Blog-iversary!

Tomorrow marks one year since starting my blog! Hooray!

I logged 56 entries which is an average of one per week. Technically I met my goal of one per week except that I cranked out 6-8 entries in the first 4 months, barely blogged in the summer, and made a decent come back in the fall into winter. I read a few of my early entries for some retrospect and realized I promised to fill you in on the infamous video of me chasing a chicken. There's two versions but I'll play the sped up edited version set to music! Hold tight though... a few updates first:

• My running career is non-existent. By the time my lungs recovered from six weeks of coughing, the weather was freezing, the roads were snow/ice covered, and I was not motivated. The weather was nicer this week albeit muddy so Homestead Phil and I took a few walks!
• We are still praying for direction as to our family size. We are hyper focused on serving one another and growing our businesses: Rent The Chicken and The Chicken Network. We're always focused on growing our businesses but this time of year requires extra focus and we are not skimping on the focus.
• I've never been one to select a "theme" or a "word of the year" but this year I have one. I'll likely dedicate a blog post to it at some point but here's a sneak peak - 2019 The Year of The Harvest!
• We have a big big big project we've been working on that we will announce on February 17th unless there's a change in our schedule. Stay tuned!

Let's talk about ways to catch a chicken! Have you seen this meme? It cracks me up every time!

Also, in an older Rocky movie as well as in Creed, there are iconic scenes during training where a chicken is being caught to train for speed and agility. You know the scene, right? I'll link to clips below. We've no joke had a swim coach call to arrange for us to bring a few chickens for his team to "train like Rocky". Once the swim team was done chasing chickens around, the Rent The Chicken kid swooped in and picked up the chickens like a boss! haha

Rocky:


Creed:


Are you ready to watch the coveted "How to catch a runaway chicken" video? I'll set the scene: Homestead Phil recorded from his second floor office rather than coming outside to help me. We've remodeled our bulk chicken keeping area since then. The original video has Homestead Phil commentary but this version is set to Benny Hill and sped up. No more spoilers though! I've gotten much better in almost five years!

Without further ado, the never published on my blog video of me chasing a chicken circa Spring 2014:



For those who prefer unedited versions of productions (word use very loosely in this case!) here is the original with Homestead Phil commentary:


Proof that I can catch a chicken or at least hold one? haha:

Mic drop

My heart is FULL!

After Our Girl moved abruptly in September, our hearts were very empty. We dove right back into continue growing our businesses of Rent The Chicken and The Chicken Network while volunteering with boys' and girls' ministries at our church. We started #TompkinsPalooza2017 when we had Our Little Guy with us in 2017 to be purposeful about planning, experiencing, and spending time with as many friends and family as possible. That continued with #TompkinsPalooza2018 with Our Girl and niece Brooklynn well into December with our Annual Holiday Dinner.

Mid to late December is slower for us with phone calls and emails compared to other parts of the year so I in particular took advantage of #TompkinsPalooza2018 in being purposeful with activities and spending time with friends and family. I make it a goal to make as many cookies and pumpkin rolls as possible as I like to take a tray of cookies to events, plates of cookies to neighbors, and ship boxes of cookies to Phil's family. Although I'm a bit behind in my baking according to what I prefer, cookies still were shipped early this week as Christmas gifts for Phil's family! *whew*


In the last week or so, I had the pleasure of teaching a mother / daughter duo how to make ladylocks / clothes pin cookies. They are a popular cookie known in Western Pennsylvania but originated from Poland and Germany. The dough is mixed a day ahead of time with the secret ingredient of cottage cheese! (Ew, right?) The next day, the dough is rolled, cut into strips, wrapped onto foiled straight clothespins, baked, removed from clothespins then filled with a delightful filling that has more confection sugar than any recipe I've ever made before! So DELISH! My mom passed the recipe to me from my Aunt Evon who passed in 2011 after a long, long fight of cancer. Usually I only eat the rejects but my friend Debby let us eat even the pretty ones! A double recipe makes about 18-20 dozen. They are so easy to eat though so a few dozen go quickly in a crowd!

I also had the pleasure of teaching a former chicken renter turned friend how to make Pumpkin Rolls! Golly and I didn't even snap a photo of the process or of us making all TEN Pumpkin Rolls! He's next in line on how to make the ladylocks though! He took five home and left me with five as the five niece Mykala and I made before Thanksgiving are long gone! I hope five is enough as I've been sending a half of a Pumpkin Roll out the door like they are going out of style! I doubt I will make any more in the next five days though so they will have to be enough! He was real concerned with some cracking in the roll part so I was sure to send only uncracked ones home with him. All tastes the same to us! Here's a photo from yester-year to show off a representation of what we pulled off in 3.5 hours :)

On Saturday of last week, Homestead Phil had to be at our church for THREE events! I only had to attend one :) First thing in the morning, he had play practice for the Christmas program. He was the lead wise guy... I mean wise man! He came home, rested then we headed back in sporting our superhero garb for a super hero birthday party for our friend Chris!

It was there that I realized I could steal two of the girls in Girls' Ministry to help roll, cut, and frost the sugar cookie dough I had chilling in the fridge! Homestead Phil likes to one up me and this time he said to both girls and their families "Why not just spend the night?!" YAY!!!! Homestead Phil and I took the girls home and then he headed back to church for the Men's Ministry Christmas Party. The girls were so fun! (messy but fun!) We watched youtube for some decorating ideas. It was my first time attempting to use royal icing. In hindsight, maybe trying a new liquidy icing with two 10 year olds wasn't a great choice! hahahaha Eventually we switched to my tried and true frosting recipe and finished the task. Not before they asked for dinner though! They said "How about Taco Bell?" uh... we live in the middle of nowhere. I asked if they saw a Taco Bell in the neighborhood! :) They didn't so I made tacos and it was a win-win! They stayed up giggling far too late when Homestead Phil was in charge of making sure they went to bed while I wrapped some gifts (see below!). They each took a number of cookies home to share with their families!

I've grown pretty attached to a number of the girl kiddos in the Girls' Ministry at our church (including the two who came over for the cookie project!). I self titled my role as "Director of Crafts of Girls' Ministry". As Director, I felt the need to hand craft a little something for each of the girls (seven in total!) for Christmas. When I saw a crocheted pattern for ear warmers in the form of crowns, I knew they'd be perfect for these "daughters of the King"! At first they didn't know what they were and they are ages 6-10 and didn't realize that I hand made each of them! I gave them before service last week which was the same day of the Christmas program! So they opened them before their big performance and it warmed my heart after the service to see so many of them wearing them to go home! I later learned that one slept in hers and another wears it every time she goes outside AND another one wore it to Girls' Ministry on Wednesday. *FULL HEART*

As if those weren't enough events to fill my heart... there's more! Around Thanksgiving when Homestead Phil was traveling, we agreed that after a year, we would reach out to Our Little Guy's (Our first foster care placement) Mom to see if we could give him a few Christmas presents. (When he moved, he moved to his dad's and his dad was not open to being in touch with us.) She one upped me! She offered for us to video chat with us and then invited us to their home to bring his Christmas gifts including a new bicycle! Wow! Talk about FULL HEARTS! He turned 8 recently and remembers so much of his 11 months with us! It was two years ago yesterday that we first met him. Here we are with "Our Little Guy" Gabriel!

I challenge you to create your own "Palooza" to be more purposeful with your time, experiences available to you, and being with friends & family that you haven't seen in far too long. We thought we were good about those things before but we realized how much more we planned once we made it a thing. We still have some #TompkinsPalooza2018 left but we are looking forward to #TompkinsPalooza2019 - whatever that has in store for us! It's time for some more cookie baking now that I've finished my blog post for the week and we managed to publish and mail our year in review newsletter. Yes, we are *those* people!

Merry Christmas!
With a FULL heart,
Homestead Jenn

Just like that, she moved.

We made it three months with Our Girl. Our Girl was to be with our family forever. She was matched with us! Our case worker and her team of workers along with us agreed that she was destined to be with us down to her round face like mine and blue eyes like Phil's. Unfortunately, due to circumstances that we never could have imagined and the three of us being miserable more than any of us wanted to admit, we gave our notice that Our Girl needed to be someone else's girl. :( It still hurts our hearts and will for quite some time.

We learned she was moving at a regularly scheduled case worker visit about 10 minutes before she was due to get off of the bus. Even though we gave our 30 day notice, we had no idea that there was even a possibility that she would move the day of the meeting. At the direction of her case workers, we packed her clothes (and had to take inventory of it according to protocol) and knew someone would be by at a later time to pick up the rest of her items. It was exactly like a number of her previous moves - abrupt. It was the exact opposite of their goal for her to be moved to us. Just like that, she moved.

This leaves our hearts broken and our arms empty again. It's all fresh just in time for Pregnancy Loss Awareness Month. There's a month for everything now, right? I've known about this month for far too many years as we started our Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Journey in 2010. So now we are both 42 years old. We have had two foster kiddos abruptly moved one of which was to stay forever while we were told the other was very likely to become available for adoption. And we've experienced nine miscarriages. So now, what? We have no idea. Infant adoption is still an option; however, it's very expensive AND mental health issues are still a very valid concern. Granted with infant adoption, there likely will not be any attachment issues BUT birth mother still has 30 days to change her mind no questions asked. Standard foster care is still an option which is how we had our first kiddos placed. Foster to adopt is still an option. We know more questions to ask next time around. Unfortunately, due to my age and lack of cooperation of my body, pregnancy with the help of treatment is not an option. Can we still get pregnant without intervention? Highly doubtful as it hasn't happened since 2014. We might just stick to being a super awesome aunt and uncle duo. That also makes my heart hurt. For as long as I can remember, one of my goals has always been to "get married and have babies". I'm fairly certain the goal wasn't chicken babies!

Thank you for being part of this journey. It's not an easy one but it is ours so we'll continue to walk in it, own it, learn from it, grow through it, and come out blessed no matter the outcome.

Traveling With Kiddos!

As I've posted previously, this summer was FULL! Our niece Brooklynn and Our Girl (pre-adoptive foster placement) were with us this summer. Our Girl is still with us but Brooklynn went back home to Oregon at the end of the summer. We spent A LOT of time in a vehicle. It takes us about 25 minutes or so to get to Walmart so any trip to the store includes some time in the car. When we started the summer, each kid was assigned the following:

A tote bag including small crafts, coloring, books, etc.

A neck pillow - because who wants to sleep in a vehicle and have your head flop around?!?

High quality water bottles all around! It took some research but I had some requirements - no sweating, stays cold for ages, doesn't spill, large mouth for easy ice filling, easy to clean = no straws, etc. I ordered each of us one of these bad boys: Water Fit Water Bottle! 16 ounces for the kids and 20 ounces for Homestead Phil and I. Different colors for everyone with the rule that everyone was responsible for cleaning and filling their own water bottles! :)

Brain Quest Cards! Found here and available for all ages: Brain Quest Cards. I admit that the US Presidents pack is TOUGH! haha

Of course snacks! The more snacks the better!

A few things I learned and changed up from previous road trips. As much as I LOVE my Camelbak that I posted about here previously, the fancy water bottles were necessary! I did bust out the Camelbak for our trip to Kennywood though! It was more practical than us carrying our individual bottles :)

We took the kiddos on a canoe ride. When we were finished, they asked to go alone. We obliged although the anchor was dropped so they couldn't go very far and we pulled them in when it was time to be done! They went together and then separate enjoying every minute of their travels :)

Also, it may sound like making balloon animals in the car can be a bit on the edge of dangerous but it's so worth it! :) These two girls had so much fun and giggled the most when the balloons were out. Whether animals were created or not, many laughs were had! Balloons were popped on accident! More laughs occurred! So don't discount balloon animal making for longer car rides! You may end up with a balloon hitting the back of your head from the backseat but it's all worth it :)

Any must do, crazy, out of the box, options while traveling with kiddos?! We learned a lot when we traveled for 10 days with Brooklynn in 2016 and when we RV traveled with our last Little Guy in 2017. Balloon animals is now a top fav for a long trip in my book!

The Great Dayton Fair!

We LOVE our local county fair - The Great Dayton Fair! It's not the "Dayton County" fair as our county is Armstrong County but the fair is located in the very rural town of Dayton. This is year two of us camping in our little RV next to my sister and her family who have been camping at the Fair for likely 10 years or more! When we tell people that we will be camping at the fair, they assume we are showing animals as most people who camp do show animals. This fair does not have a poultry category so the chickens stay at home. We love our local fair so much that we want to enjoy all of it and not have to make the 45 minute drive home every night then tackle bedtime upon arriving home. Between our niece Brooklynn's, Our Girl's, and my entries (which Homestead Phil of course takes part in!), we submitted 30 exhibits in varying categories of canned items, baked goods, fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, as well as items created at the 4H craft camp that the girls attended this summer!

Here's what Fair week and the week before the fair look like for us:

A few weeks before the fair, I start perusing an almost 200 page booklet to decide what items we should submit.

Before the Saturday a week before the fair starts, the official entry form needs to be filled in and submitted.

We trek to the Fair Grounds to reserve our camp site, pay for our wrist bands, pay for the ride all week passes, AND submit the forms.

Grocery shop for ingredients of the proposed baked good submissions.

Wednesday and Thursday before The Fair starts, the baking commences, the lego building is finalized, the craft camp items are gathered, and the eggs are weighed.

On Friday morning, the baked goods are plated. It's decided which of the vegetables we are able to submit vs ones we want to eat! The canned items are retrieved from the basement. The eggs are carefully wiped and placed into the cartons. The craft camp items are given a once over to determine if anything needs any last minute glue!

It's time to load the vehicle! Submissions are accepted only between noon and 7pm!

Exhibitor tags can be picked up earlier in the week but since The Fair is 45 minutes each way, we decide to tag our items at the Fair Grounds. We bring a stapler, scotch tape, a hole punch, a marker, and yarn to attach our appropriate tags! (not my first rodeo, friends!) This garden stone was created at Craft Camp. Imagine that the silver is the plate then you'll see the masterpiece all come together! This is an example of the tag with the yarn showing our heart shaped hole punch :) Without the yarn and the hole punch, I have no idea how we would have attached the tag!

We form an assembly line at the vehicle after picking up our tags.

There's a station for each category. Kids are in one line while I'm in another before going back to the car to tag and retrieve more items!

30 items submitted! Record amount for us!

Then we wait. The building doesn't official open until Monday morning to see what ribbons were earned for each item! Oh the wait!

There's still plenty to keep us occupied as we have to grocery shop for the week, prepare the RV, and load it up!

There are pre-fair events that happen like horse pulls and the like. Our main goal was to have the RV set up with time for relaxation before the crowning of the Dayton Fair Queen which happens on Sunday evening. This event was near to our hearts this year as our niece, Gabi, was handing over her crown to the next Dayton Fair Queen. Gabi's reign of 2017 Dayton Fair Queen came to an end that evening. Brooklynn and Our Girl knew the 2018 Dayton Fair Queen from their time at Craft Camp and were thrilled to be able to say they knew the Queen!

In other news, we were able to get into the Exhibit Hall to get a sneak peek of some of our categories that were already judged! Say, what?! We didn't have to wait until Monday! I'll share the ribbons below. To fill you in, we received ribbons for 20 of our submissions!!

Throughout the week, we enjoyed a concert of Danny Gokey, unlimited rides, plenty of rain, limited fair food, watching our nieces compete with their horse, seeing all of the fair animals, meeting up with friends & family, and of course, showing off our ribbons to anyone who would walk to the Exhibit Hall with us! :) Oh.. and of course the Demolition Derby & the Rodeo! Brooklynn exclaimed "I saw a real life cowboy riding a bull!"

Remember when I offered selfies with Reba The Chicken at the Southern Women's Show? Well.. I met her cousin! Reba The Horse! Of course I took a selfie! (I know you were just thinking "Did Homestead Jenn snap a selfie!?")

Friday night of The Fair, I caught up with my friend Molly and her family. Her husband's family has been involved with the fair FOREVER! His great grandparents had their name on a bench at The Fair for years. The Fair is working on replacing the old benches with new ones and offered the oldest benches to be donated back to the family members. Molly and her family had been walking around The Fair all week to look for the bench that they had no problems finding each year previous but without success. I made it my duty to try to find the bench on Sunday. I gathered up two of my nieces plus Brooklynn, and a few other random horse kids who camped near us. We strategically walked around the ENTIRE fairgrounds to try to find the bench. We were also determined to get our pictures in each of the wooden displays around the fair. It was quite an adventure! I promised ice cream at the end. I'm fairly certain that we walked for more than two hours! The littlest kiddo was 4 or so years old! *blink* The oldest was 14. We had fun! We took one last look at all of our ribbons and by this time, moldy baked goods :P We sadly did not find the bench but we did find ice cream! Molly and family were able to retrieve their bench on Sunday after The Fair. Turns out, it was in rough shape, still covered in cobwebs so it was thought that it wasn't even used this fair! We got a good walk in at the fair and enjoyed ice cream nonetheless!

The girls' ribbons:

Our ribbons:

There are a few items that we hoped to submit that we just ran out of time for. Next year, we are hopeful there is still a Duct Tape contest - make anything out of Duct Tape and submit the creation! I also hope to crochet some over the next 11 months and submit a few of my creations. See you next year, The Great Dayton Fair!

Where do I start? It's my birthday!

I plan on getting back in the groove of blogging. Our summer visitor / niece Brooklynn has returned back to Oregon after 10 weeks of being with us and Our Girl has started school. Both of those factors SHOULD mean that I have more structure in my life and can get back to some "Family. Food. Fun!" especially on Fridays on our Rent The Chicken Facebook Page.

I don't even know where to start! Instead of puking words out in just one blog entry, I will start small and give tidbits. So I'll start with this: My birthday is tomorrow (which will likely be today by the time I post this)! I am turning the big 4-2! For about six months of the year, Homestead Phil and I are the same age. Pretty incredible as we didn't meet in college or high school where one might think when our ages are so close together. We're not throwing nor hosting a big party BUT my mom's Family Reunion is on my birthday (again)! It's special to me. For as long as I can remember, I celebrated my birthday with my maternal Gramma. Her birthday was September 2nd along with one of my uncles. Her birthday morphed into a family reunion so it's like I always have a big family gathering right around my birthday on Labor Day weekend. Will there be cake with "Happy Birthday"? No idea but there is usually the best deserts in the whole county at our reunions! I made some of my famous "Deviled Egg Casserole" which is just egg salad! I also made gobs. They are yum and are known in other parts as whoopie pies.

On my birthday in 2013, the Family Reunion was held. It was also the same day that Rent The Chicken was first ever printed in a newspaper - front page below the fold in the local newspaper of my hometown: Indiana, Pennsylvania. That's confusing for those not familiar. Indiana is the town in the state of Pennsylvania. We were certainly the talk of the reunion and some of my relatives even brought copies for us to see! From there, the Associated Press picked it up and we were printed in even more newspapers! Here's a link to our OG article: The Indiana Gazette We didn't even have official Rent The Chicken shirts yet! :)

I love my birthday. I talk about it for about a week or so before hand. Pre-Facebook, I'd tell everyone that my birthday was approaching. I wouldn't be fishing for a gift. I just didn't want anyone to forget the feel bad. So everyone had a heads up! :) I love that Our Girl loves to tell people about her birthday. We celebrated her birthday this summer. Maybe it's her age or maybe she's like me and just likes to tell people about it! Maybe I act like a child in regards to my birthday? haha.. one or the other is quite possibly true! Either way... I love being with family, eating yummy foods, and hearing that great jiggle of "Happy birthday to you...!"

Remember when...

Remember when I used to blog at least once a week? I'll try my best to get back into the swing of things!

With our niece Brooklynn visiting for the summer, Our Girl (foster kiddo who we plan to adopt), day trips, maintaining and growing both Rent The Chicken and The Chicken Network, plus managing the home part of The Homestead, I've been a bit busy and maybe even overwhelmed so my blog took a backseat. In fact, it may have been on the back bumper and not even on the backseat!

We drove to New Jersey to be part of a Coops for Troops presentation. It was our first time but a number of our Rent The Chicken Affiliates have participated previously. To watch last season's episodes of Coops for Troops for free online, go on over to Coops for Troops! Scroll down to "bonus features" which are the actual episodes. It was an incredible experience. A local chicken 4-H club nominated a vet to receive the package of generous sponsors including chickens from Rent The Chicken!

We made a day trip to Old Bedford Village in Bedford, PA. It's been a few years since I've been there. It's this great "village" experience that stepped us back into the 1800s with basket making, history lessons, a blacksmith, candle maker, and more! They did have some chickens but none were available for rent! :) Like Aunt like niece in these photos!

We are well into #TompkinsPalooza2018 as I mentioned a few entries back. It's really about being purposeful with friends and family. Neighbor kids from up the road have been visiting again. They used to visit when we had our last little guy and it's good to have a reason for them to be visiting again. In addition to a few trips, we've also been puzzling (probably not the right verbiage?!), swimming in the river, playing board games, creating in the kitchen, and more! We also hatched baby chicks this week! Can you believe these kids are convinced that they need three meals a day?! Yesterday, "Uncle Dad" (as Homestead Phil has been renamed around The Homestead) "made" breakfast, we went out for lunch as we were out running errands and the natives were getting restless, and we traded eggs for pizza at our favorite local pizza place - Wolfies. I didn't have to cook one meal! There was a death in our church family so I did whip up about 3 dozen eggs worth of egg salad for the meal to follow the funeral.

Our IT department (aka Homestead Phil) is backing up my phone, updating my operating system, and has big plans for a phone upgrade for me. So I've been without my cell phone for hours! It's a good thing I have a PC and a work phone all conveniently located at my desk while the updates are happening. When I talk on the phone, it sounds like the person on the other end is a little mouse in a box trying to talk to me so I've been using the speakerphone option. Even my headset isn't work well. In addition to hearing people when I'm trying to talk on the phone, I hear the emojis with the last 27 iOS updates are pretty great! I wouldn't know, they all show up as squares and question marks when people send them to me. I just use my imagination as to what emojis are being sent to me :) All in a days work, right? Hot Date plans for our Friday night include a trip to the Verizon store. Yay.

Chat soon!
-Homestead Jenn

Coupon Codes and more!

I feel like all of my blog entries include "and more"! I think that's because I am down to one blog entry a week and I want to cram as much into it as possible!

First... we recently signed up for Groovebook at the recommendation of family. Here's the jist: It's an app that you pay monthly for that allows you to upload up to 100 photos in one month. They then generate a cute 4x6" book (with perforated edges) that is mailed to you once a month. Brilliant! For all of those photos that you snap with your phone but they never, ever, ever are printed! Brilliant! We received our first book today and are just as impressed as we thought we'd be! Here's a Coupon Code to use when you register and we'll get a free book too: Go to Groovebook and use Coupon Code: TOMPKINS1902 It's only $3.99 a month! You cannot even print 100 photos for $3.99 a month!

Things over at The Chicken Network have been great! We are preparing to announce a few more items! In the meantime, I created a special Coupon Code for those following along at home here on the blog! It's just a little something - Save $5 when you spend $30 or more. So go to The Chicken Network and use coupon code HJSBLOG5OFF! Discount Bundles are excluded as they are already discounted thus the name, right? :)

We picked up our 9 year old niece (Phil's sister's daughter) from the Cleveland airport on Monday. It was her first time flying alone and she did great! Before picking her up, we took Our Girl to the Cleveland Zoo. It was so hot. No joke. I almost melted. I thought I was starting to melt but it was a false alarm. It's crazy to think that our niece has already been with us since Monday! AND Our Girl has been with us for 8 days full-time! We are blessed! It was awfully quiet on our way back from Cleveland (aside from snores!)

Yesterday, the girls and I each donned a dress and I took them to the theater! It was a children's musical with about 40 children through 8th grade in the production. They were so excited to watch every move on the stage! Too bad I forgot to take a selfie. :( I made a big announcement to the girls this evening of "WE ARE NOT LEAVING THE HOUSE TOMORROW!!" They looked at me like I had 10 heads because we've been go go go go go. It's time for a break. Well.. a break from leaving the house. Except... we are out of milk. Someone is going to have to leave the house tomorrow!

This week: we made Rent The Chicken deliveries (the picture is of Homestead Phil providing a presentation to some campers at a Summer Camp who is participating with Rent The Chicken), the girls went to summer camp one day, we made meals together, ate out, went to see our Amish friend, Levi, swam in the river, used the Easy Bake oven, and so much more! Oh and maintained essentially 2 businesses :) (Rent The Chicken and The Chicken Network!)

In the news and more!

Has it been a week already since my last entry? Time sure does fly when you're having fun!!

Two big news segments hit this week for Rent The Chicken!
1. Our episode on the Vegetable Gardening's show was published! It was a fun interview with Mike the Gardener! Click here to watch on YouTube

2. THE TODAY SHOW WROTE ABOUT US! Full disclosure: Our awesome journalist friend, Terri, works for Today.com and hooked us up! She wrote the article and then the Today Show, Today Parents, etc. What a blessing! Here's a link to the article: Curious about raising chickens? Thisi company lets you rent hens for your backyard

AND....even bigger news! Our Girl moved in officially this week! We could not even be more excited and proud! Thank you for your support! We had a surprise Welcome Home party for her upon our arrival and boy was she surprised!

AND... I made my first ever ice cream cake following the directions from This Recipe. We can't publicly post her name or photos of her at this time.

The Bigger Picture

On Monday, I said "It's been a long week!" It was indeed a long week. A GREAT week but a long one! So long that today is Saturday and I try my best to make a blog post by Friday of the week!

When we bought our homestead, we couldn't find our mailbox and assumed we had to dig a hole for one. Turns out, this beauty is ours and it was on the street behind us so the mail person only has to make one loop through our village. When we bought the house, we of course made the usual Amazon purchases. Ironically, now seeing the bigger picture, it's amazing how many boxes fit in our mailbox leaving our mail lady to not have to go out of her way. She fits them right into the mailbox. The bigger picture? Absolutely!

My stove is a fancy one from my appliance selling days. A number of weeks ago, I realized the oven was taking far too long to preheat then far too long to cook anything. Most ovens use a bottom element for baking and a top element for broiling. Mine uses both to fast preheat then cycles from top to bottom when baking for a more even heat. After some online trouble shooting, I determined that the broiler igniter wasn't functioning. I ordered the part and installed it this evening. With some help from Homestead Phil, we now have a functioning oven again!! The oven has a "warm" setting for keeping things warm and a "dehydrate" setting. When I bought it, I never in a million years thought I would ever dehydrate anything. Now, every hunting season, Homestead Phil takes over the oven for a few days to make homemade venison jerky. The bigger picture? Oh, yes!

#TompkinsPalooza2018 - Last year about this time, I determined that we were going to be very purposeful with our time making sure we scheduled activities and visits with friends and family. If we don't schedule it, it won't happen. We logged thousands of miles on our RV last summer traveling to see friends and family while experiencing many first for our foster son. It was really more about him but Phil and I certainly had an incredible summer! That was appropriately named #TompkinsPalooza2017. Now comes #TompkinsPalooza2018! We have been moving along with our Foster to Adopt process. Before we know it, our girl will be living with us full time and not just having short visits and short phone calls! This picture is when we were picking her up the last time! (I bet you almost didn't recognize us without our Rent The Chicken blue on!) #TompkinsPalooza2018 is well on its way with our girl! It's crazy... she looks like us! Her therapist openly admitted that God has been preparing her and us for her to be with us down to the detail of her having my eyes and round face with Phil's smile. The bigger picture? Only by God's love and grace!

"Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life" - Dolly Parton

Tonight, we watched our oldest niece walk across the stage for her high school diploma. She was also one of two commencement speakers. We are so proud of all of our nieces and nephews! Today we are especially proud of this one for her accomplishments so far!

I also snuck in a few selfies with her sisters :)

Their class quote is "Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life" - Dolly Parton

This is so true. We work A LOT this time of year but that leaves us working less other times of the year. It does seems as though our "busy season" get longer each year. That's OK though as we REALLY enjoy what we do with Rent The Chicken and who we work with - our Affiliates and our Happy Renters.

It's yet again late on a Friday as I'm writing my blog entry/entries for the week. I also REALLY enjoy writing this blog as it's a bit therapeutic for me. Sure, all of you read it to get to know us and behind the scenes of Rent The Chicken but there's more to what we are up to than what I can list in a short status update on Facebook. Today, we had to step away from our desk, go outside, and prep a few coops for upcoming deliveries. I made a joke to myself that I say to myself when I'm doing something that isn't in my usual day, "Not everyday is international news interviews and glamor..." as I am in my old clothes preparing to paint a few chicken coops. We're still accepting deposits for rentals and we're answering the phone to chat with our new chicken friends who are getting comfortable being good chicken keepers!

Needless to say, we try to take a walk a few times a week. Today instead of a walk, we prepped coops together. We skipped Spring this year and went straight to summer! It was sooooo beautiful today! "Don't get so busy making a living that you forget to make a life." We are so blessed that we get to make a life while making a living! Phil's garden is well on its way! He has already planted: potatoes, onions, peas, pole beans, bush beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, and likely more that I can't remember! I snapped this photo tonight to show off the inside of his green house with the pole bean set up!

Today, we fielded Hatch The Chicken support calls, closed a few Rent The Chicken rentals, and chatted to a few renters with some questions. Like I said, we prepped some coops as well. Our Rent The Chicken vehicle had been in the shop so we picked that up, came home, and were ready to go to the graduation in no time. We enjoyed a nice time with family at graduation and then out for some dinner. My sister called ahead for seating for 11 only to have enough for 9 at two large middle tables while Phil and I sat "with them" at the booth across the aisle from them. Wendy's is next door and I said "We're so far away, we might as well be at Wendy's!" It was so funny! The jokes continued through our meal as to how far away we were sitting. They said funny things like that we were in the "west wing" of the table. Homestead Phil was using Morse Code with the flashlight on his cell phone. Too bad none of the 9 of them know Morse Code to know what he was saying nor to respond! haha

In previous posts, I chatted on about being Foster Parents with a current plan of foster to adopt once a match has been found. After reading many short profiles online, reading many long profiles privately, and interviewing with case workers regarding specific children, we have been matched! I can't say much more than that other than we've met the child and we are all excited about our match! What I can say is... "IT'S A GIRL!!" I really really really enjoyed being a boy mom with our previous foster placement and assumed we'd be matched with a boy but God knows better than we do! As I can share more I will but for now, know that she loves her new Rent The Chicken hat and is egg-cited to be part of our team/family!

The last few days on the Homestead

So I failed again. It's Sunday. It's been 8 days since my last entry and absolutely failed at #FridayFamilyFoodFun! But I'm here now! Boy do I have a lot of catching up to do! I'll likely work backwards. There may be some triggers here.

Mother's Day is VERY hard for me. I know I've mentioned being part of the Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Club. I know I've mentioned infertility. I know I've mentioned our Foster Son who moved abruptly in November of 2017. So not only have we been pregnant nine times but we've grieved nine times when my body could not carry to term. Since then we've grieved not being able to get pregnant. We skip going to church on Mother's Day. We avoid restaurants. I've even learned that going to Lowe's on Mother's Day is like going to a bar on St Patrick's Day - it's amateur day/night! haha So we slept in, did chores, worked on a big project, and had Phil's mom over for dinner. Ironically, people say "Happy Mother's Day" similarly to "Happy New Year!" I was messaging with someone I don't know about a few of our older rental coops that we have for sale and she ended her message with "Happy Mother's Day!" Someone called today (which is now Monday - the day after Mother's Day) and wished me "Happy Belated Mother's Day". I guess the thought is that everyone celebrates it whether you celebrate with your mom, your spouse's mom, someone who is like a mom, or as a mom yourself. People aren't looking to offend but they are happy to extend the wishes. It still hurts. We're looking forward to have good news to share soon about our adventures in the Foster to Adopt process! Even when we receive the blessing of the next child into our lives, we'll likely still skip church on Mother's Day and make our own safe place to celebrate.. or not.

I had the pleasure of going on another delivery run with Homestead Phil this past weekend. They are so fun! The egg-citement that our renters have for the experience is so contagious! We are sold out in some of our regions but still have chickens and coops available in other region. This is a super busy time of the year with potential renters calling to reserve and current renters calling with simple conversations, stories to share, and concerns. Here's a Happy Renter photo from this past weekend!

Dandelions - I wish I snapped a picture in this last week of lawns and lawns just FULL of dandelions. When I finished college and moved to Maryland, I thought it was so unusual that I didn't see many dandelions. Actually very few. I also didn't know that everyone works and has school on the Monday after Thanksgiving. It's the first day of hunting season in Western Pennsylvania so there is absolutely no school that day. Everyone goes back to school and work that day in Maryland at least in the Baltimore metro area! So I quickly learned that dandelions are a weed. Most people in more urban and suburban setting treat their lawns and the dandelions don't grow. Chickens sure do like dandelions though! Well... just about any green and flowered plant really :)

For Homestead Phil's birthday in March, we went out to eat to an Irish pub at his request. I tried the most DELISH dish I have ever eaten! I was so impressed that I googled the dish's origin expecting for it to be Irish. No. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1934! Say, what?!? How did I make it to 41 years in my life and never have a Turkey Devonshire?! It's a piece of bread topped with real turkey pieces, a delightful cheese sauce, and bacon. Some serve it with tomato on top but tomatoes aren't a fav of mine so I order it without. I sweet-talked Homestead Phil in to going back to the same restaurant last weekend so I could get my Turkey Denvonshire fix! I took a picture this time! It is served in the dish it was heated in. So delish. I may have to sweet-talk Homestead Phil again soon! I did try to make it since his birthday but I didn't nail the cheese sauce. It's like the cheese that is in crab dip but a bit lighter. I can't even describe how good this cheese is! So here's the pic of the region famous Turkey Devonshire:

I think I need to start making real notes and not just notes in my head about what I chat about. I have these great ideas during the week and when I sit down, writer's block sets in! I mean... you likely can't tell! I'm such a chatter box I always have something to chat about :)

How is it... ?

How is it that it's 12:34am on Saturday and I failed as a blogger to

• Post a single blog in the last 7 days
• Make a #FridayFamilyFoodFun! post on Facebook on Friday?
• That May 2018 is here already AND we are already on day #5?

If I had a boss, I would possibly be released from my duties as Jenn The Blogger. Good thing I am Jenn The Boss! To read all about these JTB nicknames, click here. I'll continue with this haphazard writing for all of you to enjoy :) Maybe my lack of entries generates suspense?! haha I doubt it. When we were at the Farm to Table event in Pittsburgh 3 or so weeks ago, one of our previous renters turned long-term chicken keepers (shout out to Sarah L!) said "I really enjoy your blog!"! Made me smile. When I read someone's personal blog, it really makes me feel like I know them better. I hope that is the same for you.

As planned, I attended our church's Ladies Tea #NCLParTEA last Saturday. I had a fantastic time and wore my fanciest hat for the festivities. (See photo above as if you didn't already figure it out!)

I think I forgot that it's not typical of an average person like myself to be in the news a few times a month and even a few times a week sometimes! Here's a real convo with Homestead Phil earlier this week:
HP: I'm going to need your help outside with the animals in about 30 minutes.
Me: Ok! I need to do two things uninterrupted that I HAVE to do before I come outside.
HP: ok. You better hope the phone doesn't ring.
(famous last words)
...20 minutes go by...Phil comes inside.
Me: I'm not ready yet. The phone rang. The Wall Street Journal called for an interview.

I posted this convo on my personal Facebook page and received a ton of reactions (that's what the likes are called now) and over 20 comments of kudos. Either I should post more often about our media attention or keep only doing it once in awhile to keep peeps on their toes? The article is not published as of yet. When it does, I'll try to post here for you to take a read. For fun, here are a bunch of news articles and videos at Rent The Chicken.com that feature many of our Rent The Chicken Family!

We have a new option at Rent The Chicken.com. Even though we can service more than 60 major markets in the USA & Canada, there are still people out there who are in need of some chicken friends. We now have an Out of Area Package available. It's not a rental. It's a turnkey purchase which provides our brand spanking new coop made by our Amish friend, 3 hens, and supplies needed to get started with backyard hens. The portable coop ships flat, assemblies with just a few tools, and is easy to move daily. Big props to my cousin Jamie for taking some incredible photos of our new coop!

For the first time in AGES, I joined Homestead Phil on a delivery day! That's a BIG reason why I didn't make my #FridayFamilyFoodFun! Facebook post today! We made three deliveries to families who are new to backyard hens and one delivery to a renter who is ready to a long-term chicken keeper! The first photo is of my new friend Nikole. She's an awesome photographer / food blogger and you can find some of her work on Instagram. Give her a follow! She was also raised in Western PA like me. She moved out of the area and found her husband. Ironically, she found her husband in Portland, Oregon. I found my Portland, Oregon raised husband in Maryland. Both Nikole and I then moved back to the area with a spouse in tow! The second family looks like they were born to have backyard hens, don't you think? Lastly, I'm so proud of our third Happy Renter as she never a held a chicken before today! These are some Happy Renters, don't you agree!?

We'll have some more news in the coming weeks in regards to a huge project that we've been working on. God willing, we'll also have some news to share on the foster to adopt front. We are blessed.

So much!

So much has happened since my last entry and I apologize for not being in touch sooner!

For my second year in a row, I traveled to the Southern Women's Show in Nashville to help Homestead RayLee of Middle Tennessee and Homestead David of West Tennessee with their booth. We had a contest on our Rent The Chicken Facebook page as to what we should name the "Show Hens". The results were: Dolly & Reba. Pictured to the right is Homestead RayLee with her sister Mandy and Reba (the chicken!). We had scheduled times at one of the speaker stages of "Selfie Chicken Station with Dolly & Reba provided by Rent The Chicken". It was a hit! By golly, we rented some chickens at the show! I think there were 40k people projected to attend. I'm pretty sure we talked to all of them! haha They host more events than just the one in Nashville. For the list, click here: Southern Women's Shows then click on the location closest to you!

We also had fun snapping photos with Patsy (the white stuffed chicken) at our booth. Please note the photo bomber in the middle of the photos! *innocentlook*

To make the Nashville trip even more egg-citing, my Mom and Aunt Bonnie tagged along! While I was talking about chickens for four days straight, they enjoyed the Show and toured around Nashville and went to Graceland! They made the trip extra special and I'm so happy they decided to join in on the fun!

And now for an update on Givi Kitty. Since my last entry, she had an additional steroid injection to help with her lips. Shortly after, she started being more picky about the wet food choices that we had for her. While I was in Nashville, Homestead Phil traveled all over our county trying to find food that she would eat. Ultimately, she just wasn't eating and it had nothing to do with the choices in front of her. :( Back to the vet we went this time for blood work. She's now on twice daily fluid injections, antibiotics, pain meds, and I'm feeding her by syringe with diluted wet food. The vet gave us pretty bad news in regards to her kidneys. :( A vet friend asked to see the results of the blood work and gave us a bit of hope. We are doing our best to make sure she is eating as much food as possible and that we are sticking to the treatment. We are far from ready to let this kitty go from this life!

Everyone I'm sure has reasons that their pet is so special to them. Since marrying in 2009, we've tried to grow our family the old fashioned way which resulted us being in a club that I don't wish upon anyone - The Recurrent Pregnancy Loss Club. In the last few years, we also transitioned into the Infertility Club. We adopted Givi when we needed something extra to love. As you may or may not know, we do not have any living biological children despite being pregnant many times. In 2011, we were pregnant for the 4th time. With our 4th pregnancy, the blood work and ultrasounds were looking to be on track. No matter the outcome, we knew we still wanted a something to hug and care for whether we carried to term or not. We are both highly allergic to cats but a cat suited our lifestyle at the time better than a dog. Givi has never caused us to sneeze, have itchy eyes, or any other allergy symptoms. It wasn't even something we had to get used to and she often sleeps on my head! She has been through pregnancy loss #4 and many more since then. She was such a comfort too when our Foster Son moved last fall. She has also traveled all over with us for motorcycle events, Rent The Chicken events, and she even traveled to Tennessee last summer for the Solar Eclipse! She's only 7 years old and as long as she is healthy, I want to continue to enjoy her in the crazy life that we live!

Being Foster Parents

I'm sure I could dedicate an entire blog and not just a few blog posts to our destiny of being Foster Parents. One day I'll explain all about our journey to become Foster Parents but that's for another day. In March of 2016 after much thought and prayer previously, Homestead Phil sent an email inquiry to start the process of being Foster Parents. I woke to a text that said "I signed us up for more information to be Foster Parents". *blink* We received a follow up call first thing that morning.

Fast forward through 8 months of training which included a complete DIY kitchen remodel, a 27 day visit from our niece from Oregon, Brooklynn which included a 10 day road trip to the Mari-times in NE Canada! We received a call saying a set of brothers needed an emergency placement. On December 20, 2016, two boys, brothers, were brought to our home. At ages four and six, we were overwhelmed with stress, emotions, the onset of Christmas, and being clueless as to the trauma that children at those ages were exposed to. As it worked out, the four year old moved to a home better suited to meet his needs and the six year old who turned seven while with us stayed for 11 months. An incredible 11 months! A trying 11 months. An exhausting 11 months. An 11 months full of love. An 11 months we'll never forget.

We am so very happy and blessed to have been meshed with this little guy. He has no idea who incredible he is but I hope one day he finds out! I can't even put into words the emotions we experienced from start to finish and even now continuing to process the experience. My best advice to someone considering being a Foster Parent, open your heart as wide as possible to the child/children who cross your path and pray like crazy they remember your love forever. At the same time, know that the system is broken... BADLY broken. Although there are definitely some professionals in the industry that care for those they are responsible for, the system is not set up with the children in mind.

Due to our experience with "the system", we've prayerfully made a decision to switch to an agency that is focused on placing children who have already been in the system with forever parents - Foster to Adopt. Our credentials were transferred from our previous agency. We still had a number of meetings with our new case worker and passed our Home Study without an issue. So we won't have any "emergency placements" but our next placement will be strategic and planned. The phase we are in is called "matching". We read through online profiles of "waiting children" and send the links to our case worker. She then requests longer profiles of the children from their case worker. Sometimes she receives a response. Sometimes she doesn't. Once there's a case worker who has read our long profile (18 pages!) and we've read the long profile of a child/children (which so far have been devastating), then there may or may not be a decision made for all parties agree to meet - without the children. We have not made it that far yet as we've only been in the matching process for a few weeks. Once a sit down of adults occurs then a meeting with the child occurs either at the current foster parents home. Then maybe a meet up at a park or for dinner at our home. Then possibly an overnight stay and a weekend stay. All to determine if we are a good fit for the child and the child is a good fit for us. The move will then occur and the steps to terminate their parental rights will occur immediately followed by an adoption hearing.

Then, we will have something we've never had before. Our names will together be on a birth certificate of our first alive child. The little guy who was with us for 11 months will forever be our first foster child. But this future child, will be ours to call ours forever. I'm certainly romanticizing it as I know it will be a tough transition. It will be tough for us and for the child (or possibly children!). It's possible when our forever child turns 18, he/she may decide to go back to his/her birth family. Fostering is hard but rewarding. Foster to adopt - I'll have to report back on!

If you feel as though you have room in your heart and in your home, there are all sorts of ways to fill the room in your heart and in your home. You can simply ask families that you are close with if the parents could use a date night. You can find out if your nieces, nephews, or even cousins' children can come by for a few hours or to spend a weekend. Parents need a break! More formally, you can google "How to become a foster parent?" and then click on your state's results. It's not easy. The smile of his first time to the beach and his laugh when you make up silly songs and his first canoe ride (but always called it a kayak) and his tears when he has to move are all part of the process.

This was a deep one without many pictures. One day, we'll have pictures to show! Today is not that day. In the meantime, we'll keep focusing on Jesus, the memories of our 11 months, Rent The Chicken, "the matching process", Givi Kitty, and each other.
Much love,
Jenn the Foster Mom