Hello to Ken and Some Good News!

First of all, I'd like to say "Hello and Welcome" to my newest follower, Ken Wilkes.  Ken is a really nice guy who has a blog over at  HomelessZillionaire.blogspot.com.     I look forward to keeping up with his adventures as he transitions into the RVing lifestyle.   Welcome, Ken!

Another quick update on the Lucky Duck... I think that I have found Austin a permanent home!  There is a young lady in our area who has an amazing farm where she takes in rescued horses, donkeys, and other animals.  She has a pot-bellied pig, baby goats, chickens, ducks - a true menagerie of rescued animals.  I wrote to her yesterday to see if she knew anyone who might be willing to give Austin a proper home, and she wrote me back within the hour, telling me that she would love to have him!  She has 3 other ducklings just younger than Austin and 4 adult ducks, so he will have a ready-made family.   I hope that they will accept him.   Although we have become quite attached to him and will miss him, we knew that we were just his foster family and are thrilled that he will have such a wonderful home!  After I meet this young lady and obtain her permission, I will post her information so that you can see what wonderful work she is doing.

Austin will be at least 5 weeks old this Friday... we found him on a Saturday and he was not much more than a day old, so we have decided that June 24th was his "hatch day".    He has quadrupled in size and is getting some beautiful feathering above and below his wings, on his tail and on his chest.  He is sort of growing into his feet and bill.  :-)  He is going to be a beautiful duck!   He is quickly outgrowing both his "pen" and his swimming pool, so we are very happy to have found him a new home.  We hope to deliver him to his new Mom either Friday or Saturday.  As I've said before, I have no idea yet if he is actually a "he".   We will know when he/she finds his/her quack in a few more weeks.   :-)

So... other than my son's little car being in the shop again - booooo, and trying to bear the unspeakable heat and humidity along with most of the rest of the country, that is about all that is going on here in Alabama.  It is Handy Fest Week here in The Shoals - the festival celebrating WC Handy, Father of the Blues, but it has just been too hot to enjoy the festivities.  I wish they would have it in October!  The music offered is amazing and I love the Blues, but have not made it to a single event this week.   The heat is just too oppressive... I hope that next summer, my house has wheels under it so that I can chase some better weather!!

The Little One and I are gearing up for our new unit studies... This year we plan to use the American Girl Historical Characters series as a basis for our unit, and also plan to study  a different country each month.   She loves her American Girl dolls, and really enjoys the books, so we are using them as a springboard for various activities.  I am tying the "Country of the Month" unit study in with the AG books when possible.  I had planned to do an in-depth study of American history in correlation with the AG unit study, but she really wants to study other countries right now, so I'm going with that.  I hope that next year we will be studying American history by traveling around this beautiful country and visiting the locations and monuments which most children only get to read about!  So American history will wait until we can experience it in person!

Hope you are all finding a way to stay cool and enjoy your summer.  Be careful out there!

Prayer request...

One of my former students gave birth to her baby boy on Wednesday, June 29th.  Brantley had to be airlifted to a children's hospital when he was just a few hours old.  He has pulmonary hypertension and a cleft lip which is causing feeding problems.   They are worried most about bleeding in his brain.   He is in very, very critical condition right now and I would like to ask everyone to put him on their prayer lists and say a very special prayer for him and his family. 

The mommy is a sweet young lady who is only 22.   Her young husband just returned safely from a 6 months deployment in Afghanistan.  Thankfully he made it home before little Brantley was born.  She lost her Mom at 16, so she has already suffered a great deal in her young life, and now is having to watch her tiny little boy suffer and fight for his life. 

Please join me in lifting up this little family in prayer.   Thank you so much!

Lucky Duck update...

Just a quick note to update you on the progress of our Lucky Duck aka Austin... He is growing like a weed and eating everything in sight.  He is a very messy little duck, so given that fact and his appetite, I am convinced he is a male!  lol  Honestly I have no idea, but it sounds good...  He loves curly endive and Bibb lettuce (organic) but is not crazy about spinach.  He loves strawberries and peaches, but won't eat blueberries.  He adores oatmeal and cornmeal mush.  And he drinks lots of water!

He is a week old now.  The research I did tells me that he was barely 24 hours old when we found him, so he had his 1 week birthday on Friday!  He has grown almost an inch !! and gained several ounces.  He is a happy little fella as long as someone is with him, talking to him, or holding him.  He will peep, peep, peep if he is left alone, though.  I can always tell when my Little One has left the room, because he begins to cry.  He likes to watch TV, and seems to prefer to listen  Journey.  Oh wait.  Maybe that is me!  But he doesn't argue about it.  :-)   I set his tub on the bed the other day while I was ironing, and he looked as though he were watching a ping-pong game - his head went back and forth, back and forth, watching the iron.  He just likes to be wherever we are...

He settles down at night as soon as we turn off the lights, but is up bright and early letting us know he is hungry.  I leave oatmeal and lettuce bits out for him at night, but I don't think he eats very much.  He is taking almost everything he eats to his water dish now, so it is difficult to keep it clean.  We change it at least a dozen times a day, and wipe out his bin more often than that!  He also could care less where he goes potty, so we usually wrap a cloth around him when we hold him!  :-)  We put him in a small tub in the bathtub and let him swim around at least twice a day.  He does not like it very much at all, but he needs to practice.  I have to remind him that he is, after all, a duck!  After his swim, he likes to cuddle up in our hands and go to sleep.  Yes we are spoiling him and no it is probably not good for him.  But he is so cute and irresistible!

We are looking for a home for him, but my Little One will not give him up to just anyone!  Hopefully we will find a good place soon.