To Raise Us From The Grave

Easter has come and we have celebrated.......the greatest day in history, empty cross and empty grave. Death were is your string, grave where is your victory?

Hope is here, now. Present with us day by day, hour by hour.

I love this scripture in I Peter 1:3-5

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead. To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you. Who are guarded by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time."

We have been begotten to a living hope, something that is real and lasting by Jesus's resurrection from the grave. And our reward for that is that we, those of us who call on the name of Jesus, have an inheritance waiting for us. An inheritance which is better than money, houses, property, jewelry, cars or anything else that will eventually fade away.

And besides that it is reserved in heaven for us, and we are guarded by the power of God. And we extend our faith towards that hope and God keeps, guards and encourages our faith at all times.

Really, really wonderful.

Elizabeth and Jon did not get to come home for Easter, they both work at jobs where their responsibilities don't understand that Easter is a holiday. I think Jon spent the day in the operating room, and Elizabeth helped take care of the 40 premies that need love, attention and sometimes a miracle. But she did get to come home a couple of days later and get to see her lovely spread of daffodils and many of her good friends around the area.




We did get to celebrate with Ethan and Christian and Grandma and Uncle Don. We ate Easter dinner at Litengard, on Grandma's dining room table. I love that front room at the inn with the ceiling to floor windows. The ham, from Oscars, was perfect and we did have left over birthday cake from celebrating Ethan's birthday the evening before with friends from Madrid.





So all in all, it has been a wonderful week. I was blessed to see youngest and oldest of my human peeps. And we celebrated a birthday and a resurrection.

Memories.

The Upgrade

The "girls" got a bit of an upgrade recently.

So they will no longer be the "girls". We have to refer to them as the "ladies".

And the word coop will no longer be appropriate. It is now the "residence".



We had to raise the top of the nesting boxes. Our layers must be quite a bit larger then the previous hens who utilized the current nesting boxes. Our ladies were a bit large to fit into the previous model of boxes so we raised the roof to enable them to get in easier. I don't think they are offended at my evaluation of their size. They seem to strut around proudly displaying their plumage.



They needed more light. Chickens need 14-16 hours of light to produce eggs at a regular rate. The current coop did not have any electricity so my resident electrician rectified that situation and wired up the coop. And since we already had an old chandelier stashed in the barn we thought we would use it.



But now you can see that they no longer respond to the "girls".....but have taken on an aire about themselves and demand greater recognition.

We're having way too much fun with these chickens.

A Sacredness.......

"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but power. They speak more eloquently that ten thousand tongues. They are the messengers of overwelming grief, of deep contrition and of unspeakable love."
Washington Irving

Reflecting on life this morning, I say this is true.

Overwhelming grief at the loss of a life so young and the possibility of a wonderful new family filled with adventure, love, stories, vacations and children. The loss of a sister not old enough to go and parents who were so special.

Deep contrition over actions and inactions. Over words said and words not said. Over sin and self focus.

And unspeakable love.....That my God has for me and I for Him. A love so bold and deep that my Savior gave His life for me. A husband's love experienced and a fountain of love; so strong, so powerful, flowing continuously to four beautiful, wonderful blessings.

Our First Dozen

The first dozen have already been secured.

Actually I have around 16 eggs now, all since Monday. The girls are good producers. I think they like their new home

Rob actually got home before 10:00pm last night, so he wanted to see how I "put the girls to bed for the night". I showed him my little routine and when he went into the coop he found an egg. He was so excited to get his first egg!


My first dozen.


My neighbor, Anne, thought we should name the girls. When I told Aunt June about naming the chickens she said they should have Norwegian names. We thought about that, looked on line for Scandinavian names, and then decided on some names that we were familiar with from our family.

This is a Rhode Island Red and we named her Gurli.



This is a Golden Laced Wyondotte, we named her after my great grandmother, Gurine.



Astrid is our Golden Comet. She is the smallest of our flock, just like my grandmother who was the most petite in our family.



Brigitta is the name for our Delaware.



Then we have the twin Buff Orphingtons who now are called Rigmar and Borghild.




For those of you not familiar with Norwegian names these may seem like tongue twisters. But we are following the theme of our new enterprise, even to our chickens. Actually, I have recently become aware of some heritage chickens from Sweden, Swedish Flower Hens. They are a bred that have been found in some remote villages of Sweden and have been brought over here to the USA to keep the bred going by conscientiously breeding and raising flocks. They are very pretty, and maybe if my experiment goes well I get a few someday. Well see.

Meanwhile, I'm having fun with my little group of cluckers.