Chickens!

Very soon we will be the proud new owners of chickens! We have been interested for awhile and prayed about whether this would be an experience that will somehow benefit our family on the mission field. We felt that it would be a good learning experience for all of us and that it it might help to prepare us for situations like watching a goat be killed and prepared at a gathering and then eating it. Yikes! We decided to get around 12-14 chickens. Most of them will be egg layers but hopefully we will keep up the nerve to butcher a couple of them. Hmm... Still yikes! We were trying to figure out what to use or how to build a chicken coop. We wanted to do it with the least amount of money possible since this will not be a permanent endeavor. As I was getting ready to search places like Craig's List for wood or for an old storage shed that we could work on and repurpose, God blessed us very unexpectedly! Adam came home from work at Amazon one day and said that they had a bunch of materials from shipments of new air conditioner units I believe, that he could bring home for us to use to build one from scratch. Free materials! We worked together to come up with the sketches and decide on a design and then Adam brought home a truckload of wood. He had all of the 2X4s we needed, all of the sheets of plywood we needed, and plenty of rubber roofing to finish the roof with! We only needed nails, hardware and paint. (I was able to find red paint at the store for half price as a return.) We already have the main fencing that we need, but we will need to buy some chicken wire also. We spent Tuesday from morning til night outside sawing and hammering and smiling! Building is one of my very very favorite things to do!!! We had a great day and Adam was so patient and encouraging with the kids. He is such a great dad! They really enjoyed helping and look forward to each having their own special chick that will be their "pet" and will only be expected to lay eggs. I will post more pictures soon. We got the wood on the roof, but still need to wall the sides, add the doors, attach the rubber roofing and then paint. We are thankful that the Lord so wonderfully blessed us with something that our family can enjoy and grow from. We feel certain that He will use this experience, to His glory, in the not so distant future. 

We spent Memorial Day weekend with my mom and brothers at my brother's apartment in Muncie. They were such wonderful hosts! We all had a great time swimming, playing Wits and Wagers, cornhole, pool, basketball, soccer.... We stayed busy. :) They very kindly treated us to steak on Memorial Day and we visited and played cornhole and  enjoyed smelling the wonderful smells coming from the grill! Yum! They are such wonderful guys. Brothers to be proud of for sure.

We are looking forward to a trip to Southern Indiana this weekend. We will be staying in an RV with friends and then going to Holiday World for a couple of days as a homeschool group. The homeschool group discount is way too good to pass up!

Please pray for us as we hear God speaking and see Him working in our lives. Our desire for our family is that our plans would be His plans! Please pray also for my headaches. I had an appointment with a natural doctor this week, (one that I have been going to for awhile - that has helped me greatly with other things), and I am trying some new things. Hopefully they will work. 

As always, we would love to hear from you: jenlhayes@gmail.com.