Christmas is Coming (Already!)

 

Dear Friends,

It's cold outside! Just when we thought that summer was going to hang on forever, Mother Nature decided to put the AC on. We even had a little bit of snow this week, which is unusual for this part of Missouri.

Two of my girls passed their learner's permit tests and are now able to work on receiving their driver's licenses. Once they're done with that, I will only have one child left to teach to drive!

We cleaned our front room and put up the little pre-lighted tree, along with the garlands for the stair railing, etc., last Saturday. It was very eye-opening to see how much clutter and dust had collected under the couch since the last time we cleaned (I will spare you photos). With us all so busy running here and there, thank goodness for Christmas to have a chance to deep clean!

Mr. Graham has spent quite a few weeks suffering from a bad cold and pneumonia, so he hadn't been able to meet our daughter Tasha's new baby Gideon. He was very happy when he could finally hold the little bundle of joy! Children are such a delight and blessing, even though they come at great sacrifice.

I hope that you are staying warm if it's cold where you are, and if you're in the Southern hemisphere, I hope you're staying cool!

Many blessings to you,

Marqueta

A Little Chicken Catastrophe on the Homestead

Dear Friends,

Greetings from the Ozarks! I hope this finds you well.

The oak trees in our area have been getting diseases and dying. We had what looked like a nice healthy tree in our goat pen when we first moved in, under we were going to build a goat barn. Thank goodness we did not, because I noticed a few years ago that it was dying. It rotted quickly and I knew it was not going to be good when it fell.

One of the large trunks fell a while ago, crushing some of the fencing between the goat and chicken pen. Then this week, I had just gotten home from work and was washing the dishes when I heard a loud crash. Evangeline saw it from the upstairs window, and we both ran outside, fearing for the worst. Mercifully, the chickens were all still out in the yard, except for one hen that was broody in the nest box. 

 The nest box was completely destroyed, and the hen escaped with quite a few feathers torn off her breast and what looks like a dislocated jaw, but she seems to be doing all right. This chicken coop was the first one we built (with the grateful help of a few friends), and so was given the name "the old coop." Thankfully we do have other coops the chickens can sleep in until we can get it rebuilt.

We'll be heading to the building supply center soon for new lumber to replace the nest box, and sheet metal to replace the roof. The only dilemma will be, what do we call the "old coop" now? :)

Love,

Marqueta