Wednesday, September 30, 2009

[ Simple Country Girl ]

Yep, that's me.... I'm just a simple country girl that it doesn't take much to entertain or impress me. I'm sure my hubby is ever so thankful for that on many occasions. I'm a cheap date. ;o) And being the simple person that I am made yesterday a really awesome day because after months of waiting and work.... we have our first egg!! lol Yep, that's what I said. Egg.

We studied, we read books, we wanted to be 'hobby farmers' this year. Of course, the best laid plans seem to go astray at times. We have been eating homecooked meals more than boxed quickies or fast food. Hubby loves homemade bread (and I'm overdue on making some!). We were going to plant a garden and can this year. Even venture into the world of organicly grown. That didn't exactly get done. I read the almanac and planted lots of tomatoes and peppers inside, but before I got them transplanted they became so rooted they died out. Did I mention we thought we'd move and why plant a garden when we may be moving and not get to enjoy the harvest? Yeah right. That was a good excuse.

We bought chickens. Chicks. During Orscheln's Chick Days we made a trip to the store, bought 11 chicks (yes 11). Ten Rhode Island Reds and one lonely little Buff O. Tanner had to have a chick of his own so those little yellow ones caught his eye. He named his chick 'Poachie'. I have no idea where he came up with it, and know for a fact that he has no idea what a poached egg is. lol :o) We knew how many months we'd have to wait before we got eggs and got a chicken house, feeders, waterers, heat lamps, daddy made nesting boxes. We were prepared. As the chicks got bigger we decided to let them brave the elements (our dogs and cats) and teach them how to roam around the yard to eat dirt and bugs like 'normal' chickens. This was going great, the cats and dogs soon got hen pecked and learned to leave the girls alone. Each night Tyler put the girls to bed and they were growing and thriving. We did lose one baby to bad health so ten seemed like a good round number. Then, one week......they started dropping like flies. Well, not dropping...disappearing. I think we must have fed every coyote in the county in one week. We're down to 7 chickens. Good ole Poachie is still around though.

Then it happened. After months of waiting and thinking maybe we had 'handicapped' chickens that were never going to lay we got one egg!!! Tyler came in the house yesterday with our very first egg. And you would have thought he'd brought his momma a pair of diamond earrings. Yep, I ran through the house showing off our first egg (Taylor had a girlfriend over to study for a test) so I'm sure Jennie thought I was nuts. Then I had to take a picture of it. I knew it was small, but didn't realize just how tiny until I set it in the egg carton (we've saved dozens of them hoping to fill them up quickly). That little sucker is so small it wobbles in the hole. It barely rises above the cones that separate the holes. But it's an egg!! One beautiful, brown, perfectly shaped egg.
Did I mention I got excited? Using this as my Word Filled Wednesday post I guess this could be like a small lesson.... do you consider the glass half empty or half full? Do you revel in the little things or feel slighted that you don't have the bigger things you want? I can look at my egg carton with that one tiny little lonely egg and see 11 other empty slots. But is it a pitiful sight? I don't think so. It's one step toward a goal that we worked hard for. It's one egg in the line of many more eggs to come. It's one blessing. I'm that carton. Waiting for God to finish filling me up and blessing me daily. Which He does when we fill ourselves with His word and His love. (there's a sad analogy huh? Me an egg carton, and God's my eggs. LOL) But you can find the good in anything if you just know where to look for it. So, yes I'm a simple country girl. Excited over my one little brown egg.

"There's more to come. We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling short-changed. Quite the contrary--we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit."
--Romans 5:3-5 The Message

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