It's Spring!

Spring is such a wonderful season for declaring God's glory. I went outside today and took some snapshots of the beautiful flowers and greenery.

My very favorite tree.

It is almost 15 feet in circumference!

The deep green of the forsythias is so rich against the red barns.

The peaches are just starting to grow.

One of five peach trees. The Lord has provided us with fruit at our new home.

Beautiful purple vinca

We have several different kinds of azalea bushes

Baby pears

We have three pear trees

 I also recently planted Liberty and Granny Smith apple trees

Three apple trees were already here

Apple blossoms are so pretty

Some are white and some are pink

What we call "helicopter" seeds

Bunches of little white flowers

A caterpillar nest. When I was younger I collected thousands of caterpillars each year.

Blackberry bushes. We have quite a few of these

Our wonderful red barns

A very well-pruned dogwood tree

I am not sure what kind of bush this is, but it is gorgeous

At long last, here is a promised picture of our new home

This is probably my favorite shot

My mom found this tiny nest on the ground. Perhaps it is a hummingbird's nest

I cut the grass in the field today

I hope you enjoyed these little snippets of our new land. For us, these things are so very precious and new. God is so awesome! As Psalm 66:1-4 says,

"Make a joyful noise unto God, all ye lands:
Sing forth the honour of his name: make his praise glorious.
Say unto God, How terrible art thou in thy works! through the greatness of thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee.
All the earth shall worship thee, and shall sing unto thee; they shall sing to thy name."

Baby Chicks!

Last Monday we received our very first baby chicks!

Ever since I was very little I have wanted to raise chickens and live on a farm. Now my dream is coming true. God is so very good! If all continues to go well, we will have ten laying hens and plenty of eggs for family and friends. The breed we chose is called the White Leghorn.

Isn't this rooster such a ham? lol!

They are a ton of work, but the Lord has been faithful to use this experience as a teaching opportunity. Through what seems like almost constant care of the chicks, I have been learning more self-discipline. It is hard to be consistent in changing out the bedding, water, and food, as they seem to make messes constantly. However, through it all, I have learned to be self-disciplined, which could prove a very useful asset it the future (and at present, too). What a blessing it is that big things come in small (and sometimes really cute) packages. 

Enjoy the photos of the chicks below. When I took these pictures, the chicks were about three days old. Now they are almost two weeks old. They are still really cute, though!

I will be posting about the progress on our "Back to Eden" project garden soon!