Saying Goodbye to Oscar

Oscar went to his new home today. With mixed emotions we packed our lambie up in our car and headed 90 minutes northeast of Perth to the town of Toodyay (locally pronounced toojay). Oscar went to join another lamb named Barbie that was born on the same day as him. Oscar having been so sick was probably about 2/3 the size of Barbie. He will be living on about 11 acres, with some Cockatiels, and three dogs, a German Shepherd named Molly, and two Boxers named Dottie and Sebastian. My daughter was beside herself as we left. It is the first time she has had to say goodbye, maybe forever, to someone that she really loved. Fortunately the prospect of going to Albany, Western Australia for a week starting tomorrow lessened her grief. I'm not joking about her grieving either. Poo and Pee aside, we had become very attached to Oscar, but we know giving him up was right. He needed to be with other sheep - even though he is going to be neutered. Poor Guy. I feel ambivalent about that, because I wanted him to be able to make lots of other lambies. Oh well, he is not ours anymore. So that is the end of our time with Oscar the foster lamb. So what have we learned?

1. Farmers Deserve our respect. The work we put in to making one lamb survive makes me wonder how a bloke can get 5000 to survive.

2. There is a difference between cats and dogs and livestock. They may all be domesticated, but cats and Dogs can be trained to go to the door, whine or meow to go out and do their thing, or even go to the sandbox. Sheep just go. Wherever they happen to be, whenever they feel like it.

3. Most importantly, we discovered why Jesus is portrayed as a lamb. When Oscar was washed and clean, he was truly as white as snow. Oscar never cried out in pain. I was trying to catch him one day, and I made a grab for him and I know that I must have hurt him (not intentionally) but he didn't make a sound. The Bible says that "...as a Sheep before its sheerers is dumb (mute), so He opened not his mouth." The absolute humility of Jesus is truly personified in the person of a lamb.

Will we do it again? Maybe. We know what to expect now. We had no idea when Oscar came home that he would travel right to the point where he was within a day or two of being put to sleep; and then to see him turn around like he did, and just start eating like there was no tomorrow. We shall see. Take Care now.