improving the coop

There was some hard work going on here this past Saturday as Rusty and the kids added nesting boxes to the chicken coop.

The chickens should start laying in the next 4-6 weeks!

This guy was at a friend's house so he missed out on a bunch of the work, he made it in time for clean up.

There has never been a power tool that Benjamin wasn't confident he could use.

We don't let him but he soaks up every detail and second of one being used!

Hope had a couple of titles, sawdust cleaner upper and foreman.

 Can't help but love the summer dress and winter boots!

 What an animated child:)

 We got everything all ready at just before dark, when the chickens usually go into their coop, at least half of them wouldn't!  They were not up to the changes so much.  At 11:00pm Rusty and I were getting the last few out of the trees so they would be safe.

During the construction Aubrey finds and houses a snake.  After a dream that it got out that night (I had told her to keep it OUTSIDE), she let it go the next day!

complete.

I guess you shouldn't have a post about a chicken coop without some pics of chickens...

One of the bosses...

Voted most strange bird here, check out those feathers on his feet...

What a face to leave you with:)

pray with us

This is our sweet Aubrey Anna...

She loves being a big sister (most of the time), she love to nurture, she loves animals and she loves to read. She loves Jesus but is a little shy about sharing Him with others. She loves to paint her nails in the morning and then dig in the dirt in the afternoon. She is very special to us! She is kind and compassionate to all she meets. She gives more sacrificially than her parents do. Today I ask you to pray for her, for us. Aubrey desires to go to Rwanda with us when we go pick up her brother and sister. We have said no from the beginning but I really feel like the Lord has laid it on my heart to take her. She will be 10 years old (oh so hard to believe) in less than a month. In the whole scheme of things we are looking at an extra $2,500 to take her. Wow, that's a ton of money BUT it is also a once in a life time opportunity for her. She may be able to travel to Rwanda in the future but she will NEVER go pick up her brother and sister unless she goes now, this time. We don't have to decide what to do this week. We will have to get her a passport, shots to travel and an airline ticket (plus a little food while we are there). We need wisdom and clarity. Thanks in advance for praying with us and for us!

new recipe

We had some buttermilk that was about to go bad so we looked up recipes that called for it and decided on Buttermilk Cinnamon Bread... it was hit! Aubrey was able to get all the ingredients out, mix it up, bake it, and slice it unassisted! I told Rusty that I may pass off the dinner cooking responsibility to her sooner than later!

She made our mouths happy!

BIRTHDAY TIME (a little early)!

It was a fun Friday night at my parents house celebrating Aubrey's 9th birthday and Paul's 31st birthday. It was a couple of weeks early but as you can see by the smile on Aubrey's face she didn't care!

The kids wanted to trick Uncle Paul- he teases them a lot -so Aubrey wrapped his PS3 game in a camera box with all the instruction books. It was a very fake smile when he saw the box but we let the secret out quickly!

The entertainment for the evening was Aubrey rollerskating in the house (no pic) and Paul showing off his strength!

We'll end with a little birthday song and a little candle blowing {someone was wishing the attention was on them!...guess who?} :)