Our family has grown...by 104!!

Our first batch of chickens arrived one day old! And we named everyone of them!

Meet chick and his brother chick and their sister chick :)

They are very hearty birds though we are still trying to figure out the breeds

They are definitely going to be egg layers for us (the females anyway)

The kids LOVE the baby chicks. Grace is often reaching in to grab one :)

Aunt Sue got to visit and work in the garden

Grace loves to help in the garden

Well, on the spur of a moment we saw that the local elevator had a free chick day! (Well you had to buy their feed but it was still way cheaper than just buying chicks). So we decided to get some! We have 104 and they have doubled in size in just a week! They are very aggressive (they dig and scratch a lot) so that means that they will make great eggs! Chickens eat bugs which cuts down on our bug/pest population and it adds great protein to the egg! They also eat grass which makes their eggs high in vitamins (you will not find this in confinement chickens-their eggs are high in cholesterol and low in vitamins because all they eat is grain). We will be butchering the males in about 10 weeks. We have not quite figured out how many males and females that we have.  Females will start laying eggs on their own at about 5 months (So ours will start around October). We are excited for this new adventure! Our garden is huge so we are working at weeding it. :( We have been not-so-blessed with thousands of thistles (aka pricker bushes). Needless to say, our hands are FULL!

Well it is official! We named our farm! We were debating between a few names but there was one that won out in the end.  We are officially Poimaino Farm LLC. It is pronounced POY-MY-NO and it means "to feed." IN John 21 Jesus is having a conversation with Peter in which He asks Peter 3 times, "Do you love me?" and then commands him, "Feed my sheep."  The Greek word for "feed" is poimaino.  We realized that our true purpose in what we are doing is to feed God's sheep-body, mind and soul.  We will be feeding people with the food that we grow (body), with educational programs about health (mind) and with witnessing to people (soul). The word means to feed and to shepherd and so we were excited about it.  We were a little worried about the oddness of the word but we are convinced that with a solid purpose, we can market the name just fine.  The name itself is a witnessing tool while we are out marketing because when you hear it your first thought is, "What is poimaino?" This is a great way to witness because it leads right into a conversation on how Jesus calls us to feed the sheep.  So we are in the process of getting all things setup for being a legal business and we are gearing up for the farmers market which starts in June.

Also, we are moving! This Friday is our official move-in day.  We have most of our stuff in the house already and are working on moving stuff down from the attic.  On Friday, we will move our beds and clothes.  It has been quite a journey working on the house and we are excited to see it come to an end (or just return to a normal level of upkeep) and focus more of our time on the farm.  Feel free to stop by and see the house!

To God alone be the glory!

John and Kristin

p.s. The kids are doing great. Paul is almost rolling and has recently found his voice so he is chattering all the time.  The girls love their new room and house.  We will see how the transition goes!

A flooring sneak peak!

This is a BEFORE picture of the dining room and kitchen

This is AFTER it was sanded! WOW!

We rented a sander and it did an awesome job (The operators didn't do too bad too ;) )

My dad is using the edger sander. It sure is a good workout!

It took John, my dad, and myself about 2 hours to stain the living room.

Grandpa has been sanding and staining the stairway.

Yes, John does have stain on his sock :) OOPS! The floor looks great though!

Well there is your sneak peak! Everything is officially stained and currently drying.  In the next few days we will be coating it all with polyurethane to give it the seal and shine it needs. After the smell of all this fades out, we will be on our way to carpet! We also have final inspections on the horizon. We failed our first final for electrical (are we surprised?). I guess he fails everyone though and it was a small list that is easy to fix (closet light fixtures and such). The inspector had high praises (thanks much to dad Derby who installed most of the plugs and ran most of the wire!). A move in date hasn't quite been set but it is very soon! Probably within the next month depending on how the inspections go and that pesky refund check :) We hope that your Easter was filled with all the joy and blessing of what the Lord has done for us!

Tile and Trim

Our big project for the week(s) is refinishing the old trim that we saved.

Grandpa has been faithfully refinishing trim for 2 weeks!

It seems like almost every room has trim in it! We have been keeping grandpa very busy!

What the trim used to look like.

This is a view of the hallway painted and with the door trim on.

 

The Master Bathroom: Sean did the original tile from the toilet to the sink to the tub.  We decided to finish it all the way around the tub on the floor so John and grandpa and myself (Kristin) did that.

I was able to try my hand at the tile saw while John mapped out this maze of tile around the tub. It looks awesome though!

Upstairs bathroom floor: John and our brother-in-law Sean worked hard on this floor. Sean taught John all he knows about tile.  They made a great team. Sean measured and placed the tiles and John cut.

John's first solo attempt at tile: the upstairs shower. It looks great!

All the door trim has been re-finished and hung! It looks great! It is fun to have a touch of the old house mixed with the new.

Well we are moving closer and closer to the finish line! We have completed the tile and we are working on the trim. Mainly grandpa has been plugging, sanding, and staining the old trim. Once the trim is finished, (maybe by the end of next week?) it will get put on the walls and then we will re-finish the floor in the living room and then we will get carpet installed. Our current goal is to accomplish all of this by Easter, but we shall see!

Blessings of the Lord

Well we are happy to inform you that John got a job! He is working for the Mt. Pleasant Housing Commission as a maintenance worker.  It is low-income housing for elderly and disabled people.  The main building is downtown Mt. Pleasant and is 10 stories high! (I think the tallest building in Mt. Pleasant actually). We have been praying that God would provide and just before we ran out of money He provided for us again. We are very thankful that we have a Lord that watches out for us and provides for our needs (maybe not all of our wants as I am learning!). Thank you to those who have been praying and helping out! We are very blessed by all of you!