I’m not going to get into a long discussion on courting vs. dating tonight, but did want to share a little insight with you.  The boy’s character study this week was focused on loving your wife.  I went ahead and took over teaching that one.  I may not know exactly how to do it, but I try hard.  We got into a long discussion on what courting was and ow it differed from dating.  We looked in the Bible at husband and wife relationships and talked about how they honored or sinned against God.  Sampson & Delilah, Adam & Eve, Boaz & Ruth, Job & his wife and Lot and his wife.

We then moved on to identifying characteristics of a good wife or things we should look for in a wife.  We talked about outward appearance and inward traits.  B1 started out with she needed to be a Christian.  B2 followed with she must be in Church.  Then back and forth with she needed to like kids and a few more.  The boys got quiet, obviously thinking hard and B2 blurted out, “not have a criminal record.”

Needless to say, it has been a fun discussion.  I’m pretty sure we won’t let him forget that one any time soon!

This morning we said “so long” to our temporary pets.

As strange as it was hearing the sound of chirping in our house all day long, it’s going to be even more strange not hearing it.  We had grown quite close to our 10 fuzzy friends who were quickly trading in their fuzziness for real feathers.  They had gotten brave enough to fly out of their temporary holding box (that we moved them to while we would clean their brooder box).

But tonight our house is feather free.  No more cleaning chick poop multiple times a day, no more watching them jump over each other to get to the food, or seeing them drink water (the cutest thing ever).  No more being concerned with the temperature of their box, no more incubators, and no more starter food.  It’s amazing how after one short month of caring for eggs then chicks, we could have all gotten so attached.  But all is well.  The kids (and possibly the adults also) learned so much during this embryology project and everyone had a great time even though some work was involved.

So please if you ever get the chance to participate in a project like this, do it.  You may be a little sad when it’s time to say goodbye, but the experience is priceless.

So our chicks have been hatching over the last two days.

It’s amazing, the whole process.  I’d have to say that both the adults and children in the house have been in awe just watching everything take place.

Here are our first four chicks to hatch.  We have lots more now, ten to be exact.  I will take more photos of all of them at some point, they’ve kept me pretty busy today though.  But they are cute, so that helps, and the kids adore them.  If you ask the kids who’s spent the most time watching the chicks, they would tell you Mawmaw.  I think she kinda likes them, you know for now.  We’ve noticed that having chicks around the house causes you to have super sensitive bird hearing.  I hear chicks in the car when I’m driving, David hears them at work, and B1 thought he had one following him outside.  It’s odd.  More to come on the chicks later, but for now I’m tired.  Have a great weekend everyone!