A day in the life of a homeschooling mom

A couple days ago one of our Buff Orpington hens "went broody".  Another new term for this wanna-be farm girl to learn.  Of course, my 12 year old educated me.  It means the hen is sitting on eggs...all day...just sitting there in the nest box trying to "brood" two eggs.  The problem is they will never hatch.  Why?  Because we don't have a rooster. 

The next day Jake devises a plan:  Let's get some fertile eggs so she can sit on eggs that WILL hatch.  "Please mom? Please?"  Well, let's see, we have 10 full grown chickens living in a chicken palace.  And 55 two-week-old chicks living in our shop with no where to go...yet.  The last thing we need is more chickens.  But how can we pass up an opportunity to witness a mother hen hatching eggs right in our backyard?  How can we deny her an opportunity to have fruit for all her labor?  Yes, we must get some fertile eggs. 

So, I tell Jake...if you want to get some eggs, you'll need to email Jack at True Cost Farm and ask him if we can come out and get some eggs this morning (after all, this isn't just a science experiment, it's got writing lesson written all over it too.)  So Jake emails Jack and out we go to get eggs. 

Jack and his brother-in-law were incredibly gracious - even showed us how to "candle" the eggs to look for cracks.  When we got home, Jake stole the infertile eggs right out from under Buttercup and replaced them with 9 beautiful fertile eggs.  If all goes well, we may have some brand new babies to watch in about 21 days. 

And, perhaps, we will have a bird's eye view to see more of who God really is as we witness how this mother interacts with her chicks...just like Jesus said in Matthew 23:37 ...how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings...

Thank you, Lord, for the unique opportunities you provide for us to learn about You.  And thank you for the sense of wonder you put within each of us that draws us to discover more about the world you created.  Amen.