Thankful for Chicken Pox

Today is Thanksgiving.

A day to be thankful.

A national holiday celebrated by most.

A day that we reflect on all the blessings in our lives.

For some this is a sad day, for some this is a lonely day ~ but for most... this is a happy-family-filled day.

Many families have to travel quite a ways to spend time with each other so I consider myself lucky that I live so close to my family. Within 45 minutes I can be either be at my sister's or my mom's. We are able to see each other a few times a month and for that I am thankful. If only I could get my brother and his family to move here... now that would be blissful.

That's reason #25 of why I love the Amish... they all live down the lane from each. They don't get married and move away, they don't get transferred by their employers, they don't go off to college and never return home. They don't grow apart like strangers and have to travel to see each other once a year.

They are family, and friends, and a support group for each other. They are a community of like-minded people. They help each other farm and quilt and raise their children. They are there for each other in the good times and the bad. They are a family... related or not.

A "normal" Thanksgiving holiday for us is spent at my mom's house. The table is always beautifully decorated and filled with a ton of yummy food. The house is filled with love and laughter and children. We are blessed with children in our family and for that I am thankful. We remember the funny times from years past, we reminisce about our highs (and our lows) , we share our plans for the future. We enjoy being together.

But... this year will be different. This won't be a "normal" Thanksgiving for us. We won't be going to dinner at my mom's this year because Andie-girl has Chicken Pox!

Poor thing... she is itchy and contagious and feared by all. Everyone is checking their bodies daily for little red spots. We are overreacting to every mosquito bite or scratch on us. It doesn't help that we worked in the yard for 2 days this week and some of us have Poison Ivy!

So I had to cancel our Thanksgiving plans yesterday with my family and start making our own. For some reason, I am not panicked about this or stressed.

We don't have a turkey.

Or a ham.

We will not have a beautifully decorated table with fine linens and china.

We will not have all the normal trimmings of dressing, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cranberry sauce, devil eggs, rolls, green bean casserole or pies.

We will not be dressed up in our "church" clothes.

But let me tell you what we will have... we will have each other.

We will have a table set with homemade construction paper decorations.

We will have laughter.

We will have love.

We will have a cornucopia of appetizers to snack on all day long including: a cheese ball with crackers, vegetable dip, summer sausage, cream cheese dip with raspberry chipolte sauce and cocktail sausages.

We will have a relaxing day in our pajamas.

We will have plenty of tubes of itching cream.

We will have a day spent watching home videos of years past and being thankful for all the wonderful memories.

We will have a day full of "Is this chicken pox?" questions.

We will have a campfire in the yard with plenty of marshmallows.

And if I know my children... we will have a show~ an event worthy of Broadway ~ complete with singing, dancing, costumes and a live band. There will be someone on the keyboard, guitar, drums and microphone.

No, this won't be a "normal" traditional Thanksgiving for us but it will be a day full of love and laughter and that is "normal" in our house. And for that... I am truly THANKFUL.

Whose bright idea was this???

I got up early this morning to say goodbye to the triplets.

They have a big sleepover tonight at a friend's house. They were so excited last night they could barely sleep.

Since we live 45 minutes away from Kingwood now and the cost of gas is so high, they got up early to ride with Wes. They are hanging out with Aunt Heather today until Wes gets off work.

Andie-girl has been with Heather for days now... she gets spoiled over there and I think she might be considering moving in. Hopefully, she comes to visit us from time to time.

So that just left me, Madison and Jake... all alone. What should we do with all of our free time?

I know, let's ride our bikes to the library. Madison was all for it. Jake... not so much.

He drank 2 glasses of water and wanted to pack a bag of snacks and water bottles just in case we couldn't make it. He obviously has no perception of time or distance. It's not like we were crossing a desert or anything. The library isn't THAT far away and we only have to climb a few hills.

Finally, we convinced him.

We dragged our bikes out of the shed, aired up all the tires, and off we went.

The weather was amazing. Bright and sunny with a cool breeze blowing by. It was a wonderful day to be outside in the country enjoying the weather. This was my best idea EVER! I would have patted myself on the back if I hadn't been so worried about crashing my bike.

OK, here we go... the first hill. This is the smallest of them all. We walk it all the time so it shouldn't be too bad.

Zoom... there went Jake flying up the hill. He stopped at the top and watched Madison and I peddle up to him. We were huffing and puffing so much, I didn't think we were going to make it. We were only 3/4 of a mile away from our house at this point and I started to get a little worried.

On we went and eventually we got out of our subdivision. We had recovered from the hill and were starting to enjoy our ride again. I was appreciating the scenery and thinking, "Thank you, Lord, for this amazing day. I am so thankful that I am healthy and able to take bike rides with my kids."

We turned on 150 and started up our last hill (or so I thought). We peddled and peddled and peddled and finally made it to the top only to discover that was a small hill compared to the one we were getting ready to climb.

We coasted down the little valley... and started the next climb. We were going along pretty well until I got a cramp in my hip... then my calves... then my thighs. UGH.... I was in a lot of pain. AGHHHHHH, I screamed, as I jumped off my bike.

The beautiful breeze I was thanking God for earlier felt like a tornado pushing against us. Not only were we going up hill but we were going against the wind.

I had to walk and push my bike up the rest of the hill. I was sweating and beat red by the time I made it to the top. What was I thinking? There was no end in sight. The hills went on and on. Each one looking bigger then the one we just climbed. It sure didn't feel this hilly in the car!

Jake was encouraging Madison and I. "Come on guys, we can do it!" I wanted to hook myself up to his bike and make him pull me the rest of the way.

Finally, we made it to the library. I am sure we scared the poor librarians to death when we walked inside huffing and puffing looking for the nearest water fountain. Maybe we should have packed those water bottles.

After drinking and drinking, I finally plopped down into a miniature chair in the kids section and told the kids to hurry up and pick a book. I just realized I had to carry the books back and I didn't want to add too much extra weight to my bag. Not quite the scenario I envisioned earlier of us leisurely looking at books and making our selections.

I checked out the books and walked back out to our bikes ~secretly hoping that someone had stolen them while we were in the library.

No such luck... we climbed on and decided we needed to refuel our bodies at The Hop, a local hamburger restaurant in town. Surely we would have more energy if we could just eat a little something.

We made it to The Hop and ordered fries, cheeseburgers and cokes. Not exactly the best choice for athletes such as ourselves ~ but we were starving. I considered just sitting there for the rest of the day and waiting for Wes to come by but I knew he would never let us live that down!

After inhaling our burgers and sitting in the air conditioning for 30 minutes, we were feeling much better and decided to make a stop at the grocery store for hot dog buns. We planned on cooking hot dogs outside on a campfire tonight and they were light enough to carry home.

We started off towards home, I was dreading the ride. Whose bright idea was this anyway?

I started praying, "Please, Lord, help us get home... Well, let me rephrase that, Lord. Help us make it to our home...not your home. We don't want to be on the news tonight!!

Thankfully, the ride home was mostly downhill. We were coasting down those hills so fast I had visions of crashing my bike and knocking out my two front teeth. I didn't even care at that point, they make implants now that look just like real teeth! I just wanted to get off that bike.

We did it. We made it home. I was never so happy to see my little, unfinished house in all my life. We got off our bikes and our legs were buckling as we walked. I don't know if I will be able to move tomorrow but we did it. I wasn't a quitter!

I walked into the house and stepped over Madison who had collapsed on the floor in front of a floor fan. (At least I wasn't that bad!)

Jake said, "Mom, that was fun. If Cameron brings his bike over tonight when he spends the night, Can we do that again tomorrow?"

Ask your dad... I don't plan on getting out of bed tomorrow... or maybe, EVER!

Gods saves a chicken!

Today started off bad.

Really bad.

Well, I take that back ~ I woke up so it couldn't be THAT bad. But let's just say... it hasn't been one of my best mornings.

It started with a "sad" day yesterday. You know, one of those days where you feel sad all day. It probably had something to do with the argument that Wes and I had the night before over the house. We both had different ideas on how to fix something and we both felt unheard. We argued about money and finishing the house. I know you don't want to hear all the gory details so long story short... he was wrong.

Just kidding, I was wrong and had to apologize. Sometimes, I get impatient and just want the house done and I worry A LOT about where the money will come from. So I guess I was still feeling bad about the argument and just felt sad all day.

So, I woke up this morning with a new attitude and decided to go to the gym before we started school. I gathered all my gym stuff (i-pod, towel, cell phone, water bottle) and walked out the door only to realize that I had left my keys inside and I was now locked out of the house. GREEEEEEEAT!

WHY GOD? I just wanted to go to the gym. Why can't things just be easy?

The kids were all asleep so I had to try and wake them up.

I threw sticks at the upstairs windows.

I screamed.

I pounded on the house.

I gathered and threw another 50 sticks. I was getting a great workout!

I sent out a distress call to Wes at school.

30 minutes later...NOBODY heard me.

I cried... really hard. All the emotions from the past 2 days came out and I just sat in a chair outside and cried. I am talking shoulder-shaking-ugly crying.

Wes called and gave me a little pep talk. I felt better and decided I had better try climbing up the scaffolding in order to get closer to the kids window so they could hear me.

As I climbed up the scaffolding, I had a discussion with God about why he thinks I can handle all these little "problems" that seem to occur at our house. He didn't answer.

I finally get to the top of the 2 story scaffolding and start throwing sticks and yelling. Then I hear this noise coming from the silver air conditioning tubing that we are currently covering on the back of our house. (If you don't know about this, I blogged about it a week or 2 ago.)

I kept thinking, "Michelle, if a rabid squirrel jumps out at you don't fall off the scaffolding!" I poked at the tubing with a stick and it moved again. Then I heard bawk, baawk.

It was a chicken. Phew... at least it's a domestic animal... sort of.

Then my thought process went like this... IS THERE A CHICKEN IN THE A/C TUBING? No, is that even possible? The tubing is connected to the main a/c unit and that goes into the house. Can the chicken get into our house through the air vents? WHAT??????

I call Wes and he ASSURES me that it is impossible. That makes me think that yes, it is entirely possible.

I finally wake up the kids and get inside. I go upstairs and look out of the bathroom window and there is a huge hole in the tubing where the chicken has fallen through. GREEEEEEAT!

How do these things happen to me? I couldn't dream them up if I tried?

I can hear the chicken but the tubing is a few feet under the window and we can barely reach it. We (me and all 5 of the kids) are now standing together in the bathtub calling "cheep, cheep" and shaking a cup of chicken feed. Wes is on the phone telling me not to let the chicken go past the hole and climb further into the tubing and into the house.... the pressure!

I finally get enough courage to put my hand into the hole and pull back the insulation. Guess what? She laid an egg in there. GREEEEAT! Wes then proceeds to tell me to not let the egg fall down the tubes and bust because it will smell up the house when the a/c turns on. Ahhhh, the pressure is mounting!

It is about this time that I start thinking that a full-time job would be nice right about now. It would be a whole lot easier then this mom-teacher-chicken wrangler-gig that I have going on right now.

Finally, the chicken comes to the hole and peeks out. Madison pours a little food into the hole and along the top of the tube and she finally lures her out of the hole. YEAH!

I scream, "Madison, push her off the tubing before she climbs back into the hole!" Madison refuses, "NO Mom! She will plummet to her death!"

"I don't care~ she's lucky I don't eat her tonight!" I grabbed the broom, pushed Madison out of the way and smacked the chicken off the tubing. For the record... my blood pressure was slightly elevated.

Before you report me... she flapped her wings and landed safely 2 stories below.

2 hours had gone by, I was mentally exhausted. Wes calls to say he is on his way home to fix the hole. Good thing, I don't think my nerves can take a repeat episode of this.

After we repaired the hole (and stopped laughing), we could only thank God that I was locked out this morning. Only He could have known that I needed to climb the scaffolding today in order to discover the chicken in the a/c tube.

Only He knew that chicken needed rescuing.

Only He knew the smell of a dead chicken in our a/c vents for the next few months would have pushed me over the edge... right into a straight jacket!

God is amazing. Sometimes, he uses little problems in order to save us from bigger problems.

God really does care about the little things... and the birds of the air.

I will leave you with the lesson God taught me today:

Matthew 6: 25-27

²⁵"For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?

²⁶"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?

²⁷"And who of you by being worried can add a single hour to his life?

Wes and his flock

We have always lovingly referred to Wes as a "Mother Hen".

He is very protective of the kids and likes to keep his "chicks" close to him at all times.

Have you ever seen a mother hen with her baby chicks? She will lovingly tuck them up under her wings so a predator is unable to see them. It looks like she is sitting on them and smothering them to death but she's not. They are happy and protected up under those wings.

Ok ~ Well that is Wes. After we had Madison, he worried about her all the time. He had no problems asking other people to wash their hands before touching her. When we moved to Georgia his mom took care of Madison for us while I worked and he went to college. He drove his mother crazy telling her how to take care of her (like she hadn't already raised 3 kids). He would even hide her toys so other kids couldn't touch them and make her sick. Friends used to tease us that he would put her in a bubble if he could.

After Jake was born... it got worse. He would lay a blanket over his infant seat when we went in public. He would unashamedly say NO when someone wanted to peek at him or hold him.

Then add the girls to the mix and he became certifiably CRAZY. He was really embarrassing sometimes!

When the girls got about 3, he finally started letting them go into the Chick-fil-a playground like "normal" children. He would stay in there with them and tell all the other children to stay away from his kids! He (mother hen) would follow them around the playground keeping the other children (predators) a safe distance away. I would just sit looking through the window, eating my lunch and trying to decide how I could get out of there without the other parents knowing he belonged to me!

Our chickens must recognize this quality about him.

They seem to really like Wes. When he goes outside, he will call "Cheep, cheep" and they all come running like he is the Pied Piper!

Last Saturday, while he was up on the scaffolding working, they followed him up there.

This is Reese. (as in the peanut butter cup). She climbed up and started watching him work.

He just couldn't help himself. He had to stop and pet her. Maybe that is why they like him so much. Snickers must have gotten jealous because she started climbing up the scaffolding too. See her over to the left?

There she is still climbing. Wes has gone back to work like it is perfectly normal for chickens to be climbing scaffolding. I think we are beginning to lose all perception of normal out here.

Finally, Snickers makes it to the top. Maybe we should considering putting little packs on their backs and they could start carrying nails and tools up to him. Then I could go inside and take care of some important responsibilities like filing my nails or watching Real Housewives.

Maybe this is why it is taking us so long to get this house done. Wes, get back to work and quit playing with your flock of chickens. Makes me think of a Beyonce song...

"All the single ladies, all the single ladies

Now put your hands up

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh oh"

NASA Space Experiment

Today is Saturday.

Saturdays are for resting, relaxing, and grilling out with friends. ~ Well, that is what normal people do anyway.

But, not us... Nope, we are NOT normal.

At our house on Saturdays, we work on our house. Lucky us...

Today we are working on the freakishly large space experiment that is currently taking up the entire back of our house.

I still can't help but laugh every time I see it. It is quite ugly. and large. and shiny. But I love it. (I actually look skinny next to it.) We live in Texas so I NEED it. It just might be my BFF.

It is our Air conditioning unit and I loveeeee me some air conditioning!

I know what you are thinking? "HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?" Well, I have one word for you...

WES!

Wes is what happened. This was his bright idea. He wanted an outside AC unit and he sold me on the idea. His pitch went something like this:

Reason # 1~ It wouldn't take up any room in the house.

Reason #2 ~ We could use the space upstairs to build a closet for the kids.

Reason #3 ~ We will never have to worry about it leaking in the attic and dealing with the after effects of that whole mess! ( Um... we don't have an attic but that was a good selling point honey.)

Reason #4 ~ The ac tubes will only be about 12 inches in diameter and they will run along the inside wall which we will be able to hide with window seats.

Reason #5 ~ His dreamy baby blue eyes. He just COMPELLED me to agree with him.

I reluctantly agreed. Don't judge me... I vowed to OBEY 18 years ago.

Let me just tell you, I forgot the love and honor part of those vows the day the AC people pulled out of our driveway. I excitedly ran to the back of the house to see our new unit and was hit in the face with a HUGE space experiment (I am talking NASA worthy) attached to the back of our house. It was shocking to say the least. SHOCKING! I screamed in fear.

Don't worry ~ we can hide it! Wes said.

I think that is starting to become our mantra around here... Don't worry, we can hide it!

No, that is not a "little person" up on that scaffolding. Can you understand how massive this is? Look how small his head looks in comparison to that bright, shiny, silver tubing. (Doesn't he have a perfectly round shaped head?)

Well that was 1 1/2 years ago and we are finally going to hide it. I think it took Wes this long to figure out a way to fix it.

So hopefully... in the next few days... I will have new pictures. And hopefully, in the next few months, I will forgive Wes for this, this... problem.

AND better yet, hopefully, in the next few years, I will learn to stop listening to Wes when he has a new bright idea! Hopefully...

I will have to get some vervain to protect me from those baby blues!

Broken Refrigerator~Round 2

We have a broken refrigerator.

No, let me rephrase that...

We have 2 broken refrigerators! Yes...2

Let me start at the beginning.

We bought this beautiful stainless steel Samsung French Door Refrigerator when we moved into our "under construction" house. I really loved this fridge. Freezer on the bottom, lots of room on the top AND millions of fingerprints on the front. (OK, maybe I didn't LOVE it but I liked it a lot).

(Please do not judge the walls. Like I said~ we are still "under construction"!)

Fast forward 1 and 1/2 years to the present. I noticed the food in the fridge wasn't very cold. Wes, who thinks that I panic about everything, assured me that it was probably NOTHING as he checked the temp and showed me the reading on the front that said 37 degrees.

Well, being the "common sense" kinda girl that I am~ I thought, hum... 37 degrees is just over FREEZING and the food is lukewarm. The fridge is NOT working properly regardless of what the nice blue illuminated temperature-reading says!

The next day I was cooking all the food in the freezer and transferring the rest into coolers because the fridge was BROKEN!!

Wes' sister, Lauralee, found us a repairman. (Thank you, LL) He came, he saw, he... agreed with me... it was broken. He is currently working on getting it replaced by Samsung because it can NOT be fixed. Please, Lord, let us get a replacement.

My sister, Heather, being the kind person that she is~ offered us their extra fridge that they keep in the garage~ to use until we could get ours fixed or replaced. Aghhhh, thanks Heather!

We have been using it for the last week. We have really enjoyed having it here. We have become fast friends. I already consider it part of our family. We have hung our pictures on it. Everyday, I sing its praises and lovingly wipe it down and tell it how much I love it.

(Some people have 2 refrigerators in their kitchens, right?)

Life was good UNTIL... we got home from church last night.

I kept hearing this clicking noise.

What is that? I asked. CLICK...CLICK...

NOTHING, said Wes! (his classic "in denial" answer)

I couldn't just sit there. I had to investigate. I listened. I waited. I held my breath.

CLICK... Oh, there. Did you hear it?

NO... said Wes. (still in denial...)

I tried to convince him to abandon his lazy-boy-chair and come into the kitchen to hear the noise for himself.

He politely declined.

He thought I was overreacting. He laughed at me. He made jokes about it. He listened from the comfort of his chair and refused to hear what I was hearing.

(Somebody is living in the land of make believe... Sometimes, I wish I lived there with him.)

Ok, I thought, maybe I am a little over-dramatic. I am sure this refrigerator is not going out. Nobody has that kind of luck, right? I do have a tendency to over analyze things in my life. I can literally think something to DEATH!

Well, guess what?

I got up this morning and the food in the fridge is... cool at best. I opened the freezer and guess what? The bag of ice that was in there is now a lovely puddle of WATER!

Wes got up and guess what? He now hears the clicking! (Welcome back to the planet, honey!)

I Googled the problem~ it doesn't look good.

Wes called the repair guy.

I am trying not to shout I TOLD YOU SO! That would be rude. and childish. and not-productive. But oh~ so satisfying!

Wes just got home with a refrigerator that he found on Craigslist. Great, I hope this one works. Our kitchen is beginning to look like a refrigerator graveyard!

Madison~ Our first blessing from God

Madison is our first child~

She is my miracle child. Without knowing it, she introduced me to Jesus before she was ever born.

When I was pregnant with her I had the Alpha-fetoprotein test to check for birth defects. She tested positive for Downs syndrome. We were sent to genetic counseling where they advised us to abort her. We were told we would end up in divorce, overwhelmed with financial obligations and burdened for the rest of our lives with a child who would never live on his or her own. We were devastated and confused. We went home to think over our options. It was the scariest time of my life.

I was not a christian at the time and I believed it was a women's right to choose. I was not raised in church and didn't know how to pray aside from "Now I lay me down to sleep". We were terrified. I didn't know what to do or who to talk to. Through a series of events over the next few weeks, God showed His face to us. A friend offered for us to come to her church where they would pray with us. And pray they did. They wept while praying over me. They cried out to God to heal this child I was carrying. I felt such peace when I walked out of those church doors. I didn't know what the future would hold. I didn't know if she was healed. I didn't know if she would be born with Down Syndrome.

But I will tell you what I did know ~She would be born. She had a right to life. God created her and only He would decide what would happen to her. Wes and I would stand together and face life together with our child...with God. We found out the next day that the test was wrong. Our baby was a perfectly healthy little girl. Praise God we didn't listen to the Doctors. Praise God people were bold enough to share their faith with us. Praise God that we listened.

13 years later... We have a wonderful, sweet, healthy daughter.

She loves to read... she will read for hours at a time. She takes a book with her everywhere and tries to sneak in a page or two whenever she can. She can't read in the car though~ she inherited car-sickness from her dad.

When she was a little girl she thought she was an animal. She ran/walked on all fours (even in public). At Wes' graduation from the University of Georgia, she was on all fours telling everyone in the VERY CROWDED auditorium not to step on the horsie!

She has a servants heart. She loves to bake, clean, organize, babysit, and cook for us. She just loves to help. Often, she will offer to babysit so Wes and I can go out to dinner alone.

When she was little, she was so shy that she didn't want people looking at her. Whenever people said hello~ she would say, "Don't look at me!" and hide behind me. Soon, everyone learned to say hello without looking at her!

She loves music and she has a beautiful voice. She listens to her Ipod ALL the time!

She wants to be a stay-at-home-wife and homeschooling mommy one day.

I worked for the first 3 1/2 years of her life and she was lucky enough to have her Mammie and Papa in Georgia to spoil her rotten!

She adores her dad and loves to spend time with him. They will spend hours watching boring movies and shows together.

She is compassionate ~ Many nights she has sat up with her brother or sisters while they were scared or sick. She never wakes us up, she just comforts them and prays with them.

She is funny. She loves to laugh.

She loves hanging out with her friends and cousins but she prefers to be at home with her family.

She is always the first one to offer words of encouragement or a compliment when someone is feeling down. She sees the good in people and reminds them of their good qualities. I love this about her.

She has integrity.

She was born on her dad's birthday.

She has a quiet strength. God must have known she would need it with triplet sisters. Instead of being jealous of the attention they get, she is proud and happy for them.

I am already dreading the day she leaves home. I don't know what I will do without her. I want to keep her here with me... forever.

Going...going...gone!

Well, it is official. We found a new home for Skittles (the hen/rooster).

I stopped over at my friend's house and she was more then happy to take Skittles off our hands for us. The only problem is that she wouldn't be keeping him in her flock.

She was willing to take him and turn him into a chicken salad sandwich! GASP!

Don't judge, people. You do realize that the chicken you buy at Kroger used to be alive, right?

But I am with you. I know that chickens were created to feed us but it was sad to think that Skittles would be... you know... boiled, grilled or pan fried and placed on someones table. I was totally getting the vegetarian movement sweeping our nation. Skittles was a sweet little hen turned rooster.

He was Kennedy's pet. The sweet little chick she used to carry around. The sweet little chick that pooped on her hand one time. Ewwww... but like a true mother, she loved him still.

I "chickened" out and couldn't go with the family to deliver him to his final resting place. I lied to my sweet children and told them that Skittles was going to a new farm to live a happy life. I tried to justify my lie by telling myself it was for the best. What they didn't know wouldn't hurt them...right?

The guilt was killing me. One lie soon turned into more when they started talking about the possible life he would lead. They had such high hopes for the little guy. They even talked about wanting to visit him one day. GULP...

The time came... Andie scooped him up in her arms, they climbed into the back of Wes' truck and off they went.

Goodbye Skittles! Kennedy sit down!

They came home all excited... Mrs. Beth told them he was going to live at a new farm with other chickens.

Oh no... the guilt... now other people were pulled into my lie. Then Wes told me the wonderful news. Skittles was indeed going to live on a new farm.

Beth decided she couldn't eat Skittles. She used her chicken connections and found someone who was looking for an Easter Egg-er rooster (chicken breed that lays blue and green eggs) and they wanted our Skittles.

So all is well... Skittles gets to enjoy a happy life. A dream life for a rooster... he will enjoy getting piggy back rides from all the hens on his new farm.

and better yet... I ended up not being a big fat hypocrite every time I tell my children that a lie is a lie no matter how big it is!

I have good news and bad news

OK, I have good news... and bad news.

Which would you like first? Ok, ok, ok, let's start with the good news.

The good news is.... Our egg factory is in business~

That's right, we found 2 eggs in the nesting boxes today when we went out to feed the chickens. 2 eggs!

We were very excited. We were all so proud of our hens and cheering like new grandparents. I think we were just thankful that we now have at least 2 confirmed hens!

I know what you're thinking, " Those sure are small eggs!" or maybe, "2 eggs won't feed 5 hungry children!" but it's a start... give us time. I have confidence in us. Plus, I already stopped at Beth's house today and asked her why our eggs were so puny! Beth is my resident chicken expert and she assures me that the eggs will get bigger as they lay more.

So hopefully, in a few weeks, we will all be eating eggs for breakfast!

NOW... On to the bad news...

Skittles, our most beautiful chicken, is officially a BOY!

Yep, that's right. He is a rooster. Ewwwwww!

Kennedy, our girlie-girl, and owner of Skittles is devastated! She has suggested that we sell him and buy her a rabbit. As you can tell ~ she is crushed!

We should have known he was a rooster. He had the most beautiful coloring out of all of them. We used to just sit and admire how much prettier he was then the others. I guess like the peacock, he needs all those beautiful colors to attract the ladies.

Although that doesn't make much sense now does it?

If you think about it, the rooster to chicken ratio is pretty good at most farms. ~ One rooster to an entire FLOCK of hens ~Sounds like he is the wise one in that equation.

Thanks to Google, we had hope that he/she might still be a hen even though the cocka-doodle-doos were getting louder every day. Google claims that hens do crow~ which might be true ~BUT...

We saw some disturbing activity today that proves that you shouldn't believe everything you read on the computer. Skittles is not a hen. He is most definitely a boy...

We saw him getting a piggy back ride on one of our hens. Yep, he went all the way to 4th base. Ewwwww! Definitely a rooster!

I have to go now ~ I need to flush my eyes with Holy water...

Andie~ my sweet girl

Andie~ or Andie-girl, as she is affectionately known, is my third child but the oldest of the triplets.

When I was pregnant with them, she was the baby at the bottom. She laid patiently in the same spot and watched as her 2 sisters fought to be on top. 8 years later and nothing has changed!

She was the last one to walk and had to wear these little corrective boots. Her two sisters would take her toys and try to run away. In order to get back at them she would drag herself over to them, ram them with her head, knock them to the ground and bite their backs!

She loves to read.

She is funny. Not just funny, she is hilarious! She will keep you laughing with her one liners from morning to night.

She has such a sweet spirit. When I buy new clothes (or anything) she always lets the other kids pick first and she will take what is left. Even if I insist that she picks first, she always "knows" what the others would pick and leaves those for them.

She is a great singer.

She loves to dance.

We call her the dog whisperer. She can take an unruly dog and force it to listen to her! She is fearless when it comes to animals.

She is loving.

She loves to cook~ she is always the first one in the kitchen to help me. When she is not cooking real food, she is playing restaurant with her play food.

She is the most laid-back of my children. She just goes with the flow. I love this about her.

She is the only triplet that has earrings.

When she was born and in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) she had an IV in her foot and her vain burst. She was burned from the inside out. God answered our prayers and it has not affected her mobility at all. She has a small faded scar on her foot but I love it. It reminds me of what a miracle it was that they were born so healthy.

After reading this blog Andie-girl said, "Awwww, Mom. If we ever run out of food and you have to have someone adopt me. After they this read this blog, they will really like me!"

I think all those threats of selling them on Ebay might be effecting them!

She makes me laugh, I need laughter in my life. I think I will keep her here with me....forever!

Harvest time

It is harvest time at the Seagraves Farm.

We have been getting up before dawn and working our fingers to the bone to harvest all the food that will sustain us for the next year.

Here is a picture of today's bounty:

Ok, maybe I exaggerated a little ~ this took us all of 2 minutes to pick from the garden. It should feed us until... tomorrow. But I can't tell you how much fun it is to go out to the garden and pick fresh fruits and vegetables.

This was our first year to have a garden. Most people start in the spring but NO~ not us, no sire-e. We are still considered "city folk" around here and we didn't get our garden into the ground until all our neighbors were picking their harvest!

We even had a joy-robbing-bandit tell us not to bother planting our seeds because they wouldn't grow. (gasp!) Encouragement is obviously not his spiritual gift!

I heard about a gardening method called square foot gardening. A method which allows you to grow more food in less space AND, this is the best part, without weeds. So it took me from spring to summertime to read, investigate and BEG Wes to let me invest money into the square foot garden. Why Lord? Why couldn't you just make me normal?

We had to buy untreated lumber to make the boxes. Then it took about 20 trips to try and find the 1 inch pieces of wood to make a square foot grid to lay on top of the garden boxes. We never did find those by the way, so poor Wes had to cut pieces of wood into 1 inch strips.

Then we bought the soil. It had to be a perfect blend of 1/3 part compost, 1/3 part peat moss and 1/3 part soil. This is where Wes' confusion came in. He would wonder (loudly) about why we were buying dirt when we have 8 acres of it that we could use for FREE! No, no, no... we must have the perfect blend, my love!

Finally, we had it all ready and LauraLee and I planted all the seeds. We didn't know what we were doing so we pushed those seeds WAY down into the soil. Until Wes, the know-it-all, came along and told us we were doing it all wrong.

It took a few months and an excessive amount of water since we were growing our produce during the hottest part of the year! But finally... it started to grow.

We have basil, cucumbers, banana peppers, watermelon, green bell peppers, corn and cantaloupe growing. We planted a larger variety but some things didn't grow. I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that we shoved those seeds 100 feet into the ground!!

It is such an amazing feeling to know that we are eating produce from our own garden. Free from pesticides, preservatives and WEEDS! I am able to send one of my farmhands out to the garden for a fresh watermelon for snack time. AMAZING...

I am so inspired.

I think I will change my name to Rachel Yoder and begin sewing us Amish dresses and prayer caps tomorrow. We might even deliver some fresh cucumbers to our nay-saying neighbor!

and maybe, just maybe, enter this cucumber in the county fair...

Exercising is dangerous!

We have started exercising... AGAIN.

No ~really. This time we are going to keep it up. (Stop laughing, please)

We have to get up at 5:15 so we can start walking at 5:30. What were we doing all summer while Wes was off? We had allllllllll day to walk but somehow never found time. Now we only have 30 minutes to fit it in and we do it! We seem to always go about things the hard way.

This got me thinking... Why do we sometimes take the rocky, overgrown path when God's path is so much easier? He tries to guide us down the well-traveled road but sometimes we insist on plowing through the overgrown trail. We stumble around blindly~ twisting our ankles and hacking at all the weeds trying to figure out which way to go!

Wow, that was deep.

Anyway~ Back to the walk.

Since we live in the country we have no street lights. It's an ideal situation for star gazing but not for trying to see rabid raccoons in the woods.

There we are ~walking along our road, enjoying the peaceful quiet of the country when all of a sudden we hear a dog barking. Not in the distance, this was like 5 feet in front of us. This was a warning bark. A don't-come-any-closer bark. This dog is obviously not a "morning dog" because he was quite grumpy when we woke him up. He was barking, charging and SNARLING at us. I could hear his teeth snapping together.

He kept running off and then charging at us again.

The problem was ~ We couldn't see him. It was pitch black outside. All we could see was a flash of white as he was running around us.

I was scared to death. Wes told me to remain calm.

I thought, "WHAT? STAY CALM? Like you CHOOSE to panic. Help me, Lord, I want to lose weight but not by having my leg chewed off!"

Wes, my knight in shining armor, broke a stick trying to defend us. He was ready to fight. He was scanning and assessing the situation. He was like a matador ready to fight the bull. All those years of watching "I Survived" had finally paid off!

I, on the other hand, was no help. I was too busy holding onto Wes' shirt and looking around for a tree to climb. I think at one moment, in an act of total self-preservation, I may or may not have pushed Wes toward the attacking dog.

Ok, who am I kidding here. Like I could climb a tree. But in my defense, I have heard of mothers lifting cars off their children in emergency situations. Adrenalin is a powerful thing. So maybe... hopefully...

The dog clearly realized that Wes could take him because he ran off in FEAR! I am sure the other neighborhood dogs will never let him live this one down. What a wimp!

Against my better judgment, we continued our walk. I am sure all the wild animals hiding in the woods could smell my fear. We finally made it back home after 30 very long dark minutes.

We survived AND we still have all of our appendages. Wes' back is a little scratched up but that will heal.

Wes is planning on bringing the BB gun tomorrow.

I might sleep in. I have decided that exercise could be dangerous to my safety and well-being!

Hen or no hen...That is the question.

We have 6 hens.

We are anxiously waiting for them to make us eggs.

They are really sweet hens ~ they don't even mind sharing their food with the dogs.

Weird, I know.

Then there is the neighboring rooster, the stalker, that has been bothering our hens. (Previous blog~ if you haven't read it yet, please do!)

We haven't seen him in a few days. Maybe, we hurt his feelings. I don't know what we could have done. Surly it couldn't be the sticks, dog toys, wood pieces, foam pipe covers or grill-cleaning brush that we threw at him whenever he was trying to sneak onto our property.

Gosh, some roosters are so sensitive...

Anyway, I thought I heard him this morning. I heard a cock-a-doodle-do. But it was different then the "normal" rooster crow we have been hearing the last few weeks.

I ran to the window to see if he was back. (Some roosters are slow learners)

I didn't see a rooster, just our sweet hens laying there.

Phew, no rooster. I must be hearing things.

Cock-a-doodle-dooooooooooooo... That sneaky devil!

I ran back to the window and sloooow-ly peeked around the edge. Could it be the same rooster that left the golf ball? Was he hiding?

Again, no rooster... just the hens. Now they were looking at me like I was crazy.

That is when I saw it, one of our hens, skittles~ the beautiful one, threw back her head and cock-a-doodle-dooed with everything she had in her.

WHAT??? How can that be?

Is Kennedy's hen a ROOSTER? Is skittles a, a, a...boy?

How will I break this to my girlie-girl Kennedy? She will be devastated.

Is it possible? How can you tell?

I am not lifting her or him up to look, if that's even the way to decipher in the rooster/hen world.

I feel like such a rookie farmer! I think I will stop writing and go google it now.

We might be eating fried chicken for dinner tonight.

Ok, that was just a threat ~ we are not anywhere near being that self-sufficient yet. BUT it sounded good. I hope the stalker heard me!

McLaine~ my baby

McLaine ~ my compassionate girl.

She is my baby.

She is the triplet that I named and oddly enough, she is the child most like me when I was a child.

She loves to help me do things around the house. She will do anything, she just loves to be needed.

When she was little~ she said words like bikit for biscuit. Oh, how I miss those days...

She is funny.

She is extremely passionate.

When one of the other kids upsets her, she turns into the Incredible Hulk! One time she and Kennedy were riding in the backseat of Wes' truck. Kennedy apparently made her mad and Wes heard all these noises coming from the back seat. He looked in the rear view mirror and all he could see was Kennedy crying and her hair was all disheveled. He looked over at McLaine and she was leaning on her elbow just looking out the window enjoying the view. When she knew Wes was looking at her she looked over at Kennedy with a confused look on her face and just shrugged her shoulders like she had NO IDEA why Kennedy was crying. She is like a ninja.

She loves to read.

She is a great singer.

When she was just a few months old she had a strangulated toe. A string from her jammies got wrapped around her toe as she was sleeping. When I got her up to feed her, her toe looked like a cheery was stuck to the end of it. We had to rush her to the hospital and Wes was so worried he ran into the emergency room DEMANDING that they see her IMMEDIATELY. "She is a triplet", he said urgently, "if she loses her toe she will never be able to wear flip flops like her sisters!!!!" The nurses were either compassionate or scared of him because they took us right back. I am proud to report, she wears flip flops and has all 10 toes. (thanks to her dad!)

She has taught herself how to play the piano and will practice for hours.

She says the most beautiful heart-felt prayers. She will being tears to your eyes.

She loves this blue blanket that her Aunt LauraLee made for her. I don't think she has ever slept a night without it. It is now a small, frayed piece of fabric but she loves it and it brings her comfort. I love this about her.

She is really fast. I am talking Olympic gold medal fast or quite possibly multiple police-car-chase-fast.

She is kind... When she was in school during 1st grade she used to carry a girls lunch tray because the girl used a walker and couldn't do it herself. Then McLaine would get back in line to get her own lunch. She never told me she did this, she just did it because she is compassionate.

She will forever be my baby. I love her...

I think I will keep her here with me...FOREVER!

The love story begins

The summer is over, Wes has gone back to work. We are missing him... A LOT.

Summer is our favorite time of the year. Wes is off for 2 1/2 months. We sleep in, we watch movies. We go to the pool. We cook, we eat. We laugh. I was sitting here thinking about our life and I realized that summers have always been our thing. It started with a summer 22 years ago.

Every couple has a story ~and this is ours...

I met Wes in high school. We were on the track team together. We were both dating other people and we became friends. We talked about everything. I used him to do my math homework (just kidding). He is really good in math though!

In 1988, the night my brother graduated from high school, my friend Andreea and I snuck off to the beach with Wes and all his rowdy friends for a weekend away. I lied to my mother! Ugh, I still hear about this one on a yearly basis.

Mother, I am sorry...I have repented. I am a good girl now.

I knew I could get in trouble. I knew lying wasn't right. I knew my grandparents were here for my brother's graduation and they would distract my mother. I didn't care. I wanted to go and hang out with my friends and not think about my life.

In my defense, my dad had died the month before, I had just turned 16 and I wasn't processing things correctly. I justified it, I rationalized it. Wes always made me laugh and I wanted to laugh again.

We left as soon as they called my brother's name. "Yeahhhhh, Sean! Ok, RUN before my mother changes her mind!" I lied and told her I was going with a friend and her parents.

I know, I know. I am a heathen.

We drove to the beach in Wes' dad's Toyota Corolla. There were 7 of us in a car made for 5. We looked like clowns in a circus car. AC/DC was blaring on the radio. A truck almost hit us on the right. Wes had to swerve to the left... towards the wall. He turned the wheel at just the right time and our tire bounced off the wall and sent us back onto the highway. We all cheered and high-fived each other and kept driving~ We were young and dumb.

We stayed at the beach house for several days. We laughed, we jumped off the pier into the water. I got stung by a jellyfish ON THE FACE! We laughed hysterically! We drove around town. We laughed. We sang songs at the top of our lungs. We spent a lot of time on the beach. We got sunburns. We played cards. We ate Subway...a lot. We drank out of the Subway soda fountain without cups. (Sorry Subway, we were young and immature and not familiar with the heath codes.) We were 16 and 17 year old kids without a care in the world.

Wes and I had been friends for a while. We talked about things that I didn't share with everyone. I told him all my thoughts, fears, feelings and hopes for the future. We held hands, we shared our first kiss. We had a song, "The Flame" by cheap trick. The Toyota Corolla was a standard and he gave me a quick kiss every time he had to shift. I think sometimes he took the back roads instead of the highway on purpose!

We finally went home. I was sad it was over but happy because Wes and I were officially dating.

My mom found out that I had gone with Wes. I was grounded~ for a while.

Although I am sorry that I lied to my mother, I have never been sorry that I went. I needed that trip. I needed the laughs. I needed to start healing. It was the beginning of our love story...

We dated all summer. There were good times and not so good times. We broke up... he dated my friend... GASP! I became friends with his ex-girlfriends.

We dated again.

We broke up, I dated somebody else... I got engaged to somebody else.

He dated other people, he graduated from high school, he enlisted in the Air Force.

I almost got married to somebody else ~until... the summer of 1991

To be continued...

Triplet Frog Hunt

Once upon a time there were 3 princesses.

They lived in a castle on Summer Hill Lane.

They spend their days doing what all little girls do ~ playing dress-up, painting their nails and....

Frog hunting.

Hey Kennedy~Do you want to look for frogs? Yeah McLaine, good idea!

Andie, Grab a barrel to collect our frogs in.

Hold on... I think I see one over here~

MOM~ DON'T TAKE MY PICTURE... I AM IN MY PANTY LOOMS!

All modesty is forgotten. They see one!

Look, Mom. He has a huge chin!

Look Mom~ I found one too! (It must have been her lucky boots and polka dot looms!)

I just can't decide which one is cuter. (Notice they have their loyal hunting dog with them)

Look Kennedy~ Your frog has a spot on his head.

I know, he is sooo cute. I think I shall call you squishy and you shall be mine!

Can we keep them Mom? Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee? (Andie, Kennedy, McLaine)

Me: Ewwwwwwwwwww! Gross!!!

Put those frogs down. You're going to get warts all over your hands!

By the way, before you ask...none of you are helping me cook tonight.

I am going inside to call your dad ~we are moving back to the city...