Welcome friends!

Cheryl and I are inviting you to our family blog, so that we might share some experiences as Larry undergoes proton therapy treatment for his prostate cancer.

"Ton Tenga" is the name of our small farm in the hills of northwest Georgia. It is from the language we spoke with the Mossi people in Burkina Faso, and it means our land or our farm.

Larry's treatments begin April 12, and we will make regular posts during the six-weeks in Florida.

Here a "Naa", there a "Naa", everywhere a "Naa, naa"

Well, I've been saying for 3 weeks that I would post pictures of the newest additions to the Ton Tenga family, and finally, here they are. Twins!



And then 24 hours later another set of twins.



These guys are so cute and they have such a good time playing together all over the pasture. They especially enjoy the goat version of 'King of the Mountain'.



Larry was out of the country when they were born, so he missed all the excitement, and was a little late beginning to bond with them.



Last weekend, while Larry & I were in Mississippi, another set of twins was born, but unfortunately we lost one of them three days later, right after Larry left for Haiti. He's missed a lot, and Allison & I are getting pretty good at taking care of the goats. But we still have 2 more who are about ready to deliver, so maybe he hasn't missed all the fun (and the work)!
ckc

Jason, Kelli, Abbey, Maddie & Naomi were at Ton Tenga last month soon after they arrived in Memphis for a 10 month stateside assignment. We enjoyed some wonderful family time, and the cousins had fun on the farm, riding the Kubota, feeding the animals and just being together. Everybody got their height recorded on the measuring post down at the barn.
Shelby, Darby & Emma, Papa will measure you again when you come in December!

We've been telling some of you about our "new" car, and we wanted you to see it, because our descriptions just can't do it justice! It's a 7-passenger, '09 Ford Flex. It's very roomy -- lots of leg room and head space -- and has all wheel drive, so it just kind of floats up the hill to our house!

Larry's Tractor

Over two years ago, as we were driving back home from Mississippi, Larry spotted an old Farmall Cub tractor for sale on the side of the road. He had been wanting one for a long time since his grandfather had one just like it. We stopped and he bought it with the intention of restoring it. It's just been sitting around, first in the garage when we lived at Cherokee Lodge at WinShape, and then out in the open near the barn at Ton Tenga. Larry had really wanted to work on it himself, but that hadn't happened in two years and didn't look like it was going to happen anytime soon. Then a couple of months ago, he met a guy who restores tractors and decided to get him to work on it. Here's what the Cub looked like when he came to pick it up:





Now it's back home, and Larry is the proud owner of a beautifully restored momento of another Cox farm in Mississippi two generations ago. ckc

Shutters!

The "entry side" of our house has a new look! A word of explanation to those who have not been to our house: When we were building the house, we had to quit saying "front" or "back" because it was so confusing. What would normally be the front of the house and where you enter our house is actually on the back. And what you see when you're driving up the hill to the house is the back with huge windows to enjoy the view. So since the front is on the back and the back is on the front, we just say the "entry side" or the "view side". You'll have to come to see us to fully understand! Anyway, Larry has added shutters to the windows on the entry side. He made them, painted them (deep orange, to match the door), and then Marshall came out to help him put them up.





Don't they look great? Good job, Papa!
ckc

Lessons from the Farm

A while back, Larry bought four new goats to live at Ton Tenga. They are pretty little brown goats -- very sweet and gentle, but not very intelligent. You know the old saying, "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence"? Well, these little goats just cannot resist the grass that is out of their reach, and they very frequently end up like this:



They can easily get their heads through the fence, but then they're stuck because of their horns, and they make a lot of noise to let us know that they're stuck. Larry got tired of wrestling with them to get them unstuck, so he came up with a solution using a piece of PVC and some wire. They look so strange that the kids started calling them "alien goats".



So, the lesson from the farm (and the goats) -- to be content with what I have, where I am, and resist the temptation of that greener grass!
Philippians 4:11-13