Something to Crow About

New boy, new bird and an audio book almost done

For the first time in more than two decades, our little family is expanding.

Our sweet daughter and her boyfriend are engaged! And we couldn’t be more thrilled. The son-in-law-to-be is a thoughtful, kind-hearted man with a deep love for Scripture and the Lord, and a tender affection for our daughter.

She said, “Yes!”

When they called to tell us they were engaged, I told him that he was an answer to prayer. And he is. For the past few years, my husband and I have been praying that God would bring the right man into our daughter’s life, someone who loves her and shares her love for the Lord. This guy meets those requirements in abundance, and we are so grateful.

Wedding Planning

My daughter and I have begun discussing wedding planning, and I already see how it is going to be an interesting project. She said she wants a relatively short engagement, a simple wedding, not too expensive, but one in a beautiful place, with great pictures. Oh, and she wants to invite all of her family, friends, and community. I laughed and told her we needed to watch Steve Martin’s 90s version of Father of the Bride when she comes home for Thanksgiving.

With Pinterest-perfect photos and drone-shot, cinematic videos, wedding expectations are a bit crazy these days. Both my daughter and I tend to gravitate towards the understated, the practical, the unpretentious. But as we talked about it, we both remembered that huge, sometimes extravagant, wedding celebrations are nothing new. They are even a part of biblical culture, and for good reason.

Weddings celebrate the formation of a new family, a man and woman coming together to begin a new life. And, as they make a lifelong commitment to each other, they invite their community, because although marriage is a contract between two individuals, it inevitably impacts the community as a whole. Weddings represent hope for the future.

Feasting is also one of the most underrated spiritual disciplines. Christians talk about the spiritual disciplines of fasting, giving, and taking a Sabbath rest. But feasting is also a sacred activity. The Hebrews were commanded to set aside resources so they could hold public celebrations. And sometimes the festivities lasted days!

And of course, the kingdom of God is a party. Jesus references this over and over. His first miracle was at a wedding. Many of his parables involve weddings and feasts, and the New Testament concludes with the ultimate wedding of Jesus and the Church and an invitation to it: The Spirit and the Bride say, Come!

Come, Holy Spirit

After a week of dark days and heavy rains, we enjoyed some brilliant sunshine over the past weekend. Kip flew down to Oregon to visit our son, who is in college, and I spent the weekend with women from my church at a beautiful retreat center near the Canadian border.

Pacific City, Oregon, in November

These annual retreats are always a special time of connection, nurturing old friendships, and building new ones. This year, it was also a time of intentionally connecting with the Lord and learning to hear his voice. I’ve been reading Trevor Hudson’s In Search of God’s Will through a Renovaré book club, so the weekend’s emphasis on the Holy Spirit dovetailed with other things I have been reading and processing.

The theme of the weekend centered around the ancient prayer, “Come, Holy Spirit,” and the retreat speaker did a great job of explaining what the prayer means and why it is so helpful. According to traditional Christian theology, God is all-powerful and all-present, so despite how the prayer might sound, it is not calling the Spirit to come into a place where He is not already present. It is a request for the Holy Spirit to make us more aware of his presence. It is an invitation to awakening.

Jesus tells the church in Revelation that He is standing at the door of their heart, knocking. If he is invited, he will come in and have dinner with them. This invitation from Jesus is a request for us to open the door for Him to come in, to have dinner together, to commune, to feast. It is an invitation to friendship, to intimacy, to really knowing the God we talk about.

So indeed, “Come, Holy Spirit!”

I said, "Yes" to the Rooster

We have a new bird.

My friend, who lives within city limits, has been offering me a rooster for weeks. One of the chicks she and her daughters hatched this summer turned out to be the crowing kind, and she has been concerned about his future ever since.

Her girls, the human ones, were very attached to Roz, initially thought to be Rosaline, before his biology became apparent, and they were very sad to let him go. However, they visit a couple of times a month, so I hope it will give them some comfort to know that they will see Roz grow up to be a happy and healthy rooster.

When they arrived last night, the 8-year-old looked at me with soulful eyes and said, more than once, “He is a sweet rooster,” and then later, in her own characteristic fierceness, “Don’t put him in a pot!”

If you have ever raised chickens, then you know the meet and greet can be a bit tricky. So last night we tried the old switcheroo, tucking him into the coop while the hens slept. That seemed to work, and Kip connected his computer to our TV, allowing the kids to watch the live chicken cam feed while they had dinner inside.

This morning, I heard a bit of commotion and went out to the chicken run to find Roz in a corner, cowering in a “safe” area I created for the spring chicks when they were smaller than my full-grown hens.

Roz is in the dog crate while Henrietta and the other girls get used to him.

I decided to put an end to their meet-cute and put Roz in a dog crate I keep near the chicken run. I’ve found this arrangement allows the flock to observe a new bird without being able to do any damage. I used this system to reintroduce Strawberry after her month of rehabilitation in the garage. Tonight I’ll put Roz back into the coop, and hopefully Henrietta, the big gal, will be in a better mood tomorrow.

Eventually, Roz will rule the roost, but for now, he is a bit smaller than our fattest hens, and I don’t want him to get too hen-pecked.

Roz has a lovely Easter Egger beard.

As my little human friend told me, Roz is a remarkably sweet rooster. I carried him around a bit today, and he settled easily into my arms like he had spent the last few months being petted and loved, as I am sure he has. I hope that when he finds his place in the flock, he will remain his sweet-natured self while maintaining order in the coop. There is nothing like a rooster to keep bully hens from pecking the other girls.

And that would be something to crow about.

Coming Next Week…

The audiobook version of The Queen’s Priest is in its final Audible review and should be available next week. Listeners will be able to purchase it using Audible credit as well as a direct Audible purchase. If you are interested in buying The Queen’s Priest directly from me, please send me a message.

I am still learning how to make the book available through avenues other than Amazon. I will continue to let you know when it becomes available in other stores. In the meantime, if you regularly purchase books—audio books, e-books, or paperbacks—from outlets other than Amazon, please let me know. I have focused on Amazon because the vast majority of book sales (something like 90 percent of the market) flows through Amazon. But of course, I would like to support other retail outlets, particularly if readers would like those options.

Last Chance

If you are interested in downloading the e-book version of The Queen’s Priest for the low, low price of $3.99, do it this week. When the audiobook launches, the e-book price will increase to $5.99.