until 9 PM, until everyone was dry and fed), and we complimented the heck out of her. She rewarded us with lots of licks (until the babies arrived and then she was really busy licking them) and lots of talking to us when we had to leave for water breaks from the hose.

Last week, I also watched Kate DiCamillo’s Newbery-Caldecott Award acceptance speech for her book Flora & Ulysses, which we haven’t read yet but which I at least am really looking forward to. (The Kid is a teensy bit worried about the pants-eating and squirrel-sucking vacuum). What a lovely, inspiring tribute to the capaciousness of a mother and daughter’s love. I hope you’ll get the chance to watch the video (the goods start at almost 3 minutes), but be forewarned– it will make you laugh and tear up.

Mama Goat and her babies have been making us all feel more capacious– “lifted up by surprise and gratitude and joy,” as Kate DiCamillo says. I hope your Spring too is full of such wonder and openness.