Warning, an animal is killed in this post.

I did it! Dalen didn't video me because he didn't want to add anymore pressure. If you listen closely you can here him giggling at the end when the deed is done... I'm now calling him the unwilling farmer :) If you're wondering why Shane is pulling so hard to get the chicken off the block it's because I didn't sever the esophogus, but I got the part that counts and the chicken didn't suffer even though it may look like it did!

Okay I like animals, if you've known me for long this may be completely shocking to you. Why am I excited about killing a chicken? Well for one it was eating our eggs and you just have to get rid of them. Above all else these animals (which I really do adore) are for eggs for my family (whom I adore more). I want safe nourishing food for my family. So I have chosen to keep egg layers and learn how to butcher for the 70 meat birds I have coming. As we speak there are five turkeys in our back room who will one day feed us and hopefully others.

We simply cannot afford to buy chicken or turkey for our growing family, for some people the solution is to stop growing the family, for me it's to start growing our food. You gotta do what you gotta do.

If you're wondering why I'm so happy in these pictures, it's not because sometime died, but I am thrilled that I know I can kill something for food! If you still think it's aweful. Then we can just agree to disagree :) For those of you who are interested here are more pictures.

After the chicken was plucked in Shane's great whizbang chicken plucker... Dalen sure was interested in it I'm hoping that means I'll be getting one in the next few years.. if you're wondering what a whizbang chicken plucker is you can go here to see it in action.

Trying to get the guts out... it's really not easy at all. They are really attatched in there ;)

Shane giving me a hand.

See the egg on the left there.. and beside is are some yolks. This was a layer so she had her little egg factory inside. It was really cool to see all the yolks that were being made to be our breakfast... too bad she was eating them before we could :(

This is a look inside of the chicken. All of those yellow dots are yolks. There were SO many of them!

I'll be cooking this hen in the crock pot tonight. I'm very thankful for God's provision :)

Next up... hatching out some layers and in about two months we'll be butchering 70 meat chickens!

Truck got Stuck

This one's for Tom... if you're out there somewhere!

So Excited! Praise God!!!

We have officially raised enough money for Luogon to go to school next year!!! We received a donation today that topped it up and I am SO SO thankful to everyone who helped towards this goal!

Next up $300 to pay his rent. We need to get this money together by July. It is a big work but I believe God is faithful and able...

and so does this guy!

My letter to Luogon today.

Blessings to you Luogon!

We are rejoicing today for our Son/Brother in Africa! Today Luogon my Mom said to say hello and gave us the last of the money that we needed to get you into school! Praise God Luogon because he knows you and cares for you! He is moving the hearts of many for you and your friends in Africa! I wish I could give you a huge hug! I feel like we have achieved a victory!

But don't stop praying! We are now going to raise money for your rent. Our goal is to pay for one room. Pray that God provides for more than that! Tell the young men you are with to flood the gates of heaven! We may be far away but God has given us a love for you and the young men you are with. Pray Boys! Continue to read the bible together and PRAISE GOD! Sing with loud voices! We are singing too and our songs will fall on God's ears together!

Make plans Boys! Give all that you can to those around you, your needs will be met! Serve as Jesus served and we will do the same!

Little Emma is praying for you Luogon. She wants to meet you. She wants to see her brother in Liberia. She has hope for you and so do I!

We love you!

Mom Sarena

Update on Luogon

Here is a link to a blog post that Karen Barkman from Provision of Hope did about Luogon and the boys that he is living with. Please check is out and share it with as many people as you can.


http://www.provisionofhope.com/blog/?p=256


As of now our fundraising total for Luogon is $313.50! I am so excited that we are so close to the goal of $400! I have a new goal though. I want to raise another $300 so that Luogon can pay for a year of rent. This would be for a room that would be big enough for another two boys to live in. After that of course I'll want to raise some more for food... But baby steps people :)

I just realized something the other day. I have never touched, smelled, or felt poverty. It isn't real to me. I am probably too fortunate for my own good. In my day to day life, what Luogon and so many others are facing, it just isn't real to me. God has been opening my heart to it though. I'm starting to realize.... someone's life is on the line. In our culture if someone is going to have a baby and they don't have much for that baby, what do we do, we dig through our old baby clothes, some buy things, some make things. We make sure that baby has WAY more than it needs. We have food banks and welfare.

Luogon has had no parents since he was 5. Imagine your children/siblings when they were five. Now imagine them alone. On their own, no one to hug them, or wipe away their tears. Lost and without our love. Now imagine that they have no food. And they grow up this way. They are in a home with two adults... now imagine that soldiers come, the round all of the children up, the point guns at your children and yell at them... your precious five year old child. They take other children, put guns in their hands and teach them to kill.

What would you do to free your child from that? I would give my life.

These boys are grown now.

They grew up without the love and touch of a mother.

They were not afraid of monsters or shadows. They feared gun shots and starvation.

I used to judge people who would plead for money for "starving children".

Now I am one.

I used to think that they were just trying to guilt your money out of you.

Now I know.

Someone has to help these kids. And according to God, WE are those someones. Ask God today what you can do to help. He doesn't say "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress if you feel that you can spare some extra change right now, or if you have some free time."

I'm pretty sure he didn't forget that part :)

Be creative, this doesn't have to look the same for all of us. Please, ask God now, what he wants you to do.

Thank you.

Just need to add the buttons!

Yeah, this isn't working.

Blogging that is. Well blogging works fine but not in correlation to anything else in my life like house and children. So I'm done for now. I am officially pausing my blog. You will get occasional updates on Luogon and the kids and my extreme chocolate binge that I'm having. it's really okay, it's better than my voice box megaphone.... nevermind.

So it's abrupt but it's not the first time.

Talk toyou later!

Friday

Travis is our portrait guest this morning.

Breakfast

Homemade hamburger with white bun and a little bit of cheese.

Lunch

2 helpings of spaghetti and 1.5 pieces w.w. toast

Dinner

Chicken wrap and helping of spaghetti

Snack

Popbottle gummies

orange

Exercise

We spent the better part of the day helping Jaclyn with her greenhouse. Shoveling and carting buckets of mulch! I felt so good last night and I still do... accept for my hip and shin that I just bashed into and open drawer. I LOVE open drawers!

And now I'm forcing myself to eat something when there is just so much to be done. And I'm sewing for mother's day!

joe a wrap and some black bean hummus

I look like a boy when I eat.

Thankfully I'm starting to look at the the morning picture as kind of a challenge to see how bad I can really look. This is me eating my morning wrap.

So this is what I ate yesterday.

Breakfast

My morning wrap

WW tortilla

2 eggs

lettuce

black bean hummus

homemade mayo

Lunch - My mom brought lunch

2 peanut butter and honey sandwiches

2 of those round stick cookie things with chocolatey stuff in the middle

a gazzilion 2 bite chocolate macaroons.

Dinner

Roast

Yams (I LOVE YAMS!)

Carrots

Corn

Snack

And orange and a few gummy frogs

So how am I doing? Not great, but better now that I was able to get some groceries. Am I dissapointed in myself? Nope. I'm doing my best with what I have. I have no self control so that's something I'm working on. But I feel like I really am doing well compared to where I was a month ago!

And now my dear friend Laura is on her way to take all of my children but Travis for the day so I can get some work done... pictures to come :) (no it's not sewing)

Oh and one of my chickens is broody so Jaclyn hooked me up with some fertilized eggs and I'm hoping she'll hatch them! We'll see I'm trying not to get too excited about it.

tuesday may 5th

3 WW Tortillas
2 eggs
1 chicken breast
2 carrots
mayo
hummus
lots of lettuce
little frog candies (like 15)
a bunch of watermelon
Apple juice

Starla came to my house and did all of my laundry. What a blessed woman!

I am in a huge hurry to get house work done before my mom comes for lunch.

welcome Bennet Rooker! I can't wait to see pictures!

Monday, May 4th

I deffinately didn't do any exercise yesterday. I had a fussy baby and no motivation. but good news! I lost four pounds! 197 it is!

Breakfast/Lunch

2 poached eggs

1.5 pieces whole grain bread

1/3 cup chili

2 cups mango/strawberry smoothie

Dinner

5 pancakes (1/4 inch thick and 4 inches in diameter)

Maple Syrup

1/2 cup sweet and sour hamburger

1 cup white rice

1/5 small pieces of bacon

Snacks

10 little gummy frog candies

2 handfulls of salt and vinegar chips

Orange

Not eating breakfast is really wrecking me. I end up being much more hungry in the evenings.

Dalen started my chicken tractor!!! I'm so excited, I ordered our meat birds on Saturday 70 chickens and 5 turkeys!

An e-mail from Luogon

I am so excited that Luogon is able to e-mail me. This is however very costly for him so please pray that God will continue to provide so that we can stay in touch.

Here is an e-mail that I received from him.


Hello mom . I just want to take this time to extend my thank and appreacation to you .Iam willing to work but it is not easy here in Liberia for me to get a job at this age.Here in Liberia you get a job if you are in colage or have a paper that you are out of hight school.I still have two years to get out of hight school and now I don't have a ducament to carry to any prenticeship for work. The Bible studies is progressing .I has been looking for ROOM and all the room I form cast TEN US DALLORS PAIR MONTH. which means a year will cast ONE HUNDREN US D. I love you mom .my time is out GOOD BYE.YOU SON IN LIBERIA LUOGON WIEBE

The first time Luogon wrote and called me Mom, I wept. I have learned that this is something fairly common there, they seem to call any women who show them love Mom. I can understand when you've been without one all of your life. He also refers to himself as Luogon Wiebe when he writes to us. There was a time that he asked us to adopt him. It was very hard to tell him no and I'm sure he was broken hearted.

I love this boy!

Why three is the best age.

Ephrim (very randomly and out of the blue) "Mom if we had 15 babies you would have a lot of privates"

Me "What?!"

Ephrim "You would have a lot of privates because 15 is ALOT of babies"

Me "What?! Who would have more privates?"

Ephrim "You would cause that's ALOT of babies"

Me "Do you mean for feeding all of the babies?"

Ephrim "YEAH!"

Thankfully it doesn't work that way.

Thursday April 30th

Travis was seven weeks old yesterday! So instead of a picture of morning joy from me you get some eye candy of him ;) Some of the pictures are not the best angle but he just won't smile at the camera so you godda do what you godda do!

Peace

Talking to Grandma Wiebe, he smiles the most for her. She is commited to the cause ;)

Sleeping again. I love a sleeping baby, for so many reasons!

I sneezed and he didn't like it at all!

Oh! Doesn't that just you want to pinch kiss him!


Okay so I will be working on a post about what I'm doing in more detail over the next day or two. I thought that I would also include my to-do list for you so you know what else I do with my time, other than pinch cute babies!

So what I ate yesterday.

Breakfast

Nothing again. I know, I know! We had to get groceries yesterday and left as fast as we could. We were gone all day.

Lunch

2 grilled chicken ranch wraps from Tim Horton's

Snack

4 slices of watermelon at 5:00

Dinner

Homemade Hamburgers with oat flour and flax

The fixins' (Ketchup, mustard, homemade mayo, lettuce and tomato)

Burger first bun (I got these half price for quick sale at superstore. This bun was really good but more calories than a normal bun because while it is a lot thinner than a normal buy it's bigger and denser.

Snacks

3 pieces Amish Friendship bread from Carla, my neighbor who loves us with baking :)

An orangeg

Granny Smith apple with peanutbutter.

Okay so the day was great other than the not eating enough and the 3 slices of friendship bread. 1 slice would have been better but apparently my body was very hungry still and my self control was dwindling.

So my list for today.

Pack away all winter shoes/boots

Make cookie dough for auction

Make Patty's hammock

Mail Patty's hammock

Drop off cookie dough

Everything else that my day entails... including comforting a fussy baby and feeding him.