These last two weeks have been full of the same tornado energy as the last couple of months have been. I think that's just life right now, though I am hoping it settles down soon.
Two weeks ago, our friends Andrew and Jen brought our chickens and our coop to us. They'd been chicken-sitting until we were able to get settled. It was so wonderful to get to see them and their kiddos, and our kids were also so very happy to have the chickens settled in. We're getting our own eggs now! Unfortunately, the very simple "run" we were hoping to set up for them wasn't adequate (we kept watching them just fly right over the fencing, even with their wings clipped), so they've been having to live inside the coop while a different solution is built, which is slow-going because, again, Life is Crazy. But more on that in a bit.
These chickens rode in this down the interstate. It must have been thrilling.
Penelope was thrilled to be reunited.
Andrew's trailer tips up (their son Tobias is there on the side, pushing the button to tip it!), so it was so smooth getting it off the truck.
Some of our friends from Leavenworth came to help get it into place.
I find it hilarious that it almost perfectly matches our house.
The twenty-fourth was Todd's birthday! He is forty-four years young, with a gaggle of kids to show for his time here on earth, and eternity will never be the same. We are so grateful for his hard work and diligence at keeping life FUN. Our home is a much more joyful, festive place because of him, and Scripture saturates every part of life. I pray earnestly that our kids will be indelibly shaped by his example and his investment, and that they come into adulthood being like him. I'm so glad he was born.
We took a farm tour with the family who now provides us with milk and eggs. It's no Amish community (which I still miss so much it physically hurts) but it was fun to see the whole operation from where our food comes! They not only have the couple of Jersey cows that they milk, but they also raise dairy and meat goats, angus cattle, guineas and Australian Shepherds, as well as hundreds of acres of crops. Also, nine kids. It's a bustling place.
Okay, back to the chicken run debacle. Long story short, I am trying to build an enclosure. I am not skilled in the lumber arts, and it is going slowly and crookedly. The neighbor saw it and took pity on me and has volunteered to help me build it. In the meantime, I have these yokels to help me move forward on it.
In other news, Ophelia got a bath, which is always an item of note and cause for busting out the camera.
Last Saturday, our church threw a Reformation Day party, with food and bouncy castles and games and square dancing and a costume contest. It was SO MUCH FUN. The kids got all dressed up.
Please look at how tall Atticus is and then lament with me how quickly time flies.
This is the face of pure joy.
Trying to munch an empty box of Nerds.
Gotta love group dances.
Learning the Virginia Reel.
Friends came from Columbia to stay with us that weekend as well, so we had an extra full Sabbath dinner. Then Todd and our friend Josh went out with some of the guys from church (Jared Longshore was in town to preach at our church, so they all went out to hang out with him and get to know him better), and Megan and I stayed home and got the kids in bed. Then we got some quiet time to actually catch up! I am really loving how many people we can fit in this house.
Monday was Halloween AND Reformation Day, so we really got to go all out. The kids dressed up in their costumes and we walked our small neighborhood. I LOVE OUR NEIGHBORHOOD. If I haven't been clear about that before.
I couldn't decide between the lamb and the mouse this year, so I refused to choose just one.
Todd said, "It makes sense she was a mouse, because that is a cheesy grin."
When we got home, we had our first cheeseboard of the holiday season (while still wearing our costumes), and then we watched Luther... while eating candy and wearing costumes. It was so festive and fun.
I'm going to take a pause right here for anyone wondering our thoughts on Halloween. I can go into it more sometime, but this fun video sums up our thoughts...
On Wednesday, the kids had some friends over for the evening, so it turned into a night of dinner and folk dancing/ballroom dancing. They had a blast - Penelope leaned over and said, "There was a moment tonight that I wished it would never end!" The kids are really feeling at home and settled here and have made such great friends already. It is so wonderful to watch them blossom.
When the whole table is the kids' table.
The rest of the week has flown by, trying to keep up with school (which is proving increasingly challenging as the weeks march on), and trying to hold back the ever-lurking threat of childhood illness that starts to percolate this time of year. (Juni had a dry throat the night we went Trick or Treating, and she kept coughing over and over, and Todd said she decided to go as Covid. That's the scariest costume.) We've had a couple random fevers pop up this week, and lots of runny noses. 'Tis the season - shorter days, cooler weather, and plenty of refined sugar to stoke the fires of disease.
Ahh, well, what can you do? One thing I like to do to cheer me up and keep me going is to watch Ophelia do anything at all. Look! Here she is, staring out the window. (One thing I LOVE about this house is that the windows are lower to the ground, so the tiny people can actually see outside.)
Well, friends, that's it for now. Until we meet again!
