College Group Ministry

Our college student talks about the people she meets at school all the time! She's excited that the college ministry at church is growing (she's the VP) and she likes spending a few evenings each week hanging out with her new friends. They sing worship songs together, they watch faith-based documentaries together, they read through the Bible together, they go out to eat together, they play pickleball together, and they came over to our house for dinner and a bonfire together, too :)

We hosted the same day I noticed the chicken coop needed repair. Caelan assured me that college students are always running late. Lol, I was still covered in chicken dirt when they started showing up 15 minutes early! Buck wasn't home yet, stuck in a traffic jam, so I jumped in the shower as college kids poured through the front door. Caelan thought maybe a dozen would come; we had closer to 20! It's a good thing Buck double bought burgers and buns and chips for our family, because we had to bust into the reserves to feed everyone! Just look at all those cars :)

They played badminton, and did their Bible study after dinner. It was a perfect night as far as the weather goes, so roasting marshmallows and making smores was a great early-fall activity (good thing we bought extra of those supplies, too!) It was pleasant to open the windows and screen door and hear them singing together from the top of our hill. I remember how much I enjoyed college ministry when we were in CA . . . only then we were the age of the students, and now we are the age of the students' parents, whoa! In fact, a couple kids stayed in the house to talk to me and to Buck because they seemed to be missing their families and needed some "parent time." They are a great group of kids, and now I can put faces with names as Caelan talks about her group. We hope to invite them back again in the future! Caelan said it was one of the most fun nights they'd had :)

Ooops!!

Well, I guess it's for sure a good thing that this blog is not chronological anymore, because I totally thought I'd included all of Buck's pictures from our CO trip, and I did not! He took a bunch of extra, intentionally, so I'd have lots to blog with . . . and I didn't post them past the first day (forehead slap emoji). He didn't say anything either, so I'm glad I caught my mistake. Here are Buck's trip pics . . . taadaaa!

The little stick house the kids built five years ago is still standing!

(I'm told this one was staged :)

Football Games

The boys' football season is in full swing! We missed a couple games while we were on vacation, but we're trying to get to all of them we can now that we're back (there aren't very many games, or teams for that matter, to play). Brennen started out starting for both JV and Varsity, only he has to play offense for one and defense for the other. I'm not sure where that stands going into the third round of games, as he mentioned coach said he wasn't needed, position-wise on Varsity any longer (which made him happy, because he wants to play defense for JV with his brother and buddy C). So, we'll see how the rest of the season goes :) Graysen was just happy to get cleared to play and also that the coaches let him play despite not being able to practice for much of the season so far. The splint is off now, so look out world!

We've had pretty good crowd attendance from friends and family so far! It's fun to cheer the boys on, and the weather has been good for football! Looking forward to the next games on the docket (well, except that the games are over an hour away, we have to leave before 8 a.m., and the kids have homecoming the night before--and I'm their driver). And it's an all-day tournament that I need to pack food for. Other than that though . . . lol!

Re-entry

Oh, Muriel . . . we left for church and came home to this :( We took a few card games and a puzzle with us to the cabin in a paper bag; Caelan took a few card games to her college group in a plastic bag. I set both on the floor near the fireplace to put away when we got home. Muriel shredded both of the bags, then busted into the games, and shredded them, too. Seriously. Some of the games were pre-nibbled by Chauncey and I'd printed replacement cards on our printer and wrapped them in tape. But STILL! I was annoyed until I saw that she also chewed a blue pen . . . on the carpet . . . then I was mad. She had a blue snout and blue paws, so it was for sure her. Caelan was able to get the ink out. Our pastor's son helped with the card clean-up, and I went in the kitchen and scrambled two dozen eggs for their lunch. Oh, Muriel.

It took about four days for me to feel better from the cabin crud. I didn't eat a whole lot during the recovery process and maybe wasn't so sharp on my balance. I reached down to unplug my phone from my nightstand; the phone shot out of my reach, so I bent down from a sitting position on my bed to grab it. Well, I did an  unexpected gymnastic move and felt the back of my head crack hard on the edge of our dresser as I fell. I kicked over the nightstand on the way down, and then just laid there for a few minutes hoping no teeth were broken from the impact where I saw a line of golden, yellow stars. Oh the goose egg that followed! Caelan took this pic of the red line that marked the goose egg (and lasted several days). I was supposed to drive the boys to football practice that night, but thankfully our pastor offered to take them instead. Oh my goodness the headache that followed--and nausea, but that might have been left over from the cabin crud? IDK. I don't think I had a concussion, but it's been a week and it is still tender to the touch back there on my noggin. From a not-so-relaxing vacation to a not-so-relaxing return, it was a rough couple of weeks! I'm sure glad we still have the bean-filled ice/heat packs my mother-in-law gave us YEARS ago, I couldn't have kept a solid ice pack on my head for very long. Ouch!

Graysen went up to check on the chickens and noticed that all their food had been kicked(?) out of their food boxes--it covered the ground like an expensive food carpet. What on earth? The chickens have never behaved in this way before. It was a mystery--maybe the baby chickens would get into the feedboxes (not sure how?) and scratch out the food? Well, when I felt up to it, I went to investigate. That's when I found several holes in our chicken wire!! Feathers everywhere, but no birds missing. Our egg count had been pretty low, so likely something was sneaking in and stealing--but found enough food (since Caelan didn't get up there every day while we were gone) that it didn't go after the birds. She and I got out some tools and additional chicken wire and patched up the ripped parts as much as we could. We've also tried refilling the food buckets and the food isn't getting spilled on the ground anymore. We're still not sure what got in, but both Buck and I went up at different times with a flash light (soon after the fix) and heard something run off up the hill. Our neighbor shot a coyote the same morning I found the coop damage, but I can't imagine a coyote could fit through (or make?) such a small and perfectly round hole. Perhaps a fox? Hopefully, we didn't trap whatever it is inside . . . I don't think we did, there haven't been any additional proofs. Only two dead voles, one in the dog house coop and one in the ragweed garden. Ahh, farm life ;)

The baby chickens wanted their picture taken by the hole in the fence. They are survivors! Ha! Also, they better hurry up and lay me some blue eggs because they've been old enough to be able for about two weeks now ;)