Wednesday, March 05, 2014

February Recap

Happy March! February was awfully short but chocked full of activity for us. Winter gave us some lovely snow and ice that made for some very happy boys and many hours of outdoor play.

We started the month with our (what seems to be coming ritualistic) burning of the Christmas tree. Very good object lesson on why Christmas trees should not be left in the house after they dry out. The flames were 12 feet high at times.

Then there was the snowstorm followed by the ice storm. I can't remember what the name of that storm was (what's up with naming storms anyhow?!) nor what number - I've lost count of the number of storms.  This means that we actually had a winter as opposed to other years when there was a little blip between Fall and Spring.

This storm was fantastic! The boys discovered they didn't have to use sleds - just plop down on their bottoms and they'd slide. Hard on the snow pants but such fun.

Then there was Valentine's Day (which I have no pictures of) and though we don't do much I do make sure the boys know that it's a day they're going to need to learn to appreciate.

There was a very fascinating conversation I had with Stephen right around that time. He told me he'd decided who he was going to marry. I asked him some questions, one of which was, "What do you like about her character?" He told me he's been watching her a "long" time and so I asked about the specifics that we've told the boys to be watching for in people with whom they want to be friends. Do they obey their parent's? Are they respectful? How do they treat their siblings? Is their speech wholesome and uplifting? Stephen told me, "I've watched her and she obeys everyone, even her brothers, and never says a word. That's why I'm going to marry her."

It's pathetic but I don't have many pictures of the month at all - unless you like endless pictures of little boys in snow gear. There were bridal showers and discipleship groups, GBS's winter break and "Train and Multiply" training, homeschooling and lots of baking. Just a busy, busy time of year.

Perhaps the biggest news is that after years of planning and saving - we're getting chickens! Come mid- April we should have three Black Australorps,
 three Golden Buffs (also known as Red Star or Golden Comet)
 and three Silver Laced Wyandottes - aren't they pretty?

And - we had God do something really neat for us in this area. I had budgeted $300-350 for fencing  for this project. I didn't want the flimsy chicken wire that can look a bit tacky. Since living in the city means it must look neat and be kept smelling neat, extra work has to go into getting ready for this venture. I wanted the vinyl coated green fencing 48 inches high and 50 feet long. At Lowe's this was $57 per roll last fall (this spring it's $58). So with the wire, posts, staples, etc. I thought I had pretty good idea of what we'd be looking at.

Leaving out lots of details - Allan and I ran to Lowes two Saturdays ago and "just happened" to double check the fencing prices. An employee told me to check in the store at a certain place because they'd just marked some down. We went to that section and I could not believe how much it was marked down! The 48inch by 50 feet rolls that are normally $57 dollars were marked down to $15... yes $15 and the 42inch and 50 feet that was originally $52 per roll was now $12 per roll. We were able to purchase $327 worth of fence for $81. I even bought enough for around my new little trees to protect them from inquisitive little people and plenty to give our chickens a nice sized run. I've not even made that a matter of prayer but God was watching out for us anyhow. And a building that can be used as a coop was given to us for free (I had budgeted $500-600 for that). So we're so very thankful and excited that this is happening much sooner than we had anticipated.

1 comment:

Dorcas said...

I always enjoy reading your posts! Isn't it amazing how God takes care of us?? What an AWESOME God we serve!!