Chicken vs. 5-year-old: Chicken wins

Some days (or weeks) it just doesn't pay to get out of bed, you know? Doesn't it seem that accidents usually happen at the worse possible time?

Wednesday my 5-year-old was in the chicken coop playing with the hens, like he always does. My older son and I were working in the garden and my daughter was taking some vegetables inside when we heard Adam, 5, start crying - one of those hurt cries. He came out of the coop, diligently remembering even in his pain to close the door behind him. He was holding a hand over his left eye when my older son and I reached him. I pulled his hand away and his eye was swimming in blood - you couldn't even see the pupil.

I can stay pretty calm during an emergency, but I can't say the same for my 12-year-old son, who started screaming. I had to very sternly say his name and give him a dirty look to get him to stop screaming. Then I calmly asked Adam what had happened. He had picked up one the hens, who had in turn decided to peck his eye out!

I picked up my "baby" and carried him inside. Still crying, he grabbed the door frame when I tried to go in. "No mommy, I'm still wearing my chicken shoes," he sobbed. I have taught the kids that the shoes on the back porch that they wear into the coop should not then also be worn in the house.

At that moment I didn't care, but he did, so I quickly tossed his shoes off. Once we got the eye flushed out with water and could see more clearly, it was evident that it had looked worse than it was. The hen had somehow actually grabbed his lower lid, causing a cut both on the outside and inside of the lower lid. Thankfully, the eyeball itself was untouched and he is fine.

But have you ever tried to explain to a nurse on the phone that a chicken pecked your kindergartner in the eye? The nurse freaked out more than I did and insisted I bring him in right away. Then I had to explain to the receptionist, then to the assessment nurse, then to the pediatrician, that Adam has been pecked in the eye by a chicken.

We live in the city, remember? Chickens are not common. Neither are eye peckings, apparently. Reactions ranged from looks of disapproval (or maybe my guilt complex imagined those), to horror, to laughter, to shock.

Even the pharmacist got in on it.

PHARMACIST: I see your son has been prescribed an antibiotic for his eye. Does he have pink eye?

ME: No.

PHARMACIST (with a perplexed look): Well, why would he need an eye antibiotic then?

ME: He got pecked in the eye by a chicken. They were worried about bacteria.

PHARMACIST (with mouth hanging open): Are you serious? By a chicken? In the eye? Are you joking? (And then, seeing my deadpan face): Oh, is he okay?

ME: He's fine. (snatches prescription and leaves).

Sometimes it just doesn't pay to get out of bed.

What a week!

My hubby works relentlessly every day at a job where he doesn't often feel appreciated. And when I say every day, I mean every day. In the past three months or so, he has only had two or three days off. This last couple of weeks have been extra hard on him, which makes my heart ache.

Today he went in at 6 a.m. But one of his employees didn't show up this afternoon, so Hubby is having to stay until midnight. Then he has to be back at work at 5 a.m. in the morning. And this isn't even a rare occurrence. He is running on empty and needs our prayers.

Our home life has been pretty chaotic this week, too. We have had Vacation Bible School at church every evening, and I am working feverishly during the days to do all my regular chores, tend the garden, volunteer in the church office and start putting together curriculum for the upcoming school year.

Did I mention that Hubby's car broke down? We hope to get it fixed in the next couple of days, but now my minivan is acting really weird. It's bogging down when you step on the gas and it is taking forever for the engine to turn over when it starts. We will get Hubby's car fixed, but we have probably spent thousands of dollars trying to keep my 1996 Nissan Quest running for the past few years, and it is on its last leg (or should I say tire?).

We are praying it will last until after Christmas. We hope we can start putting aside some money to buy a new one, but finances have a been a bit tight lately, too. And this is the month where we buy the kids' new homeschool curriculum.

And then there was the accident that sent us running to the pediatrician's with my 5-year-old (more on that later).

I am sitting at the computer trying to stay awake until midnight so I can go pick Hubby up from work. His car is broken down, remember? And I had to have the van to take the kids to VBS (I am helping teach, so we couldn't just skip a night).

Sorry for bringing you lovely readers into my pity party. I'm going to go pray now, and I will count my blessings. When I think of what others are going through it always makes me realize how lucky I really am :)

I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning.

Book Review: Painted Dresses

NOTE: This author lives about 20 minutes from me!

Painted Dresses
(WaterBrook Press - July 15, 2008)
by
Patricia Hickman

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Patricia Hickman is an award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction, whose work has been praised by critics and readers alike. Patricia Hickman began writing many years ago after an invitation to join a writer's critique group. It was headed up by best-selling author Dr. Gilbert Morris, a pioneer in Christian fiction who has written many best selling titles. The group eventually came to be called the "Nubbing Chits". All four members of the original "Chits" have gone on to become award-winning and best selling novelists (good fruit, Gil!).

Patty signed her first multi-book contract with Bethany House Publishers. After she wrote several novels "for the market", she assessed her writer's life and decided she would follow the leanings of her heart. She says, "It had to be God leading me into the next work which wound up being my first break-out book, Katrina's Wings. I had never read a southern mainstream novel, yet I knew that one lived in my head, begging to be brought out and developed." She wanted to create deeper stories that broke away from convention and formula. From her own journey in life, she created a world based upon her hometown in the 70's, including Earthly Vows and Whisper Town from the Millwood Hollow Series.

Patty and her husband, Randy, have planted two churches in North Carolina. Her husband pastors Family Christian Center, located in Huntersville. The Hickmans have three children, two on earth and one in heaven. Their daughter, Jessi, was involved in a fatal automobile accident in 2001. Through her writing and speaking, Patty seeks to offer help, hope and encouragement to those who walk the daily road of loss and grief.

ABOUT THE BOOK: In this story of sisterhood and unexpected paths, Gaylen Syler-Boatwright flees her unraveling marriage to take refuge in a mountain cottage owned by her deceased aunt. Burdened with looking after her adult sister, Delia, she is shocked to find a trail of family secrets hidden within her aunt’s odd collection of framed, painted dresses.

With Delia, who attracts trouble as a daily occupation, Gaylen embarks on a road trip that throws the unlikely pair together on a journey to painful understanding and delightful revelations. Steeped in Hickman’s trademark humor, her spare writing voice, and the bittersweet pathos of the South, Painted Dresses powerfully captures a woman’s desperate longing to uncover a hidden, broken life and discover the liberty of living authentically, even when the things exposed are shrouded in shame. If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE

Be careful what you wish for

It looks like our tomato crop won't be producing much this year - at least, not much that's usable.

We have been under severe drought conditions for the past year, and are on water restrictions. Last summer we were on restrictions that prohibited us from watering at all - garden, lawn, washing car, whatever.

So far this year we have been blessed in that we are allowed to water two days a week. Two days a week in severe drought conditions isn't' the best condition for growing a garden, but we were convinced that if we planted His seeds, God would bless our garden. And He has. We have had an abundance of squash, cucumbers, zucchini and banana peppers. We have cantaloupe and watermelon that is growing profusely and will be ready to pick any day now. The tomatoes were doing okay. We hadn't picked any yet as they weren't ripe, but we had plenty of green ones on the vines.

For months we prayed for rain. Our church, and I'm sure many others, would pray for rain in their weekly prayer meetings. And our local Southern Baptist Association got all the churches together at one time to pray for rain.

Ever heard that old saying, "Be careful what you wish (or pray) for?" Well, the rains came. Every single night for about two weeks. Not just light rains, but thunderstorms with hail and high winds. While we thank God for the rain He sent, it has not boded well for our tomatoes.

Because they weren't getting enough water, and then got too much water all at once, our tomatoes are suffering. As they ripen, they are splitting wide open. And many are getting "blossom rot," where they just start rotting from the bottom up before they even fully ripen.

So we won't get hardly any tomatoes. But that's okay. God has made sure we will have enough drinking water for the summer. I know it sound odd to worry about whether your town will have enough water to drink, but we were. Our town was so concerned, it has been trying for the past three or four years to talk neighboring cities into letting us pipe water from their cities to ours. But everyone else is in the same boat, and none of the other cities agreed.

It would be easy to focus on the negative here. We are still in a drought because the rain wasn't enough to get us out of the past few years of dryness. We won't get any tomatoes (normally our best crop) this year. The weeds are now growing like crazy. The rain and the heat combined to put the humidity at nearly 100 percent. The nightly rains put a damper on everyone's outdoor plans. The high winds weren't good for roofs or plants.

But instead, I choose to look at the bright side, namely that our prayers were answered. We have drinking water! The other plants are doing well! I didn't have to water with buckets for a couple of weeks. We were able to take "rain" off our prayer list! And we can always try to replant the tomatoes since we have a long growing season here in the south.

There will always be a few complainers, but for the most part the residents of our small city are very happy, and don't mind a bit that their outdoor plans had to be rescheduled!

Book Review: Promises, Promises

Promises, Promises

by

Amber Miller

ABOUT THE BOOK: Raelene Strattford knows God has promised never to leave or forsake her. But after the catastrophic deaths of her parents, she doesn t believe it. What kind of God would take a girl's family and leave her alone in a wild land where women have no voice? Gustaf Hanssen has admired Raelene from afar for a while, but his poor attempt at courting her in the past has made him unwelcome in her life. When Gustaf promises Raelene's dying father that he will take care of her, he finds himself bound to her happiness, her success, and her well-being in ways he never imagined. To keep his word must Gustaf really oversee all of Raelene's affairs, find her a husband, and maintain her farm, while she does nothing but scorn him? Can God reach through Raelene's pain and self-centeredness and give her the love that awaits, if only she will accept His will? If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE At this time, Promises, Promises can only be purchased through the Heartsong Book Club.

FROM THE AUTHOR: Hi, I'm Amber, but my friends call me Tiff, short for Tiffany, my first name. Writing had always been a hobby, a way for me to express my innermost thoughts and feelings in a way I sometimes find difficult with the spoken word -- although my friends will tell you 'shy' is not in my vocabulary.

Thanks to the gentle nudging of a fellow author -- Tracie Peterson -- in 2002, I took the next step in my writing career and joined the American Christian Fiction Writers. I owe all so many there a hearty hug of appreciation for their constant encouragement and unselfish assistance. I feel a lot more confident thanks to their support and love. For those of you who are also fiction writers looking for a wonderful support group, check them out! I got involved with web design in 1997, when I was asked to take over running the official web site for the television series Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. That eventually led to a series of negotiations where I was offered the job of running world-renowned actress Jane Seymour's official fan site. That has branched into doing web sites for a variety of clients, including: authors J.M. Hochstetler, Trish Perry, Kathy Pride, Louise M. Gouge, Susan Page Davis, and Jill Elizabeth Nelson, actor William Shockley (the voice of AT&T and Sony) and many others. With the help of a handful of other web site "technos," Eagle Designs was born!

Feel free to visit and see our other clients.Books are a definite passion. Why else would I be writing and publishing them? I firmly believe that a good book can take you away from all of your problems, into a world you've never seen. My favorite food is Italian; I sing all the time, and I once worked with my church choir to do a professional recording for a music CD of our performances. I am in my 30's, married the love of my life in July 2007, and live in beautiful Colorado, but I love to travel and visit new places. Ultimately, my dream is to own horses and live in a one-level rancher nestled in the mountains. For now, I will remain where I am and do what I love—design web sites and write.

From bad to good: banana bread

Last week Hubby brought home some very brown bananas that nobody wanted. I used them to make my favorite banana bread with this recipe from Hillbilly Housewife.

I made three full-size loaves for the family, and five mini loaves. Two of the mini loaves went with Hubby to work and three went to church with me on one of my volunteer days (our pastor, music director and youth director were appreciative). Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the finished product, but here's the batter just before it went into the oven.

Banana Bread

3 ripe bananas, mashed (about 1 cup)
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup melted margarine or corn oil
grated peel of one orange (optional)
3/4 cup orange juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder(1 tablespoon)
2-1/2 cups unbleached white flour or whole wheat flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Use a whisk to mash the bananas in a big bowl. A fork would work too, but a whisk is my favorite. Try to get out most of the banana lumps. Add the sugar and margarine or oil. Mix every thing together until it is smooth and satiny.

Next, shred the orange peel with a cheese grater. Try to get mostly the orange colored peel and not too much of the white or cream colored part. The orange part, or zest, is very tasty, but the white part, or pith, is bitter. Put the orange peel into the bowl with the banana mixture. Squeeze the orange into a measuring cup. Add additional juice or water or milk to make up 3/4-cup. Pour this in with the banana mixture. Beat the batter until it is good and smooth.

Next add the salt and baking powder. Mix them in and then add the flour. You may need to use a big spoon to mix the flour in, because the batter may be kind of stiff by now. Add a little more water or milk if you think you need it. Trust your own eye. Finally stir in the nuts if you're using them.

Turn the batter into a well oiled 9" by 5" loaf pan, or two 8" by 4" loaf pans. Bake at 350° for a whole hour. If you are using the smaller loaf pans, check it after 45 minutes. It cooks a little faster in the smaller pans. The loaf should be brown, crusty and fragrant when it is done. If you aren't sure, then jab a clean margarine knife down into the center of it. If the knife comes out clean, it is done. Remove from the pan(s) and cool.

To store it, double wrap it, first in plastic wrap, and then in tin foil. It freezes very well and makes a nice gift for unexpected guests.

Cute kittens!

Abandoned kitten update

The kittens we found abandoned a little over a week ago are doing great. We have progressed from feeding from a bottle and syringe to lapping formula out of a bowl. They are even eating some very tiny kitten kibble. Now if we can just get them to start drinking water out of a bowl, I can stop having to pay for and mix formula!

Litter box training is also going well now, although we did go through a rough few days when we first got them.

We named the sandy colored one Senora (sand: desert; get it?), and the orange one Pumpkin. Their personalities are starting to come out, too. Pumpkin is fat and always the first one to the formula dish. She is also very whiney and attention needy. She meows constantly. But she has the cutest wobbly walk and the fluffiest fur I have ever seen.

Senora is the more intelligent one. But perhaps because of that, she is more timid with the dogs (she's smart, she should be!). Away from the dogs, however, she is the most mischievous. She likes to play in the trash can and attack your feet when you walk by.

I wasn't in the market for any cats, but who can resist these 5-week-old cuties? I think we are going to keep them. You can expect to see a lot more pictures in the future!

Garden & harvest update

The squash and zucchini have finished their run. We will be planting them again. But in the meantime we are getting plenty - and I mean plenty - of cucumbers and green beans, along with some tomatoes and eggplant. The watermelon and cantaloupe are doing great but aren't quite ready to pick yet. We can't wait!

Sweet 16

Sweet 16

My beautiful daughter Alli celebrated her 16th birthday this past weekend. We intended to have an outdoor, causal "garden" party of sorts but got rained out and we had to move indoors. To help celebrate this milestone, we invited everyone who was important in Alli's life. That included all her uncles, aunts and cousins, as well as the youth group director and other volunteers from her youth group. The photos above are from her special day.

Although we are striving to become self-sufficient and believe that no earthly thing is more important than family, sometimes it really does take a village, doesn't it?

It's hard to believe Alli is 16 already. I couldn't ask for a better daughter. She is almost always willing to help around the house, and is always eager to learn new things. She enjoys learning not only her academic subjects, but skills that will benefit her after she has a family of her own. She will make a wonderful wife and mother some day, and I am making sure she starts out with all the skills I didn't have and had to learn along the way.

Years ago I pressured Alli mercilessly to go to college. It was expected of her. She had no choice. But during the last couple of years I have been learning - reading God's Word and learning - what is really expected of a woman (Proverbs 31, among others).

When I finally stopped to ask Alli what she wanted to do with her life, and not what I wanted her to do, I was pleasantly surprised.

Although she said she's not entirely sure (she just turned 16 after all), right now she is leaning towards a course of action. She wants to continue to homeschool and not graduate until she is 18 or 19. We got a late start homeschooling and she wants to make sure she has received all the knowledge she needs before graduating, even if she doesn't have to have certain courses.

Then she wants to continue to live at home while taking distance college courses, perhaps in the area of holistic healing or herbalism. When she meets the man God leads her to, she will marry and start her own family.

Now, all you feminists please don't go nuts on me. I know what you are thinking. I was there once myself. I understand this course of action is not what mainstream society thinks is normal, but I really don't care.

Alli has grown more spiritually in the past year or so than she has in her entire life, and I admire her greatly. I will be proud of her no matter what she decides her future holds, as long as she remembers to always put Jesus first in her life.

Squash Casserole

A couple of people have asked for my squash casserole recipe recently, so I thought I would post it. Sorry I don't have any pictures, I'll add them the next time I make the casserole.

I'm not a fan of onions, and this has a lot of onions in it. So last summer I tried to leave them out one time... and my husband and his friend decided it wasn't very good without the onions. But with the onions... it gets rave reviews.

Fresh summer squash is best, but I have made this with frozen squash from the previous summer's garden.

SQUASH CASSEROLE

• INGREDIENTS:
  
  2 pounds (about six cups) summer squash
  
  1/2 cup butter
  
  1 cup chopped onion (or just one onion - I don't really measure it)
  
  2 eggs
  
  1 cup mayonnaise
  
  salt and pepper to taste
  
  1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  
  1 cups bread crumbs (I don't really measure this either)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add squash and cook until tender (about 3 minutes boiling). Drain well.

Place squash in a large mixing bowl. Add butter, reserving about 1/2 a tablespoon, to the squash and mix.

Mix in onion, eggs, mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and cheese.

Transfer mixture to a large casserole dish (about a 1 quart dish).

Top with bread crumbs. Dot or sprinkle reserved butter on top.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes or so.

Nursing kittens

Just when we decide we don't want any more animals...

It doesn't get dark here during the summer until about 9 p.m. Last night the kids were playing outside. At about 8:45 Hubby looked out the window to see where they were because he was going to call them in. He saw what looked like a ball of orange fur up against the wire fence. He thought it was a dead cat. Then the ball moved slightly, and he saw that it was more than one ball.

Coming into the living room to put on his shoes, he announced that he was going outside to check on a litter of abandoned kittens. This caught me unawares as he had been inside since he got home from work.

Sure enough, we found two tiny kittens, apparently abandoned. They appear to be about four weeks old. Their eyes are completely open, but they are very wobbly on their feet.

Last night I went to Target and bought canned food for kittens. They wouldn't touch it or the evaporated milk I tried to get them to drink. This morning I spoke to a vet and went to PetSmart, where I purchased a bag of dry food for kittens ages 4 to 8 weeks and some kitten formula. Whoever thought I would be mixing formula again?

I know the kittens were probably nursing up to this point, but the vet said they should be old enough to lap milk out of a bowl. So far, the buff colored one has taken three or four laps and the orange one will only walk in it.

If they don't eat soon I'm going to have to squirt it down their throats. I've already spent $40 on them and don't want to go back and buy a nursing bottle.

I have no idea if we'll keep them, or what we'll name them. Right now we are trying to get past the "will they survive stage." They sure are cute, aren't they?

Love Starts With Elle by Rachel Hauck

Love Starts With Elle
(Thomas Nelson - July 8, 2008)
by

Rachel Hauck

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Rachel Hauck is a forty-something, a child of the '60's, '70's, '80's, '90's and '00's, who roller skated through the '70's into the '80's with Farrah Fawcet hair and a three-speed orange Camero. She graduated from Ohio State University (Go Buckeyes!) with a degree in Journalism. After graduation, she hired on at Harris Publishing as a software trainer, destermined to see the world. But, she's traveled to Ireland, Spain, Venezuela, Mexico, Australia, Canada and the U.S. from California to Maine. Rachel met Tony, her husband, in '87, at church, of all places. They married in '92. They don't have any children of their own, just lots of kids-in-the-Lord and they love them all. However, they do have two very spoiled dogs, and a very demanding cat.With a little help from my friends, my first book was published in ' 04, Lambert's Pride, a romance novel. My current release is Sweet Caroline from Thomas Nelson. Romantic Times Book Club gave both books their highest rank of 4.5 stars, with Love Starts With Elle being honored as Top Pick!

ABOUT THE BOOK: Elle's living the dream-but is it her dream or his? Elle loves life in Beaufort, South Carolina-lazy summer days on the sand bar, coastal bonfires, and dinners with friends sharing a lifetime of memories. And she's found her niche as the owner of a successful art gallery too. Life is good.Then the dynamic pastor of her small town church sweeps her off her feet. She's never known a man like Jeremiah-one who breathes in confidence and exhales all doubt. When he proposes in the setting sunlight, Elle hands him her heart on a silver platter.But Jeremiah's just accepted a large pastorate in a different state. If she's serious about their relationship, Elle will take "the call," too, leaving behind the people and place she loves so dearly. Elle's friendship with her new tenant, widower Heath McCord, and his young daughter make things even more complicated.Is love transferrable across the miles? And can you take it with you when you go?If you would like to read the first chapter, go HERE