Please visit...

...my other blog, 'Jed's Story'.

Today is the 8th anniversary of his home-going and so I posted the article written by Susan Reinhardt about Jed starting his lawn care business.

Read and remember and pass it on.

Baby chicks in motion!

Chick Pics!

There's a new Mama in the henhouse!

Okay, so I have written about our hen and how she has been trying to hatch some babies for what seems like all summer long. She and another hen sat on 17 eggs total, which one by one turned rotten and had to be thrown out.

When it finally got down to 1 egg, I asked Nate to get rid of that last one and replace it with two freshly laid eggs. Slowly those two have turned into 9. She has stayed on the nest and there have been no stinky or cracked eggs. Since the first time wasn't successful, I think we had just kind of given up or at least forgotten about these eggs. But we shouldn't have. Today marked the 22nd day since the hen started sitting on the 2 new eggs. 3 weeks is the typical incubation period. If we had been paying attention, we could've watched them hatch!

So today when Nate went down to feed the chickens, lo and behold, he spied, alongside the hen, two little fuzz balls in the chicken yard! He started screaming for mom and she, in the middle of dinner preparations, ran down to check them out.

Sure enough, they had made it down the high, steep ramp from the little room they hatched in and were pecking around in the dirt. We had prepared a smaller cage for the last bunch, to keep the mama and babies separate until they were to get older. So mom worked at catching each of the babies to put them in there, but the mama hen didn't want any of that. She gave mom a couple of good pecks! But mom was able to get the chicks in the cage and the mama went right in after them.

Once they were settled, mom and Nathan worked to get the rest of the eggs down in the cage with the hen, just in case she wants to set on them anymore. We'll see about that.

But here is a mystery. I said there were two chicks. Well, listen to this. Mom and Nate only found one egg shell and there are eight eggs left. Which makes me wonder if these two did not come out of the same egg. Twin chicks? Is it possible?  I don't know. But I have seen eggs with double-yolks. It's a mystery...

So anyways, we are really excited and hopeful that both of these chicks are girls! We have one rooster and that's enough. Pictures soon to follow...

Our car accident...

We were so thankful because our car had just passed inspection. 

Mom and I were on our way to the Cove, I was going in to work. We needed to stop in at Earthfare in the Westgate shopping center on the way, so mom got over in the right lane. There are a lot of fast food places and stores along Patton Avenue, so the traffic slowed to a stop because someone was turning in for a burger or something.

Mom came to a stop, and as a habit, glanced in the rearview mirror. She said something, and I looked in the mirror. There was a silver SUV coming up behind us and I could tell it was not going to stop. We didn't even hear any brakes screeching. Then...WHAM!

We'd been rear-ended! My first thought was, "I'm okay! Is mom okay?" She was. Then I started getting mad. Just what we needed! But I remembered that God says to forgive and also to be thankful. So I worked on the forgiving and thanking...

Mom was able to pull into one of the fast food parking lots and we got out to assess the damage.

It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. No broken glass, just a bent in back door and bumper. But then I looked at the Tahoe that ran into us. The front was all busted, antifreeze was pouring out and the airbags had deployed. The driver had gotten out and her son was with her. They looked okay. Mom tried to ask how they were, but the girl, she's a year younger than me, just shrugged. We guess she doesn't speak english. (We found out later that she didn't have a license and didn't even own the vehicle.)

While mom's calling the police and the insurance company, a car pulls up next to ours and a man gets out. I recognize him! It's Jack, one of the men who drive the shuttle bus for the Cove. He asks how I am and offers to take me on to work. (He could tell I was going because I was wearing my uniform). Mom and I both felt like I should at least wait until later in the day. So he talked with me some, which was so nice, and he went on to work, with a message from me saying I'd been in an accident. (I couldn't call in because mom needed the phone)

The cop came and asked the basic questions. He asked if we needed a medic to come check us out. Mom had said her neck was hurting and my lower back was throbbing, but I didn't know what they would tell us other than to go to the ER to get x-rays, so we said no. We've been fine since.

So finally, daddy came (Nathan was at home with Natalie, who we almost brought with us) and the tow truck showed up. They loaded our car, and then the Tahoe. And off they went.

We piled in my dad's truck (that was scary to ride in a vehicle so soon after an accident) and headed home. I called work and thankfully Rita told me they had it taken care of and to relax. I love my workplace : )

We've had a rental car for a week and a half now and will probably have it for another week and a half.

Mom and I are fine, but we have gotten so many things in the mail from Chiropractors, Doctors, healthcare companies, and Lawyers. Probably all because we told the cop our backs ached a little. Oh well...

I really am just so thankful about God's protection and the Peace He gave. If we had even a glimpse of all that we are spared from, we'd all fall on our faces and thank Him constantly.