A question about chickens

Can you keep just one chicken or do they need companionship? I just got off the phone with our local animal control board and they told me that you were allowed to have 5 non-crowing and 1 crowing chicken here. I thought we would start extremely small as in one chicken and see how it went. Is that possible?

Thankful Thursday

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1 Corinthians 10:13 (NIV)

Today I am thankful to our Lord for this verse, even though quite often I forget it's promise.

I was reading the news and came across the story that Owen Wilson had attempted suicide. My first reaction was what reason could he possibly have to do that he has everything. Then the Lord whispered to my heart. . . "Does he really?" Then He brought to mind a time that things were so dark that I felt I had no where else to turn. Let's pray that Mr. Wilson finds a place to turn, to the Healer of hurts, the Lover of souls, the All in All.

I am thankful that in my time of dark and swirling despair that Our Father was there, even though for a while I couldn't seem to find Him.

What do you do?

What do you do when faced with a decision and there is no clear leading one way or the other? Do you continue to wait? I suppose I just answered my own question.

Ode to a dishwasher

Well I seem to have MUCH MUCH less time these days. With Homeschooling I am now minus 6 hours give or take, a day. So now I need a new dishwasher. If it isn't one thing. . . . well you know the rest. I spent much of the day yesterday looking online at portable dishwashers. And the winner is. . . .

Hot, hot, hot.

I know everybody is saying it but darn it, it sure is hot. We went for a nature walk the other morning and it was 85 degrees at 9:00 am. Needless to say being the delicate flower that I am (ha, ha) I turned those kids around and marched them right back home. Seriously, I was beginning to wonder if global warming was real for a while. Then I got to talking to my next door neighbor and he said that this summer reminded him of summers when he was a kid. We broke a record here in Kentucky the other day. The most consecutive days in the 90's or higher. Yesterday we broke a record temperature that was set way back in 1888. Well there was no global warming in 1888 was there. So I still really have a hard time believing in global warming.

Here is a tree we saw on our nature walk. We were really looking for birds, but for some reason they wouldn't hold still. It couldn't have been the fact that the kids were running and hollering and generally acting as if they had never been outside a day in their lives, could it?

Still here. . .

I'm still here I've just been trying to get this homeschool thing going. While I was gone I found this . . . as the person who sent it to me said "I dare you not to cry. . ."

Charlotte Mason to the rescue

I have been swimming around trying to keep my head above water. I knew that I wanted to give my kids a home education with substance. I looked at the ABeka curriculum, the Bob Jones curriculum, etc. The ones that are used in our local Christian schools. I'm just not really a fill in the blank kinda of girl. I wanted a curriculum that would make my children think. One that would be well rounded with art and music, latin and so much more than these curriculum offered. Don't get me wrong, we are going to be using the ABeka math and I'm still looking for a handwriting program that I love, but I wanted more than just reading, writing, and arithmatic.

Enter Charlotte Mason and http://amblesideonline.org/. I am really praying that this is what I have been looking for. So far it looks very promising. I am super excited.

Does anyone else use Charlotte Mason?

Jeff's Birthday

Today would have been my brother Jeff's 37th birtday. He passed away almost 4 years ago. I really miss him.

Homeschooling my crazy kids

Ok, we've been doing "informal" homeschooling all summer. You know finding learning wherever we were. We looked at the beach and learned about dolphins. We watched the space shuttle and learned about rip currents at the beach. We named lots of different birds in Florida that we don't have at home. This week was the week to knuckle down and hit the books. I think my kids thought that homeschool was going to be all field trips and fun, which we will do plenty of, and no books.

Well since the weather has been 100 degrees or more in the shade I decided that it was time to come inside and get some of the serious things out of the way. Hey, I must tell you that I prefer the "informal" myself, but I can't have kids who can name EVERY bird in the whole world and not be able to read or add. I just had to seperate them all. I put them together and they play and nobody gets anything done.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Count your blessing Monday

Count your blessings with us. Go on over to http://amazinggrazefarm.blogspot.com.

Today I am counting as my blessing our family vacation. We had a wonderful time.

Farms Questions Part 1

I want a farm. I want to be able to raise chickens and cows and grow enough vegetables and fruits to almost sustain us. So my question is what is the right size for a farm to be able to do that? Should it be 10 acres? 20? 30? I have no experience with this sort of thing but I know it is something I want very much. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

Home again

More pictures to come.

Leaving Tomorrow

I'll be leaving for vacation tomorrow. I will miss you all. Have a great week while I'm gone. Lots of pictures when I come back.