The joy of the LORD...and an Egg {Free Copywork Printable}

It's amazing where the simple joys can come from. Here on the farm, we have a LOT of joys around us. We find joy in the smell of a summer storm. We find joy in the sight of the puppies tumbling over each other on their short legs. We find joy in the smell of fresh cut alfalfa hay. We find joy in the wobbling newborn calf. We find joy in the trickle of a stream that was dry before the storm. We find joy in the sound of the whirling wings of the hummingbirds at our feeder. Out here, there is joy to be found everywhere you look. 
Including... The chicken coop...

We find joy in our very first egg!

We didn't know it was there, until I went to make sure the coop was still watertight after our 2" of rain. I opened the roost door to make sure the sawdust was still dry and as I was closing the door, this beautiful brown oval orb caught my eye in the nesting box. What a smile it brought to the boys as well as myself. 

In that moment, joy was in the egg as we marveled at God's creation of the chicken!

And so, since I was messing around with new fonts and new border doodles, I decided to throw together a simple copywork for you. 

Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

~Nehemiah 8:10

DOWNLOAD NEHEMIAH 8:10 COPYWORK

Make sure you go and grab your zip file. I included three versions of the copywork. Two for cursive (with primary lines and with regular lines) and one for print (with primary lines). I hope you will enjoy using these and look for more being created over the coming months as I play around with new designs!

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There is joy to be found anywhere you look in the world. When you look for it, your sorrows begin to fade away. So look for the joy in your world. It is there if you will just really open your eyes to see. Even if it's just a simple brown egg.

Introducing Fresh from the Coop: A New Adventure in Chickens

Isn't it funny how the very things that we laugh about and point fingers at and say "I'm soooo not going to do that!" end up coming around and grabbing us later? I have loved being on the farm. I have had to learn about heavy equipment, John Deere, all things cattle related, and the country life. But the one thing I knew I never wanted to do was...chickens. I was fine buying our eggs from a local person. Let them deal with all the hassle. Not me. Then one day the boys and I went into Tractor Supply, not knowing they had their early shipment of chicks and ducklings...

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It all started like any other day of errands. The boys and I were just out and about. I decided I needed to pop in at Tractor Supply to pick up some diatomaceous earth for my garden. The boys and I meandered through looking at all the plants (I really wanted a raspberry plant) on our way back to the feed section. And then we heard it..."peep peep".

We couldn't resist the call and so we went to check it out and there in the back were brooders FULL of baby chicks and ducklings. Oh my. So adorable. I snapped a picture of the cute ducklings and sent a text to my hubby about the chicks and ducklings being so cute.

Imagine my surprise when Love-Of-My-Life sent me back a text that said: “Any layers?” I peered in the bins looking at their tags—me in my cluelessness only could tell him what they said. “Yes. Three breeds”.  Then I looked closer. Only one of the bins said they were sexed. I didn’t know a lot about chickens, but I knew what THAT meant. (snicker) So I told him that there was one bin that were sexed as pullets (clueless what this meant at the time) but were various breeds. Then he asked “how much?” So I told him.

Imagine my surprise when he says "let's get them."

Excuse me?

We have always avoided owning them, because well, we've been able to get eggs for about $1.50 a dozen from various chicken owners in the area. But lately, there was an egg shortage and we were buying organic pasture raised eggs at $6.99/dozen and that's a bit harsh on our budget. Our garden is started now too, and chickens are known for keeping your bugs down.

Anyways, I decided that it didn't matter that I was clueless about chickens---I was going to learn. So we left the store and zoomed to Walmart where we found a cute chicken coop. Now again--I'm clueless about chickens so other than saying "is this big enough for 6 chickens?" I decided it would work and we bought it. LOL.

So we returned to Tractor Supply and while waiting for help with the chicks, I started wondering what exactly I needed to bring home with me for these chicks. Um. Yeah. Totally clueless...but I figured they needed feed. Yep. Feed. And I remembered something called grit. But uh. Other than that, clueless. I called my hubby and he said not to get anything, because he was pretty sure we had some things at home up in the barn loft. So we got our six chicks and began our adventure...

diving for chicks LOL

a box of fuzzballs

And here are the ladies for you to meet...

Hannah (named for my niece of course)

Shy Lacey

Jenny--the oldest based on her feather advancement

Sweetie Pie

Pretty Penny

Racing Striped Jessie Quick (yes, like on Flash!) and the baby of the bunch

We did a DIY brooder--just a big cardboard box lined with old piano music and topped with fine sawdust. We added in a lamp from our bedroom to be their heat source. A bowl for water. And a bowl for feed--actually an old egg carton to start with. Some old Indian artifact rocks for roosting. Covered with cheesecloth. Viola. A brooder. LOL

I have a feeling being a chicken mama is going to be quite the adventure. I've heard a lot of things from my many chicken mama friends--things like chicken TV and chicken math, but they wouldn't tell me anything. Just smiled in a certain way and told me that I would learn soon enough.

And so, I'm going to be bringing you our adventures Fresh from the Coop. Because this mama is sure going to document all of them. I have a feeling they will be many!