Ok Ok  I know I talk alot about my chickens, garden, and life in general around here on the “farm”.  I maybe even tend to paint a rosy picture….lush garden giving bushels of produce, friendly content hens laying beautiful eggs each day, happy husband busily sawing wood and creating  wonderful things in his shop.  Well, today, it’s not so rosy.   We’ve had 5 days of rain…and that’s alot for us….the ground is soggy, the garden flooded, there’s mud everwhere, and driveway is like brown crisco….and oh lest I forget….the chicken yard…well think 2months of wet chicken poop now very wet….and when you step into the yard, ya better have on boots!  And it stinks!    But none the less, I went out and emptied the coop, scrubbed down the walls and floor with bleach water, and put in fresh new dry bedding for them.   They quickly rewarded me with 4 eggs.     Then onto the garden which has taken a terrible beating.   I had to dig new trenches so the rows could drain to the ditch.  Needless to say, I should sleep pretty good tonight.

Last night we had our last Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class….and boy was it good.   Ken and I have really enjoyed these classes and the group we had at our table.  I only wish we’d have had the information 30 years ago….it’s harder than ever starting over at this age but we are determined to make significant changes.  I would urge everyone to take these classes if they come to your area.  Ken and I are hoping somehow we can partner with a church to bring them to Hilliard.

Yesterday as I was driving into town, I saw a pelican along the road…..he must have thought all that water he was seeing from the sky was actually the intercoastal waterway…..he was a long way from it.

And what is it about puddles that draw kids like a magnet?  One of the first things Rowan did today was go out and stomp in one and then come in with both hands full of mud?  Don’tchaknow I hustled him out the door pretty fast!

So while we desperately needed some rain, everyone is craving the sun and watching the sky for it to appear.  It will be a few days before we can get in our yards to cut the grass, and when we do, it’s gonna be deep.  Ah yes, life on the farm….best place for me.

I have enjoyed watching the variety of birds outside my bedroom window this spring.  We have these itty bitty little ones that are so cute….I don’t really know what kind of birds they are, but when I think of a sparrow this is what I suppose they look like.  Watching them recently triggered a memory.

When I was a kid and we went to the Evangelical Church in Gladstone, a good portion of the congregation was related….all coming from a large Swedish family, descendants of those who started the church.  One of the family members moved away and would occassionally visit.  I seem to remember her to be wealthy, or at least more well off than the rest of us.  She was always asked to sing in church and she always sang the same song.   She always wore a hat, and gloves and looked so put together.  A little on the heavy side with graying hair, she would sing this song in  a strong soprano voice with a very very heavy vibrato, and some of the boys would snicker a little at that, that is until they got strong disapproving looks from a parent…..foolishness was not tolerated in church back then.   I never cared much for her style or sound of her voice, but I always liked the song.

His Eye is on the Sparrow

Matt.10:29-31

Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

I sing because I’m happy,
I sing because I’m free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.

“Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

Refrain

Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.

So when you see a sparrow, take comfort. For if the Father knows when even this little bird has need, surely He knows exactly what is going on in your life, and what ever you may need as well.  God often uses the smallest or most common things to convey great truth.

Yesterday I tried something new…..I made baked beans from scratch and made up my own recipe.  Now before you laugh……understand that cooking with dried beans is only something I’ve considered…never done.  But I have been using canned beans of several different varieties lately and have had pretty good results (thanks largely to Tia…bean chef extraordinare). This year in my garden I have 6 different kinds of beans planted, 4 of which are for drying and using later.  I like to imagine how they will look in glass jars lined up on the shelf in the kitchen.  So anyways, I decided I’d better start learning how to cook them.  And even though they were still a little firm (I soaked them for 18 hours, then cooked them for 7 in the crockpot), they were a hit…..nearly as good as my old way of using Bush’s beans doctored up.  I put mac/cheese from scratch with the beans, and a salad ( lettuce from our garden) and we had a right tasty meal.

Saturday, Ken and I went over to my friend Karin’s house and picked out 13 new chicks.   I ended up with Rhode Island Reds, Barred Rocks, and Black Langshons (they have feathers that grow down to their feet).  They are now peeping happily in the brooder.

Riley has taken over the house.  He has finally gotten Amos to play some, and today I found them cuddled up together on my bed.   I know Amos has missed Jaasper alot, as we all still do.  Riley is still in the “bite the hand” stage, which we all hope he will grow out of soon.  He spends most of his day, sleeping on top of the brooder, and if you talk to the chicks, he gets very jealous and puts on a big show for attention.

Our egg count is way off and has been for several weeks.  I cannot determine what is the problem, but we suspect a squirrel may be making the hens nervous or even sneaking in and stealing the eggs.  I have ordered a garden owl with a swivel head. Posting an owl is supposed to be very helpful and I’ll let you know if it works.  The hens are eating like pigs, and seem to have adjusted to being penned in their yard, rather than free ranging.  They will get some freedom after the garden is harvested.

Speaking of the garden, we should have English peas by the end of the week.  Lettuce is coming every other day to the table, and most everything else is either blossoming or getting ready too.  It is so much fun to go out and pick half of a supper meal.

Ken has the back side of the shop/house painted and hopes to be able to start the front later this week.  He’s got enough work for now, and is also working on several other projects for us.  How he keeps it all straight is amazing.  He’s down 52# and is now wearing a size L shirt.  He looks fantastic!

Pigs, a lion, sheep, and  gingerbread girls are in my world presently as I make the costumes for the children’s musical at church in May.  Our director is retiring after this last musical….I’ve been sewing costumes for her for 24 years.  She is one of the most extraordinary, creative people I’ve ever met and we’ve had quite the ride together as I’ve tried to sew what she saw in her head.  That spanned between seahorses to presidents, from chicken legs to starfish, from Little Bo Peep to the Tin Man.  I think I’ve made nearly every common zoo animal, every farm animal, every nursery rhyme personality, many many Biblical characters, and on  and on it goes.  I figure I’ve made nearly 800 costumes in those 24 years.

So life at the farm seems to be settling in as we near the end of this school year.  Tentative plans are made for the summer, but nothing concrete.  I am beginning to feel rested and calmer again after a hectic 6 months.  We are making alot of changes, mostly to our way of life/finances/relationships and I feel hopeful for better days ahead.  God has proven faithful again and again…..I sometimes wonder why I ever waste any energy being anxious…so silly.

Every night when I put up the chickens, I count to be sure they are all there.  Ken doesn’t always think to do this when he has chicken duty but thus far we’ve had the correct amount come out each morning.   It has been very very cold here the past two days, so I went out a little earlier last night to put them up.  Roxie my beautiful plymouth rock hen, is the boss of the girls and is always the last one to go in.  Well last night she was no where to be found.  We’ve had a couple of hawks hanging around, and saw some big dog tracks back by the neighbors pond next door.  So we pretty much figure she got carried off.  Such a shame as she was a good layer, and a very pretty chicken.  The other “girls” notice her absence and are a little helter-skelter today.

Did I say it was cold?  I have never seen such a hard frost in Fl. before.  Surely there will be crop damages from this one.   The ground is hard crunchy today.  The sky is blue and the air clean and very still…..a really beautiful morning and it is supposed to warm up today considerably.  I am so ready for that…..

My cold is better, and Ken is feeling much better today as well.  The kids are supposed to see their dad tomorrow, and Pastor’s conference starts tomorrow so were are off to a full schedule the next few days.

I was watching Amos this morning and thinking how well he’s doing for his age…..I figure he must be at least 15years old now.  He was playing with a raisen this morning.   He loves Ken best of all though and spends whatever time he can on his lap.

I wonder if the father of the prodigal son looked for him, searched for him, gave up looking and just waited. I think of this when I pray for Flala’s return, and wonder if I will ever find Jaasper.  At what point do we stop searching for what is lost. Pets become part of our families and they are loved and cared for the best we know how.  We try to asign almost human qualities to them and forget they have an instinct for survival that is different than ours.  I cannot think of any place in the Bible where a pet is mentioned and I wonder why that is when pets are so much a part of the human existence.  Do we look for in pets the love, acceptance and companionship we cannot find in our fellow man?  If we spent more time investing ourselves in the emotional health and well being of our loved ones, whould there be a need for a pet?  My mind rolls these things all over and I come to no real conclusions.  I can find arguments for any side taken.  Pets have always been a huge blessing in my life and I figure I will always have one of some kind.  Perhaps the lesson I need to learn in loosing Jaasper, is that for everything there is a season and that I must cherish what relationships I have today, because tomorrow they might not exist.

Seems my life has been peppered with these kind of situations.  You know….the ones where you find yourself in a pickle, or mess, or crisis and you don’t know how it happened.   I can recall many years ago, when we went through a major financial crisis and when all was said and done and the bills all paid, we found out the lawyer forgot to figure in the IRS debt!  Then, when Erin had her accident…..coming home from a ministry event….not through any carelessness of the driver or the occupants.   And when Clara died….the day before she was to come home????   And then when we got 3 hours to vacate our rented wharehouse because the city condemned the building….the last week of Christmas rush, and we had just closed on our house and moved everything to the wharehouse?????  Then when a daughter and her 4 children move with us in our 480Sq. ft. efficiency apt.  What in the world is going on?  Seems like I have a sign on my head that says “Hey pick me for this one”.

Pastor had a great sermon last week about the storms we go through.  While I can take ownership of the storms of my own making it’s more challenging to “own” these ones where we thought we were doing the right thing, at the right time, being faithful in and out of season.   I’m not crybagging here, not asking “why Lord”….just trying to figure somethings out.  I don’t like these “storms”….they hurt, they’re stressful, they drag out the worst in me, they sometimes cost alot of money, and they can be very lonely.

Here’s what I’ve learned:  You can’t rely on past blessings and spiritual growth spurts for ever…..growth has to be an ongoing thing.   You get prepared when you are on calm seas, so you will be strong when it gets rough…..and then when you can’t row one more stroke, you claim the strength of the Lord and get as many friends to pray for you as you can find. And as Pastor says….just because you can’t see Him in your boat, doesn’t mean He isn’t able to deliver you.

My choir is my prayer gang….they have been faithful to pray for our family more times than I can count and I am ever grateful to God for them.  Even when I can’t sing with them, they still pray for us.  Heaven will only be able to tell the demons their prayers have slain on my behalf.

There’s one more time I can remember……the first time I sang with them…..I remember asking myself….Whoa! How did this happen?!  Such a Great Big Deal in my life.  Such a Great Big Blessing!

He came to  me in a picnic basket.  A small bit of pale orange fluff showed up in my sewing room via the hands of a daughter who thought he would be good for me.   I opened the basket to see him peering up at me, not saying a word with his mouth but his eyes….oh those golden eyes….”please let me stay with you, I promise I will be good”.  Ken did not want another cat and he was not at all pleased when I walked outside with this little cat….”please can we try this again? I’d really like to keep him”.  A couple hours later, he came in the house and like a curmudgeon, “oh, and by the way, you can keep the cat”.

He had scabbies when we first got him….I had to bathe him in this stinky stuff, then let it dry on him, penned in the bathroom.  He was miserable, and he never forgot what terrors the bathroom could hold for him after that either.   We found out he had almost no voice and a very small purr.  But his tail was too long for his body and we wondered if he would ever grow into it.   I took him to work with me every day and he got so he enjoyed riding in the car.   He outgrew his collar and bell in no time, but would always come running if he heard the bell jingle.

He made friends with everyone….I never had a cat like that.   He thought everybody loved him and so he got quite adept at putting on a show for anyone who would pause and give him some attention.   Tag, hide and seek, fetch, “bite the hand”, or “I just want to sit on your shoulder” were his most favorite games.  He became sort of a feline version of Mark Lowery (christian comedian).   And he did finally at 16#, grow into his tail.   When we moved to Hilliard, he got terribly sick from breathing in the new pollens here.  He never was vocal about getting fed, and the only time we heard him cry was if he was being hurt or did not want to be held.  He waited patiently for me by the back door if I was gone for any length of time, and actually wherever I was in the house, that was where he was also.

He loved the light prisms on the walls and ceiling provided by the sun hitting my wedding rings.  He loved sticking his head in a glass of anything left unattended.  Nail files and drinking straws would provide hours of entertainment.   He was not a lap cat but slept on my sewing machine when he was little and often would collaspe on my keyboard when I’d been at the computer longer than he thought acceptable.

He became my “lion king”, the house his castle.  He was a “jungle prowess” when watching the birds from the window, and one day he stared down a pill bull .  He was a fashionista….would wear any ribbon or collar we’d put on him….the sillier the better.  He was silky smooth, muscular, and sometimes I thought sort of “Clark Gable” handsome….in a feline kind of way.

Soon after he came, I woke up one morning to find him sitting on my chest, just looking at me.   I turned my head and said to Ken….”he’s won.”   Jaasper found a place in my heart that could be occupied by no other.

He has been missing 9 weeks.  Today, I went to the shelter to look at maybe getting a new kitty….I came home without one….I guess I’m just not ready.

The past 2&1/2 months have brought many changes and I have not been able to blog about them because I am still processing how I feel about some things.  Suffice it to say, it’s not been dull.  Of course the biggest change is that Gigi now lives in Michigan.  And the day she left, Jaasper came up missing.  We dove into Thanksgiving and Christmas, decreased our pet population, put up with more nonsense from the kids father, experience strep and flu like never before, had a brother pass away, and the two barn kitties met with an unfortunate accident….very sad.   We go into this new year, still putting up with nonsence from the kids father, and still no Jaasper.  The temps have hit record lows, the chicken population decreased then as of last night the two “adopteds” (Lavern and Shirley) were returned once again as the original owner did not want to bother with rigging up a heat lamp, and my  orders are nearly nonexistant.   I do however have a few and for the first time in 20years…have 8 banners in process…..I can’t finish any of them until my trim order comes in.  And I’ve found some time to sew for myself…..have not made anything for me to wear in over 5 years.  I joined face book and have reconnected with some friends and have reorganized my sewing and banner making area.  I now have a designated space for scrapbooking, and my closet is now neat and orderly.   I even managed to unpack on big chest of housegoods, that has been in storage since we left the house in Arlington, and as soon as Ken builds me more shelving, can unpack another.   I got all my year end bookkeeping done and am ready to start working on my taxes.  I’m hoping to get a trip to North Carolina in very soon to get fabric for costumes I will be doing for the Passion Play.  My prayer list has grown considerably since the beginning of the new year as it seems no matter where I turn or who I talk too, everyone has drama, crisis, pain, or loss in their lives.  I have to make a conserted effort each day to try to stay above all the negative, and focus on the positive.  One big positive that’s happening right now is that Ken is loosing weight…..35# and 15# more to go.  He looks really good and feels so much better.  We have started riding bikes whenever possible….he does better than I and we are really watching our food intake carefully.  The kids are growing so fast, seems we can’t fill them up, and can’t keep them in pants long enough. So there it is….life changes on a dime, every day is different, and most of the time we just hang on for dear life.  Pastor had a wonderful sermon last week about focusing on the Source and not our resources and limitations.  So that’s what my goal is this year to do…..change and refine my focus….the results should make the changes easier to take.

Waking up this morning, I knew this would be a day of reconciling an array of emotions, truth,and preconceived ideas and opinions.  So as I go through this process, as I have told my daughters many times,  you must go back to the truth…..what is true?

This past election found me fitting into too many “battleground” issues…..a Christian who strongly believes in a conservative, small government approach, a small business owner, a baby boomer with a very small retirement fund, (now much smaller due to the manufacturered financial crisis),  a person who pays for their own healthcare….out of pocket, a “right to lifer”, one who believes in a strong military and knows that I v ery well may see a grandson go off to war,  one who has been greatly affected by the economic crisis as there is little work for cabinet makers and those whose lively hood depends on the amount of dollars given to the church.

It matters not to me what color of skin, education, or physical appearance any of our elected officials have. It does matter to me what/who those same people listen to, are mentored by, guided by, their morals, and their history/experience in leadership, and knowledge of international affairs/issues.

It would be largely agreed that the currant administration made a lot of mistakes….but do please remember that those mistakes were not enacted by one person alone.  And equally important is to remember that there was a lot of good done as well.   Freedom is not free, and the war against terror does and will continue to cost….but we have made great progress.  I can’t help but think some of our discontent is because we didn’t think it would take so long and cost so much (both in human toll and $$).  We are after all a society of “I want it now, I want it cheap, and I don’t want it to hurt me” in many ways.  Honor and decency were restored to the position of commander in chief during this administration after 8 years of shame and disappointment.   We do after all expect a higher standard of values, integrity, ethics and morals from those who are in top positions.

So what do I hope for?  I hope that those who are in leadership will understand that they must vote and enact legislation that is for the best for America, not for just a select group.  I hope that our borders will be tightened, and those wanting to come here will do so legally.  I want jobs to stay here and not be outsourced to other countries I want people to start helping each other out instead of waiting for the government to hand them money they have not earned.  I want small businesses to flourish, and be able to turn a profit without having to go severely in debt…..I want people to realize what they truly can afford and stop trying to buy more than they need or can possibly pay for.   I want our  retirement funds to be protected and our faith to not be in the stock market for our prosperity. I want the unborn to be always protected and cherished.  I want the institution of marriage and family to be as ordained in the Word of God, and not decided by those who think they can make up their own rules simply because they want “whats right for them”.  I hope that the big corporations who are making ridiculous profits at the cost of the taxpayer would be forced to “spread the wealth” to not the stockholder but to the people who really paid the price.  I want our natural resources  used in a careful and responsible way.

I declare that “my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness”. It is ultimately  Jehovah God who chooses who will rule men on earth, and if He can use a talking donkey, then He can use whatever human from whichever political party He deems necessary to accomplish His plan for His people.   My responsibility is to obey my governmental leaders, give “Ceasar what Ceasar is due”, and to pray for them.  It is my mandate to not give way to despair, but to be the best Christian American citizen I can be in spite of what the general consensus is of those around me.  It is my job to come alongside the downtrodden, the widows, orphans, the fatherless, the weak and infirm, and use my abilities and my resources to make their lives resourceful, peaceful, and productive.

My Hope?  It’s not in a political party, not in a financial institution, not in an elected leader, not in a program or legislation.  It is in Christ and Christ alone.

This is Scrappy Frappe…..the smallest hen in my flock…she is an Aracuana and when she finally lays an egg it will be light blue or green.  She’s a frantic little thing and the most vocal of all the birds.  She probably even talks in her sleep.  Anyway, this is a really good photo of her, but it needs a caption.  So how about it?? Send in your idea for a caption, and we’ll send a UseAgain Bag to whoever comes up with the best one.

My 3 big boys are all strutting their stuff and practicing ALL DAY LONG their crowing.  They’ve also figured out what the hens are for so they have them in an uproar several times a day.  Zeus is a Plymouth Rock, and is a really handsome fella.  Theo and Louie are the Silver Laced Wyandottes and favor the Rhode Island Reds.  They also appear to be identical so I can’t tell them apart.

Speaking of Rhode Island Reds.  My neighbor is going to be gone alot this fall, and she brought her two laying hens down to our place.  Both are Reds, and I call them Laverne and Shirley.  We get at least 1 egg a day from them and sometimes 2.  Theo and Louie really like them alot and one or both are always in close proximity to the girls.  They’ve had a bit of an adjustment…establishing pecking order and all and after a few days, they seem to prefer to stay to themselves.  It was pretty funny watching the “meet and great” when we first brought them to the coop….kind of like a junior high dance between two different schools.

Where as at their old home, Laverne and Shirley ruled the roost when it came to feeding the cats.  Here, little Grey stands up to them and refuses to share what belongs to her kittens.  Ken feels like he’s loosing control of his shop as Grey, Fuzzy, and the 5 kittens, and now Laverne and Shirley, Theo and Louie are often all found in his space. Jaasper is now noticing the chickens from the windows and he gets very agitated about it.  He got out one night last week, and got caught in a rain storm…..he looked pretty pathetic coming in at 12:30am.  Spent the remainder of the night and most of the next day, curled up on my bed.  I think he knew how aggravated I was with him. Life is pretty stressful around here, extremely busy with the 4 kiddos running around.  The chickens and cats offer a little comic relief so for that I am extremely thankful.  Time to go….I usually sing to the girls when I close up the coop each night.  I think they like it.

Having raised girls, I am in uncharted territory with having boys around.   Much of the time I find their “humor” indelicate, obnoxious, and not at all what I would want to encourage.   They are careless when using the bathroom and leave usually a wake of mess behind them, and they love to leave their stinky socks all over the house.  They make alot of rude noises and think it’s totally gross if they see Papa hugging me.  Yet when all is said and done, I hope they all grow up to be “real men” and not wimps.  Andrew made great strides toward that yesterday.  More on that later.

I have some other “boys” to contend with.  Much to my dismay, we have at least 3 roosters in the bunch of chickens.  My hens are getting ready to lay, (we will make nest boxes this weekend) and the boys are beginning to make them selves known.  At first it was this awful sqwalk/screech noise and we weren’t sure which one was responsible.  Then last week I caught one of the Wyandottes crowing.  Thurs. morning as I was driving into town, Andrew called to say that Buffy was crowing up a storm.   Buffy, my favorite chicken, the buff orffington, the one who likes to sit on my lap and follow me around the yard, IS A ROOSTER!  Now called Buford, he turned from sweet to horrible in one day.  He pecks at my feet and legs and tries to chase me….I had to use a stick the last two times I went out to “Cluckers Cottage”.  Buford will meet his doom very soon, as I’m not about to put up with that kind of behavior.

Yesterday, I was going to pull on my boots, to go out to feed the chickens….Buford had pecked my legs in the am, and left some pretty good marks so I thought I’d fake him out with the boots.  They were on the back porch.  Ken has a rule around here, that if you leave any shoes outside, you must shake them out before putting them on.  My boots were muddy from working in the yard a couple of days ago.  So I picked them up, and shook them out, noticing that one felt heavy.  Out drops a good sized snake….right in front of my feet.  I discovered I can back up pretty fast.  Long and short of it, Andrew went a got a shovel and killed the intruder.  He now is in the process of preserving the skin.  Great science project. We are still trying to determine what kind, have ruled out several species.  It closely resembles a cottonmouth.

I hang all our wash on the clotheslines.  Today, I didn’t have any wash to do….good thing though, as Andrew thought it the perfect place to hang a snake skin on the clothesline to dry out!

Also yesterday, Rowan finally went outside to play, and came in screaming….a hornet got under his shirt and stung him on the shoulder.  This was during a call from a friend in Cairo Egypt that I’d waited 3 days for.  I put some salve on it, and he sat with an ice pack, dried up his tears, and after a few minutes went back out to play. 6 months ago he’d have cried for 3 hours.

Hopefully, we won’t have any more episodes with the slithery critters, but if we do, I know who I’m gonna call….a twelve year old boy/man was the hero for the day!