Christmas Letter 2011

To you this night is born a Child

Of Mary, chosen Virgin mild;

This Little Child, of lowly birth,

Shall be the joy of all the earth.

           

            Merry Christmas to all of you! May the Christ child be the center of your joy this Christmas season and throughout the New Year.

            We have completed our first year in Bishop. We are really enjoying the church, town, and lifestyle that living in Bishop brings. Samuel has now been a Pastor for over a year now. He has enjoyed this first year and is eager to learn and study more for years to come.

             Now that we are more permanent we are taking on some projects that we have wanted to do for some time. We planted a sizable garden this year. We had a better harvest than either of us was expecting (I won’t say we have green thumbs, but rather that God is very merciful!). We are enjoying all of the canned goods and frozen items that we were able to store.

            We also got some chickens! Samuel built a coop for them out of recycled materials that were either donated to us or very inexpensive. We started with 12 chickens and are now down to 8 (2 hopped the fence and “played” with the neighbor’s dogs and 2 turned out to be roosters and now have a nice home in our freezer). We just recently started getting eggs from them (the 8, not the frozen roosters).

            We also got a dog. The timing was right for our family and the dog is a good fit for us. His name is Owen and he is about 4 months old.

            Our biggest news for this year is that we are expecting our third child. We found out in August that we are due on April 19^th. We are so excited and thankful that God has blessed us with another child. Anna and baby are doing well. Abel is very excited. It will be such a joy to see him with his little brother/sister.

            This year we remembered Simeon’s first birthday. We were able to be in Oregon for the occasion and it was a blessing to be with family.

            We also went to Minnesota for the annual Synod Convention. After Simeon’s death, we realized that we personally needed to be more diligent in our own spiritual growth as well as fostering it in our children. We started an organization called “According to Your Word” (the name is taken from the Song of Simeon in the Luke 2:29-32 ). Through this organization we are hoping to help other parents and teachers be diligent in looking after their children’s spiritual care. At this year’s Convention we were able to distribute and sell our first publication. It is a Catechism coloring book, using pictures to help children understand and remember the catechism and giving parents and teachers a way to start instructing them at an early age. We have a number of other projects in the works and hope that by next Convention we will have a “Color the Liturgy” book available. We have a website (www.accordingtoyourword.com) where you can look to see what we have been working on.

            Abel turned 3 this year. He is quite the young man. He is growing like a weed and getting smarter every day. Anna enjoys her time at home with him and has been starting to do more formal “schooling” with him. Abel really enjoys Bible Story time (we have to look at the picture of David and Goliath every time!) and he is also learning Bible verses, hymns, and parts of the liturgy. It is amazing how quickly he is picking things up. Dad and Abel spend many afternoons digging up worms and doing other projects outside.

            We were blessed to have some visitors to our part of the country this year. Samuel’s friend from high school, John, came to visit for about a week. We made the trip to Death Valley (lowest elevation in North America), the Bristlecone Pines (oldest trees in the world), and also to a railroad museum right outside of town. While he was here the town also held its annual “Mule Days”. It celebrates mules and their part in much of the area’s history. They have a rodeo of sorts, but use mules instead of horses. It was an interesting experience to say the least and we look forward to going again next year.

            We were also visited by the Jacobsen family (Pastor Jacobsen was who Samuel vicared under in Oregon). We did a bit of sightseeing with their family as well and had a fun relaxing time to catch up and visit. We took them to the Bristlecones and the train museum as well.

            And last but not least, we finally made it down to see Samuel’s Aunt Margi in S. California. It is about a 5 hour drive, but hard to make when Samuel works so much. She took us to Disneyland (Abel and my first time!). She also took us to Costco and Walmart (a big deal when you live in Bishop where everything is overpriced and you don’t have a lot of selection)! It was good to see family and have a bit of a break from regular life.

            We have had a very nice year here in Bishop. We are finding out about many of the great things this area has to offer. We have been hiking, fishing, camping, and have done a lot of biking. We feel very blessed that God has put us here and look forward to many more wonderful years.

           

Ah, dearest Jesus, holy Child,

Make Thee a bed, soft, undefiled,

Within my heart that it may be

A quiet chamber kept for Thee.

Glory to God in highest heav’n

Who unto us His Son hath giv’n!

While angels sing with pious mirth

A glad new year to all the earth.

(ELH 123)

            We pray that you have a very blessed Christmas season celebrating the Christ child and remembering why He has come to us.

Love,

Samuel, Anna, and Abel Gullixson

P.S. If you want more updates/pictures Anna has been writing a blog at www.gullixsonfamily.blogspot.com.

The Chicken Wisperer...

Just the other night we were all out in the backyard and we let the chickens out to roam around. Abel would not leave the chickens alone! He usually likes the chickens, but generally will be interested for a couple minutes and then go play in the dirt or on his swing set. He kept wanting to pet them and hold them.
Our chickens are friendly, but don't really have enough contact with us that they like to be held and pet. Well, that didn't stop Abel!
He found the one chicken where if you get close to her she hunkers down (probably hoping you don't see her...) and stays where she is.
Abel decided that he needed to teach the chickens to stay (like Dad teaches Owen). He picked her up, sat down and held on...we are just hoping this isn't one of the ones that is laying, she may be too traumatized to lay for a while!! (Yes, we are getting eggs now! About 2 a day!)

31 Reasons We Love You!

This is a mushy one, so stop reading now if you can't handle it!

Today is Samuel's 31st Birthday! I have been very blessed to spend the last 4 years of that with him as his wife and the mother of his children. Abel and I came up with 31 reasons we love him!

1. He is a God-fearing man.
2. He is a great father.
3. Hard worker (in all of his vocations)
4. He LOVES all of my cooking (or at least eats it all:)
5. He plays with his son because he wants to.
6. He is the Father of my children.
7. He is funny.
8. He loves to sing.
9. He will dance with me (even took some dance classes with me!)

Dad got b-day pancakes too!

10. Does the dishes sometimes and I don't even have to ask!
11. Encouraging
12. Handsome!!
13. Cute dimples
14. Abel: Because I like him
15. Abel: Because I love him
16. Abel: Because God gave him to me to be my dad and our Pastor (came up with this all by himself!!)
17. The best friend I have ever had!
18. good listener
19. Confessional Lutheran Pastor (okay, I stole the idea from Abel...)
20. great hugger
21. and kisser!!
22. slow to get angry
23. quick to forgive
24. always ready to laugh
25. gets up and starts the fire in the morning so we wont' be cold when we get out of bed
26. Thinks I'm beautiful (even when I am huge and pregnant!!)
27. He says he is sorry.
28. Likes holding my hand
29. Would rather spend time with his family than watch sports or play video games
30. Is able to talk with everyone
31. God gave him to me!


Happy Birthday Samuel/Dad! We love you!!

What does a 3 year old want for Christmas??

Lots of lefse!

Excited about making lefse!!

Before Thanksgiving the store in town had a really great sale on potatoes (.89 for 10lbs!!). So, I got 20lbs and we made 20lbs of lefse...(probably won't be doing that again anytime soon:). Samuel's family made lefse quite often when he was growing up. I had never even heard of lefse until I went to their house for Thanksgiving one year. It is basically a potato tortilla.
We peeled, diced, cooked, and riced the potatoes the first night. The next night Samuel added the flour to make it a dough and rolled them out. We did it in the living room (not enough room in the kitchen or dining room) and got to watch a Christmas movie. Samuel rolled out about 95 lefse! It took us about 4 hours from start to finishing the cleaning. It was fun (and fun to eat). We took some to our Thanksgiving dinner and people really enjoyed it. Now we have only about 60 lefse in the freezer to use up:).

Abel helping Dad cut down the tree.

We went Christmas tree hunting not too long ago either. We got a permit to cut our own down (it was only 5 dollars vs. about $30-50 people pay for already cut). Samuel and Abel had never gone out in the woods to cut their own tree before. We used to do it quite frequently when I was growing up. We had a lot of fun hiking through the woods to find the "perfect" tree...well, we never did find the "perfect" tree, but we found one that worked! We had to keep reminding each other that this wasn't a Christmas tree lot and that none of the trees were going to be perfect, so we ended up with the last one we looked at. (Each one we saw was better than the last, so we finally just had to quit looking!) Abel and Owen had fun playing in the snow that was there and finding sticks and other things to look at.
Abel and Dad cut the tree down and Abel got to yell "Timber" as it was falling. We also sang "O Tannenbaum" as the tree was being cut (rather, I sang it and the other two just looked at me weird...). It was a fun outing as a family and made memories, which is what really counts.

On Dec. 3rd Bishop had their annual Christmas parade. It was cold and windy, but we still went and huddled together. We found a bench on the sidewalk and we sat there while Abel stood at the edge of the sidewalk and waved his little heart out. He even waved when no one was there and when the street cleaner came at the end of the parade. :) The highlights for Abel were getting some candy and seeing Santa. Later that day after we did some errands we went to the city park and he got to sit on Santa's lap. While in line to sit on his lap I asked him what he was going to ask for for Christmas. At first he said, "A post". Okay....I asked him a little while later (it was a long wait...) and he said, "A stack." A stack of what? "A stack of bricks." What an interesting child we have. :) Dad asked him later what he wanted to do with a stack of bricks and he said, "I want to build Rupunzel's tower." (have you seen the movie "Tangled" yet?). So, there you have it....if anyone has an extra stack of bricks laying around you can make this little boy's dream come true!

Advent has been more fun with him being older as well. He has always enjoyed the candles on the Advent wreath, but this year we also have an Advent calendar. He gets to open one door a day and it tells the Christmas story one verse at a time.


I will be posting our Christmas letter soon.

Happy 3rd Birthday Abel!

Our 3 year old!!

Abel had his 3rd Birthday on Nov. 30th. I cannot believe I am the mother of a 3 year old!

We celebrated a little bit this morning before Dad went to work (had all but one present opened before 6 am....jealous? :).
Here he is opening some presents....

Shirt and pants from Uncle Nick and Aunt Kelly!

A tractor from Grandma Beda! Dad enjoys this one too:)

Abel's surprised face. :)

Waiting to blow out candles

Green eggs!!

Dad made breakfast that morning...green eggs (Sam he is!) and pink pancakes...we got food coloring for making his birthday cupcakes yesterday and now he wants everything dyed!

This year was a lot of fun. We decorated with a few balloons on his bedroom door and decorated the table and his chair...he was very excited when he woke up and saw the decorations. A little more of a reaction this year than last.

Abel and Woody!

After breakfast we gave him his present from us. It was all Dad's idea:). When we were at Disneyland at the beginning of the month he suggested that we buy Abel a Woody doll. We were able to keep it hidden from him and he was quite surprised to open it. He didn't put it down the whole day (except nap, bathroom, and church). He loves it and it even had to be put on the top bunk to go to sleep tonight. :)

We also celebrated at church with cupcakes that Abel and I made. Abel picked the different colors to make the frosting and we made chocolate and vanilla cupcakes. It was a fun thing for us to do together. Abel had more fun trying all the different colors of frosting than actually making them, but what can you expect! (it was tasty!) Everyone enjoyed the cupcakes and Abel got a few presents from people at church. All in all I think it was a pretty fun 3rd birthday!
Here he is eating a cupcake with all the leftover frosting, multi colored cupcake! Yum:).

It is odd to think that 3 years ago he was just my little baby and now he can walk and talk and run (and sass a bit...). He is so much fun to have around and even in his 3 short years has been such a blessing and comfort to us.









 


Here we are with our little Abel!






Happy Birthday Abel!

Thanksgiving

We hope that you all had a very blessed Thanksgiving. There is much to be thankful for in our lives and we often forget that...more often we forget the one we should be thankful to for all of our blessings. The morning after Thanksgiving we were blessed to have the opportunity to thank God for the blessing of our new little baby once more. We had our 20 week ultrasound (a week early...). It is always amazing to be able to actually see your baby before he/she is born!
I thought we would share a couple of the pictures we got.

We are so thankful to God that He has graciously blessed us with another child to care for!

On a side note...Abel went with us to the appointment today. I had told him this morning we were going to the dr.'s office to see the baby. While in the room the radiology tech said something to the effect of "I am not a doctor." So, Abel from then on, every 2-5 minutes asked, "Why is she not a doctor?" It was really funny...he just couldn't wrap his mind around it!

Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to everyone!

Where all your dreams come true...

Yup, we went to Disneyland!

We have been living in Bishop for a year now. One of Samuel's aunts (Margi) lives down by L.A., so, we FINALLY went down there! It is about a 5 hour drive in good traffic (which we got on the way down) and more like a 6-7 hour drive in bad traffic (which was the way home). Not too, far, but far enough that it is a very special trip.

The night we got there we actually went to the airport to meet up with one of Margi's cousins. They had a layover in L.A. on their way to Malaysia. They took us out to dinner at Red Lobster (haven't been there forever...which is a good thing because their biscuits are REALLY good!). It was fun to meet more of the extended family and hear about some of their adventures.

The next day, Thurs., we went to the "most magical place on Earth". It was Abel and my first time to Disneyland. I was really excited! We were blessed to go on a school day in the middle of the week right before a holiday. We only had to stand in line for about 20-30min. which meant we got to go on a lot more rides. Abel was pretty excited as well and had a great time on all the rides. He is a lot braver then I ever gave him credit for!

 

This was our first ride."Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters" Abel and I went on it twice. It is Samuel's Aunts favorite ride...and Abel's now too. He is still talking about "shooting Zurg".

 This is on the "Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage". Abel thought this was pretty neat as well...there were a couple parts that made him a "little nervous" (his words).

 Abel is the one that asked to go on "Dumbo the Flying Elephant". Like I said, he is a lot braver than I gave him credit for!

 Meeting Mickey Mouse! Not sure what Abel thought of him really, he wasn't scared, so that was a plus!

T-I-double G-ER! One of Abel's favorites, though you can't tell from the picture...He was a little bummed that Pooh wasn't there, but he was super excited to meet Tigger and Rabbit. He went right up to both of them and shook their hand (paw?)!
 We stayed for the parade and I'm glad we did. The whole day Abel was asking to see Donald Duck. He finally got to see him in the parade and boy was he excited! Another exciting thing that happened was that Abel got to meet Cinderella and she even gave him a kiss. I was probably more excited to meet Cinderella (she's my favorite princess!) then Abel was, so I didn't think to get the camera out...:)
It was a really fun trip. We also went to Costco and Walmart (Fun stuff:)!) for some stock up items.
We enjoyed visiting with Margi and it was good to get away for a bit. We don't often leave Bishop (not much to go to that's close) so it is always fun to go on a trip.

We took the plunge....

...we got a dog.

Some people that we have met here in Bishop fostered 5 puppies (they got them when they were a day old!) and the mom (instead of them being raised in the animal shelter). So, they asked if we would come over and help "socialize" them by letting Abel play with them. We had talked about getting a dog in the past, but Samuel and I really couldn't agree on what we wanted out of the pet and where the pet would be (inside or out) and other issues, so we had put it aside. However, this "socializing" opened the door again. We went once and neither one of us was really attached and Abel didn't know what to think of them, so we thought we wouldn't get one. However, we went again...that did us in! So, we now have a dog (btw, it is an inside dog...I win! :).

His name is Owen, he is about 9 weeks old. He is really doing very well. Better than I expected. He is pretty much potty trained (a lot faster than Abel...) and it was easy to get him to sleep in a kennel. He has woken up about 4 in the morning the last two mornings...so we will have to work on that.

Abel is slowly getting used to him. He isn't very tolerant of when Owen jumps on him and has come to me crying, "Owen is trying to fight me!" (it was hard not to laugh). I think once Owen calms down a bit then he and Abel will be great pals!


In other news....we have had no heat in our house for the last 2 weeks and will not have any until this coming Tues...usually not so bad in Bishop, but it has turned very cold recently. It has been down in the 40's in the morning (in our house) and gets to maybe 58-60 by the afternoon. We have a space heater in Abel's room and in the living room, which if you sit by those, it is quite pleasant...:) We are going to be getting a new wood stove this next week. The old one was not very efficient and also quite dangerous as it did not have a liner in the chimney or a pipe from the stove to the chimney, so a lot of creosote was building up (which is very flammable). The chimney sweep told us to keep a fire extinguisher by the stove and be ready for a chimney fire...so the church decided to get a new stove.:)

We are also taking a min-vacation soon. We are going to see Samuel's Aunt Margi in S. Cal. She is taking us to Disneyland (mine and Abel's first time!) and also (this is REALLY exciting!!) to Costco!! We will also get to go to a Walmart which is almost just as exciting. I know it sounds silly, but when you have to buy food in Bishop most of the time it is very exciting to go to less expensive places.

Samuel and a member from church cut down one of the big trees in our front yard this week...I am still listening to a chainsaw as I type. It was a fruitless mulberry and it was starting to rot in the middle. Very scary since it is very close to the house and pretty large, so who knew if a good wind would bring it down? Plus, we are getting some good fire wood!

That's it for now...I will take lots of pictures of Costco..I mean Disneyland. :) for you all!

Catch up and Ketchup

I am finally writing again. I haven't felt very good lately so I have been taking a lot of naps in the afternoons when I would usually do things on the computer. So, here is the catch up part:)

Abel and Dad saying Goodbye!

Abel and I took a trip to Washington to visit some of my family and friends. We stayed with my Mom and had a great time!
We drove up there in 2 days (Abel had fun at the hotel) and the drive really wasn't that bad. We had some movies, lots of snacks, and thankfully some sleep (not me, Abel).
While we were up there we went to visit my Grandpa Norman. It is always fun to go there, it reminds me of my Dad. We saw the cow that we will be eating next year :). While there we also got a surprise, my Dad's sister was coming down from WA to visit. We met her and my cousin in Hood River for supper. It was fun to see both of them again. Hunter and Abel got along great too.

Abel and cousin Hunter

I learned the hard way ALWAYS take the picture before the day you leave!!

Abel and Great Grandma Coolidge playing cars

Abel and Harley hanging out

Black Beard Abel!

We also went to visit my cousin Jed, his wife Angie, and their 2 children. They live only an hour from the ocean so we decided to take the kids over. It was bout 90 degrees at their house so we put all the kids in shorts and t-shirts and loaded up. When we got to the ocean it was about 55 degrees, foggy, and windy. Very cold! So, poor Abel didn't get to see the ocean at all!! After looking in at one shop (which wasn't kid friendly) we decided to take the kids back to their house, got them an ice cream and let them play in the pool. They enjoyed that.
The next day we left the kids with Jed and Uncle Mike and the ladies took off for the beach. It was a full day of shopping and looking. We had some really good clam chowder at a place called the "Sea Hag". It was nice to spend time with just the girls and no kids to look after.

Add caption

I also got to visit with Samuel's sister. We went to a mall in Vancouver (which turned out to be not as much fun because the play place was under construction!) and then to a park. Abel and Lilly were pretty cute together. Lilly kept wanting to hold Abel's hand, he let her at first, but then told her his hand was busy and promptly put it in his pocket! The Finlay's are moving back to Michigan, so we probably won't be seeing them for a while, so it was great that we were able to meet half way and visit!

Cowboy Abel!

On last Sat. there was a Huckleberry festival in a town called Bingen not too far from where Mom lives. We stopped to check it out and Abel got to ride a pony. He was so excited! On the way home from there I told him, "Abel, you were just like a cowboy!" He replied, "Mom, I was a cowboy." :)
We also saw a herpetology show (snakes, lizards, turtles). Abel was in the front row (as well as myself) and handled it okay until the guy swung a snake at us! Then he was ready to go!
I was also able to visit Simeon's grave while there. It was more difficult this time because I went all by myself. It was hard to think of him as my baby and yet be pregnant with a baby...this is going to be a hard 7 months, but I am positive it is well worth it.

The trip home also went well. It was a little bit harder because we were both more tired and Abel broke the beloved DVD player (yes, I cried)...so, a lot of books, singing, and playing very silly games to pass the time. We drove all the way to Reno the first day (10 1/2 hours) and it really wasn't terrible. We were both very happy to be out of the car though! The following day we only had 4 hours to go and we were even more excited to get out of the car!! Dad is very glad we are home and so are we!

Erica, Abel, and I at the Bristlecones, we were in the "slow" group

Abel and Isaac at the lake

Other things that have happened in my very long absence...The Jacobsen family from Oregon came down to visit us. Pastor Jacobsen was Samuel's bishop while he was vicaring. It was fun to have them all around. We went to the train museum, swimming in a lake, and up to the Bristlecone Pines. The thing I loved the most was having a friend around so much and another adult to talk to! Plus the kids got along great and entertained Abel (although now he thinks he knows how to play video games...:).

He HAD to have a picture where he was pointing to the rock...

Samuel went to GPC (General Pastoral Conference) in Minneapolis, MN at the beginning of Oct. Abel and I were left to our own devices....(insert evil laugh here). We didn't get in to much trouble. Although, Abel did take Mom out for Mexican food (which I have been craving) and it was fun to have a date with just my little man (although the conversation is a little more interesting when Dad is around...). We spent a lot of time at the park and watching movies. It rained for the first time in a long time while Samuel was gone. I even started a fire!
Samuel had a great time and I think he enjoyed his fellowship with other Pastors. He also got to meet a famous person, it really made Abel's day when he saw this picture!


We have had 2 Dr. visits and both times they said the baby looks good and healthy. We had an ultrasound done and it was such a joy to see our baby. He or she was jumping around and was being very cooperative! Abel also was there to see the ultrasound. He wanted to know where the baby's tummy was. Abel is very interested in the baby. He often will give the baby hugs and kisses and he is also helping mommy keep the baby healthy (by taking walks with me). He also blesses the baby every night before bed (Dad blesses him before bed, so he has started doing the blessing too, "Grace upon you and give you peace. Amen" is his version. :).
 We also just found out that one of Samuel's cousins in pregnant and due the same day as us! (April 19th) The race is on!! (although I am positive we will both get to April 19th on the same day....) We are excited for them and are happy about a cousin that will be the same age. 

Abel and I are going to start doing preschool starting in November (Able is the one in preschool I will be teaching...). I am excited to start "teaching" again! Abel has been very interested in knowing what "those letters say" and in counting things, so I figured I might as well take advantage of it. I am hoping by Nov. I am feeling better and more energetic so we can spend a 1/2 hour to and hour every day doing "school". There is also a mom down the street with a little girl about Abel's age that wants to start doing more craft projects with her daughter, so we may join forces and have our own little preschool running!

So, to the Ketchup. Samuel "made" some. I put it in quotations because it doesn't really taste like ketchup that you buy, but it isn't terrible. It tastes a bit more like BBQ sauce than ketchup (but I think that was due to the unintentional carbon flavoring). So, it was an experiment that I don't think we will try again, but Samuel enjoyed the process (my stomach didn't appreciate it though). 

I am starting to feel a bit better. I don't need a nap every day anymore! I am still tired and get a bit woozy in the morning and sometimes at night. However, I am 13 weeks along and hoping that it will let up soon.

Thanks for reading and I hope it was too boring...I will try to keep the pictures at least updated even if I don't feel like writing much.

The Chickens are Here!

The chickens are finally here!

Samuel was able to finish the coop on Sunday afternoon (right before we left for camping). We got our chickens on Wed. evening from the feed store in town. We were originally going to get them from a woman who lives in our neighborhood (she has about 50-60 chickens...all pets) who was looking to downsize a bit. However, she just gave some away about 2 weeks ago so we would have to wait a couple more weeks.

They were very eager to get out of the box when first put in....

We decided to get them from the feed store so we could get them right away and they had more of the variety that we were looking for, good layers.

I am a lot more interested in them than I thought I would be. They are so fun to watch and even to pet. Abel just loves them! He couldn't keep his little hands off of them...I am hoping they aren't traumatized!

....but we had to dump them out at home!

We put them outside when we got home and let them explore a bit, then we had to catch them all and put them in the coop for the night. Abel and I opened the coop up for them this morning and only one of the brave bardrocks has ventured out  (she can't get back in by herself though...). Maybe tomorrow we will encourage them all to get out of the coop for a bit. :)

We are now looking at names for the chickens...I suggested that we could do famous mountain names (ie Helen, Whitney, Nebo, Ararat, etc...) or my favorite suggestion, the top names from the 1900's (ie. Gladys, Ida, Alma, Mabel, Fannie, Eula, Ruby, Doris, Geraldine, Gertrude, Vivian, Hattie,etc.)...as you can see I already have those ones picked out:). We will see what happens! (as of last night Samuel agreed with my names!)

And now for some more pictures of Abel and the chickens!

This is one of the bardrocks, the brave ones!

One of 2 Australops

Helping the chicken explore...

"Here chicky, chicky" is what Abel likes to say:)

Got one!

Abel this morning: "Chickens like kisses." Me: "Well, chickens like to be pet and held, but not kissed." Abel: "Chickens DO like kisses because they LOVE us!"
He is really into the chickens I guess!

Dad and the mostly finished coop. (I still have painting to do)

We will hopefully get eggs in about 5 months. They are only about a month old at this point. We got 2 bard rocks, 2 australops, 4 buff orpingtons, and 4 Rhode Island Reds (forgive the spelling...). The bard rocks are by far the bravest and most friendly at this point in time and the reds are very skittish. Hopefully we so much loving by Abel they will be friendly soon.

So, those are our chickens!