Chicken Farming: How it all started....

One of the items on my bucket list was to be a "backyard" chicken farmer.  I know it sounds strange to some folks, but it has been a dream of mine for a long time and Abby began to share in my dream this past year.  So....after some mighty persuasion, the rest of the family agreed to jump into the chicken farming adventure.

On a very snowy morning, March 21, Abby and I traveled to the local feed store in a crazy snowstorm to pick out our little flock.  After looking over the chicks, we chose six Buff Orpingtons and braved the slick roads to get them home.  

See the snow in the background??

They were so cute!  Abby was already late for school, so we let her stay home for a little while.  She held each little one to make sure that it was comfortable it her new home.

They were so fluffy and sweet!

Our little flock was so stinkin' cute!

The most difficult part of the first day or so was introducing the little flock to our cats!  The cats were very, very interested in the little chicks.  

Fortune couldn't figure out what was in the box.

Pumpkin and Fortune were enthralled with the chicks in the brooder.

Stay tuned for more adventures with our little flock!!

A family picture...ALL of us!

I love my camera!!  I take it with me everywhere. 

See....here's the proof!

That's me! (at a soccer game of course...)

Since I love my camera so much, I rarely am on the other side of the lens.  So, I thought I would post a picture of the whole family, including me!  In case you don't know it...I am the short one in the back.

Easter 2012 at the home of Scotty and Mitzi Myers.

What a motley crew we are!  I guess there is no denying that I am the shortest in the family. 

Emotions of a Pastor's Family: Part 3--Overwhelmed

I had a mini-breakdown yesterday and today.  I did a dangerous thing and started thinking about all of the things that will need to be done between now and when we move.  Here's just a sample:

• Midterm for Theology of John Wesley
• Find a moving company
• Write 13 more outlines of John Wesley's sermons
• Read 700+ pages for class
• Write 5 page paper on Social Justice and John Wesley's theology
• Go to 3 soccer tournaments
• Plan and throw Anna's 13th birthday party
• Participate in Abby's 5th grade blessing
• Go to work everyday...(the list of what to do here is too extensive to even begin to list)
• Design and print Aaron's graduation announcements

You can see why I am became so overwhelmed....sometimes it is more than I can wrap my mind around.  It just doesn't seem like there is enough time in the day to get it all done. It is easy to lose perspective when you feel that you might just choke to death on your to-do list.  It is during those times that I turn on my Pandora and listen to my Praise and Worship station.

As I did that this morning, the first song that played was Chris Tomlin's I Will Follow You. (Listen to it here.)  This is a beautiful song and I can remember the very first time it was sung in worship.  By the end of the song, my face was wet with tears as it expressed beautifully the prayer that I had prayed for many years. 

Here are the lyrics:

"I Will Follow"

Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow...

All your ways are good
All your ways are sure
I will trust in you alone
Higher than my side
High above my life
I will trust in you alone

Where you go, I'll go
Where you stay, I'll stay
When you move, I'll move
I will follow you
Who you love, I'll love
How you serve I'll serve
If this life I lose, I will follow you
I will follow you

Light unto the world
Light unto my life
I will live for you alone
You're the one I seek
Knowing I will find
All I need in you alone, in you alone

In you there's life everlasting
In you there's freedom for my soul
In you there joy, unending joy
and I will follow 

 Following God's will is not always easy.  There is a peace that comes from walking the path that God has set before you.  Even in the midst of stress, heartache, and to-do lists that seem unending, God is my rock and my refuge.  I trust that he loves me and wants what's best for me. 

During this crazy, hectic time, it will be important for me to remember that what God wants most from me is me.  Not my to-do list, not what I am doing for him, but ME!  So, if you see me overwhelmed and about to crack...ask me if I have spent time with God lately.  No item on my to-do list is more important than that one.

Interrupted by homework

This blog has been interrupted by homework!  


I promise to return soon with more crazy stories from this adventure called life.  Until then, here's what I look like:

Emotions of a Pastor's Family

As a family, we keep moving toward Aaron's graduation and the BIG move.  I can't help but be a bit reflective at times and my emotions are like a roller coaster.  I bounce between excitement, sadness, anxiousness....

I have always said that being in ministry is all about building relationships for it is within those relationships that one can truly share the love of Christ.  When moves loom, those relationships can cause heartache.  We have said goodbye to congregations and friends before and I wish I could say it get easier, but it doesn't.  I guess we would not be living out our faith if it did.

Perhaps the hardest part of this move is watching our girls deal with their emotions while trying to managing our own!!  They are just really starting to understand the depth of the love that God has for them and struggling with why in the midst of that love He would ask them to leave that which they find comfortable.  There are lots of tears and lots of stress involved in trying to wrestle with these things.  Pastor families struggle with the same issues as other families.  It is just a reminder that emotions are fragile

Sorry for the rambling...I warned you though in an earlier post that I may be rambling about our upcoming move.  Don't get me wrong, we know that God has called us to this new place (hoping to be able to reveal soon!) and we are excited about it, but transitions even if good ones are difficult.  Please pray for all families dealing with being called to a new place.  

Palm Sunday

This past Sunday was Palm Sunday, the day that the Christian church celebrates Christ's triumphant entrance into Jerusalem.  I have always felt a bit conflicted as I watched the children in the congregation parading around the sanctuary waving palm branches celebrating his riding into the city on a donkey heralded as a king by those gathered for the Passover simply because I know the rest of the story.  I know that in just a few days, that many of these same people will be shouting "Crucify him!  Crucify him!"  If I am honest, I spend this day with a knot in the pit of my stomach, always wondering if I would have joined with the crowds in these shouts demanding the death of the very one I had just honored as a king.



To make things just a bit more antagonistic for me this year, Palm branches were given to each person, young and old, as we entered worship.  We were instructed to wave our branches as we sand our praises.  I tried to comply, but that same struggle enveloped my mind and heart.  As I worked through the emotions of that morning, I have come to realize that it is a celebration---just not the type of celebration that those first century folks were having.  I am not celebrating the coming of a king who will liberate me from my political oppressors.  I am celebrating the Messiah that is coming to liberate my from the power and bondage of Sin.  That is something to celebrate!

As always, my family has no problem being silly celebrating!  Here are a few pictures of their antics. 

My crazy family...pictures are worth a thousand words!

Today was a beautiful day in the Bluegrass!  We decided to take some photos for Aaron's graduation announcements.  Here are a few of the "out takes."  I love these crazy people!

That's a normal reaction when looking at book written in Hebrew!

Exhausted after all these pictures!

Confessions of a Soccer Mom--I love my gear!

I love my soccer gear.  I will admit that I am just a bit compulsive about having everything that MIGHT be needed.  Not only that, but I like everything to be ORGANIZED!  I will leave that for another blog sometime.  I wanted to share with you my newest piece of equipment.  I saw another soccer family with this awesome little wagon and knew that I just had to have one.

Here is the wagon all nice and folded flat.

It easily fold out to carry all of the other stuff!

It is very large and sturdy!! (Translation:  I can take more stuff to the field.)

Here it is loaded up.  It is carrying three soccer chairs, a full cooler, a large bag full of food and snacks and a backpack.

This is so much easier than actually carrying all of this gear to a field!!

It's not just good on the pavement.  This little baby has four wheel drive capability!!

Makes my Aaron's job so much easier!!

The things I learned at 628 West Valley View Circle

This week, we had a great visit with my grandparents, Ray and Shirley Hunter.   Since moving to Kentucky I have really missed them!  It was nice to sit and visit.  I got to thinking about how instrumental they have been in my life.  We moved them about 2 years ago to a new condo out of the house they had lived in for as long as I can remember.  As we were packing up the house and moving out the furniture, I started reminiscing.  I begin to think about all the things that I would take away from those memories.  So, I decided to chronicle some of those.  I plan on making this a regular column.  Hope you enjoy!!

Without further ado....The things I learned at 628 West Valley View Circle.

 

• To swim

•  That hard work truly does pay off

• Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters really do add up

• Collard greens and lasagna are a really good combination

• No matter what or who has broken your heart, an hour swinging on the porch swing with a loving Mamaw will fix it

• How to mix and pour concrete

• That recycling is important (before it became the "hip" thing to do)

• Ice Cream Oreo Cake is the best dessert EVER!

• Santa Claus brings pajamas to good girls on Christmas Eve (in person!!)

• Cleanliness is next to Godliness