Happy 5th Birthday, Maggie!

Today, dear daughter, you turned 5.  Five.  F.I.V.E.!!  Where has the time gone?!

I love your words, such big words you use for such a little girl (like 'apparently', and how you are 'quite thirsty'), I love hearing you read, I love the way you snuggle into me when I sit next to you on the couch, I love how easy going you are....so unlike me, but I'm learning from you :)

I could say a million things, but it's only what there are no words for that I want you to know the most.  I want you to feel what my heart feels.  I want you to know the feeling of overwhelming thankfulness and joy that I get by being blessed to be your mother.  I want you to know that seeing your face first thing in the morning makes me smile, and that first hug I get each morning from you is better than any old cup of coffee at getting my day started right.  You, my baby girl, have a place in my heart like no other.

Happy birthday, sweet Magdalene Jean...you are my heart.

2014 Cushing Year In Review

Here it is...when I start putting this together at the end of every year, it seems like such a monumental task to sort through thousands of pictures, edit, order, pick music, transitions, etc.  BUT, every year it brings me to tears to see how blessed and beautiful our year has been.  God is good!

Homeschooling tidbits

Ahhh...the joys of homeschooling.  A conversation in Trader Joe's about 'hummus' vs. 'humus'...complete with a spelling analysis of the words, and a comment by Charlotte on why we are so glad it's NOT humus in those containers.

Oh, and yesterday my 4 year old walked around the house talking about igneous rock.  :)

LOVE seeing them learn!!

Stay tuned...the wrapping of King Cluck coming soon...

Chicken mummification - part 3

Here is King Cluck 11 days since the last salt changing:

He looks pretty good!  No liquid in the bag this time! Smell was about the same, not great...but really not bad for a chicken left out for 16 days!

Here is Charlotte changing the salts:

Same process was followed, dump out all the old salts, rub on more spices, add new salts and seal him up again.  He weighed 3 lbs 3 oz this time, was 3 lbs 13 oz eleven days ago...so he's losing weight a little slower now.  It's been a total of 16 days, so 24 more to go!

Chicken Mummification - Part 2

Chicken mummification continues.  He has been named King Cluck by the kids :)  I was supposed to wait a week, but seeing the liquid in the bag grossed me out and I just couldn't take it anymore.  I decided the chicken's salts must be changed.

It wasn't nearly as gross as I was expecting.  The feel of the chicken was certainly surprising to me...it wasn't squishy anymore at all.  It felt more firm, lighter, and ...leathery? Smooth?  It's hard to find the right word.

Photos would not capture it, only video would do...here are three videos in sequence documenting tonight's changing of the mummy salts :)


IMG 2669 from Sonia Cushing on Vimeo.

IMG 2670 from Sonia Cushing on Vimeo.

IMG 2671 from Sonia Cushing on Vimeo.



 And here he is, all tucked in for another week:

Chicken mummification - part 1

We're studying Ancient History this year, and we've decided no study of ancient history, particularly ancient Egypt, would be complete without mummifying something.  So, here's our chicken mummification project...we just started this morning and I'll be updating each week as we go along.

First, mix equal amounts of baking soda and salt.  We used 2 lbs of each this morning.

Then take your chicken out of the package, make sure all giblets and innards are removed...we chose to use a store chicken instead of one from our flock.

Dry the chicken off thoroughly.

Cover with some spices to mask the smell as the flesh decays.  We used cloves and cinnamon.

Fill the cavity with the salt mixture.

Place the chicken in a ziploc bag, and surround with salt mixture, making sure to get under the wings and legs.  I double bagged.  I'm not taking any chances.  

Then I placed it in a tub just in case of in case.  

Now we need to change the salt mixture weekly for 5 weeks...ewww...I only wish I could relay smell through this blog.  Y'all would be in for such a nice treat next week :)

Corn!!

Fourteen dozen ears processed and in the freezer today. So fun, and so blessed! 

Boundary Waters bound!

Mason and Charlotte will have their first Boundary Waters experience this weekend! I believe this is a first for Jerry and Josh too, but I'm so thrilled that my 'bigs' get to have this experience with them! It's a little scary to see them go, but knowing they are with Matt and Jerry and Josh means I know they will be well looked after. Most of all, I'm glad they are always in the hands of our loving Father, and that they will get to have this time of fellowship with family. Prayers for a safe trip, good weather, and lots of fish! :)

First day of school!!!

Everyone was up on time...dressed, hair combed, beds made...we even had homemade donuts for breakfast. And then took pictures. We did spelling, grammar, math...ran an errand...sang songs, learned about pyramids, Old Testament history, Greek word origins, and made a new roost for the coop. Doesn't it all sound perfect? It was...but don't worry...it won't last. Day 1 is always the easiest :) 

Hatching

Well, we bought an incubator, hoping in the long term it will pay off helping with our egg-layer flock rotation.  Our first hatching experiment was this:

Day 1, we set 20 eggs.

Then, we let them sit...I only opened to add water occasionally to keep the humidity where it should be (40% or so).  

Day 14-ish, I candled the eggs.  I only removed one that I knew for SURE was not fertile.  I suspected others were not as well, but I wasn't confident in my candling abilities, so I left some of them.  Here is a cool video of candling of one of the eggs when I saw the chick move:

IMG 1604 from Sonia Cushing on Vimeo.

Day 20, one day before scheduled hatch...we saw a few pips!  This one is tiny, but you can see it if you look close :)

Day 20 - Here is a video of one hatching.  I apologize for the loud fan noise!

IMG 1679 from Sonia Cushing on Vimeo.

All in all we had 10 out of 20 eggs hatch.  One that hatched died a few days later, and an eggtopsy revealed one fully formed chick that just never hatched, and several that had started to develop but quit at some point.  About 5 of the eggs appeared not fertile (in total, including the one that I had removed on day 14.

Here are the one day old chicks (and kids!): 

 Here's Maggie with Lucky, our little sick one that never did make it. 

 This last one is a buckevelder (daddy was a Buckeye, mama was a Barnevelder...perhaps our lovely Blizzard that has since died).

Aren't they adorable?!  They are the fastest chicks I've ever seen...seriously, we will definitely name one Bullet...or Lightening...or Speedy :)

And here they are at nearly two weeks old! Feathering out nicely!  They got new bedding and a small roost today too, they are quite happy.

Egg candling - day 13

Tonight, I candled the eggs in the incubator.  I think 5/20 are not fertile/viable, but I only pulled one from the incubator based on what I saw.  I'll let the kids do an eggtopsy tomorrow and see for themselves.

Now, are you ready for some cool stuff???  Here's a video, and if you watch closely you can see the baby chick moving inside the egg...so amazing!!

My bad...

I know...I say I'm starting my blog...then I abandon y'all.  My bad.  I have SO much to blog about, I get overwhelmed, and don't know where to start!!

Highlights lately:
We got an incubator, put 20 eggs in it, and I just candled today (day 9, I think), and I only candled two, and they are both fertile and growing well!!  So exciting, it's a total miracle from our backyard...hatch date is June 5th.  If we actually get baby chicks I may just explode from excitement!

We are done with school, and the kids had a fabulous year!!  I was packing up all our stuff, taking a sampling of the kids' work to put in binders, and Mason got all sentimental watching me do it.  He said "Mom, I had so much turn with school this year!  I can't wait to start Creation to the Greeks!" (that's our next year's curriculum).  I asked him "Have you ever been this excited or happy about a year of school before?"  He just gave me a wide grin and laughed "Noooo." :)  It's so wonderful to see them learning and thriving.  BUT, we're definitely going to enjoy summer before starting back up!

Speaking of summer, my garden is one of the things I've been SO excited about.  However, I'm apparently no good at starting plants.  Thankfully, I have a dear friend (hi Mary!) that is fabulous at starting plants!  She gifted me with 18 tomato starts for our garden.  Today we are tilling up the rest and will be finishing our planting this week.  Yay!  Now we just pray that the chickens and deer and other critters don't eat it all before we get to it!

The kids finished AWANA and I guess we never realize how hard they work and how much they enjoy it until awards night.  The kids never cease to amaze us.  Isaac got a special award for always coming and being prepared with his verses and giving such a good effort.  Mason got the honor award for the 3-4th graders for a good attitude and effort!  I see my kids through my eyes ... but seeing them get awards for being hard-working and kind ... how others see them .... makes my heart want to burst.  God is so good for guiding us and leading us in how to parent these four beautiful souls...and for working in their hearts a desire to serve Him!!

My brother, Jay, got married a couple weekends ago.  I have a new sister, Jamie,...and she's so so wonderful!  I couldn't have wished for a kinder, more beautiful, perfect complement for my brother.  We had so much fun seeing so much family at the wedding, there's never enough time in one weekend to catch up with everyone, but we enjoy every moment we get.

My niece, Brianna, graduated from the nursing program at U of MN...with high distinction!  I remember watching her as a baby, and now, I got to see her graduate from college.  It's so wonderful to see family growing up...and she's grown into a beautiful, smart woman...with a good head on her shoulders, ready to go wherever God leads.  It's amazing to witness what God is doing in someone else's heart, and life.  Sometimes we really just have to sit back and realize all the work He is doing in the world, and people, around us.  We each have our calling...we just have to listen to what it is He wants from us.  All this growing up of family, though, certainly means I'm not getting any younger!  :)

So, that's life in a nutshell now that school is out...house chores, outside chores, playing games with kids, watching the nature around us (indigo buntings, orioles, pheasants, turkey nests, morels, wild strawberries, beautiful wildflowers, etc), oh, and this week, bartering has apparently come into my life.  I traded eggs for fresh goat cheese (mozzarella and chèvre!) and fresh cow's milk. Life is very, very good!

Pictures next time, I promise!  :)

Broody hen round 2 fail & Rooster Protection

Somehow Henrietta escaped her nice enclosure yesterday and couldn't get back in.  She roosted last night and we gave up on the eggs.  Today,  I collected only 9 eggs from her nest.  She did sit on them this morning, but was off them when we checked on her and she just wanted OUT.  We had given her 10 eggs originally...and it appeared one had either broken or exploded as some of the others had 'egg matter' on the shells.  So that could be why she abandoned them.  Out of sheer curiosity, I had to crack them open.  At least half of them were perfectly healthy and viable for 10-11 day old eggs.  So that's sad, but that's nature...and it's not even that since we had her caged up...but oh well.

In the meantime, Rocky has gotten aggressive, and Maggie is not happy about it.  Here she is, with big brother in one hand, and a big stick in the other...and always both eyes on Rocky.  I explained the behavioral differences between boy chickens and girl chickens today to her, so that she knows God made Rocky to behave different than the hens...and that's why the hens won't ever hurt or attack her.  I think she felt better :)

PS: Yes, right next to the house is their favorite place to dirt bathe...

Broody hen - round two

This time we've cordoned her off in her own space so there's no confusion about which nest is hers. Every morning she wants out and eats some scratch, some grass, stretches her wings and legs, and wants right back in with her eggs-ten of them. Hatch date should be May 12th! 

Haikus

Today's lesson included haikus as we're studying Japan. Today's haikus from me, Mason, and Charlotte are below.  Can you guess whose is whose?

Pine Tree
Tall and majestic
Standing silent and alone
Dropping cones by me

Ice
Chicken coop frozen
But the birds don't seem to care
Spring will be here soon

Flower
Brown, yellow, orange
Silent as the sun shines on
Pretty, bright flower

Why I was sure I didn't need to be saved...

If you've been following me for any amount of time, you know my biggest love in this life is my Jesus.  But it wasn't always like that.  There's definitely an old life in my past, and the new life I have now.  This post is going to focus on my old.

I grew up thinking I had to be good enough...for what?  I'm not sure I even always thought that I needed to be 'good enough' for heaven, an eternal bliss.  I just knew I needed to be good.  Then I learned of 'mortal sins' and the fear of going to hell told me I needed to be good enough to earn my way...to pay for my ticket...into heaven.

Through high-school and most of college, Catholicism was all I knew.  My spiritual life consisted of rules and rituals.  It was the dominant religion of our community...sure I knew a few Lutherans, but that was about it. THEN, I met some born-again Christians and my world changed.  Sure, it mostly changed at first because of the amount of tracts I received in my birthday and Christmas cards.  They all said the same thing...that I needed to repent, to believe that Jesus lived, died, and rose.  Yeah, yeah...I got that.  I was Catholic...duh!  Hadn't these Christians ever heard us recite the Nicene Creed?!  That was all I could think!  I believed that God was real, I prayed to Him regularly, I went to church, how could I NOT already be saved?  I didn't need what these Christians were pushing...I didn't want to be like them.  My life was good!  I was sure I didn't need to be saved...whatever that really meant.

Then I married a Christian.  But I didn't really even know it.  Turns out His walk with Jesus had taken a pit stop, which, I suppose, worked out quite well for me in the end.  He told me he grew up occasionally going to a Baptist church, all I cared about was that He believed in God...sure that was important, but I was in LOVE!!  However, in the course of dating and the first few years of our marriage he started to talk to me about the Bible.  He read his Bible regularly.  This guy was different.  And I loved him.  He wasn't preachy, he didn't give my tracts in my Valentine cards.  No, this man exuded kindness and love.  I couldn't help but want to learn more.  We talked about spiritual matters, and I thought we were on the same page for the most part.  He was saved when he was young, but that didn't mean anything to me...I was still sure I didn't need to be saved.  I LOVED Jesus after all, didn't I?  Same difference!!

Well, turns out it's not the same at all.  I realized that being saved was giving my heart and my LIFE to Jesus Christ.  The one who came and died for me.  Yes, I believed he lived, died, and rose...but I realized that wasn't enough.  It wasn't about a religion and rules...it was about having a real relationship with Jesus Christ.  Think about that.  A relationship.  I can believe in my neighbor, that they live next to me, their names are Mr. and Mrs. Smith, they have two kids and work at the hospital in town.  Just knowing that about them doesn't mean I have a relationship with them.  This is what I learned with Jesus...it wasn't just about knowing about Him.  I had to have a relationship with Him.  So, I let Him move into my heart, take over my soul, and be.my.life.  I could finally breathe.  I had no more questions.  No more ugly holes I tried to fill with earthly things/people/relationships.  I had a big realization, my PRIDE had gotten in my way all those years.  To admit that I was wrong, that it wasn't the same, that there was something MORE, that I was WRONG, so wrong for so many years.  Pride.  It's an awful roadblock to so much happiness.

So, I turned into that pit stop with my husband, and we started out on the road together.  And I'm thankful we'll have an eternity to spend together in heaven.  I'm thankful that I've been saved from my sin, saved from an eternity in hell.  So what did I have to give up to be saved?  My pride, that's about it.  But now you're thinking I have to go to church three times a week, etc...I have to change how I live if I have to put Jesus first, right?  This is going to be hard to believe...but I DON'T!!  The thing is, I don't go to church any more than I want to.  I don't read my Bible anymore than I want to. And I get to do all the things I did before I was saved as much as I want to. Sweet, right?  The only difference is, I can't imagine NOT going to church at least three times a week.  I can't imagine not reading my Bible, I can't imagine making the same choices I did before I was saved.  It's not a choice anymore, when you give your life to God, you WANT to do what pleases Him, and it's effortless.  I have a fire in me to learn His Word.  I can't imagine getting out of bed each day without giving it completely to my Lord and Savior.  Does it mean that I don't sin?  Ummm...no, far from it, but it does mean that I don't want to. But I'm human, of course I screw up.  However, now I know that my sin doesn't separate me from God indefinitely...I don't need to worry IF I can be good enough to make up for it.  I know that God will forgive me when I truly repent, and that my faith in Jesus Christ and His gift to me means I will never have to be separated from Him.

Never.

That just will never cease to amaze me.  I was sure I didn't need to be saved...but little did I know, I really did.

No chicks :/

WARNING: half formed baby chick photo is included in this post afrom one of our hatching eggs. If your squeamish about such things, please slowly step away from the blog...

We have passed hatch day, and for those looking to see what happened, nothing did! The day before hatch Henrietta left her nest, she refused to sit anymore. So I took the eggs and candled them all, and found only a few that *might* still be viable. No wonder she left her nest, they were all bad eggs and she knew it! I give Henrietta a lot of credit for an early, first-time, broody hen. So we stuck the remaining eggs under a heat lamp (without success-it was our last ditch emergency effort!), and the kids decided to crack the rest open to see what was inside. Most we're just gross, but this one was pretty cool: 

Certainly this egg was way behind in development and would not have been a baby chick in two days from this photo. We shall try again when we get another broody hen. We are more prepared and knowledgeable for next time, and hopefully will have a lot more success!! 

Happy Birthday, Maggie!!!

Shame on me for not posting this sooner!!!  We had a HUGE birthday here on Feb. 17th...our baby turned FOUR! The night before I tucked her in, and I told her I had so much fun with her when she was three, and that I would never again be tucking my three year old into bed.  Too much mama drama for her...oops.  She started crying and said she didn't want to turn four and that she wanted to stay three.  I assured her three was awesome, but four was going to be even better...we would have lots of fun with four.  She agreed and went to sleep.

We had big plans for her birthday, it was a Monday, and Matt had off work because it was Presidents' Day.  We were planning on going up to the cities for some fun, but the weather had other plans, with a blizzard on the way, we stayed home - snowed in - for a fun day together.  

She woke up to balloons covering the floor in the hallway as she got up.  She had decided the night before she wanted cake and bacon for breakfast.  Here she is with her cake shortly after waking up (it was a chocolate mud cake...who wouldn't want that for breakfast!!) 

And, in true Maggie fashion, she ate her cake first to save her bacon for dessert :)  She then opened her presents...a long list of things she had wanted...and thankfully enough stuff to keep her busy for our snowy day.  She got a bouquet of beautiful flowers (which she had to put on her nightstand), markers, fancy scissors (scrapbooking ones), her own construction paper and two other kinds of fancy paper, glitter glue, Hello Kitty hairbrush, two rolls of her own tape, a puzzle, a Hello Kitty coloring book, a Lalaloopsy paint with water book, and her own...her very own...pink John Deere baseball cap....which of course she had to wear while on the tractor helping Daddy clear the snow from said blizzard.

So, I spent my day doing puzzles, crafts, drawings, painting, and hanging out with the coolest four year old I know... and it was the best 'snow day' I've ever had :)

Happy 4th birthday, sweet Maggie, you are my heart....

Math!

The time has come.  My 4th grader is doing math I need to refresh myself on, and some of it I'm learning for the first time!  Did you know there's an algorithm for finding the square root?  I always just got close with whole numbers and estimated the decimals, or used a calculator.  Mason will be learning to find the square root of any number using this algorithm before the year is up...fun stuff!!

In case you're curious, here's the link on how to do it: http://www.homeschoolmath.net/teaching/square-root-algorithm.php

In other math news, Isaac learned to borrow today (I guess they call it 'regrouping' now).  He did it without any tears, frustration, or confusion.  How??    Watch and see!  We use Math-U-See and we all love it!  I love watching my kids learn...so fun!!  Isaac only used the blocks for the first 5 problems or so, then he ditched them and breezed through the rest of his problems.  When I asked him how he liked regrouping, his response was "Fun!"

Bonus: While I was typing this, Isaac snuck up on me to give me a hug and whisper an 'I love you' in my ear.  Soaking it up!!  :)

Apparently you SHOULD count your chickens!

So, like I said, we just got a foot of snow.  A foot of wet, heavy snow...from a hefty blizzard.  The day of the blizzard it wasn't snowing in the morning.  It wasn't even snowing by lunchtime.  So we let the chickens out.  It was a gorgeous day, and the chickens were wandering farther than they had all year so far....

See where this is going?  Stay with me...

Snow started around 2 or 3pm-ish on THURSDAY, and our chickens hate being out in the snow.  We figured it was probably a good time to shut the chickens in, so Charlotte wandered on down with a fresh bucket of water, and shut them in for the storm.

See it yet?

Thursday evening we watched it snow, and snow, and snow.  The wind howled, and howled, and howled.  Friday we didn't venture out much...Charlotte took care of the chickens again, but other than that and Matt spending massive amounts of time clearing the driveway, we just didn't go outside.

Flash forward to today...SATURDAY.  We let the chickens out, collected eggs, brought them fresh water, and they all seemed happy and healthy.  Even Miss Henrietta (our broody) was still sitting away.  However, today as Matt rounded the corner of the garage around 1pm, he found something.

I bet you see it now, don't you :)

He found a chicken.  A chicken covered in snow.  A chicken covered in snow and ice that had been left outside during the blizzard...for TWO WHOLE DAYS.  She had ice and snow all over her face, back, under her wings, everywhere!  Matt brought her inside and I wrapped her up in a towel and stood with her in a sunny window to help the ice melt.  She looked healthy enough, surprisingly!  I stayed in the mudroom with her and after most of the ice melted off her I offered her some food.  She quickly ate.  Apparently she was hungry...very hungry!  If you look closely here, you can still see some ice in the middle of her back.  And yes, she is the same breed as our broody, but I'll assure you, our little clutch of eggs is safe and warm.

I kept her inside until her feathers were gooood and dry (maybe two hours?)...and by the time she pooped three times on my floor I figured she was healthy enough to go back to the coop.  She is one tough bird!

SO, I haven't counted my chickens before they've hatched, but apparently it's a good idea to count your chickens once in a while to make sure you're not missing one!  :)

The end.