Winged Ramblings

So far, raising 30 chickens been a great learning experience. I feel a bit more country now, ya'll. But I admit that my feelings as I watched the chicks tossed into shoeboxes for the ride home were less than confident. Some of my siblings, who will remain anonymous, made their cordial dislike for chickens known. I would be flying solo. I wasn't eggs-actly crowing at the idea of cleaning a coop and all that, but:

"Where there are no hens, the coop is clean.

But much increase comes by the eggs of a hen."

The idea of gathering healthy home-raised eggs was romantic enough that I was fairly undaunted by the dirty side of it. Except for the prospect of butchering. Since I got a mostly straight-run (50-50 hens/roosters), we thought we could have an unfortunate amount of roosters that we would make the best of by putting in the freezer. And all the gory stories happily told by friends with chicken-slaying experience left me balking. So far though, I believe (I hope) we only have 4 roosters, so we're all safe for the moment from the strain that impending butchering puts on relationships.

I'm interested in nutrition and in being self-conscious about food. A good resource is the documentary "Food, Inc." But here is some info about eggs from free-range hens, as opposed to caged hens producing mass-marketed eggs.

Eggs from free range hens had up to:

• 1/3 less cholesterol
• 1/4 less saturated fat
• 2/3 more vitamin A
• 2 times more omega-3 fatty acids
• 3 times more vitamin E
• 7 times more beta carotene

And, they taste better.

We turned an old tackroom in our 80 year old barn into a Chicken Suite, and the chickens strut in and out and find pasture. We shut them in the coop at night as a precautionary measure against a remix of Nickel Creek's "The Fox", except with chickens instead of geese. ;)

Maybe it takes some long-term vision to look at dirty chicks and see the culinary possibilities to come from their eggs. I think I've learned about how God must view we stinky people; He sees the His glory displayed in the end product of His loving sanctification in His long-term vision, so He rolls up His sleeves for the dirty work of lovingly sanctifying us.

Will and Jed have lots of fun with the chickens. Maybe sometimes a little too much fun...

Picture this: Two boys. One chicken. A trampoline.

True story.

No chickens were harmed. Honest.

Texas in July: The Baby Conference

July kind of flew by there, didn't it? It has been a good summer thus far, because God has carried us thus far. I don't ever want to lose sight of His goodness and mercy; if I just remember to look and see them always following behind.





For the past few weeks, we've been busy roaming to and fro throughout the earth - well, not really. But for my Mom's birthday, she, JD, Hannah and I did go to San Antonio Texas for Vision Forum's Baby Conference. It was a Historic Summit on the Triumph of Life in a Culture of Death. There were so many passionate godly men and women speaking; it was such a breath of fresh air to hear them so boldly and humbly speak truth to a culture that doesn't want to hear it. The theme of the conference rang loud and clear through the voices of those men and women: the joy of life!

It is called the Baby Conference.

My bro JD and sis Hannah.

The topics included: the sanctity of life, obeying God and trusting Him with the amount of children you have, the history of the long war on babies, the history of The Pill and how it has radically affected our culture, bio-medical ethics, the dangers of viewing children as pets and pets as children, a hopeful theology of miscarriage, adoption, even epistemologically self-conscious baby names! It was so excellent, refreshing and timely.

A happy statistic of the conference. :)

Doug Phillips of Vision Forum.

With our journey with Isaac still so fresh in our hearts and minds, it was like reliving a lot of what we went through in the hospital. In the bio-medical ethics sessions, they spoke of the care of the aged and "unfit"; we could insert Isaac's name into each sentence. The issues facing our culture in health care, and in attitudes of the populace toward the weaker of God's image-bearers are frightening, but hearing these things being biblically thought through and powerfully proclaimed gave so much hope. Let's be the generation of those who seek His face and live our lives faithful to His Word and consecrated in every area to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! That's how the world will be changed. Live Coram Deo, before the face of God, and the world will follow.

We really had a wonderful time and met some very neat and godly people. We also were able to visit dear family, and last but not least, enjoy some amazing Mexican cuisine.

Shrimp stuffed with jalapenos and cheese, and wrapped in bacon.
Decadence? Yes. Deliciously so.