We've Got Chickens!!!

Sometimes you have a desire in your heart for something you think you want and would like to have. The Lord knows it. In His timing, He may choose to give it to you, and then He may not. I believe part of trusting in Him is accepting whatever way He chooses. Well, after 3 years or more of wishing and wanting to have chickens of our own, we have 19 of them!

While waiting for these chickens we have bought eggs from the grocery store, health food co-op, kind people have given us eggs from their chickens, etc..... So, where there is a will there is a way and I was thankful that He provided in all of these ways. When Keith finally entertained the idea and then changed his mind I didn't get discouraged. I had hope that one day maybe....

I know it sounds silly to say that I had a "dream" of having chickens that would supply our eggs for us, but it is true. I did! A couple of weeks ago Keith was offered the opportunity to get some chicks from a dear church member and he said yes. Then there was the task of building a coop. Two solid days, from dawn to dark, he built the coop. With the occasional help (or possible interference) of his wife, 5 girls, and two excited little boys. It was a family effort and we are very proud of the man in the house!!

A couple of nights ago before drifting off to sleep he said, "I am ready for an egg."  I laughed and told him he has a while before we get to taste that first egg!

I have to post this verse. I know that sometimes we must simply die to dreams that we may want for our life as God calls us to go a different path. And though that seems sad, it is always for our best.This verse was a part of my devotional time a couple of mornings ago and it had been a long time since I read it. And I do believe chickens qualify as do so many other things that are in our hearts.

I encourage you to read all of Psalm 37, but here is verse 4. "Delight yourself in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart."

Thankful for hard work, dreams fulfilled, kids beside their daddy, dirty faces, cold water on a hot day, team work, boys with hammers, cute pony tails, 19 sweet little chickens!

Nichole

Harvesting Potatoes!

Joshua harvested these this morning, bright and early!

It has been several weeks since we posted and a lot has gone on in that time. Our garden is growing by leaps and bounds (and so are the weeds!), we spent 10 days in Michigan filling in as the family revivalist for Life Action Ministries, I am almost through my first trimester (praying the nausea and tiredness will be gone quickly!), and we are in the process of building a chicken coop for our 15 hens that are waiting on us to come and pick them up!

As you can see we are impatiently digging up some potatoes every day so we can prepare them with our meals. We have learned that we did not plant near enough and would possibly have to plant our entire yard in potatoes to have enough to eat and store for the year! Even though we only have 5-10 more good diggin's, we are thoroughly enjoying them and it has even gotten Joshua excited to see what God can do with a little work on our part. He was up early with his clothes on and asked if he could go outside and get us some potatoes for supper. How could we say no? May he always be this eager to help.

"Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise. Which, having no captain, overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep-So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, and your need like an armed man." Prov. 6:6-11

Thankful for potatoes and little boys digging in the earth bringing forth the harvest,

Nichole

Easter Surprise!

Keith and Nichole,
What a timely match.
God gave us to each other.
There was no need to catch.
Madison, Morgan, Mallory, and Meghan
were special gifts sent to us from Heaven.
But, would we have a little boy one day?
A year and a half later Joshua was on the way.
Would he get a brother...a playmate even?
"Yes!" was the answer when God gave us Stephen.
God is Salvation and Crowned Victorious!
We pray these two boys for God's Kingdom will be glorious!
Joy, sweetness, and laughter is what we needed.
Maleah Grace, full of them all, soon proceeded.
Is our family complete, O Lord?
For the answer we would wait.
"Not Yet", says the Lord.
So we welcome baby #8!

Well, this is the poem that we had the children read on the Lord's Resurrection Day because we couldn't think of a more special time to celebrate what God is still doing in the lives of His people. All of them were very excited and even today at lunch, our three year old told his daddy, "Daddy, Mama's gonna have another baby." We just laughed and Keith said, "Really? How did you find out before I did?" Of course, Stephen thought this was fantastic that he told his daddy something he didn't already know!

Lord willing that everything goes well, we will welcome a new little life in the beginning of December. That will only make 3 birthdays, 1 anniversary, and Christmas in the same month. What better time to celebrate?!

Praising the Lord,

Nichole

Beautiful Hair!

While these last few weeks have been trying, taking care of sick children and washing everything in sight, during nap time one day I decided to get out that Beautiful Hair Treatment that I bought from the Bulk Herb Store a couple of years ago. It had been in my freezer along with many other herbs that I have gotten from them over the last few years. In the directions it stated that a good time to do this might be when you know your husband will be gone for a day or two and since Keith was out of town, I thought this time would be great.

Of course, I couldn't resist doing it together with all of the older girls (except the sick one).

Bless her heart, she was only able to lay down and watch. Although a little Vitamin D did her some good!

After mixing all the ingredients and getting chairs and towels set up outside, we began slopping that stuff all over their heads!

At this point they are not so sure about what I had talked them into doing.
We all agreed that it smelled like Maleah's feet after taking off her leather shoes after she had been running around and sweating in them all day! We sure hope this is worth it???!!

I can promise you that we did not do this to "turn heads", but I have to admit that catching Stephen in this picture was too cute to pass up. He was really just wondering what in the world we were up to. I had to get a picture of the finished product. Even after wearing that stuff in our hair for an hour or so and then only rinsing it out until the next day when we would finally wash it, it was fun. I can honestly say that the girls have healthy hair anyway, but I knew this treatment would do them some good. And, yes, I took part as well. I just decided to spare you the sights of that one!

The mixture consists of different herbs that are good for the skin, body, and hair. Herbs like oatstraw, chamomile, horsetail/shavegrass, and nettle. To it you add some lemon juice or vinegar, a couple of eggs, and olive oil or mayonnaise. Our particular blend was for blond hair. I bought it to use on myself. As you can see, Madison, who is the oldest, and Morgan, the second oldest have some blond highlights (natural) and the treatment really enhanced those highlights. My hair is slightly blonder than theirs and it really made the blond look lighter. My hair is very soft and seems so free of all the chemicals that I put on it with hairspray and gel, etc...

Doing this a couple times a year is all they recommend and probably all that we would do, but it is definitely worth the time and the smell.

If you are interested, you can check out the Beautiful Hair Treatment and much more about herbs and such over at http://www.bulkherbstore.com.

Nichole

Mighty to Save!

The last couple of weeks have been trying for our family. We have had two little ones come down with a very strong illness, that hopefully we will find out in a few days what caused it. It has been one of the worst times of sickness for these two. It has weakened and pained their little bodies and required constant care and clean-up.  Although sleep-depriving and schedule-altering, it has also been a blessing. It has slowed us down. Me, in particular. I have spent many hours of holding, hugging, wiping, cleaning, praying, and caring for them. Painful, but special time.

One particular morning, after 3 long days of no eating and fighting dehydration, the second little one barely had enough strength to speak. I walked by her bedroom door to hear what I thought was whimpering. I immediately went in to see what was wrong and found her peacefully asleep and singing. Although I had to get close to hear her, I recognized the words....."My God is Mighty to Save, He is Mighty to Save...." over and over. I knew that I was experiencing one of the sweetest moments in my life. I thanked God for her and for the time we have had together. Even in the midst of her sickness. The verses from Psalm 8 came to my mind, "Out of the mouths of babes and nursing infants you have ordained strength because of your enemies, that you may silence the enemy and the avenger."  I am no theologian, but for me in this moment, out of the mouth of this little one God gave us both strength and silenced the enemy in his efforts to drag us down and defeat us. We chose to praise and thank God. 

No matter what you are facing today, whether small or big, our God is mighty to save, He is mighty to save!

Blessings,

Nichole

They Don’t Make Them Like They Used To

"My servant Caleb... he has a different spirit in him and has followed me fully... " Num. 14:24; Joshua 14:6-10

A few days ago, I had the privilege of working on getting our garden ready to plant with my two boys, Joshua (5) and Stephen (3). I did the best I could to pump them up and psyche them up about “working” outside with dad. As we rode together to Lowes we sang together some of their favorite songs… I’ll Fly Away, Sanctuary, and one of their all-time favorites, Jingle Bells—Shotgun Shells—Granny Had a Gun, She went out to the hunting club, and boy she had some fun!

It was loud and it was great!! While on the way to Lowes I also went over our game plan. I told them what we would be doing in the yard and what we would need to get to finish the job. They got excited about getting dirt (compost). What little boy doesn’t get excited about dirt? But, they really did not connect with the whole “work” thing until I got them a pair of “work gloves” and boy did they get pumped and psyched. Stephen tore the tags off his gloves before I could get to the cashier to pay for them. After purchasing those gloves, the boys couldn’t wait to get home to go to “work.”

I was so encouraged to see them fill their Tonka dump trumps with compost and drive them down the rows in the garden to unload and come back for more. “Working” with dad in the garden was so popular that the girls and mommy wanted to get in on the action as soon as they got home from the grocery store. I’m glad they did because we were “working” together as a family and got a lot more accomplished. By the end of the day we put out 30 bags of compost, installed a fence around the garden, and covered the isles in-between the rows with a paper barrier and hay to keep the weeds down. I just wished I would have bought four more pairs of gloves. The girls wanted to wear the boy’s gloves so bad. Those gloves did something for our boys and girls as we worked together in the yard for most of the day.

It has been said, "They don't make them like they used to." But I say, "They ought to!!" I honestly believe that the days that you and I are living in and the days that our children will live in will require men and women that are of a different spirit. It will be a day in which only the Godly man and Godly woman will be able to navigate. As Caleb, the generation of children today will face days where they must be faithfully fit, emotionally energized, and spiritually sound.

The other day I was reminded of a statement that was made by Wilson Green, a family revivalist for Life Action Ministries, during a Revival Summit at our church in February 2009. The statement that Wilson made was so powerful and penetrating that I wanted to pass along… “To be successful at work and to fail at home is to fail completely.” Let that sink in for a moment. 

Now that the Lord has our attention, for you and I to raise boys and girls of a different spirit such as the one Caleb had, many of our children will need to trade in their Nintendo DS, iPod, computer, sport, etc… for a pair of work gloves. And perhaps as parents, we might need to make a few trades for a pair of gloves as well so that we can go to work and raise a generation of children like they used to... because we need to.

Keith

Johnny Made Me Cry

As I finished reading a book to our oldest girls out on the grass with pink blanket and white sheet spread, I became overcome with a deep appreciation and thankfulness for the moments to spend reading to them. Their ears so attentive...not missing a word. And don't dare make a noise, you little ones playing over there, we might miss something! The sun shining bright and the sky so incredibly blue. Just as we would begin to think we were too hot, a gentle breeze would blow our way and we would keep reading.

I closed the book and felt a deep need to fall on my face and thank the Lord for the gifts he has given me. The freedom that I have experienced these 34 years of my life and the lives that sacrificed for it. I also felt deep conviction of the fact that these feelings were all to new to me. At this age? Why so long? What have I missed? What have I taken for granted? Too many things.

It may seem silly that a fictional book based on a character in the colonial times just as the American Revolution was beginning would bring a woman to her knees. Something in it struck a chord. One deep within and I knew that life is hard and sad at times. Sacrifices are made for things we believe deeply in. Sacrifices of wealth, time, family, and our own lives. For things we believe in. For things that we believe will benefit future generations. It becomes more about "them" than about "us".

I think of my family. My husband and children. God has given me them for a little while. I believe in His Word. I believe He is worth fighting for. Fighting for my time to give to them. Fighting to overcome this sin nature that rises up and tries to influence them for wrong. Fighting for joy freely given, love never failing, and grace overflowing. Always fighting. I will always fight, because I am nothing without Christ and He is my only hope.

How can a children's novel bring such a burning and renewing passion for what I believe is my calling in life and a very special season of my life? I don't know, but it did. May we all become stirred to fight for our families. With our time, influence, joy, love, and grace given to them. Don't let the world snatch it away from us. You see, I agree with Ann Voskamp when she speaks of her little girl, "....she is never for me, children never for us, to please us, to fulfill us, but I am for her, to nurture and protect and serve and children are the gift and parents are the ones who give."

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of reading and little girls and almost young ladies listening and begging for more. These moments are precious and today the children have given to me without knowing it and so maybe we are giving to each other. As we do, may we give praise and thanksgiving to the One "from whom all blessings flow" and to the One who sacrificed it all that we may have life and life more abundant.

Nichole