Art Show

 Yesterday, we went to a small art show at a local community college. Several of the sketches were drawn by a fellow 4-Her and friend who has a blog here. My favorite sketch is of the mannequin labeled Daddy's Home. If you look at it close up you can see that it is drawn with a bunch of little lines. The picture of the hand on the phone book paper had to be drawn in only five minutes! I think that is amazing that God gives everybody talents;some people have the talent to draw a realistic picture of a hand like this one. Would it not be great if everybody used their talents to serve the Lord? As 1st Peter 4:10 says As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's varied grace. What are your talents  and how can you use them to serve God?

               Use your talents to serve The Lord!!

Pictures from here up are drawn by the blogger I was talking
about near the top of my post.

This was Andrew's favorite picture.

Twelve Mighty Orpans

I   heard of this book on a list of books to read, and told my Mom about it;  being the wonderful Mom that she is, she found out that the author was coming to the community college in town. So, yesterday we read to chapter eleven and got the book signed by the author, who is Mr. Jim Dent. Mr. Dent wrote this book because he was watching TV and saw the reporter on ESPN talking to Hardy Brown. The reporter asked him if he thought there was a football  player that was tougher than him. He answered  "No, unless he came from the home". Naturally, this got the author more interested and he went to his computer and found that the "home" was the Masonic home for children. Immediately he drove there, to only find it closed for the night. He slept in the car until morning. When he awoke he saw a police officer in a small shack near the entrance of the home. Mr. Dent told the officer who he was and found out that the home had closed. Luckily, the superintendent was still there, getting ready to leave the next day. By talking to the woman, he found out a lot of information about the orphanage. He found out that a man named Rusty Russell  had came and coached a football team there which was called the Masonic home Mighty Mites. When Rusty came they didn't even have a football!! The lady also gave Mr. Dent the names of some of the people that had been on the team or their grandchildren's addresses. Using this information he wrote the book in six months. When he was almost done, the daughter of an elderly Mighty Mite came to him. She told Mr. Dent her father was dying, and wanted to know if  there any way she could get a copy of the book. He was able to the first copy and give it to her. She read it to her dad in the nursing home;it took her three days, on the fourth day he died.   The book is really good but I would rate it PG because there is violence and bad words. I would definitely recommend this book to you if you like football.

 I like this book because it talks about perseverance, overcoming the great depression, and building character.

My favorite parts were when Rusty Russell first came and helped get a actual football team ready. At first, they had to use a baking powder can as a football.  At the first game they went to, Mr. Russell asked the coach of the home team if, by any chance they won. could they could keep the ball? They won.

 I also liked when they found Mighty Duck , the team's mascot, and took him to all of the games until their team lost. Then,when they lost they ate the duck. :(

http://www.12mightyorphans.com/

A Farm Update

Several people have asked me to updated pictures of the kittens so that is why I'm publishing this post. By the way we have found homes for all nineteen kittens and we are keeping four. In the infamous words of  Me "There is nothing cuter than a kitten" 

I'm getting to keep this one!

Andrew is keeping this one.

Mom is keeping this one and naming it Tiger

Laura Ashley has claimed this one.

Peer Pressure

When we were at Teen Court, my sister and her friend were prosecution  attorneys representing the state of Texas in that case. The case was of a person who stole alcohol, drove and wrecked a golf cart that wasn't his and went on the school grounds at midnight with a bunch of "friends". By the way the person was only fourteen. The deliberation took a long time and was one of the longest in Teen Court. It took so long because most of the members of the jury felt that there was peer pressure involved. Finally, the other two jury members reached an agreement with the other members of the jury and the defendant got away with around 42 community service hours. My point in sharing this is that no-one should do something wrong just because that they're afraid of what someone else thinks. The Bible states that "For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ." Galatians 1:10 If you are afraid to stand up and share that you won't do wrong; consider this verse, Acts 5:29 which states "But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men."  I was one of the jury members that waited so long because I felt that the boy should have said "No" to peer pressure. If this situation happens again I will not hesitate and will share these Bible verses for Psalm 56:11 says "In God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

 

ducklings

The proud parents

My Anatidae Anseriformes have started laying eggs. (In common language Anatidae Anseriformes means ducks). My incubator has been the one of the best presents I have ever received. After twenty eight long days my duck eggs have started to hatch. So far I have hatched seven with more on the way.

During this time of the year feed stores start selling chicks and ducklings. If you want to buy make sure to do your research.

Ducklings

Find out what you will need when taking them home. Items include, heat lamp, feed, water, a place to keep them, and feeders and waterier.
I keep a little tub of water in their pen so that they can practice swimming.
 Make sure that it is okay with your parents before purchasing any ducklings. Also, keep them away from your pets so that they don't get eaten.

 Lastly, make sure that you play with your chicks so that they don't be afraid of you when they get big.

Relitives

Some of our relatives (my great Uncle and a distant cousin)  came to our house from Houston during Spring break! I was really excited because we only get to see them about once a year. They only got to stay for 2 and a half days, but we were still able to go exploring, take them with us to Teen Court (My sister and I were defence attorneys), ride Benny (he got too excited and started crow hopping which he never does). We also took them to the Fish Hatchery in Athens, fishing at Purtis Creek State Park, attended a 4-H meeting, and played several games.  It was really fun and I am looking forward to seeing them again.

           

Left to right, Andrew, Me, and Ray.

Kittens

 

Callie's litter

Well, I feel like a hypocrite after my spay and neuter post; four of our cats have had kittens. The first litter was cute, (who can resist kittens) but by the nineteenth kitten it got a little bit old. We have six cats, five of the cats are females and one of the cats is a male. Little did we know, that only one of the female cats were fixed. The whole kitten dilemma started when four of the cats started spending a lot of time with their soon to be husband. About a month ago, we noticed four of the cats were looking suspiciously fat. We'd decided that they either gained a lot of weight or that they were pregnant. Then, three weeks ago when Laura Ashley (my sister) said that "She (the first mother cat) hadn't came to eat" that morning was when we knew that she ran away or had kittens. We started a kitten hunt and didn't  find any kittens until that night. This continued to happen until yesterday, when the nineteenth kitten was born. To prevent this from happening again, we are going to take them to the vet so that they can be spayed and neutered.



Marian with her litter.