Mommy's Project 52: 11 Rewarding

I know I should have some pretty pictures for this post, and some cool Mommy blog about how rewarding it is to be a mommy and it is. It is an everyday rewarding that I am grateful to have.

However, I can think of so many other rewarding things that are happening to friends and family. We have a friend who is having problems with her pregnancy, and it is rewarding to know that she is able to hang in there just a little bit longer, despite how hard it is to sit in the hospital and wait. Although for her it is frustrating to have to wait, and follow the rules of bedrest, she is doing what is best for her little girl who we hope can make a healthy appearance into the world.

Another rewarding experience, is that of seeing a young adult grow their wings and learn to fly on their own. We are getting to observe this first hand as my younger brother in law is finding his new career to be a positive experience, and has rented a room in house (someone else's). He will soon be learning to be responsible for himself and how to be completely independent.

So yes, me bringing life into the world. Enjoying seeing my children discover the world, and feeling the youngest move around inside me fills me with a rewarding life. But seeing the success for others, is also rewarding and its fun to cheer them on!

Top 10: Reasons I am not in Labor....

Ok, since I decided to hike a mountain at 32 weeks, I have been feeling like I am gonna start my period every evening followed by back pains, and Kohl curling up in a ball then stretching out as far as he can in the evenings. Then in morning, I feel like someone is standing on my pelvis trying to push my hips apart.

I have been fussed at for not contacting a doctor, but frankly, I am not worried no other symptoms and it only happens at night. But I am paying attention to the symptoms and promise if it gets worse, that I will call the doctor. In the mean time, I have pretended I am David Letterman and created a Top 10 list.

10. I have never been in labor on my own before.
9. Eve is refusing to go to sleep, there isn't enough room for two babies.
8. Kohl is moving too much.
7. Morvin is out of town.
6. I feel like I am going to start my period, not like I am going to pop out a baby.
5. You have to go to the hospital at least 5 times with fake labor pains before you actually have a baby. I have only been once and it wasn't for labor pains.
4. It is not the scheduled delivery date.
3. I have an emergency plan, this only happens when there is no plan.
2. It's too soon for grandparents to visit, or for a baby to come home, I haven't even cleaned out the shed yet.
1. When I took a hot shower, the pain resided after I admitted some natural gas of my own.

We, The People.....

Warning: This article contains strong political views of what our country has become, if you are a fan of American Politics and not of American values then read no further. Also know that I was singing the Shot Heard Round the World in my head as I wrote this, thank you School House Rock!

Throughout history man has been smart enough to see injustices and has spoken out about it. Throughout history, man ha aspited for a peaceful existence to live their life in a safe happy manner. Also throughout history there has been a group of people called leaders who when the rest of the people in a society got lazy gave obtained absolute power. Also when a man or a group of men had obtained the absolute power, the system that once worked became corrupt and was no longer safe or happy for the majority of the people.

This brings us to where the United States is right now. Our government founded by the people, for the people, has lost its main ingredient…. THE PEOPLE! The people have given absolute power to the political officials allowing them to make the decisions of everyone’s day to day life. It is not these elected officials’s fault that they have become corrupt or have assumed absolute power. We, the people, have begun to give them this power generations ago. Little bit by little bit, we have entrusted politicians to make decisions for us instead of making it clear which decisions we wanted made and how. Slowly we began to believe they were smarter than us, and were gave them more and more power, which began to make the people feel powerless.

Therefore, we, the people, have handed this elite group power over us and have relinquished our power over our lives and society. We no longer truly elect a president, your vote does not really count, because an “electoral college.” We no longer decide how we trade with in our country or with other countries, that is set up through trade organizations that follow the people’s in power agenda. We no longer chose what is best for our health, we allow an organization to tell us that the chemicals they put in our food is good for us, and that whole food is dangerous and could even be a drug. Our government (once for the people) now pays other countries to produce 98% of all the items we buy to include food, and has higher standards for goods produced in the United States. Our government fines the small business and charges the American entrepreneur discouraging them to be productive here. This government, that says it has our best interest at heart, is strangling the American producer with guidelines and taxes.

The other day, I watched a video where even the American Man’s rights were being violated and removed from them. A group of nonviolent protestors were being drug out of their crowd, being man handled by 3-5 cops per person, and arrested for wanting to share with the world that the country has forgotten about the People. At some point, the American people have become afraid of the police and the police have forgotten their oath, just as the politicians have forgotten their job to protect the constitution and people’s rights. My understanding of law officials’ job is to protect THE PEOPLE and serve THE PEOPLE. At some point, The People in these officials minds were only the elite population. This makes it completely understandable why THE PEOPLE are scared of them.

My fellow Americans, I am scared for my children and grandchildren with where our country has gone. The Constitution and Bill of Rights are no longer revered as law, but are looked at as a small piece of our history. We have forgotten what the ideals of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence mean, and have thus lost the foundation of our government. I have read and studied about revolutions, civil disobedience, and making change. IT never comes without a cost. Usually what starts as peaceful protests against the corrupted few, quickly turns into a bloody mess, killing and hurting innocent people who want what is best for themselves and their prosperity.

America, we are at the brink of another Revolution. Are we, the people, going to hide and pretend it is not happening? Are we going to blindly continue to follow the people we have allowed to be corrupt as they continue to try to micromanage our lives? or…. Are we going to take back what is ours that we have already lost so many men to uphold? Remember the words of the beginning of the Declaration of Indepence “When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve political bonds……” I ask this question to all of you, has the time come for us to start declaring our independence from this corrupt system and their policies that only look out for a few?

La Chupacabra and The Chicken Farmer

Please note that there are no pictures for this story even though all events are true as seen through the wife's eyes in the story. It was just too gruesome to take pictures of the events!

The seven month pregnant mother and her two and a half year old daughter stood in the middle of the living room with the mother’s hand over the little girl’s ears. The shotgun rumbled as the tired chicken farmer shot two shots out of the little girl’s bedroom window into a chicken coop flooded with light.

At the beginning of September, the chicken farmer, his wife, and two kids had returned home from an international trip to discover that something wild had found their chickens and liked the taste. Chicken farming was a new adventure to the family, but had given their 11 year old boy a sense of responsibility.

The dad had tried numerous ways to keep the creature from getting to the son’s chickens to include building a roosting box for them. However, after only two short nights of not being able to get the chickens, the mysterious chicken killer had learned how to overcome this hurdle as well and killed two chickens in one night.

Distraught and being down to just 2 chickens from the 21 original chickens, the novice chicken farmers had to begin with, the chicken farmer formed a grand plan. With the help of the eager young uncle, a baby monitor, and flood lights, the two men were going to attack the beast and make sure it did not get the last of the flock.

The first night was a sleepless night for the mother, with the baby monitor blasting night sounds and a 3 am attack by the mysterious beast. The two hunters ran outside, flooded the coop with lights and took one shot at the scared chupacabra running away through the woods. Meanwhile, inside, the mom had taken the youngest child who sleeps near the coop to her room, to help keep her from being scared. Although, the chickens were safe the chicken farmers were sadden that the creature had not been taken care of the first night.

The second night the men traded places, this time with the dad turning on the light and the young uncle with the gun. Chupacabra was once again on the outside of the coop, and out smarted the uncle as he blasted four rounds in the beast’s general direction… Once again the frustrated dad had missed the creature.

The third night was a quite night. Chupacabra decided not to try to get dinner from the chicken coop leaving the weary father confused. However, the mother was slight rested considering that this night was just the calm before the storm. The fourth night would bring on a full fledge battle.

The stage was set the fourth night in Chupacabra’s favor. The frustrated Dad chose not to put the chickens in their roosting box. The chicken farming couple went to bed around eleven o’clock hoping for another quiet evening. Just as soon as they both went to sleep, Chupacabra attacked. The mother heard the worst sound ever- a hurt screaming chicken. It sounded to her like a baby being brutally murdered. The mother rushed to their daughter’s bedroom where she found her awake and terrified by the sound. She grabbed their daughter and rushed her back to the couple’s room. The dad fled out of the house, turned on the lights and did not see chupacabra anywhere. Chupacabra was gone with the tail of a chicken.

Just an hour later, the chickens still not in their roosting box, Chupacabra attacked again. This time she managed to drag the tailless chicken across the pin and was pulling it out of the fence by its head. Dad was still not able to get to the fence fast enough to kill the beast. Scaring it away, dad could still hear it rustling in the woods, and shot off his shot gun in the direction of the sound. With the little girl safe in her parent’s bed, the frustrated couple decided to determine the fate of the lifeless chicken laying half in the coop and half out, along with putting the unharmed chicken into the roosting box for its safety. The husband kicked the lifeless chicken before bending down to pick it up, and the chicken took off running.

In order to try and save both birds that their son has grown to learn, Dad put the chickens up in the roosting box, and chose to leave the light on, hoping that Chupacabra would not return that night. However, earlier than most alarm clocks, around five o’clock am, the injured chicken let out its “Please, God, Save Me!” screech for the third time that night. Mom ran across the house, looked out her daughter’s window and saw a huge ball of grayish fur hanging down from the roosting box. She grabbed her baby girl and ran out of the room as Dad arrived in the room with the shot gun. He opened the window and quietly knocked out the screen like you would see in a Wild West film. BANG! He had fired the first shot.

The mom had uncovered her daughter’s ears and was telling her it would all be ok, as they stood in the living room waiting for the dad to come out. The Mom did not take the little girl to the bedroom because she would not have enough time to turn off the monitor. During this long moment, of silence from the bedroom, the dad was preparing the shotgun to fire another round. From nowhere, the mom and little girl jumped when they heard the second BANG! Dad finally came out of his daughter’s room looking tired and defeated. However, he announced that Chupacabra had lost the battle.

Too tired to check, the husband did not go investigate the wife’s questions of did her son’s chickens survive. He just walked quietly back to the bedroom. The couple had allowed their scared little girl to stay in their bed with them for the remainder of the night. Around nine am Sunday morning, a still extremely drained dad went out to dispose of the dead raccoon that his wife had named Chupacabra. Then he opened the roost box to find two very scared, beat up, toeless chickens still alive.

Knowing that their first year chicken farming has not been successful, they have learned many lessons. The husband has not given up and has immediately made modifications to the roosting box and plans to repair and make the coop more secure. The mother has her chicken first aid kit ready to doctor the chicken wounds to prevent infection. The baby monitor is still outside and may stay there until the couple’s youngest child arrives in November.

Despite their bad luck and lack of knowledge with chicken farming, this family has not given up and hopes to get more chickens soon.