Gooser's Ideas

Let me tell you first why we are calling my portion Gooser's Ideas.  When I was a little girl (and even still to this day) I liked to be very silly.  My mom always called my silly goose and well... the name has stuck.  I like my nickname, I think it's cute.

Chicken Day!!!

I was so excited to finally have our chickens.  We got five of them, and I loved them.  Their names were Blueiette, Blackiette, two Fluffers, and Softy.  My mom says I can have Softy, she has feathers that are soft and look blonde (like me!).  The chickens seemed to like the coop Daddy built.  We had our friends over and we all chased the chickens and they ran.  Mom told us not to chase the chickens because the chickens will learn to be afraid of us.

The next morning they gave us EGGS!!!!  I was so happy.  We had to leave though to go to Friday classes, I was sad to leave the chickens.  We put them in their coop to keep them from getting picked up by hawks.  Later that day we came home, we jumped out of the car and ran back to the coop.  We opened the door and... Softy was dead.  I kept my tears in at first, but I wanted to cry.  Blackiette and one of the Fluffers was breathing hard.  We brought them inside and put them on a towel.  We put icepacks on them and started squirting sugar water in their mouths, then Fluffers made some awful choking sounds then her body stopped moving and her eyes closed.  She was dead.  My mom looked online, she figured out we could put water on the chickens so she started squirting Blackiette in the sink.  She made some gargling sounds put her head back and died.  Stevie and I started crying and screaming.  Mom called Dad to tell him the news, she was scared to tell him.  Then we started begging mom to get chicks, but Mom said, "No, no, no, no, NO!"

After a couple minutes, we went to the feed store... and Mom got us three chicks!!!  I love them! Their names are Butterscotch, Butters, and Racer.  Back at home, mom cleaned the dead chickens.  I was grossed out.  There were feathers everywhere! In the sink were the heads of the chickens and blood.  Then my mom started getting everything out of it's body.  There was blood everywhere now.  We found what would have turned into eggs inside the chicken's body.  They were round with red vein things.  At the end of that night, I went to bed alright with knowing that the chickens were dead because we had the baby chicks.

Lessons learned:
Do not leave chickens in the heat!
God doesn't always say yes when we ask for something (I had prayed that He would save the chickens)
Baby chicks are cute and sound cute!
I will never clean out a chicken!

Mom's Musings

CHICKENS!!!

A few weeks ago some of our friends offered us five chickens that they could not longer keep.  We have talked about getting chickens so we took them up on their offer.  My husband then spent all his free time building a beautiful chicken coop, a design he came up with on his own.  I am so proud of the finished product!

The chicken day came and my kids and I headed over to their town to pick up our chickens.  They were beautiful!  We loaded them into a dog crate and drove them to their new home.  Proudly we showed them the beautiful chicken coop that had been built just for their pleasure and safe-keeping.  The kids adored the chickens and named each one.  We looked forward to morning to see if they would give us any eggs.

The next morning, bright and early, the kids and I got up and headed out to see if there were any eggs.  There were two beautiful ones waiting just for us.  We were thrilled!  Sadly, that day we had to leave our chickens for a couple hours to attend some of our homeschool group's classes.  After letting the chickens run around the yard for bit, feeding them a delicious breakfast of dried meal worms and lettuce, we packed the chickens up in their coop for safekeeping from hawks and headed out.

The day was extra warm and we headed home a little earlier to check on the chickens.  It was too late.  I opened the door to the coop... two chickens stood to greet me but three chickens did not.  Two of those later chicken were breathing fast shallow breaths... the other one wasn't moving at all.  I started yelling for the kids!  I opened up the back door where the still chicken lay, she was dead and stiff.  I grabbed the other two chickens and headed indoors where our AC had kept our home cool.  We packed ice all around their hot bodies, their heads were burning up!  I mixed sugar water and using a syringe, started to squirt sugar water down their throats.  My son was screaming for me to save them and take them to my hospital; my daughter was praying for a healing from the Lord. It was a very loud, very traumatic scene.  I was vacillating between extreme anger at myself for causing this and sadness that we had lost a chicken and it was looking like we were about to lose two more.  I also was wondering how I was going to tell my husband and our friends.

***Due to the graphic nature of the pictures (because we did take pictures) I will not share the pictures that pertain to this part of the story with you.  But, for those of you with strong stomachs and curious minds I can share them personally with you :-)  ***

I think one chicken had a seizure, she let out a squawk, her head jerked back and forth a few time, then all was still.  My son's screaming reached an even more fervent pitch as he gently held her head and I pronounced her death.  I then went to work on the other chicken.  I decided to try dousing her water and getting her to the sink started spraying her down with cold water and continued the sugar water down the throat.  She started shaking the water off her head and I thought she was coming around.  Then she quietly laid her head down and closed her eyes and all was still.  I felt hot anger creeping up my neck, then severe sadness and guilt.  I grabbed my phone and ran outdoors to get away from the shrieks and crying inside the house.  I called my husband.  After telling him what had happened through my tears he told me very matter-of-factly, "Well Babe, looks like you need to figure out how to clean chickens."  Let me tell you now that my husband grew up in a small dessert town where farm animals were more a norm.  I grew up in Southern California where the only farm animals I saw were at a petting zoo or shrink wrapped in the meat section at the grocery store.

I took a big gulp and told myself that I could handle this, but first, I needed to buy baby chicks for my very distraught children.  We loaded up in the suburban and headed around the corner were we bought three baby chicks.  The girl who helped us was the same girl who helped us the day before when we were buying the chicken feed.  She was dismayed to learn that three had already died and confirmed that yes, they should had been left out, chickens are very heat intolerant.  Lesson learned.  After picking out their cute new feathery friends, we headed back to the house where the big job waited for me.  I set-up the pack-n-play (because doesn't everyone put chickens in their pack-n-plays?) lined it with plastic and got the baby chicks settled in their new home then headed to the kitchen.

Racer

Butterscotch

Butters is the white one on the end, she poops a lot, the kid's said she is mine.

With advise from my mom and YouTube I was able to de-feather and de-gut three chickens.  By the third chicken I was ready to make my own YouTube video.  There were feathers and guts everywhere.  One side of my sink had three heads and 6 feet in it, the other side was splattered with blood.  My kids were slightly grossed out, slightly enthralled at this new process.  My husband was beaming with pride at his wife for cleaning chickens and forgave me for killing them in the first place... and for buying three babies that are now going to live in the living room for the next month.  Our friends also took the news alright, extended grace, forgiveness, and correction and we still remain friends to this day.  And we are still getting eggs from the survivors!

Lessons Learned:
Chickens are heat intolerant.
My kids were able to see death right up close. Something we are very sheltered from in this society.
Does God always answer prayers... yes, sometimes his answer is no, a great lesson for my kids.
Baby chicks are very cute and make us laugh.
My new nickname is "Killer"
Making bone broth makes your home smell delicious
Homemade chicken and dumplings are very tasty

They like to stand at the back door and watch us... they are kind of like dogs! 

* Some chickens were hurt and even killed in the making of this blog post.

Welcome Back!!!

WoW!!!  It's been a long time since I even looked at my blog!  I few years actually!  Abby is now 7 years old and we have added Stevie, 4 years, to our family!

We also made a big move to Southern California, I have graduated nursing school, and we are busy homeschooling!  Whew!

The reason I am looking into getting back into blogging is actually more for my daughter.  She has an interest in writing, picture taking, and being creative.  I felt like this could be a great way for her to put all those skills to work.  She is currently wrapping up her second grade.  This blog will help her hone some writing, punctuation, composition, spelling, grammar, skills... and all while (hopefully) making it fun!  We also have so many wonderful things going on that I think it would be a blessing to share in what ways God is working in our lives.

Some posts on here will be from me, Mom's Musings, and some posts will be from Abby, Abby's Ideas.  I want the focus of the blog to be life's lessons.

We hope you learn, laugh, and cry with us as we continue on this journey of our Wonderful Life.   

Welcome back!   

I found a job!

Hooray!!! I found a job! I did two days of hard searching and God brought me to my new job. I am now an employee at Macaroni Grill!!! I am very excited about the team that I am getting trained with and the management at the restaurant. I think I will really enjoy getting out of the house a couple nights a week and meeting new people.

So that's what we are up to now! I am still babysitting during the day and I might be getting a new little baby soon! I'm super excited about that! Abby is trying out new words every day and that's super funny! Although it's not too funny when she yells,"No No No No!" (we are working on that :-)

Becky just graduated from Focus on the Family. It's an amazing semester long program. It's like studying abroad but not in another country, rather they study in Colorado Springs at the Focus on the Family head quarters! I got to fly out for her graduation. Abby and Eric stayed behind. This was the first time I had left Abby! It was weird and really hard at times (and then she got super sick while I was gone!) but we got through and I think she has forgiven me now.

And today is Mother's Day! I was awakened to Eric and Abby kidnapping me and taking me to breakfast! They had already snuck out of the house and cleaned and gassed up my car. So sweet!

Happy Mother's Day to all Mommies out there! You have the best and most important job ever!

A Journey

"Come to me (Jesus), all of you who are are tired and have heavy loads, and I will give you rest." Matthew 11.28 

I had to start out with this verse because it is the perfect example of what our family has been like this past week.  God has been faithful to His promise and through this storm He has given us rest.  I'd like for this blog to be a testimony to His faithfulness in our lives.

This particular journey began Friday, February 6,2009 at 6:30pm.  I had an appointment with my midwife to have an ultrasound so we could see our 11 week old baby that was growing inside of me.  However, the ultrasound did not go well.

After spending much time searching, the baby could not be found!  "How could this be possible?!"  I asked my midwife in desperation, "I have had all the perfect signs of being pregnant!"  My midwife gently and lovingly told me that it was possible, the situation is called a blighted ovum.  The baby stops forming a few days after conception, however, the body continues on as if it is pregnant, even having morning sickness, and fatigue.  It is a very strange thing that happens but not all that uncommon, so I have learned.

To us however in that moment, our world did a flip-flop.  I felt numb as we walked to our car.  "How could this be happening?  My slightly bulging tummy had no baby warmly nestled in there?"

That night in the shower I started banging my fists on the walls and crying out to God, "WHY?!? Why are you letting this happen a third time?!"  That's the moment I realized that Jesus was right there crying just as hard as I was.  His heart was just as broken as mine.  As I saw this picture in my mind a wave of guilt hit me and I asked him to forgive me for my anger.  In the Bible it says, "In this world you will have trouble, but take heart, I (Jesus) have overcome this world."  I then saw that this pain I was feeling is because we as humans invited sin and death into this world.  God had make a perfect world for us, but because of our desire to be like God, we destroyed that perfect world.  Thus the reason Jesus came!  To save us from this world of hurt and sin and give us hope of Heaven where we can live with no hurt or pain.  If God stopped all bad things from happening on this earth, then why would we hope for Heaven?  Having all this realization rush over me gave me great peace and strength to face whatever was coming in the next few days.  How little I knew then how much I'd need that strength.

Monday morning dawned with my body giving me the signs that it was preparing to miscarry.  The finality of everything hit and fresh tears came.  After letting my parents know, they decided my mom would come be with me.  That was a huge relief for me!

The day passed slowly with me having lots of cramps but otherwise nothing seemed to progress much.  My mom arrived that evening and I think Eric and I breathed a collective sigh of relief.

Tuesday seemed to be going just like Monday.  I was getting confused because my other two miscarriages had gone much quicker, lasting no more than a few hours.  My cramping was terrible but that was about the only thing my body was doing.  Nothing was starting to pass.  We decided to have an ultrasound done to confirm what was going on.  My midwife referred me to an ultrasound tech who actually comes to your home.  That was a huge blessing because I in no way wanted to be out in public.

That afternoon the tech arrived.  After setting up the equipment we got ready for the ultrasound.  Immediately a tiny baby appeared on the screen.  I felt the air leave my lungs as I tried to focus on that little baby.  It seemed the world was spinning.  "I thought there was no baby!" my mind screamed!  "What is going on?  Is it alive?"

The ultrasound tech took some measurements then turned to me, "Heather, I'm sorry, your baby did not make it."  The words hit me like a ton of bricks.  It was almost more than I could handle.  First, no baby, now there was a baby, then a glimmer of hope, then the awful truth.  The measurements told us that the baby had lived until 9 weeks.  (I was supposed to be at 11)  The placenta and sac were all still neatly in place.  With my body in terrible pain from such strong cramping I began to be discouraged that this miscarriage was going to take a very long time.

I didn't have long to wait however.  Everything broke down quickly and that night the process of passing everything began.  Without going into details, I will just say that it was extremely painful and I lost tons of blood.  But with God's strength and peace, and my mom, I got through.

Wednesday was spent trying to keep me warm, fed, hydrated, and in as little pain as possible.  I had lost so much blood that it made me freezing, weak, and tired.  But in my spirit I felt like I could start healing.

Thursday I awoke with more strength (and was not as cold.)  Trying to get some strength back I did some dishes and wiped down the counters.  Was that energy I felt?  Hooray!  My friend Krystle came over for lunch and we spent an hour talking and laughing.  She left and my friend, Angie called to check on me.  As I was talking to her a cramp suddenly hit.  It kept gaining in intensity and I finally told her I had to get off the phone.  I dropped to my hands and knees and made my way to the bathroom, calling for my mom as I went.  The pain grew worse and worse and I started getting dizzy.  With my head down I frantically told my mom to call our friends, the Turners, to come get Abby.  I didn't want Abby to see me in such pain; I also needed all my mom's attention.  I couldn't handle sitting anymore and my mom helped me to the floor.  I curled up in a ball.  All my insides seemed to be exploding.  I knew something was terribly wrong.  All I could do was cry and bite my pillow to keep from screaming.

When Annette arrived, my mom and her decided they could not get me down the stairs to the car so they decided to call 911.  Before I knew it I was surrounded by men in dark blue.  I tried to answer their questions and submit myself to all the moving and poking they had to do.  All I wanted was Eric.  Annette got him on speaker phone and I begged him to come.  He said that of course he would!  After more questions and an I.V., I was taken down to the waiting ambulance.  The neighbors were all out and I covered my face with my blanket.  The trip to the E.R. was fine except for my mom spilling my Gatorade all over the ambulance control panel :-) Sparks did not fly and hopefully everything still works.  

At the hospital a blood test and ultrasound was done.  Slowly over time my pain had eased up.  The end conclusion was that possibly I had had to pass one more thing and my body had cramped up trying to do that, or that a cyst on my ovary had burst.  Whatever it was... it hurt.

Today is now Saturday.  One week since this roller-coaster began.  I truly feel that the only way I didn't go crazy was because I had God's peace in my heart.  When all else seemed to be changing or hurting, my heart had peace.  Today I am still having some pain, headaches, and weakness but I think the worse is over.

Thank you everyone who has prayed.  Your prayers have carried us through.

No Computer

Hello everyone! I don't have a computer right now...sorry. Thus the reason for my lack of blogging. This afternoon though I am having some good computer time at our friend's home while we watch the big game...GO CARDS!!!!

Anyways...I thought it would be a good time to let you know that we are expecting! I am 10 weeks now which is a good start! My ultrasound a couple weeks ago looked good so we are encouraged. We are still praying hard for our little baby! My due date is Aug 30th (I was due the 29th of Aug with Abby...weird!) Maybe out first two will have the same birthday! Well, we are just super excited and I'm a bit pewky. That's a good sign though! (I try to remember that when I'm bent over the toilet :-/

Funny Story! Today I had to remove the contents of my stomach before church. Abby happened to be accompanying me that time and she didn't quite know what to think! First she laughed, then she went over to her little potty bent over and started spitting into it! Awwwww!!!! I'm teaching my daughter how to throw up! I was mortified and laughing all at the same time! Hope that wasn't too much of a TMI story but I just thought I'd share :-)

Anyways Eric and I are excited to be doing a class together. It's called Financial Peace University. It's a money program designed by Dave Ramsey. We are excited to finish paying off our student loans this year, Lord willing, and build our savings.

Abby is non-stop movement all the time. She is a ball of energy and fun! She especially loves being outside at the park and has no fear climbing up to the tallest twisty slide and going down by herself. At the top she always turns around and waves at me, then she claps for herself at the bottom. Oh she makes our life so full of fun!

There's a little update from the Smiths! Please keep our little baby in your prayers.

Dishes

Doing the dishes can become quite a project when there are little girls in the home who are so excited to learn and help out! One of Abby's favorite things to do is sit in the sink while I wash dishes. I give her her own rag and she picks out her cups from the hot, bubbly water and pretends to wash them. Even after I finish all the dishes she can sit in there for about 15 minutes more, just playing with the water, which gives me a chance to do some good cleaning in the kitchen.



The other night I had Abby's two cousins, Alena and Sophia, over for a while so their mommy could have a chance to grocery shop. I started doing dishes and everyone wanted in on the fun. I had some help with washing, drying, and Sophia just hung around and oversaw the whole process.

It was definitely quite an experience with all three. (I hope those dishes were washed well.) It's a bit distracting trying to keep an eye on everyone while I work. But it's totally worth it! The girls are learning how to work and they are so excited about it. (hopefully that will stick :-) I want to encourage all the mommies out there to slow down their work pace and include their kids. Everything may not be done to the level of perfection that you like, but what's more important, a squeaky clean counter and floor or precious time spent with your child? I choose allowing Abby to help out. I hope you do too! Blessings!