Chickens, baby room, and tomato cages

I am in awe of the mercy of the Lord. 

Ephesians 2 4-5: But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ, by grace you have been saved; amen! 

Chickens: We've had our chickies for about three weeks now, I love them! Originally we wanted to start out with four but the farm we got our chickies from had some issues with all of the chickies born in their batch expect for these precious two:

It worked out that we started with two, we are new to chickens and it is also half the mess! They've lived inside with us for the past three weeks in a giant rubber maid container. Jeremy built an adorable coop for them to live in out of mostly recycled wood that we had on hand. He spent less than 100$ on the entire coop:

my hardworking husband making our chickies a new home

Hens will lay here; can't wait to harvest eggs!

From hinges, to paint, to reclaimed wood- my husband is so detail oriented

Finished Product

Our Border Collie Bree is Obsessed with the chickies

happy in their new home, look how big they've gotten in the past few weeks!

Putting the chickies in the new coop- I found it necessary to squeeze in too :)

We are planning to get two more baby chickies this week. We're starting out with the Americana breed. They are suppose to also have the blue egg gene so once our hens get old enough their eggs will be blue! These chickens are also known as "Easter Eggers," should be fun. We do plan on building a bigger coop eventually as our chicken population grows. On another note, now that I am a chicken owner/lover, I'm very sad with the way most chickens are treated. Buy free-range chicken eggs, y'all!

Small Sustainable Garden: Our garden is growing so much, I am getting so excited!! Our tomato plants are looking beautiful, we should have tomatoes soon! My crafty husband is not content with the flimsy store bought tomato cages so he bought much more durable wire and welded his own! He is so crafty and smart! I can't wait for fried green tomatoes and tomato sandwiches. We also have lots of banana peppers to harvest right now and lots more other veggies coming soon!

Tomato cages by Jeremy

Home Projects: Along with everything we've been doing outdoors, we've been very busy indoors as well! We are steadily working on baby Elijah's nursery. It will be very traditional, neutral colors with lots of color overlays. Jeremy and I had a conversation a few years ago that I've never forgotten: He told me he would like us to visit all of the National Parks in the United States. Lovingly, I told him no... I would go to a few but not all and that maybe he should take a friend to the rest. He told me he wouldn't take a friend on that many trips so I told him dismissively that maybe he would have a son. I saw immediate excitement in his eyes and he said, " I NEED TO HAVE A SON." So naturally, we chose a national park/outdoors theme in hopes it will rub off on Eli and he will grow up loving the outdoors as much as his Daddy. Here is our noted progress so far:

Glidden Cappuccino White for the walls

Behr Misty surf for the crib- which was given to us- just needed a few coats of paint and polyurethane

 

 I ordered a vintage bird identifying book to make framed prints for Eli

Crib is painted and in the room, just needs assembly, mattress, and bedding. :)

Sweet rocking chair for Eli from a local antique store

Burlap name banner for behind his crib

We still have lot's to do, but it is so fun gathering all the pieces. We are ordering a few vintage national park posters which I think will be what ties everything together. I can't wait to finish his room!