High Cost

"Uncertainty is everywhere.  But I am living in the midst of the uncertainty and risk, amid things that can and do bring physical destruction, because I am running from things that can destroy my soul:  complacency, comfort, and ignorance.  I am much more terrified of living a comfortable life in a self-serving society and failing to follow Jesus than I am of any illness or tragedy.
Jesus called  His followers to be a lot of things, but I have yet to find where He warned us to be safe.  We are not called to be safe, we are simply promised that when we are in danger, God is right there with us.  And there is no better place to be than in His hands." 
----Kisses From Katie

This past year has been hard...I mean really hard.  I've read that if you decide to follow your big dream...the one I truly believe God puts inside each one of us...it will cost more and take longer than you think it will.  It was almost a year and a half ago that I set my mind to following my "big dream".  I had no idea what I was in for!  Don't get me wrong...I have no regrets and would still be on this path, but I honestly had no idea what was coming when I signed up to follow Jesus. 

What do I mean by following Jesus?  Well, I'll tell you what it isn't.  To me, it isn't simply showing up to church every Sunday, slapping a Christian bumper sticker on the back of my car, and praying before every meal.  No, to me, following Jesus is a little more like this:

• Hear God tell you to do things that might not make logical sense, but in obedience you do them anyway (and later you see see the big picture and have understanding...maybe)
• Make unpopular decisions with your family because you believe it is what God is telling you to do
• Be willing to stand alone to do what He is telling you to do
• Seek God's guidance in everything you do (instead of calling friends or family for their advice)
• Read the Bible because you WANT to
• Talk to God throughout the entire day
• Have the discipline to NOT fight back or defend yourself and your family when being unfairly attacked and trusting God to handle it
• Having the strength to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves
• Allowing God to change your path and dream if that is what He wants to do and being open to anything He is calling you to do
• Being able to pray for people who have wronged/hurt you
• Being able to give up all control and trust God to take care of everything for you
• Understanding that I am here to be used by God to change lives and HE will decide how to use me (I must be open to anywhere He leads me)

These are just some of the many things I've learned over the past year and a half.  I've been on a journey.  The journey is not finished.  I'm still in the middle.  I've gone through so much hurt, frustration, lonliness and have wanted to give up more than once.  Each time I wanted to give up, I always knew in my heart I never would and it was an opportunity for me to dig deep inside and try to figure out what lesson God was trying to teach me in my present circumstances.  There was always a lesson.  I've found that some lessons I didn't get the first time He tried to teach me.  Therefore, I'd  have to go around that mountain again!  Sometimes...again and again.  I am getting better at quickly recognizing what is going on.  If I am frustrated, I need to look at my thinking.  Usually, I'm not trusting God enough and am trying to control the situation.  This is one lesson I'm continually learning.  Another one is remembering that this whole dream is not about ME.  I need to make myself available to Him and be ready for Him to use me in whatever capacity He needs me.  He may lead me to a place that I haven't thought of or may even want to go!  I need to be ready and available for anything. 

There is definitely a very high cost to following Jesus.  You no longer live for yourself.  You don't get to be comfortable.  You can't keep your pride. You may not get to keep all your stuff.  You can't talk the same.  You can't want the same things out of life.  You can't pray for the same things.  You can't live to please people (in fact you will not be able to!!).  You can't act the same.  You think differently.  It completely changes you.  The ultimate cost is your life. 

It is hard and the cost is great...but I would NEVER go back to the way things were.  There is an extreme exhiliration in this new life.  Waking up every morning with the peace and excitement that I have every day is priceless.  I have hope and faith stronger than I have ever known.  I'm learning to trust others, trust myself, and completely trust God for everything.  I know that I am in this world to make a difference.  I'm no longer living for myself.  I am so excited to see where this path leads and to see how God will use me to change lives... 

Big Chickens!!

I absolutely cannot believe how quickly chickens grow.  When I see the pics of our girls when we first brought them home....I can't believe they are the same chicks!  The coop is officially done!  Ok...it is not landscaped...but the coop is done!  We can leave the chicken door open during the day and they can go in and out as they please now.  They LOVE being outside and especially under the coop.  I think there are tastier bugs under there!  The hard part is getting them all herded together and back in the coop!  Chickens don't listen too well. 
Our pecked chick has  healed up completely and we've been slowly reintroducing her to the flock.  We opened up one side of her brooder so it has chicken wire on it.  This prevents her pecking the others and them pecking her.  It also lets them get used to being with each other.  We have been taking her out into the chicken yard for "half-hour sessions" or "play-dates" so she can re-learn her flock manners and be re-established in the pecking order (she is at the bottom....but wants to be top chicken!).  She is watching the others carefully and imitating their behaviors.  She's behind in her maturity now and in her development so she's catching up quickly.  She's behaving herself nicely, but hasn't earned our trust to be left out with the others for any extended time unsupervised yet.  We're thinking another week of play-dates and then maybe some unsupervised time throughout the weekend to see how it goes.  I prayed hard for her recovery and she was healed...now I'm praying hard that she'll be accepted by the others. 
Well, here are some new pics...can you believe how big they are??

Oops, I forgot we do have 3 more air vents to install...then it will be done!  :-) 

It is now hawk and owl proof! 

When I went to find them tonight...they weren't ouside and I couldn't see them in the coop. 

They were all huddled inside one corner sleeping together.  They didn't even move when I

opened the door...they just looked at me!

Hi there!!

Love the funny hair tuft on the back of this girl's head.  Looks like an old man!

Fat Chicken!!



First day out!!

Our coop is done and here are some pics of us opening the chicken door for the first time.  This is the first time the girls have ever been outside!  They had so much fun!

The coop is done!  We just have to put the net on the top of the chicken yard.

Oh...and we have to put the lattice around the front and sides and plant flowers....just a little

landscaping. 

Peeking out...what's out there??

Ok...I'm going out!  (This is Chicken!)

I love my girl!







Updates...

Well, we've been having  much more frequent communication with our adoption worker recently.  We just found out that we have been officially "re-assigned" to her.  Yeah!!  We love her and she has been working hard for us since our PRIDE training classes (November I think?) anyhow.  Well, she is our official licensing worker and will soon also be our adoption worker.  That is good news.  She has a big heart for kids and goes the extra mile for us and them.  Right now our home study is in the hands of the workers of 3 individual boys/teens and she is trying to contact 2 more.  These are just initial inquiries to see what their situation is and to get more information.  I still believe that God's hand is orchestrating everything that is playing out and there has been a reason for the silence for so long.  Whether or not anything will come out of one of these inquiries...well...we'll just wait and see, but I know God will make it very clear and He will bring him to us.  If now is still not the time, I am okay with it.  I have finally gotten to the place where I can say that.  What progress!!  I am okay with God's timing!!!  Now that is freedom! 

Ok...so the fun little update on our chicken adventure.  I cannot believe how quickly these girlies grow!  We've had them for 2 1/2 weeks and they look completely different from the first pictures I posted.  I'm so glad I'm documenting this process through pictures or I wouldn't believe it.  The construction of the coop is complete...well, at least the actual building.  This weekend, we will finish the chicken yard.  Tim has been reading several articles on coyotes and is quite concerned that they will gain entrance to the chicken yard if we only bury extra fencing around the kennel.  So...I suggested burying about a foot or so of concrete (making a wall) under the kennel so if anything tries to burrow under it, they will hit cement.  I think that is the route we are going to go. 

I put in about 14 hours of painting on Saturday....who knew there was so much trim on that little chicken house??  Sunday rained most of the day, but I persevered and still got about a half hour more in so I could finish the red trim.  This weekend is calling for sun (at least no rain) so I can roll the rest of the red on.  

We had to get the girls in their coop in an emergency situation on Saturday night.  We planned on moving them on Sunday, but after a long day of work on Saturday, we went to check on them one more time before bed and found one chick had been pecked.  That was not pleasant.  She was bleeding on her wing and was bloody under her wing.  I don't do well with hurt animals.  :-(  We immediately separated her into another section and made the decision to get the largest birds out in the coop.  It was just getting too crowded.  Golden Comets are hybrid birds and their growth rate is unbelievable...we've read that they may start laying at 16 weeks!!  Well, now we believe that she (the wounded one is one of the smaller white Leghorns) was picking at herself first and opened up a wound...then once there is a wound, all birds will start pecking at it.  On Sunday we ended up moving the rest of the girls out to the coop and put her brooder (scaled down version) in the coop as well.  She was quite lonely so we added a mirror (thank goodness for internet learning!) and she is absolutely in love with herself!  She stares at herself and even cuddles up next to herself when sleeping.  It is cute.  We put some Blu-Kote on her to help heal her wound and cover up the blood...she wouldn't stop picking at  herself! and she is now healing up very nicely.  I honestly thought we were going to lose her.  Hopefully soon she will be able to move back in with her flock and that they will be accepting of her.  They like to sleep on top of the chicken wire covering her brooder under the red heat lamp so they still know she's there! 

Well, here are some pictures of the coop and of our girls! 

This is MY favorite chicken...her name is now..."Chicken".  I know...so creative! 

She is the sweetest little girl.  She loves to be by you and be held.  She'll let you pet her!

I can't wait until she goes outside.  I bet she follows us around the yard.  Oh..this was at 4 weeks.

 LOVE this picture!

This is Napoleon at 4 weeks.  Wait til you see what she looks like now (below!)  She's the

most mature girl we have.  She's quite observant and always looking out for everyone.  She acts

like the mother of them all. 

Tim is actually holding a bird...Chicken! 

Napoleon at 5 weeks.  Getting her head feathers.

Moses (Leghorn) at 4 weeks old.  Leghorns are 1 week behind the Goden Comets.

This is one of our lighter colored girls with the "hawk beak". 

Napoleon at 5 1/2 weeks!!!  She looks like a real chicken!!

THIS is the same chicken who is peeking at you in the pic at the top of my blog! 

Our Leghorns at 4 1/2 weeks

The bird on the right is Chicken (5 1/2 weeks)! She has turned a beautiful rust/golden color.

Whatcha' lookin at?  (Hawkeye 5 1/2 weeks)

This girl is kinda weird...she's really fat and has really ruffly feathers

around her neck and head (has no neck really).  No name yet. 

Farmer Mieke LOVES visiting the chickens!

Tim's chicken door

Mieke's homemade sign of our coop's name

Bubbie's Birdies  (Capone's nickname is Bubbie)

Mieke's homemade perch for the chickens.

Me painting the coop

Tim's homemade automatic waterer (inside and outside)

Inside of coop before pine shavings on floor

Trim is done!  Thanks for visiting!!!



Chicken Coop (and House Fire!)

We've been working on our chicken coop for the past 5 days.  Tim had the week off and I took 2 days off from work (Wed. and Thurs).  We had Friday off for Good Friday.  I thought we'd get more accomplished, but looking back, we did a lot!  First, we had to decide what kind of coop we wanted and how big.  Right now, we have 12 hens, but in the future...who knows?  I'd like to have some different breeds, not just for laying.  We decided our best bet would be to buy a 8'X8' garden shed.  We put an extra window in the back and we're cutting a chicken door in the side.  They will be able to go out the chicken door into the chicken yard.  We're using our extra dog kennel for the chicken yard.  We're putting chicken fencing around the bottom so predators cannot reach into it (mostly racoons).  We already enclosed the bottom of the coop with chicken fencing so no predators can dig under it.  We buried the fencing down about 1/2'.  We will be putting netting over the chicken yard so no sky predators (hawks) can get into the coop.  We also have coyotes and neightborhood dogs around here so we have to be careful with everything.  I've included pictures of our progress.  The girls should be ready to move out in a week or two!  They have feathered up so much in the past week...I'm shocked!!

I have to say my husband is the best, most amazing man!!!  He spent so much time, energy, thought, creativity, and HARD LABOR on this project...and he doesn't even like chickens (although I think he's coming around a little!).  Thank you honey!!!  I love you!!!

We chose to put the coop on the south side of our house.  It is on the side,

at the top of the hill.  It is in close proximity to the compost bins!! 

The bottom frame for the coop.  It was a struggle to level

it since it is on a downhill slope. 

Mieke helping Dad get the walls ready.

Whatcha' think??

And....3 of the walls are up!

Picking out the right nails

Capone liked to help....dig in the dirt!  (notice the black nose!) 

Actually he just liked to dig, eat sticks, and play with his basketball.

And...we have doors!  The coop will be painted barn red

with white trim.

Tim installed a window in the back for

ventilation (and so the hens can have a pretty view!)

Inside view

We will insulate the walls and ceiling in the fall

We still need to add more ventilation in the top

On Saturday (before Easter) while building we heard fire trucks very close. 

We ran through our back woods and looked at this scene down the hill one street away.  I

used my telephoto lens to capture these shots.  We watched a family's life go up in smoke.  It was

heartbreaking for us to witness.  They lost their entire home.

This is what it looked like in less than 10 minutes.  Several firetrucks were on the scene. 

So sad...(we are sure everyone is ok). 

Mieke and I installed cheap laminate tiles (peel and stick) on the floor.  This

will protect the wood underneath and will be a lot easier to clean up the poop!!

Roofing!

Looks good!  (needs some paint!)

Upper roost for the hens (piece of wood from a window

frame left over from building our house)

The beginning of our roosting ladder for the girls (it is finished now)

We buried chicken fence all around 3 sides of our coop to keep

out the predators.  It will be open on the chicken yard side so the hens

can go under the coop for shade.

So...now we still have to finish the chicken yard, make an automatic waterer and feeder, make nesting boxes, latch on the roosting ladder, paint the outside, make the chicken door and ramps, make steps, etc., etc., etc.....   Whew!!!  And time is running out because a few of our girls are almost ready to go outside!  I'll  have to take more pics and post them soon.  You won't believe how much they've grown in just a few days!!