Skater Guy, a Hen House, Some Chickens and Thanksgiving!

It takes an embarassingly L-O-N-G time to load these pictures with my wonderful dial-up that I am so very grateful for! Seriously! I know I snicker slightly as I type this, but I am CHOOSING to be grateful! Feels much better! :) At least we have internet! Which most of the time I think is a good thing! I have been wanting to post some of these though for quite a while. So today is sort of a picture "pot-luck"!

The first few are the last month at different times with my youngest doing what he likes to do best, well second best (he'd rather be on something with a motor and wheels, but that is broken and we can't find parts for it anywhere.) I just put some of my favorite here!

The one on the left is him with a new skate board his Dad surprised him with because he appreciated the manly way his son had stepped up to the plate the previous week. My husband had it specially made for him. Yeah, BIG hit!

The one on the right is just him getting some pictures made by his Dad for updating his myspace. It was a fun evening!

Yes, that IS a doublewide! I am officially Queen of the Doublewide! :) As a matter of fact, I had to laugh during the media frenzy against Sarah Palin. We were strong supporters for her campaign. And we fit the stereotype that the leftist media portrayed her supporters as in some ways. And that was Ok with us. Southern, Christian, Pro-life, members of NRA, homeschool family, creationists, lived a doublewide, and drive a 4 wheel drive. It doesn't matter to them that there is so much more to people than those statistics. OR that none of those things require an apology or shame. But, I digress! :)

More kick-flips or who knows. He tries to teach me the names of the moves...it all spells P-R-A-Y-E-R for me! I am sure you all can relate!

Here we have my pretty ladies. I have wanted to have laying hens for SO LONG! Finally, the "biddies" came in at the feed store this week. I just have six for now. I may get 4 more. We'll see how these do. I have to keep them inside under a lamp right now, because the weather is to cool at night for them They are just babies for now.

As you can see they're absolutley terrified of the woman with the camera and the flash! Yes, their living quarters are a mess. Within 20 minutes of changing the paper - there is a mess again! They don't know any better!

I just can't wait to have brown eggs for us and for our family and friends! No more buying organic eggs! I will have my own!

Right after we got the hen house back in January, my husband and his fellow officers working midnight shift captured one of the wild roosters running around down town in the St George Street area. They have been down there generation after generation since the Spanish settlers came! Anyway, Hubby brought him home to me. The picture on the left is early January the morning after he came home to us. I call that his early teenage stage. The one on the right is him today. He's looking good, huh? His name is Sam!

Here's the hubby and the hen house the day we got it! I was raised having chickens, at least when I was younger. We didn't have them when I was a teenager. And I have always missed them. I love the noise and the whole thing!

These are pictures taken by my youngest on Thanksgiving Day. You can see me as usual in mid-blink, which is my normal state for photos!

My awesome husband, oldest son, and my son's wonderful girlfriend, who we adore!





In case you are wondering about this "bird's eye view" thing going on, it's because the youngest is on the roof taking photos!

You know, as I type these bits of info, I feel led to say, that if you, or if you have a loved one who has, struggled with putting smoking behind. Be encouraged. Don't give up. Pray. Take steps towards your goal (if it's you). Don't quit trying to quit. If it's NOT you, don't nag, I pray. Don't, don't don't - resist all temptations to do so, even in the prettiest forms. Pray for them, pray, and pray, and love and love. It'll happen.

I say this because these photos occurred because the oldest and his girlfriend went outside to have their after dinner cigarrettes. We sort of ended up following them, after a discreet length of time so they could have their own conversation for a bit.

He wasn't raised to smoke. Anymore than I was raised to do some of the things I did when I was younger. I still remember when I found out he had begun smoking. It was on one of his quick visits to the house after he rebelled and moved out when he turned 18 (while still in 11th grade). I was HORRIFIED. It's almost funny now to think of my horror. There were so many more things I was going to be horrified at. This now seems tame!

I love this kid! This young man turned 25 on Valentine's Day! He has grown up so much the last two years. Well, really even longer than that. But, especially the last two. He is rediscovering his faith in the midst of some challenging, painful times. We are very proud of him.

He truly does have a sweet heart. What can you expect from a Valentine's baby?

He and his girlfriend want very much to quit smoking. They are making progress towards that. I included this picture to say that at one time this picture would have made me cringe. And I wouldn't have included it most likely. But, today - the things I have, and our family has been through in the last few years, all I see today is one of many sides of my son that I love. Yes, I can look at this picture and think "WOW!" I know him, he's my son! I can't believe we are sooo fortunate, his father and I!

Silly guys! Dad's giving him the obligatory rabbit ears. You know, once again, as I type I am further inpsired of the fact that if I feel like this about our son, what love must Our Father feel even as He sees us? We see our flaws - He sees The wonder that He has put inside us. He's not bothered by the same things we are! He is proud of us, He sees our worth, our beauty and our purpose! Praise God from whom ALL blessing flow!

As my youngest would say - Rock-On! Happy Monday, Ya'll!