I think we're going to buy four pullets (young hens) today. They haven't started laying yet, which means hopefully they haven't picked up any bad egg-eating habits. Last time we bought some hens that were not from our flock they were already laying -- and already eating their eggs. So we ended up eating them instead.

Right now we have seven hens from our original flock, and they're all doing well. They're giving us about 3 or 4 eggs a day. But with our family, we seriously eat as many eggs as we can get. Eggs are like tomatoes to us: The more we get the more we eat.

We also have a bunch of chicks that are being incubated for us. If all goes well, we should have around 24 laying hens within six months. Wow!

I haven't blogged here much lately. I'm not shutting this place down, but I wanted to communicate that I'm doing a wee bit of blogging over at a new blog I started, Under the Arch.

I'll be back around here for sure. I've got to post farm updates, and photos are overdue here too.

My mother-in-law gave me a belated birthday present yesterday, an ESV Study Bible. I love it!

I'm becoming more and more fond of the ESV every day. It helps that some of my favorite Bible teachers (e.g. John Piper) are passionate about the version, and that it truly does seem to be very readable, yet more on the literal side.

For various reasons I think the NKJV is far and away the best translation on the market, and I'll still use the NKJV as my primary Bible for study and memorization. I do plan, though, to use the ESV for a lot of general reading, and I'm looking forward to delving into all that the ESV Study Bible has to offer.

Time to go read.

I'm in Houston for my aunt's funeral. I'm glad she's with the Lord now.

I spent the evening yesterday mowing (always fun on a riding mower) and moving birds around. A few farm observations:

1. Keeping up with animals is a lot of work. Of course, we hope to expand what we've got, and that'll add more work, but it's always a joy. Right now we've got eight baby ducks, one mother duck hen and a drake. On the chicken side of things, our laying flock is holding steady at seven hens and a rooster. (We'll have about 24 more chickens once the new batch hatches. We have someone incubating them for us. Of those 24, roughly 12 will be laying hens and 12 will be roosters/stew meat.) We also have three bantam (miniature) chickens.

2. The garden is down to a tomato here and there. It produced well while it lasted and it was a good first try. What we'll probably do now is till the ground soon, and keep a bunch of our birds locked up in there to pull up roots and fertilize the place. We'll have to start working on our fall garden very soon.

3. Bouncer seems to enjoy his life as a farm dog. He doesn't ever seem overly anxious or barky (though he does like to bark). He spends most of the day these days in the relative cool of the barn. He's still very interested in chickens, but he hasn't killed any (thankfully).

4. We still have a big field we don't utilize. Our neighbor came over with his tractor a few days ago and shredded (mowed) it for us. Right now it serves well as a hay field, as the kids can go out there and collect tons of hay that we use for all sorts of things, but primarily chicken nest bedding. Hay always comes in handy, and we'll need a good supply of it during winter.

5. The birds pooped on me like crazy when I was moving them around yesterday. If you're going to have farm animals, you have to get used to excrement. :-(

6. There's nothing like a freshly mowed yard.

That's all for now!

That's a post I did over at Thinklings. Check it out, if you feel so inclined.

I've always liked and admired John Piper, but within the past few weeks I've fallen in love with him. I love that guy. It's beginning to turn into a deep, heartfelt love, almost on the same level of my love for C.S. Lewis.

I've been listening to at least one sermon a day off of his Desiring God website. He's got such an ocean of information on there, you could spend years studying and meditating on it.

Thank you, John. You're a blessing.

You broke the bonds and You loosed the chains
Carried the cross
Took my shame
Took the blame
You know I believe it
But I still haven't found what I'm looking for

From Psalm 31:

My eye wastes away with grief,
Yes, my soul and my body!
For my life is spent with grief,
And my years with sighing;
My strength fails because of my iniquity,
And my bones waste away.
I am a reproach among all my enemies,
But especially among my neighbors,
And am repulsive to my acquaintances;
Those who see me outside flee from me.
I am forgotten like a dead man, out of mind;
I am like a broken vessel. . . .
Blessed be Yahweh,
For He has shown me His marvelous kindness in a strong city!
For I said in my haste,
"I am cut off from before Your eyes";
Nevertheless You heard the voice of my supplications,
When I cried out to you.
Oh, love Yahweh, all you saints!

Sometimes that word is what I'd use to describe God. In reality, it's more likely that the distance is something cerebral, inside of me, something that I can't quite wrap words -- or thoughts -- around. At least not precisely.

Whoever first quipped that God created man in His image and man returned the favor, had a keen (although perhaps brief) insight into the heart of man: a heart that longs, in the most inappropriate ways, to be like God (Gen. 3:5), and a heart that longs, in the most appropriate ways, to be like God (Matt. 5:48).

In the end, I think, such anthropomorphism about the nature of God has little use because He's God ... and we're human. (Of course, the caveat is He's the God who became human!) If His ways are truly higher than ours -- and, indeed, they are -- then even the God-man, JESUS the Christ, whose name means Yahweh is Salvation, should be recognized and praised as God who became man, and not man who became God. Man's never been able to figure out the trick to the latter, and, in the end, history would indicate that such a path leads to a life that offers neither God nor man, because to be truly human, I suppose, would necessitate being in communion with one's Creator -- and that doesn't work too well when you're trying to be Him.

With all that said, I don't understand God, and I never will. I read His book, and it's alive. More alive than I am. More real than I am. Only men moved (possessed?) by the Holy Spirit could write such a book.

To be literate, living in the 21st century, and to have a leather-bound Bible at one's fingertips is really a bit overwhelming. It's like playing with a Lion: it might lick you, it might make you feel safe, but it's never going to be your pet, because the reality is, it could devour you. "Our God is a consuming fire" (Hebrews 12:29).

The conclusion, then, is that God, while full of grace and truth (John 1:14), is often a source of destruction (and I say that in the most positive way). In the end, I've found He burns and devours everything that's not of Him -- it's the painful part of being conformed to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29).

It hurts. Like hell.

- We lost a chicken to a neighbor's dog the other day. Grr!

- We're currently collecting eggs (and not eating them) to have someone incubate them for us. The gal who's going to do that for us is sort of a professional chicken farmer. We'll probably give her four dozen fertilized eggs, with the idea that half of them will hatch. We want to ultimately end up with around 12 to 14 laying hens. We'll eat the remaining roosters. :-)

- The garden is producing a good amount of tomatoes and peppers. We've also got squash, melons, and even a pumpkin.

- Our duck hen hatched 14 babies about two months ago. We lost three of them to various perils, and we gave away three of them, so we're down to eight. We'll keep about three of the eight and eat the rest.

- We've got plenty of grasshoppers on our property right now. John the Baptist would be chowing down big time.

Questions of science, science and progress, could not speak as loud as my heart ...

For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life itself. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many. -- 2 Corinthians 1:8-11

Since its inception this blog has been more of a personal journal than anything else. I always thought it would serve well as a sort of time capsule, capturing various events and thoughts that happen during my journey through life. With that said, I'm not sure how long I'll keep journaling here, but for now, I wanted to write something for my children. They don't consistently read this blog, but I'm sure some day they'll scan these pages, find this post, and hopefully get a glimpse of my heart.

Nathan -- As I write this you're 10 years old. I'll never forget when your mommy and I found out she was pregnant and that we were going to have a baby boy -- we were so happy. And the day you were born was one of the happiest days we've ever had. Since that day in 1999, you've brought us so much joy. I never knew how much I could love another human being until you came into my life. Nathan, I love you so much it hurts. I love you, my son. I love you, and I'm so proud of you. I'm proud of the man that you are becoming and I'm proud of everything you do. Please know that nothing can ever separate you from Jesus' love, and all I want for you is to live for Him. Follow Him all of your days. I love you, Nathan.

Daniel -- When your mommy and I found out we were having another boy, we rejoiced! We knew you and Nathan would be lifelong friends, and we knew you would always be there for each other. As you grew older, your sweet personality captivated us and to this day we love your sensitive nature and the fact that you seem to love hugs more than any of your siblings. Daniel, you make me so happy. I love you. You're a handsome young man and I know God has special things in store for your life. Please always know that your daddy loves you, and that Jesus loves you too. No matter what, Jesus is always with you.

Abigail -- You're a beautiful princess, because you belong to the King of Kings. Oh Abigail, you remind me of your mommy so much. You're sweet like her, your hair is curly like her hair, and you're every bit as beautiful as your mommy. I love you so much, Abigail. I'll always keep you in my heart, and I'll always love and pray for you -- as long as you live! You can live all of your life, Abigail, knowing that your daddy loves you. I love you, my little princess. I love you! Remember, Jesus loves you more than anyone, and He always will.

Evangeline -- My little angel, Eve. You came into our lives a little over a year ago, and you came as a gift from God, like a shower of grace just when we needed it. I'll always believe that on that warm June day in 2009, when you came into the world and your mommy and I held you, we realized that we needed you just as much as you needed us. Your name, Evangeline Grace, echoes the Gospel of Grace, and your life is a tangible reflection of Abba's grace in our lives. We didn't deserve you, but God gave you to us anyway. I'll always love you no matter what. You can never lose my love, ever.

Our broody hen's eggs are finally hatching! She's sitting on, I think, 13 or 14 of them, and they ought to all hatch by the morning. Here are the first two hatched chicks from a couple of hours ago:



This is a historic moment for our little farm; it's the first time we've been able to help reproduce life (aside from the vegetables that are currently growing, and they're growing alright).

Mr. Smith has been a real blessing to us since we've moved in. He's shredded our field, plowed our garden, and he's given us plenty of homesteading advice. The other day while Brandi was out walking he said, "Come on by sometime and we'll pick y'all a mess of potatoes from my garden." So we took him up on the offer last night ...

On our way out to his place. He lives about a mile away from us.


Arriving.


Showing the monkeys how to pick potatoes.



Going at it.


Part of the haul. We ended getting probably twice that amount along with some onions and squash.


Daniel: "I'm driving a tractor!"




Bird eggs in one of his fields.


Picking wild berries on the way home.


Our berry-stained hands.

We went on an excursion tonight to our neighbor's place about a mile down the road from us. He's a retired fellow with a nice three-acre homestead. He was kind enough to let us dig in his garden a bit and the kids pulled out probably five pounds of potatoes plus a few onions and a bunch of squash. When we got home Brandi boiled the potatoes and cooked up some onion and squash along with a banana pepper and bell pepper that we pulled out of our garden this morning. To that recipe we added some polish sausage from the grass-fed beef we've been buying. What a meal! We savored every bite.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that the kids got to ride (and steer) a 1946 John Deere tractor while they were there. They loved it. I'll try and post some photos tomorrow or Monday.

The kids picked some wild berries while they were out on a walk ...

- Our dog Bouncer got fixed today. He's a little puny right now, but I'm sure he'll perk up.

- Abigail saw a snake in our chicken coop. The way she described it, it must have been as big as an anaconda.

- We got a dozen more meat bird chicks last Saturday. They'll be ready to slaughter in early July.

- Our hens (one duck and one chicken) are still sitting on eggs. By mid-to-late next week we should be seeing some chickens hatch, and ducks should follow about two weeks after that.

- We're about to have birds coming out of our ears over here. If all of the eggs hatch, which is not outside the realm of possibility, that right there will be 26 birds. In that case, we'd have -- are you ready? -- 51 birds living on our farm. That's nuts! Yes, we're nuts. But ... out of those 51 we'll end up killing probably half of them by mid-to-late summer. Come early fall, we're going to have a lot of bird meat around here.

- We've enjoyed eating natural, grass-fed beef for the past couple of weeks. I don't think we'll ever go back to the other stuff.