Transition to Farming

When we moved to Kansas a couple of years ago, we plunked ourselves in the center of a 25-acre parcel and bought some chicks. Now, two years into our dream of rural life we have about 40 chickens, a barn cat, a pair of donkeys who just delivered a little colt, a black angus steer and heifer,  seven Pygora goats, a peacock and three crazy ducks.

The Pygora goats are a lot of fun. they keep us entertained and provide me with the most beautiful fiber to develop my skill at spinning.

We made it through our first sheering by teamwork. Hubby got one side and I got the other. Whoever had their side prepped first - meaning picked free of stickers and vegetable matter - started shearing first. Then we passed the clippers over to the other one and that went on for our first five. We didn't get the other two until after that shearing.

Life is a lot of fun - those goats are pretty smart. They get into everything and they just want to hang out with you whenever you are outside. They are so social and full of energy. I can't help but love them.  Here they are "helping" dad put a hinged cover on their hay feeder. Turns out they like to jump into it and have a tendency to get themselves stuck after eating the "floor" out from under themselves.

My husband is such a good sport. It was -17 with the windchill and he was out there building a lid for the hay feeder... He's a keeper.

So, that little slider of summer/winter views of our "Old Bill" statue here at Fort Riley, Kansas, is a successful experiment. I'm playing with apps that help us illustrate information folks around here might need to know. This was just a quick exercise in how to remind people to plan for the upcomming winter weather - of course - a day later and it was 18 degrees F. Brrr....

Life in five-minute increments

Sometimes my interests go in circles. I used to think it was because I didn't really know what I wanted to be when I grew up. But I know. It's the time between now and when I grow up that I'm having a tough time with. There isn't so much of it available and I want to learn and try and do so many things.

I spend most of my day making my living and I love what I do, but there is so much more to living than working and so little time left after work takes that big chunk out of the middle of each day.

So I've found my own solution. It doesn't set well with my husband sometimes because there are a few yet to finish projects lying around. But I am learning to live in five minute increments and by doing so I learned that every moment can count for much.

You would be surprised how much you can get done in five minutes. And by applying those five minutes every once in a while you will get through a project - at least I have faith that I will one of these days.

I get as far as I can with a project in the moments I have and then leave it in a logical place to pick back up.

I'm determined to get the hang of drawing the yarn through with the perfect tension on my little loom but it will be in little increments between work, chores, Pampered Chef and learning as much as possible about praise and worship and how to encourage people who are doing that.

By the way, when I grow up I want to be a worship minister. Someday after all the working for a living part is done, I will graduate to the ranks of the retired and I will encourage worship in a corporate worship setting. For now, I will play with my five minute projects and do all I can to encourage worship wherever I find it and to engage in it as often as I humanly can.

Go ahead - raise your hands on Sunday if you feel you should - sway a little as you lift your song of praise - above all, let God move you where he will without worrying about anyone else's view of you. Give yourself permission to express love and you will give others permission to do so too. That too you can do in small increments - moment by moment. Encourage someone in one of the moments of your next day. Do so every moment you can spare and you will build a project so worthy for yourself and everyone around you. Moment by moment build an environment that is uplifting by simply uplifting people and you will be lifted too.  We all have time for that.

Another day, more new stuff

So, at last post I was anticipating a job or not a job. I ended up with a great new job full of challenges. I also continued on with Pampered Chef.


Two of the children have moved home and our house is almost full once again.

New stuff, Seriously Good Stuff!

Lots of things are happening these days. My civil service job was cut. I'm still employed until they find me a place to transfer (within the gates of my current location) or an involuntary separation happens because they have no place to put me. 

I'm ok with this turn of events most of the time because I know God is in control. Then there are those times when a little fountain of frantic begins to well up in me and I find myself more than a little afraid. Years of living and experiencing has taught me to use fear as a trigger to lean on God again and I pray. So, most of the time I'm ok. 

I hope you will pray for me as well. 

In part because of the turmoul on the work front, I've started a new venture. I became a Pampered Chef consultant. I did it for plenty of reasons. Here's my top three

1. It's FUN! 

2. I LOVE the products and can't afford to buy them all by myself 

3. I really respect the company and what it does as a corporate citizen. 

There are a ton more great reasons : I set my own hours, I pick my own goals, I decide what's important and! another really BIG one ... 

I can use my business to benefit organizations doing great things out there in my community and the world. 

SO here goes. I'm doing a fundraising catalog show to benefit Fisher House Foundation Inc. FOr those who really love Fisher House and all they do -- here's the link!

Fisher House Fundraiser through your Independent Pampered Chef Consultant!

FOr those who want to know more about them .... read on.

The Fisher House Foundation has houses near military hospitals all over. They work a lot like the Ronald McDonald House by providing military family members a place to stay while their loved one is being cared for in a military hospital. 

The military hospitals aren't just treating wounded warriors. They treat children with cancer, Moms and Dad's with major medical issues and have rehabilitation centers where victims of car accidents also learn to stand and walk again. Fisher House helps families be there, near the loved ones getting the care. 

I really want to see Pampered Chef write the biggest check they've ever had to write to a non-profit organization.

Please pass the link and if you were going to order Pampered Chef anyway because the products are fantastic, this is a great time to do it. You'll benefit and so will Fisher house.

As an added Challenge, if the sales reach $1,200.00, I will an additional 10 perc and between that and the check from The Pampered Chef, Fisher House will earn 25% of the total sales.

The link below is the direct link to order on line for this fundraiser -- pass it around quickly because the fundraiser closes on the 20th!

http://www.pamperedchef.biz/collenmcgee?page=host-search-results&showId=3528668

Retirement - well one of them

It's the duty weekend for my Air Force Reserve unit. I slept in. A week ago I retired from the Reserve. Everyon ekept talking about the mixed emotions I would feel. Nope - no mixes here. I'm thrilled and completely excited to be starting a new phase in my life.

I served for 23 years. Before that, I was born into an Air Force family. I still work as a civil service employee for the Air Force. I haven't escaped completely, but there is something new and wonderful happening.

For most of my life I've had 2-4 jobs at a time. Today I have one. That's strange. With all this "free time" I plan to get back into school, finish up the last couple of classes I need for my Bachelors degree and begin my journey toward a Masters in Worship ministry.

So, if I don't see you at work, I'll see you in church.....


Chow!

catch-up and prayer

Wow – been a while since I wrote an entry! OK, so I’m not a professional blogger and I’m totally OK with it. No offense meant to my friends who are faithful with their blog entries, I’m really awed by their ability to be regular with their writing.

A few months ago I made the mistake of writing that there were only a few free moments left in my week. I knew by doing that they would somehow be claimed. Well they are. I’ve joined a Christian band and am playing bass guitar at the church I started attending. So, there goes the rest of my free time – in fact, I need to tighten up my schedule to get more practice time in for both piano and bass – oh and I’m picking up the miles in my running as I aim for my first half marathon this year. 

I did get an incredible God shot this morning right after my first 5.25 mile run after surgery.  I grabbed my phone with fumbling fingers and must have hit the button for my daily bible verse. Now, this run was incredibly tough for me as I've been recovering from a major surgery (though not one caused by anything life-threatening). At my half-way point I was actually yelling out loud at myself to keep moving - the run got better since the first part is pretty much a long, slow uphill pull. Anyway, the verse that popped up was so perfect, it was Isaiah 40: 29-31

²⁹ He gives strength to the weary
   and increases the power of the weak.
³⁰ Even youths grow tired and weary,
   and young men stumble and fall;
³¹ but those who hope in the LORD
   will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
   they will run and not grow weary,
   they will walk and not be faint. 

I just couldn't keep from laughing out loud since I'd been pleading with God to get me over that next hill just about 30 minutes prior.

But sitting here watching what the people of Japan are going through makes my time management worries and efforts to run one more hill look so very small.

Tens of thousands of people are missing after the earthquake and following tsunami. A pair of nuclear power generators is leaking radiation and the Japanese government has declared an atomic emergency and has begun evacuating a 13-mile radius area around the plants.

All I can do is pray for those people and that nation.  This is the same nation that joined us in relief efforts in Haiti, Pakistan and other places around the world. I’m praying for them as they search for loved ones and that they find the giver of all peace in the midst of chaos.