Rome wasn't built in a day....

A year ago, my daughter Mariah and I went to Italy... The architecture and art were amazing. The thought that towns took hundreds of years to build...and works of art took lifetimes. Did Leonardo DaVinci ever rest his chin in the palm of his hand wondering how much longer his Mona Lisa would take? Did Michelangelo ever lay back on the rickety scaffolding inside the Sistine Chapel fighting the urge to change course? Or perhaps stealing a moment or two to scribble his "To Do" list for the day or the week? Did the creators of Venice sit on a hill side thinking, "We need to build this city on water?"
I walk through my field, touching the new budding leaves of my three year old fruit trees...picturing them as a fully operational orchard. Climbing up ladders to pick the fruit...watching honey bees from my future hives lazily bob from blossom to blossom. I walk up my trickling creek, knowing one day it will be filled with rocks, and will have a bridge going across it, with grasses and pussy willows lining the sides. I stand in the middle of my kingdom mentally pointing at the landscape...There will be the shed/cold storage...there will be the garden and the berry patch...there will be the split-rail fence with the row of sunflowers...
Over under that tree will be the swing that I may...or may not will be able to sit on..(depending on the branch...) :) Up on that hillside will be the pigs and the turkeys...and back behind the barn, the goats and maybe the rabbit hutch. I close my eyes, and I hear the symphony of the animals...the clucks, baas, oinks and gobbles...the buzz of the occasional bee... I open my eyes and look around...the scotch broom that needs to be pulled, the potholes that need to be filled...the hundreds and hundreds of feet of fence that need to be put up. Did the great renaissance masters ever sigh deeply looking at their blank canvas?
I look at my old barn...which is looking more and more like a new barn. But yet, there is still so much to do...
My babies are coming home in two weeks! On my birthday, April 22nd, my mom, Mariah and I are driving to Oregon to get the boys. Apollo, Dante and Mr. Fibbs. And on the 23rd, another bundle of joy. (HEY! I NEVER SAID I WAS STOPPING AT 3!!!) On the 23rd, I will be getting a Nubian. She will be 3 weeks old. Her name will be Jekuthiel's Lucy in the Sky. Jekuthiel is the name of the dairy she is coming from. My heart floods with joy when I think of bringing these 4 home... I am going to run and skip with them, and lay in the straw with them. I am going to introduce them to "The Girls", and they will all be the best of friends...
Some day, my animal family and I will be lounging on the hillside in the sun...admiring our masterpiece...
Rome wasn't built in a day.