"...goats held the keys to all the doors that were closing in on me"

I was a truck driver over the road for 14 years when my career came to an end in Oklahoma in October of 1998. A panel truck similar to a bread truck backed out of a driveway in front of me on a small two lane road early that morning. At 65 MPH and with 45,000 lbs of steel trailer parts on my truck I swerved right into the ditch to miss him - I hit the culvert head-on! The load broke loose and tore the cab of my truck away from the chassis and completely destroyed the truck. It was unrecognizable except for a piece of the passenger door which was smashed but you could still read the sign on it.

Needless to say, it was a miracle that I survived, and still today, I can't believe that the tin can that took 6 hours for the fire department to cut me out of, left me alive.... I thank God for that everyday.

Well, after the accident I was pretty messed up. When I came home from the hospital I went into a deep depression that I cannot explain. I locked myself away to the confines of my back bedroom for 18 months, only coming out to go to the restroom or to the Doctor. I got on a computer and spent a year doing Ebay sales to try and make ends meet for my children and family. I lost my truck, my car, tractor, boat and 5 acres of my property. I was in a bad way. I couldn't borrow as my credit was ruined. I lost my family and they went to Minnesota to live. The only thing I was left married to was the chair that I got around in. I gained almost 300 lbs and could barely walk from my bed to the bathroom and had trouble finding clothes to wear. I had been big all my life but not fat like that. I was a football player in school and weighed 230 lbs and after school and marriage I got up to 250-260 lbs. But when I gave up on life, and gained weight drastically, I weighed 532 lbs after 18 months and my heart had grown from the strain I put on it.

How does all this fit with my goats?
Well, my mother who stayed by me and tried to stop me from eating and make me get out and do something, had given up and called her sister. My aunt, who lives in Combine, TX, called me and asked if I would take two goats that she had bought as kids and they grew up big and she was unable to handle them. She didn't know what they were when she bought them and had no idea that they would ever get so big. Well, I didn't know anything about goats and I didn't want to know. I told her to sell them because I had no use for a stupid goat and nowhere to keep one if I did. She went on for three more months, calling me and telling me how big these two nannies were and that they were bred to another buck that was just like them by a neighbor who had one and that they were going to have these big babies soon. I still refused the goats. She went on to tell me that she was told about these red headed goats and how valuable they were. I had no idea what she was talking about and I didn't care. I consistently refused the goats.

Two weeks later, I was sitting in my room on the computer when my aunt and uncle came into my room and told me that I had better get my goats out of the road before someone ran them over because they had babies by their side and they were eating grass along the side of the Hwy in front of my house. I couldn't believe that she done that! They actually came up to my house and literally turned these animals loose in my yard and left. I had no idea what to do accept to get them away from the road before they were killed. It took everything in me to get those two Boer does tied up to the porch - the kids were easy because they just followed the nannies. I had two full grown does and 4 babies (2 bucklings and 2 doelings). The feed stores were already closed, and so were the hardware stores so the goats had to stay tied to the porch overnight. I sat out there on the porch and stared at these remarkably beautiful animals and especially the babies. It took all of 5 minutes to fall in love with these goats. I will never know why or what pushed me, but I built them a small 50' x 50' pen and then a 12' x 16' barn to stay in. For the first 4-6 weeks, I was in (hell). I could barely walk and my legs would just fall out from under me and I was out there building fence and tending to these animals by crawling on the ground, literally because I was so big.

After 6 months, I had to go to my Doctor and he was in shock at the weight I had lost and I got on the scale at 378 lbs. down from 532 lbs. I was so happy and even at that weight, I felt good. The doctor asked me how I done it and I sat there for a second and said, "I didn't! It was God!" I said that God sent me six little angels disguised as the most beautiful goats I had ever seen and all alone they have changed my life and saved me from throwing it all away.

I now have my youngest son, "Dustin" age 6 who lives with me and is my little helper on the farm. And as soon as school is out the first of June my oldest son, "Trae", is coming to live with me and help with the farm.

This October will be 5 years since the day my world fell apart. But this October 29th will also be the day that I reclaim my life as I will have my two sons back, my farm, and of course, "MY GOATS". Who say's that God doesn't work in mysterious ways?

This is true and has never been told outside of my own family until now. I just felt like talking about it and telling someone my story. Who knows, maybe it will inspire someone else to get up and not give up hope. Miracles do come in all sorts of strange forms, but if you believe, they can and will come eventually.

Sincerely Yours!

DON MORGAN
CAPRI~CORN FARMS
SCROGGINS, TX
ABGA MEMBER # 14065
HOME PAGE: http://home.earthlink.net/~flashtex33/capricornfarms/