Chickens!

 One of my Buff Brahma Chicks

 I have wanted chickens for as long as I can remember.  I often prayed, asking God for chickens, but it always seemed that God's answer was "No."

The Brahmas and Marans in Mama's Hands

It turns out that he was actually saying "Wait a while." Through many little miracles, it has all worked out.

Far Right: Plymouth Barred Rock Chick

We now have 6 chickens in all: my sister has 2 Plymouth Barred Rocks, and I have 2 Cukoo Marans, and 2 Buff Brahmas. They are so much fun! They'll even eat out of our hands.

A Cuckoo Maran Nesting in Mama's Hair

We have had a grand time listening to their nearly constant chorus. 

Left: Buff Brahma, Right: Cuckoo Maran

Isn't it wonderful how God ansers are prayers whether now or later?   

The Other Buff Brahma

A Cuckoo Maran Chick

Details...

This morning I went out with my camera and decided I wanted some pictures.

Just what kind, I did not know. 

Then I noticed the Iris with little water droplets all over the petals 

(courtesy of my sister and the hose).

I looked closer and I saw many little things that I usually didn't notice.

Aren't all the detail in God's creation amazing?

He did not neglect even the smallest fuzz on a hen-and-chicks.












What a wonderful God we have!

"God sees the little sparrow fall, It meets His tender view;

If God so loves the little things, I know He loves me too.

He paints the lily of the field, Perfumes each lily bell;

If He so loves the little flow'rs, I know he loves me well.

God made the little birds and flow'rs, And all things large and small;

He'll not forget His little ones, I know he loves them all.

He loves me too, He loves me too, I know He loves me too;

Because He loves the little things, I know He loves me too."

-Maria Straub

 

Growing In Jesus

Okra seeds

Have you ever marveled at how a plant grows?  God has made plants to teach us lessons.  A little seed can grow into a giant tree.  Delicate, little green sprouts can push through a hard soil crust to reach sunlight.  God uses seeds to tell a parable about the kingdom of heaven.

Amazing, early spring seedlings pushing through the crusty, red soil of Arches National Park.  There was only one other green plant around.

Mark 4:30-32 (KJV)

 ^{30 "}And he said, Whereunto shall we liken the kingdom of God? or with what comparison shall we compare it?
 ³¹ It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth:
 ³² But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it."

Do seeds ever give up?

Why should I give up, if seeds don't?  God has a giant plan for all of us, even when we start out small, God wants to use us for big things.

Today when I was in the garden, I felt like giving up.  We had a seemingly never ending row to double dig.  I was the smallest out of all four diggers, and they were expecting me to get it done fast.  Mom told me I should pray, and after I did, I thought of a seed pushing through the soil, and then I decided if a seed could, I could, so I pushed my shovel through the soil.  I did my digging quickly after that.  In a few months we will have delicious potatoes to eat and I'll remember a little digging will give a lot of food.