Bunnies and Worms and Websites...Oh My!

Who else in our house would receive a package that has a bright yellow tag that says "Live Products"?

Maddy is working on her worm compost project and was eagerly waiting her package from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm

Preparing her compost bin...girls and drills

Putting into action all that she has researched over the last few weeks for this project.

Maddy has been eagerly waiting for her bunny to have babies.



"Almond" started nesting early Friday morning

 



She had 4 "kits" and 2 survived (which is actually pretty good the first time around). Maddy was beyond thrilled as she watched the process and said,

"How on earth can someone not believe in God after watching this!?"

 

 

 

 Love.....

 

 

This girl has a new project every Saturday! Last week she made homemade rabbit treats. I must say our house smelled like a barn for a couple hours. It was beyond awful! 
 

 

 

Here is a picture of Maddy with the sticky notes on the van window. We were coming back from a long day at Ikea and during the drive Madelyn was studying and writing down thoughts on sticky notes. It's only appropriate that the PetSmart sign is peeking through!

 

 

 

Madelyn has children that will stop by to see the bunnies and to ask questions. It is sweet to see how the Lord is using her passion, interest and gifts with others......

This picture is precious to me.

 

 

Madelyn's website is almost LIVE. She has been working on it for weeks. Stay tuned to hear first hand her experiences and information from Madelyn's Urban Rabbitry. You will see pictures of the baby bunnies growth and she will be sharing information that she learns while taking care of her Rabbitry. There will also be links to her favorite rabbit sites as well as the recipe for her Rabbit Treats and information about her compost business. 

This young lady is on the move so be prepared to keep up with her exciting journey.  Make sure you save her website so your children can watch the bunnies grow over the next few weeks and to learn fun facts along the way.

We will let you know as soon as it's ready.

 

Lord, I thank you for the gifts and talents You have placed in Madelyn.. I pray that You would develop them in her and use them for your glory. Make them apparent to me and to her, and show me specifically if there is any special nurturing, training, learning experience, or opportunities I should provide for her. May her gifts and talents be developed in Your way and in Your time. Your Word says, "Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is give to us, let us use them" (Romans 12:6). As she recognizes the talents and abilities You've given her, I pray that no feelings of inadequacy, fear, or uncertainty will keep her from using them according to Your will. May she hear the call You have on her life so that she doesn't spend a lifetime trying to figure out what it is or miss it altogether.

(prayer from Stormie Omartian's book)   

CN- Visit- Jefferson City, Tennessee

It was surreal to be back at CNC, well now its CNU with our oldest daughter Breanna. Many know our story but here is quick background. Billy and I went to Carson Newman with Breanna when she was about 9months old. Billy and I were enrolled full time at CN. Breanna ran around this campus and rode her barbie jeep all around and waved to all the students. Billy and I planned our classes around parenting a small child and Breanna didn't lack for attention as she was known on campus and participated in college life at an early age.

 Breanna is now starting the process of making decisions on "What's next?" after High School, so it was a great start with a  tour our old stomping grounds from a different vantage point. I must say, we were very proud Alumni as we listened and learned the impact CN students are making in the community and around the world during and after the college years.

For Breanna, we will continue to visit a few more schools and she will be taking the SAT's in March. 

Most importantly we are praying she will seek the Lord's direction and stand firm with the confidence of where He is leading her."For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11 

I am thankful that there is rest and reassurance in this passage in Jeremiah. As this culture inundates High School kids with the endless questions of "what do you want to be?" "Where are you going to go?", "When, Where, How, What and Why" I know that she has the Holy Spirit to guide her and He has created her uniquely with gifts and talents. No matter "When, Where, How, What" she does after High School her purpose still remains the same as a follower of Christ. Matthew 28:19

The Historical Swann Hall, just beautiful

Burnett Residence Hall, we used to visit our good friend Mindy here quite often when Breanna was younger.

The sky was beautiful, here is a picture of the football field. 



We caught up with some sweet friends! Total bonus for the trip. Good times talking about all our fun times we had at CN.

Fun times hanging out and catching up. It's great to see some of them chasing after kids now. 

So how do you cap off a great weekend of seeing friends, visiting our Alma Mater and spending time with family?

Welp, just a little accident. The van didn't stand a chance with Billy's dad's brick mailbox. Oh boy, there's never a good time for a deductible payment. 

It was a a great trip and we are looking forward to more college visits to come.

PaSRBA Convention- Madelyn's first Rabbit Show

Madelyn, experienced the PaSRBAConvention in Lebanon, PA. a few weeks ago. This was her first time showing her rabbit, Almond. 

 

 

 

Madelyn entered into 3 contest for Friday Night at the show. Breed ID, Judging and Showmanship. Here she s studying in the car on the way to the show. 

 

Showmanship, here she is examining her rabbit and explaining what she is checking.

Judging, this was her favorite contest. She examined several bunnies that looked identical and made decisions on what order the bunny would be placed by compairing it to the standard bunny in that class of rabbits. 

 

Saturday morning....very early we made our way back to Lebanon for the convention. Here Madelyn is waiting to put Almond on the table to be judged.  

Second Place!!!!!   

She was so stinkin excited!  Her first show with her first rabbit and she placed.  It was a great morning and a great first experience for her.

 

 

 

So what do you do after you show your bunny???....

 

You go meet other breeders,

the problem is that you will most likely come home with another bunny!!!

 

Meet Madelyn's new addition "Joy"

"Joy" came "pre-loaded". So we will have some little ones in, oh, about 28-30 days.

Do you remember her first bunnies name? Almond

so she has two bunnies

"Almond, Joy"

funny girl.

 

 

 

Madelyn has been working hard on her hobby of raising rabbits.  She has come up with a name for her future rabbitry and she and her dad even created a logo together.

She is a young entrepreneur and is looking forward to raising Polish rabbits to sell and compete in future shows.  She is currently working on putting together a website to show off her bunnies.

 

Its fun to see her passion and interest in this area.  She is a hard worker and has learned so much on her own over the past few months.  Her 4-H leader Lori Jo as well as her daughter have been wonderful to encourage Madelyn and answer any questions she has... and she has a lot!

 

Personally, I have enjoyed meeting new parents and getting to know the wonderful people in her 4-H group as well as new friends that we met through the show in Lebanon.

 

 

 

English Riding

Madelyn has come a long way from her very first lesson. She has ridden 2 different ponies and one full size horse so far.

 

 Maddy enjoys jumping, trotting, posting, posting trot,sitting trot, cantering....well all of it. (terrible quality picture with my phone but wanted to include an action picture)

 

Ready to GO!

 

 

 

 

So, we try to keep warm during her lessons. The barn has this nice little office that has a window to watch the lessons and this great heater. This week when it was 17 degrees I was very appreciative of this little thing.

Special Day for our boy

 Lunch with my boy for his Birthday. The cakepops were a HIT! The kids were so excited and it made it extra special for Logan to see his classmates excited for his birtday. Logan unashamedly hugged and tucked his arm around my back while we ate lunch together. I love how tender and affectionate he is.

 

 

I couldn't pull my phone out fast enough as the kids spontaneously sang Happy Birthday.

 

Okay, not my typical cake baking for birthdays but I go with the request they give me and this year Logan wanted a cake with Reese Cups  and chocolate all over the top so that's what he got. In between the layers of cake is a layer of Reese's cups and homemade peanut butter frosting, covered with dark chocolate ganache on the top. Ohh my word how many calories can you put in one cake!!!!

 

 Whoo hooo! RGIII Jersey!
 

 AND the magic kit that he has wanted for a while. We have been entertained for the past few days as he is learning to work some of the illusions.
 

 

This is a face of "I am special" He was so appreciative as he thanked us several times for the gifts and making the cake just the way he wanted it. God has big plans for this boy that is growing into a young man. He is 100% boy and the most tender, compassionate, protective boy I know.

 

We love you

 LoMo, Ltrain, Lo, Carolina



National Honor Society

Breanna was inducted into the National Honor Society recently.

 

The 4 Pillars of the National Honor Society which must be exhibited in order to be accepted into the elite groups are:

 

Leadership

Scholarship

Service

Character

 

 

 

NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY PLEDGE

I pledge to maintain my high scholastic standing,
To hold as fundamental and worthy
An untarnished character,
To endeavor intelligently and courageously
To be a leader,
And to give of myself freely in service to others.
In so doing, I shall prove myself worthy
Of a place in the National Honor Society. 

 

 

A picture of a few friends after the ceremony.

 

 

 

 Dads and their girls.....

 

 

Thanks Maya for taking our picture!

 

 

Maddy finding her place at the Farm Show 2013

Maddy was very busy at the farm show this year. It is so fun to watch her in this environment, this is an area that Maddy has a passion for. From the time that she could pick up a pencil she would draw animals. When she started reading she gravitated to animal and science books. She researches and develops PowerPoint presentations in her spare time about animals. In her world there is no other TV channel than Animal Planet. She is a little entrepreneur, always working. She is the neighborhood pet sitter and fills her calendar with her "jobs."

 

 

Maddy with her show bunny. This is Almond, she is a Chocolate colored Polish Rabbit.  She might be having babies in the near future. Let her (us)  know if you would like to purchase one in the future. Maddy is working on her plan now for her 4-H project...and she came up with the name for her little rabbitry "Madelyn's Urban bunnies"

 

 Lori's daughter Julie helping Maddy with her showmanship skills.

 

Lori, Maddy's 4-H leader giving her a walk through of all the different breeds of rabbits at the Farm Show.

 

Here is Maddy a couple days later teaching Nana and Papa about the different breeds at the Farm Show, while including other people in the conversation as they walked around the cages.

 

She volunteered to sell programs at the information desk one day. She was hustling some programs and would yell " Get your programs for $1, $1 programs support 4-H" Who can turn down a passionate little girl selling programs? Not many people actually, she went through a ton of them and people were giving her donations without taking a program just because they liked her enthusiasm.

 

 



Several days Maddy worked in the rabbit area. 

 

So we took a break and grabbed some healthy food like fried mozzarella cubes, milkshakes and fries. We stopped by this area near the food court it was the veterinarian department for Penn State. Maddy talked with Ms.Deborah  a Veterinarian. They spent at least 45 minutes talking eye ball to eye ball after they looked at the x-rays. Maddy was very engaged and asked great questions.  They talked about foal and rabbit reproduction among other topics.

 

  

Here, Maddy is giving her PowerPoint presentation on rabbits. She worked on this over Christmas break just for fun so it was neat for her to be able to present it in a large crowd.

 

 

 

 

 

She made a Jeopardy game at the end of her presentation. She asked volunteers to come up on stage and answer her questions.  Everyone was rewarded with candy. 

 

We had a blast at the farm show. One day we were there for over 12 hours and when I told Maddy it was time to go she said "It's time to go already" she had no idea how much time had passed.

We were sad to see it end!

Maddy has a rabbit show coming up Feb 2nd...so be on the lookout for pictures!