Thoughts about God from the chickens:

   Coming to a place more in the country here has helped me to understand God's Word better.  Jesus was a carpenter who lived among people who farmed and kept animals.  He probably did those things too, just as most people who live in the fertile areas of the world work the land to help provide for the needs of their family.  Having our own garden and chickens who lay eggs feels at least one step closer to the kind of life that Jesus and his disciples were used to.

Watching animals and nature gives lots of silent insight about life. 

Psalm 148:7-10

"Praise the Lord from the earth,

    you great sea creatures and all ocean depths, 

 lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

    stormy winds that do his bidding, 

 you mountains and all hills,

    fruit trees and all cedars, 

 wild animals and all cattle,

    small creatures and flying birds"

"He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart." Psalm 91:4

  This mother protected her chicks to the point of attacking us and biting us every day when we fed her.  And watching her fit 12 chicks under her wings was amazing.  And they would all crawl under so eagerly and look out at the world from that place of warm and security with sleepy, content eyes.

Look at all these verses about God protecting us under His wings: Deuteronomy 32:11; Psalm 17:8; Psalm 36:7; Psalm 57:1; Psalm 61:4; Psalm 63:7

Psalms 17:8

Deuteronomy 32:11

 

Our chicken likes to lay her eggs in our kitchen

This is Oliver with her morning routine at 8 am.  She asks to come into the kitchen and then wants us to empty out our slipper basket and put in on the couch so that she can get comfortable and lay her egg.

Baby Chicks!

Ok, so I prayed that one of my chickens would decide to sit on the eggs that I let collect and Oliver did!  Only one of the 13 didn't come out so now I have 5 yellow ones and 7 black ones.  

The father is black and they are from 3 different chickens so they will be all different colors.  It was so fun to watch them come out of the eggs one at a time and then dry off and get all fluffy.  

 This is Ashley.

Their second day they were out and running around.  We feed them chick food and they eat dirt and bugs and stuff.

 The started growing wings after just a few days.

And now they are just like little miniature chickens.

My knitted creation

I went to visit my friend's mom and she let me borrow two knitting needles and a bit of multi-colored yarn left over from a sweater she had made.  I knitted this piece and then sewed the ends together to make a neck-warmer that can also be used as a hat/headband thing.  It's really great and matches all my clothes and it proved quite useful during the winter here, especially for keeping your hair back in the cold wind.  I'm working on knitted another one and then maybe I'll think about tackling socks.

Isn't this just the cutest thing you ever saw!

And it's ours!  My friends found it wandering outside in field and caught it in a net and put it in our garden.  And now it has learned to go in and out the gate with our chickens.  At first they were terrified of it but now they are used to each other and the rabbit likes to hang out with them.  His name is "Storm' and sometimes he runs like lightening across the field and then lays down and stretches out his legs and rests.  He is super soft and always clean and so cute when he eats and sniffs.

Chickens and eggs

 Yes, my two smallest chickens sleep in a bucket.  And they are happy about it.

 The one on the left is Oliver's first egg, then Allisyn's, then Kailey's.

 Oliver, Hırçın, Kailey, Allisyn, and our rooster, Neema in the back.  Hırçın has to grow up a bit more before she will lay eggs.

Snow!

There is snow on the mountains behind our house!  It's really beautiful but makes the wind really cold.