Abundant Provision

     'Twas a night shortly before November 1st...and B.J. and I were in the middle of our monthly budget date.  Some medical bills that were higher than we anticipated resulted in a debate I try to evade: "How low can we go with the grocery envelope?"  It's a debate that usually ends up with me cruising Fareway's aisles, perspiring, calculator in hand.  (I'm only partly kidding.)

     Fast forward to the week of Thanksgiving, and two remarkable, providential events.

1) Howard gave us a deer.
(The venison, by the way, is delicious.)

2)  A truckload of chickens crashed and burned near Boyden,

scattering stunned birds like snow.

 The sheriff said they were free for the taking, as the company that was coming to clean up the mess was traveling from Nebraska, and with the impending holiday would likely not arrive before most of the birds froze to death.  B.J. and John, a fellow teacher, went to the scene right after school.  B.J. just happened to have a dorky plywood topper on his truck (he'd hauled the billy goat we borrowed in it a few weeks prior), and they filled it with chickens.  The birds spent a couple of days in our barn, and the Friday and Saturday following, they were butchered.

John at the chopping block.

Dunking the bird in boiled water makes plucking easier.

Even Mom joined in on the fun..."For old times' sake," she said.

John, Jerron and Gys.

     Except for Willem, who came crying to the house as soon as the first bird lost its head, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.  So much so, in fact, that John and B.J. ordered 50 broiler chicks that are due to arrive in the next few days.  They'll be butchered sometime in late summer.

     You know, about that plywood topper...I said B.J. just happened to have it on his truck.  What I mean to say was that every little detail of the whole experience was providential.  Our Lord has a good sense of humor...and we didn't go over our grocery budget, after all.

     Truly, it was an abundant provision.