Through a Child's Eyes

Oh to be a child again. No worries, no cares. So naive and innocent. I just wanted to share a few things I've heard from children through the past.

-When visited by a local church a girl and her mother were given a church calendar. After the mother viewed it, she handed it to the child and proceeded talking with the visitors. After a few moments the child stands up and forces the calendar back towards the visitors and states, "I don't want to go to your church, You have "chore" practice on Wednesday nights."

-After searching through her brother's stash of video games (mind you some were not child intended) my sister comes across a game with vampires on the cover and the name Apocalypse. Not knowing what the word means, she asks her mother. Mother has been teaching her to look up meanings of words she's unsure of, so she breaks out the dictionary. This is what she reads:
one of the Jewish and Christian writings of 200 b.c. to a.d. 150 marked by pseudonymity, symbolic imagery, and the expectation of an imminent cosmic cataclysm in which God destroys the ruling powers of evil and raises the righteous to life in a messianic kingdom
Looking at her mother she says, "So mom, this is a game about Jewish Vampires". Needless to say, we didn't play that game!!! We were too busy on the floor laughing!!!

-A child came bursting through the front door calling for her mother. "Mom, you've got to come out here. There's a "Japanese" cat on our front porch.

-"There's a bug in my room and it smells like fruit loops."

-On the ride to school, there is an advertisement for dressed catfish. Child reads it aloud and looks questioningly at her mother. "Mom, they play dress up with their fish?"


When I was living at home my little sister liked to make up words and names for things. Mind you she's 12 years my junior. These were some of her words and what she said they meant.

Intecticator (in-tek-di-cador): When you play with a gadget and you just don't really know what it is. (It was actually an old hand-held video game, that no longer worked.)

Desestipated (de-zest-i-pay-ted): When you are so hungry, you could eat two happy meals. (We actually thought she was saying she was "constipated")

Enawena (in-ah-win-ah): I love you. (This was our favorite by far. We still use it occasionally.)

One morning she woke up and didn't want to go to "play school". She was about 4 and began fake coughing. She said, "Mommy I can't go to Mrs. ____ today. I'm sick." "What's wrong sweetie?" "I've got the Magnolia".

It's amazing with what they come up with!!!

I Am Not My Own!!!!

I have found it very difficult to have my quiet time since the baby was born. Before I began working again, I could sneak in those peaceful moments with God during nap time. Now that I have returned to work, my bible reading is far and in between. God must have been preparing me for this during those nap time moments with Him, because for some reason, I wrote down several bible verses into a notebook. I'm glad I did.
My quietest times with God are now during my shower, during the ride to work, and during the ride home. I opened my notebook this morning, and found all those precious words....staring at me, reminding me of the wife I should be. I have been struggling with this a bit lately. I'm finding very difficult to be a career woman, a mother, and a wife. And since quitting my job is out of the question right now, I guess I'll continue praying and studying until God "fixes" it.
These are some of the verses I've been studying.

-Proverbs 12:4 "An excellent wife is the crown of her husband, But she who causes shame is like rottenness in his bones."

-Proverbs 31:30 "Charm is deceitful and beauty is passing, but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised."

-Proverbs 18:22 "The man who finds a wife finds a treasure, and he receives favor from the Lord."

-Proverbs 19:14 "Fathers can give their sons an inheritance of houses and wealth, but only the Lord can give an understanding wife."

-Proverbs 19:13 "...a quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping."

-Proverbs 21:9 "It is better to live alone in the corner of an attic that with a quarrelsome wife in a lovely home."

-Proverbs 11:22 "A beautiful woman who lacks discretion is like a gold ring in a pig's snout."

-Proverbs 14:1 "A wise woman builds her home, but a foolish woman tears it down with her own hands."

-Proverbs 31:26 "When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness."

-Proverbs 31:27 "She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness."

-Proverbs 31:10-12: "Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life."

I think the last one is my favorite. I pray everyday that I am the helpmate to my husband that God designed me to be. I struggle so much. Today's world says to be your OWN woman, your OWN person, but I find much comfort know that I am my husband's!!!!
What more joy could you have, knowing that you belong to someone? Knowing that you enrich some one's life, and that you are more precious that rubies!!!!!!! I belong to Papa Rooster!!! I love that my identity is found through him. I love being MRS. PAPA ROOSTER. I don't want to exist on my own.
Thank you God for the chance to be a wife. Perfect me so that I may bring honor to my husband, all while serving you.

Rockin' an a Sangin'

Work is slow this morning and I have caught myself rocking and humming at my desk. No, not loud enough to bother anyone, but like I would rocking the baby at night. I love to sing, although I don't do it so well. I know the bible says to make a joyful noise unto the Lord, but mine, well, we'll just say it definitely qualifies as noise.
But as off-key and "noisy" as it may be, my Chicken Little seems to enjoy it just fine. Every time I hold her I have to rock and sing. I love bedtime because it's our quiet time together. She's swaddled tightly, snuggled down close in mommy's arms, eyes closed and listening to me hum or sing.
I often find that I can't remember the words to the songs, so I do one of three things. I either sing the same part over and over, I hum the missing pieces, or I just make up my own words.

These are a few of the songs we do sing:

1. Jesus love me. (Who doesn't enjoy this one?)

2. He's got the whole world in His hands. (I make up my own parts to this one, such as: "He's got the little baby _____, in His hands....")

3. You are my sunshine. (I remember my mom teaching me this one when I was young. And besides, Chicken Little is the light of my life.)

4. Over the Rainbow. (You know the song Judy Garland sings in Wizard of Oz. I can't remember all the words, so I just repeat the ones I do until I'm sick of hearing them...lol.)

5. Beauty and the Beast. (This one I can never remember the words to, but I hum it all the same. It's one of my favorite Disney movies.)

I also love to sing some of the hymns from church.

6. Shall we gather at the river. (This is the only song I've ever heard my great-grandmother sing. I even request this one at 5th Sunday night sings.)

Plus we sing all the classics.

7. I hum "Brahms Lullaby"

8. Hush little baby.

9. Rock-a-bye baby.

10. Twinkle little star.



Sometimes, even after she's drifted off, I still sit holding her, humming or singing away off-key, probably even off note, but I know these moments will pass too quickly, so I keep rockin' an a sangin', on and on and on.


Do you sing to your children? What do you sing? Which is your favorite?

Getting Somethig Done

Work is slow today. It looks so dreary outside, so the day is creeping by. As I sit here awaiting the phone to ring, with absolutely nothing else going on, I'm reminded of all the things that await me at home. I have a TO DO list about a mile long, and I just can't seem to get anything marked off. I feel so guilty when I sit here at work (doing much of nothing) while there is so much to do at home.


Chicken Little has slept so well for the past two nights. Monday night she went down around 8 and slept until 4am. I didn't mind getting up with her, and I actually stayed up after that. Then last night, she was a bit ill. She's got a bit of this crud...just the stuffy nose. She finally gave it up around 7:30 and slept until 2:30 then went back down until 5. She was so peaceful went she got up this morning, smiling and cooing at mommy and daddy.


After supper, while she was sleeping, I should have worked more on my TO DO list, but for some reason I just can't get it done. I have been extremely fatigued for the past week or so. I feel almost exactly like I did when I first got pregnant...but I know for a fact that's not the case. I'm so tired in the evenings that I'm ready for bed by 8pm, and most of the time never make it past 9:30. Lately I've been asleep before Papa Rooster can get back from checking the chickens for the last time. I think I'll mention this fatigue to Dr. T tomorrow during my appointment.





This is my TO DO list that I can't seem to accomplish. My house is in dire need of Mama Hen's attention!!!!! Know of a good maid service? :)





1. Wash clothes. (washed one load last night)





2. Fold and put away laundry. (the desk next to the washing machine is beginning to buckle under the weight of our unfolded clothes. And I know Papa Rooster is tired of searching through the massive pile for a clean pair of underwear.)





3. Wash dishes. (I actually start this nightly, but never seem to finish. I get through the bottles and glasses and most of the plates, bowls and silverware, but can't quite make it to the pots and pans.)





4. Sweep kitchen. (at this time we could really use an inside dog to take care of the bits and pieces that are scattered across the floor. And "No Thank you" to ya'll at the Preacher's house. We have enough dogs thank you. It was just a thought, that's all....)





5. Change sheets on bed. Our bed that is. (this really needs to be done. There is no telling how many creatures are sleeping with us at night right now. But as tired as I've been lately, I'll gladly share, even scoot over for that matter. Just don't make me change the sheets }:0 )





6. Sweep laundry room floor. (I'm ashamed to say, but I'm glad we don't have much unexpected company sometimes, or they would have to trudge through the chicken litter piled up at the back door.)





Oh, and that reminds me, tomorrow is trash day. I need to empty the diaper genie and all the trash cans so Papa Rooster and take the trash out. So I guess that's number seven! And tonight is church night, so good luck house.





I'll go home, attempt some sort of supper, attend church, head back home, put baby to sleep, and sigh, because once again, I sleep in my

life in the chicken coop

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Sanctification of Marriage

What is happening to marriages today? It's like it no longer exists. Working with the public on a day to day basis I see it all. People moving in together. They're not married and she's ready to pop. Or they're coming in to change accounts because of divorce. Marriage is no longer sacred.
Here's just a few statistics for you:
36.8% of Alabamian children were born to unmarried women in 2006. In the year 2004, 42,537 marriages were documented in Alabama. In the same year over half that number of divorces were documented. 22,405 to be exact. 1,107 of those couples had been married less than a year, and 155 of those had been married 40+ years.
How do you decide after 10, 15, or even 20 years of marriage that you're through? That's it. I'm no longer doing this. I couldn't begin to imagine that. Starting completely over. It just doesn't seem logical. I can't imagine stopping now after only 4 years, much less after 40+ years!!!!

Society no longer takes marriage seriously. Common law marriage is taking over. "Just live together like you're married. All you others have is a piece of paper." I hate to tell people, I entered in a covenant under God with this man. I took vows that I would remain with him and loyal to him until "death do us part". Boy would people be in trouble if we made them take their vows seriously!!!!

Marriage is so easy to "get out of". It's treated like jury duty...lol. What can I do to get out of it? Surely I can think of something....

When Papa Rooster and I were planning our wedding many people told me that each person needed to give 50%. I'm assuming they meant each gives 50, and 2 times 50 is 100. That's not going to get it. If 50% from each partner makes a "pretty good" marriage, just think of how AWESOME it can be if both give 100%!!!!! This is what it actually takes.
Mrs. Norman Peale described it best in her book "The Adventure of Being a Wife".
When asked the question "Why can't a man-woman relationship be just a meaningful outside of marriage as in it", she states the following:
It doesn't have the key ingredients. It doesn't have the commitment. It doesn't have the permanence. It can never achieve the depth that comes from total sharing, from working together toward the common goals year after year, from knowing that you're playing the game for keeps. Do you think my husband and I have achieved the relationship we have just by thinking happy thoughts or waving a wand? Don't be absurd! We fought for this relationship! We hammered it out on the anvil of joy and sorrow, of pain and problems--yes, at times, of course discouragement and disagreement. But we never thought of marriage as a trap. We thought of it as a privilege. And there's quiet a difference!"

I think that's really well put. She also states some reason for divorce. It's not your whole "irreconcilable differences" speech.
"To begin with, a lot of people who get divorced quit to easily. They give up without a fight, because they don't know that what they have is worth fighting for. They give up because they've been allowed to think that everything will be moonlight and roses, when actually it isn't. They give up because unconsciously they've come into the marriage with an escape route already planned, via the divorce court, if everything isn't automatically just dandy. That's one reason why one out of every 4 marriages winds up on the rocks.
Another reason it that women involved aren't using their heads. In this whole area of human relations, women are smarter than men. They ought to be able to study their man, figure out what his needs are, what makes him tick. They ought to help him know where he wants to go. They ought to be able to anticipate trouble and head it off. They ought to be brainy enough and sexy enough to hold a husband. But a lot of them are not, mainly because they're too lazy or too spoiled, or too busy thinking about themselves and what they're getting or not getting our of their marriages.
And the third reason is that too many people go around degrading marriage these days. It has become a favorite indoor sport. The result is that wherever I go young married women come up to me and bewail their fate. They've been brainwashed into thinking that they're caught in an unrewarding, unstimulating, unchallenging, drag existence. Sometimes I feel like taking them by the shoulders and shaking them. 'Wake up!' I want to tell them, 'Get with it! Here you are, right in the middle of the most fascinating role a woman can play and you don't even know it!'"

I think she just about covered it all.

Reduction Vs Abortion

I was just reading a question on Yahoo!Answers about a reduction in pregnancy. A woman pregnant with quads through IVF says she doesn't know if she's quiet capable of supporting four children, so doctor has "offered" reduction. (Hmmmm...seems more and more of these cases are popping up since the Octuplet mom). Anyhoo, isn't reduction the same as an abortion? Some have said yes, others say no. If you reduce the number of babies, you abort a certain number, hence the term abortion! Is that actually that hard to comprehend? I don't understand reducing the number in a pregnancy anyway. How can it be safely done without causing some risk to the other fetuses? Even having a routine amnio during pregnancy comes with risk, so surely aborting others around the fetus would be harmful. And besides, how do YOU choose which ones stay and which ones go? How do you really answer to that? Can you imagine meeting those children one day, the questions of "Why not me?" Oh, that would just haunt me forever.
So I guess I'm just wondering if reduction is really abortion?

Just call me James!!!!

My husband and I had a very funny morning. Now I know that everyone has at one point or another received a "wrong number" call at an odd time. I have received several, but never one quite like this morning. This was our not so typical morning.
At 3am Chicken Little decided she was awake. I mean wide awake. I had been up with her for some time, and was working on maybe 3 hours of sleep, so when she wouldn't go back down, Papa Rooster offered to get up stay up with her for a while. This was all and good until about 3:30 when she wailed for a bottle. Of course, I didn't have one prepared, so I got up and made a bottle, fed her, and she went right down. (Now why couldn't she have done that earlier?...lol) Anyway, Papa Rooster and I finally went back to bed around 4am.
At 5:15 the dreaded alarm sounded. Papa Rooster and I lay sleepily chatting about Chicken Little and our night, and how we really didn't want to get up. The alarm sounds again. His "work" cell phone begins to ring, and from the number listed, it's obviously a wrong number. It wasn't even our area code.

This is the conversation:

Papa Rooster: "Hello."
Unknown Female Caller: "James."
PR: "Ma'am, you have the wrong number."
FC: "I know this isn't the wrong number, James."
PR: "My name is ____, and I work with ____company. This is the company phone you've called."
FC: "No, James. Why aren't you at home?"
PR: "I am at home."
FC: "No you're not James. Come on home."
PR: " I AM at home and I'm in the bed!!!!!"
Female caller precedes and Papa Rooster hangs up in exasperation.

We lay there talking and laughing about the persistence of this unknown individual, and the phone rings again. Same number mind you. So I think, I'll answer and when she hears a female voice, maybe then she will realize that she really does have the wrong number. Much to my surprise there is a male's voice on the other end.
This is our conversation:

Mama Hen: "Hello."
Unknown Male Caller: "Who is this?"
MH: "I'm sorry, you have the wrong number."
Caller: "I know it's not the wrong number, she just talked to him, now hand the phone over."
MH: "Yes, and when she called, she had the wrong number and she spoke to my husband."
----Pause-----
Caller: "I have the wrong number."
*Hangs up phone.*
"NO KIDDING, SHERLOCK!!"----lol

By this time Papa Rooster and I are wide awake and rolling with laughter. So now I refer to Papa Rooster as "James".

God really knows how to lighten situations and just the right time!!!! Thank you anonymous caller for a laugh this morning!!!!

Ramblings from the CRAZED Chicken!!!!

Another day, another dollar, another day away from Chicken Little, another day away from my PLACE at home. But yet another day that the Lord has made, I WILL rejoice and be GLAD in it...no matter how difficult it is.
I have found that the past couple of days have just been UGH!!!! I don't know what it is, I just feel UGH!!!
I'm still having some post-pregnancy "annoyances" that are driving me batty!!! I can't seem to get an answer that I 'like'. Guess it's just one of those things I'll have to deal with and get over....
I miss being home with Chicken Little. She had shots yesterday. She was 11lbs 13oz and 24in long!!!! She's growing so much. I miss getting to see her as much every day. She did so well with her shots, but felt a little "puny" yesterday. I took the remainder of the day to stay home with her. I'm so glad I stayed home with her. I held her most of the day (so sue me for spoiling...LOL). She was just pitiful. Usually if she's awake, she's moving around trying to get a look at everything. Yesterday she was just so somber. Papa rooster even felt bad for her.
I think being at home with her on her puniest day, made me miss her so much more. I know mimi will take good care of her, but mommy should be the one who's there to make her feel better. How I wish things could be different......
It just seems every night is a mad house. Rush to pick her up, get home, settle her down, cook supper, eat, try to clean up a bit, laundry, bathe baby, put baby down for night, spend time with Papa Rooster, bed time, wake up early, make myself "presentable" for work, take her to mimi's, off to work, and the cycle begins again. There simply aren't enough hours in the day to accomplish all I would like. I would like to be able to spend more time with the baby and my husband. Saturdays and Sundays seem to fly by. With the two of us working all week, Saturday is the day we try to take care of things around the home, so there goes a bit of time together. Or if we're not taking care of things around the house, some type of errand has to be run, or we're with other family. Now don't get me wrong, I love enjoying time with other family and friends, but it's just unreal how days turn into mere hours. For instance, Saturday, I anxiously awaiting the arrival of some very dear people for supper, and once they arrived, our time with them seemed as if it had been only minutes. Then everyone is back in their whirlwind of a life.
My mother and father-in-law talk of a time when everything was much slower. Neighbors sat on each others' porches and rocked the day away. Oh, to live in a time such as that. Now we don't "have time" to sit and talk with dear friends. There is always one engagement taking place right after to other. No slowing down. So much must be done. It's a rat race and no one is winning.
My worst fear is waking up one morning and my child is grown. I'm afraid I won't know where the time went. She'll be moving out before I know it, and once again, it will be just me and Papa Rooster. Thinking of that, I don't know what I ever did before the baby. What filled my time? And what in the world filled my heart so? You know, this is the day that the Lord has made, I am rejoicing and am so glad, for he has blessed me in so many ways!!!!!!!!!!

Closing on NOT SUCH AN UGH! DAY AFTER ALL!!!!

Mama Hen!!!!

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

The old saying is true. "Absence makes the heart grow fonder." As you know, I began working again this week, so I'm away from Chicken Little approximately 11 hours a day. While it's torturous, It's making me appreciate the little things more. She's sleeping for 4-6 hours at night before waking, so some nights I don't get to spend much time with her. But when she does wake up, I hold her close and enjoy every minute of feeding her and rocking her back to sleep. I can't say (that before this week) I truly ENJOYED waking up at odd hours of the night to feed her. But there has been something about this week that changed me. There have been a couple of nights that I didn't want to lay her down. I could have rocked her until dawn. God is so amazing. Often we look for the BIG miracles, and seldom see the little blessings.

These are my little but BIG blessings I've noticed this week:

1. I have a wonderful, loving, Christian Mother & Father-in-law, who delight in keeping my Chicken Little every day. Here I know she's loved and well taken care of.

2. Chicken Little has slept through the night, going down between 6 and 8, and only waking for 1 feeding.

3. Chicken Little is resting while sleeping. And because she rests, Mommy and Daddy rest too!!

4. My husband has been so much more than I could have ever hoped for, as far as husbands and fathers go. He's been so good to me!!!!

5. I have been able to meet the needs of my husband and daughter with ease this week.

6. Work has been busy, but not too hectic. Just enough to keep me from "dwelling" on the fact that I must work.

7. And the fact that Sunday is just around the corner, is a blessing!!!!

Working Mommy

Working wasn't as horrible as I thought it would be. Yesterday was my first day back. I was so busy that I didn't have much time to sit around and dwell on the fact that I wasn't at home with Chicken Little. I dropped her off at Mimi's yesterday and headed to work. When I got here I was welcomed back and put straight to work. I run the check register all day. I finally finished around 4pm and that's when I started missing Chicken Little. When 5 came around I was the first one out of the door.
She didn't nap much at Mimi's yesterday, so she was a little ill when we got home. I thought maybe she'd take a nap and wake up in maybe an hour so we'd get a bath, but that was not the case. She fell asleep about 6:45 and slept until 11:15 pm!!! I was shocked, but so thankful!!!! Then, at 11:15pm she took 3oz, had a diaper change, and fell right back asleep, and I didn't hear a peep out of her until 5:15 this morning. She only got up 1 time all night!!!!!! I was so proud of her. I went to bed around 9. When Chicken Little got up at 11 I sat and rocked and rocked. I enjoyed that time with her. It was just Mommy and Chicken Little. She sat and ate and looked up at mommy. I've never felt so loved.