Finally, Snow!

It was -1 degrees Saturday morning!  I began my day with a walk through our field, it was one of the most beautiful mornings I have ever seen!  After my walk, I came inside to campaign for others to come back out with me.  Haley and I did a photoshoot while Dad and Grant went snowshoeing.  Later we had a great time sledding in our front yard! 

 

Noela is becoming quite the snowboarder!

Family session

: : noela : :

I love my little sister, she is so adorable and extremely pretty! -- and I'm not biased, everyone else agrees...right?!  Happy 5 birthday Noela! 

Ducks

They aren't quite so small any more!!

Duck eggs!  Our kaki campbells, the ones we got just this year as ducklings, have layed two eggs so far!  The little egg is the one from our Kaki Campbell ducklings, and the big one is from our full grown Pekin duck. When the ducks get older, the eggs will get larger. 

If you are interested in buying Kaki Campbell ducks, we will be selling three of our drakes.  We bought five ducklings and four of them turned out to be males.  We only need one male and would like to sell the others for $10.00 or all three for $20.  Kaki campbells produce more eggs in a year than most other breeds of ducks.  They will sit on their eggs if you would like to breed the them, ducks are also fun as little barnyard pets.  I'll admit, they don't like to be held or pet, but it is fun to feed them worms, they'll follow you around if you have some with you as treats! 

We live in Michigan, so if you are intersted in the ducks and live nearby, let me know by leaving a comment. 

Ducklings....then

The ducklings are adorable!  I love these little things! I will be posting some pictures of them now...they have gotten a lot bigger! 

pictures at last!

I am extremely happy that I can finally post a few pictures!!

 

The first two pictures are from when the chicks were only two or three days old.  The third one is only about four or five days old, it is amazing how fast they grow from being fuzzy little balls into chickens!  

Duck eggs

Thank you all for your prayers for our birds.  We greatly appreciate it!  All of them have recovered as far as we can tell.  Just yesterday some of our friends brought over two full grown ducks for us, they are moving and can't keep them any more.  This morning we were out in the barn feeding the birds, when one of the ducks layed an egg!  We had our first duck egg for breakfast, it tasted just the same as a chicken egg, but was much bigger!

prayer requests

I woke up this morning, and as usual went to the chick room to feed and water the foul before breakfast.  I looked at the new chicks we got a few days ago to see if our hobble worked on a one of them that developed splay leg yesterday.  Splay leg, is when the chicken's hip or knees come out of socket, you must correct it while the chick it young or it will be crippled for life.  The chick's hobble had come loose so I picked it up and was fixing it, when our rooster Sillabub crowed.  I was surprised, his crow was very high pitched and horse.  Setting down the chick, I went inside to tell mom and ask what could be wrong.  We discussed it, read some information, and decided that it could be either a respiratory infection (which usually means death in chickens), or just from cleaning the cages the night before and stirring up dust.  We decided to move him outside and give him plenty of water.  He is still just as horse and starting to sneeze, a sign of a respiratory infection.  Sillabub is such a sweet rooster, believe it or not, he likes to be held and will jump into your arms.  Please pray for him that he will get better soon! Also, respiratory infections are contagious and it would be awful if all 40 some birds died, please pray that they don't catch it if it is an infection, and that our chick with splay leg will heal quickly. 

I will be gone all week at Wizard of OZ practice and it will be hard to make sure that all the animals are healthy, not to mention that I usually get sick show week.  Please pray that the cast will stay healthy and the shows will glorify God. 

Thank you so much for your prayers!
Lydia

It's been awhile!

I have been really busy lately and though things haven't slowed down yet, I hope they will after this coming week.  We have shows for Wizard of OZ this next week and practices from Monday to Saturday.  Our animals are growing fast, as well as the number of animals :)!  We now have 5 ducks, 5 guineas, 10 meat chickens, 14 turkeys, 14 chickens for eggs, 3 bantam chicks, a rooster,....I think that is all as of now! Just last night I came home from Wizard of OZ practice to find ten more chicks in with the bantams! Dad had been at the store and saw that they were only a dollar per chick, it can't hurt to have ten more! It is such an wonderful life, I still can't believe that I live here!!  After our shows this coming week I will be getting my Nigerian Dwarf goats.  Right now dad is out building a barn/coop for the goats and chickens.  God has blessed us so abundantly!  Whenever we have a need He always helps us get the money or sends someone who gives us what we need.  Since we have all these birds, we needed drinkers, food, and lamps for them.   We have some friends who are moving and they are giving us all their things from when they raised chickens!  God is great!

Well, so long for now!  I will probably post again after show week!
Lydia

spring?!

Well, we have been going barefoot, hearing spring peepers, tapping maple trees, doing garden work, planing our vegetable garden,  a batch of 14 new chicks, Easter photography contests, and seeing robins, sound like good reasons to believe spring is actually coming :)?!  I know I have been promising for awhile, but our Internet and phone service has been promising even longer.  I will be posting pictures again soon-hopefully for the soon part.

Ephesians 6 --

I have needed encouragement to get out and witness recently, I have found myself making excuses such as "I am so busy", "I just don't get out where I can witness lately". I hope that this post of what the Lord has been teaching me will encourage you to share God's word.

Are you ashamed of God's Word, or do you unconditionally share your faith with your friends, neighbors, and relatives, no matter what they think of you? Once my mom was telling one of her friends what we think about TV and why we don't own one.  Her friend got irritated and thought that she was telling her what to do.  But, about a year later, after we hadn't seen this family for awhile, mom's friend came up to her and said, "I am so glad that you encouraged me to get rid of the TV.  At the time I couldn't stand what you were saying and was unhappy with you, but I started to think about what you said and now we have gotten rid of our TV.  Thank you for not being afraid to share your beliefs."  This is an example of how at the time the person might think what you are saying is crazy, but later it could really make a difference in their life.

The biggest reason people don't share their faith is ~ FEAR~ we think that we are not worthy, and will not know what to say when someone asks a question. It says in Eph. 6:12 we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against precipitates and powers.  That may scare us even more, but later in Eph. 6 we are invited "to put on the armor of God". We won't be fighting on our own, God will be on our side and ~"if God is for us who can stand against us?!"  The thing that the devil wants us Christians to do least, is share The Word of God.  God cares about everyone, He wants each individual to come and let Him wash them of their sins.  Go out, share the Good News, don't be afraid, God is on our side!!!

Ephesians 6:10-17
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you  the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

Happy Birthday Mom!!

I have a wonderful mom!  She is always working, playing, teaching, or ministering to someone.  Through all our petty sibling arguments, she prays for guidance on how to teach us to treat each other in a Christ like way.  When we are having a hard time with school, she explains until we finally understand.  Waking up early in the morning, to say goodbye to dad when he leaves for work and staying up till 11:30 pm, when Mirae falls asleep. 

 I know it has been hard on all of us to move after being in the same house for 16 years, especially hard on mom. Yet, she has toughed it out.  Scheduling the countless inspections, insulation services, roofing company estimates, painting and stripping wall paper.  Every job around the house, big or small, she does them all for Christ and her family.  Thank you mom!!!!  Happy birthday! 

A Christ-honoring homemaker who is industrious and is about the business of serving her King is worth far more than money can buy. Her worth is far above rubies. She is working to build Christ's Kingdom! When done unto the Lord, wiping noses, cleaning up spilled milk, and speaking wisdom into the lives of children is the kind of work that lasts forever and ever. That is one thing the world will never understand, try as they might; you just can't place a dollar value on something as noble and beautiful as homemaking. A Corner Pillar 

Read the rest of this article here!  It really encouraged me to start preparing to be a homemaker and to realize how much I should be thankful to my mom! 

Working,

Playing,

Ministering,

Yesterday was really mom's birthday.  She spent the day cleaning and helping us get ready for our Bright Lights meeting.  What better example of servant leadership can you find?!

"Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies." -Proverbs 31:10

Photo tour

For my birthday mom and dad paid for me to take a photo class at a nature center down the road.  It was a very profitable afternoon, I learned so much!!  My pictures are looking a lot better all ready.  We learned about the composition of photos, how to draw your viewer's eyes into it, have it tell a story.  I always wondered how people got clear pictures in dull lighting, well now I know!  Also, see that +/- button on your camera?   Use that setting to change the exposer, normally photos are over exposed so they look a little washed out, with this button you can make your pictures have a much richer color!  You probably know this, but I didn't and it was a BIG break-through in my photography!

I really wanted to post some pictures for you all to see, but our Internet is working really slow and refuses to upload photos.  I will post them as soon as I can.

Lydia

God provides

Just a few pictures of our yard and house.  I will be posting more soon!