Henry

                      

This handsome fellow is Henry. When we bought all of our chicks they were supposed to be all girls but, somehow, we ended up with 2 roosters. A few months ago we parted with one of our roosters, Goldie, but thought we would keep Henry. Henry was a good rooster, didn't crow very often and kept to himself most of the time.

Things have changed.

When I go into the cow pen I carry a long stick just in case Henry gets it into his head that I am invading his space and need to be attacked. Last week he got all feisty with me and you may or may not have seen me swinging a shovel around with him in the vicinity. On Sunday I turned around to have his wings beating my chest and his claws gripping my leg. I have a large bruise from where he got me. I screamed in horror and yelled at him "You stupid rooster! I'm the one that FEEDS you!" I had my daughter's and one of their friends laughing at me from the safety of the garage.

 This wasn't the first time either.

Now, I won't even turn my head from him at any point and I steer clear of him any way I can. Hey, don't you dare call me a wuss! I know some of you are saying "Oh brother, this city girl's afraid of a rooster!?" YOU try being attacked by a rooster ONCE and see that you don't learn to respect him! And carry a shovel. Or a stick. Or a baseball bat.

Henry is usually contained in the cow pen because he can't squeeze through the barbed wire fence like the smaller hens can. Today was a different story. He must have found a way to jump over the fence. Here's the run down:
I'm sitting at the kitchen table with Sarah going over her math for the day. I hear Isaiah crying and screaming in terror and the sound of feet racing across the gravel. Of course, I thought my child was dying so I raced to the window to see what was going on(what, you ask why I didn't run outside? Because, this son is known to yell like he's dying and I've learned to see if there's blood before running all the way down the stairs and then having to come all the way back up).

What I see made me laugh till I almost peed my pants. Isaiah is running at top notch speed toward the garage and disappears. Alana is hiding behind a large cedar tree with a ginormous stick in her hand. Henry is just on the other side of this tree. Malakai is full on up in the top of a small oak tree 10 feet away(that I'm surprised held his weight) laughing hysterically at his brother's drastic departure.
So, what happened next? I sat at the window to watch what they would do, of course. Alana walked very quietly and slowly around the tree, while Henry watched her, and took a wide loop out of his way to head to the garage. Malakai struggled to get out of the tree he had so quickly ascended and, while he was doing so, Henry walked to the base of the tree. The whole time, Kai is cracking up laughing. His feet touched the ground, he looks at Henry, screams and takes off running, laughing and screaming the whole time. Henry chases him for 10 feet or so, turns around and continues pecking the ground. Oh, he thinks he knows whose boss, doesn't he?

Sarah, Canaan and I were up in the window watching and laughing at the whole thing. Yes, it was funny. Even funnier(yes, I know it's not a word)? Guess who's gonna be in my chicken soup this coming weekend? Oh, yes. I've got the last word here. I am the boss.

Judah is 6!

My tiny, little cutie patootie baby boy is now SIX YEARS OLD! Time is flying by with this little man! Yes, I know the jacket is purple but my boys are cool like that;)

One thing that I forgot to mention in my last "catching up" post is a ministry a friend, her husband and I have started at our church! It is called Safe Families and is an amazing ministry. Here is what the site says about the reason for SF:

"Safe Families for Children is a movement of hundreds of families of faith who have opened their homes to care for children whose parents are struggling. By demonstrating Biblical Hospitality, Safe Families for Children returns the church to the forefront of caring for orphans and widows - where historically
the church was the leader."

Safe Families is NOT foster care and the host families are not compensated at all. Parents retain all of their rights and can reclaim their children at any moment. This is the step that is missing from the state system; help for those who need it BEFORE things get bad enough for the state to step in. It has been amazing to watch people get passionate about this and see lives being changed. "Our"(and by that I do NOT mean Jonah and I) first placement was of 2 month old twin boys. These boys' mom needed some help and asked SF to find a temporary placement for them while she got her life in order and my friend and her husband said yes. They have 3 girls of their own and have now been caring for these precious boy's for 2 months! We are all watching as people in our church are coming along side the mom in crisis and being her friend, mentoring her and just being there. People are volunteering their time to help watch the twins so that the host family can have some "family" time. Formula, diapers and wipes are being mailed in from all over to help with the cost of ministering to these babies(and their mom).

If this is something that you think you or your church may be interested in, please check it out! Amazing stuff being done in the name of Christ!

Catching up!

It's been 5 months since I last posted and there have been lots of things going on! Here is a bullet post list for you all:

1) In December, Justus turned 4 and he keeps us on our toes! He is one smart cookie that amazes us daily with how smart he is and what he knows without being taught. His full bio sibling is a GATE student so I guess I should have expected it?


2) In January my brother Kelly and his wonderful wife Laura, had their miracle baby. Her name is Alexandra Jayne and she is one of the cutest, most beautiful baby girl's in the world. In case you didn't know, they were not supposed to be able to have a child because of Kelly's cancer treatment 3 years ago. God is truly GOOD!


3) The kids and I also joined a Christian parent participation Home Schooling Co-op that we are all really enjoying. Each of the kids has their own classes that they go to while I teach a science class. This also keeps us very busy, or so it seems, as it's one more day out of the house and "in town". I am enjoying my home time more and more.

4) In March we got our first GOOD snow of the year where the kids could actually go outside and play in it. They had SO much fun sledding and throwing snowballs and Canaan learned that he really, really loves the (nasally said) "sno".


5) Later in the month our Charlois beef cow, Charlotte, delivered our first ever calf! And a heifer calf to boot! We named her Georgiana since we(by we I mean I) have chosen a literature theme for my cows and their calves. Did you know I was an English major? Anyone know what book Charlotte and her calf are "in"?



6) Jonah and I bought out his parents on their half of our Hawaii house and we are going to start renting it as a vacation rental. If any of you want to go stay at a great, adventure filled house on the Big Island for a great price, let me know.



7) Tomorrow, my oldest son will turn NINE! What, how did THAT happen? I know I missed the first 4 birthday's and things always seem to go much faster that way(I know this because my "little" girl, who I also missed her first 4 birthday's, is 12 and has just passed me up on height. Yes, have pity on me, please). Isaiah is, well, Isaiah. He still laughs the best, loves to be funny, can't control his body movements hardly at all and is sweet as pie. AND, on March 24, Isaiah asked Jesus to be his Savior AND was taken off his siezure meds that day. God is good!


8)Anytime after April 16th we are expecting our 2nd calf of the year from Gretel and I can't wait. This means that we will have milk again! I've been working with Gretel in the stanchion, since she is a heifer, and teaching her that having her teats touched is a good thing. That just sounds wrong, doesn't it? Welcome to my city-turned-farm-girl-country-life. I check her vulva for discharge every day and I just about had to "glove up" on a hen the other day because I thought she was egg-bound, a condition that could be deadly. Lots of crazy, just wrong things to think about going on around here lately. But, I love it. And it's fun. And mostly enjoyable. And a lot of hard work.

So, there's your update. Look for me to come write a bit more often in the future although I'm sure I don't have anyone even reading here any more since it's been so long!