Counting Down...

At present I have a number of different things sitting in my yard: a roll of small gauge wire; 3 carrier
cages; a treadle feeder; 2 water containers; a bale of mulch & another of hemp...because we are that much closer to these chickens actually arriving.  Tentatively next Friday..?

Tentatively next Friday I will pick up ODD & head north ~ tentatively because it all depends a bit on the money because money is what will make this all go round merrily but just as I had everything nicely on track the bills started coming in, as they do, derailing all my plans.  It is all a bit iffy. If Beautiful Chickens have the birds I want... If I don't completely lose my head & opt for a beautiful Campine Girl even though they are flighty fliers...If I have enough carriers [even though 3 is all I can fit on my back seat]...if  I can't afford the 5 I want can I manage the 3 Rocks I want & 2 cheaper breeds...If ODD doesn't beg for the one bird I just know will be all sorts of trouble... ☺ 

And it gives me something to obsess about just now because we have packed Chile Girl & her bags back to Santiago & saying goodbye just never gets any easier.  After nearly 8 years you'd think we would be used to it  but this is the side of missionary work no~one ever sees.  We are, for all intents & purposes, invisible.  We are not on the field.  We are not the sending church.  So often we find ourselves waaaay, way down the list, especially on short visits because there are so many calls on Chile Girl's time & her funding so much depends on keeping  people  in touch & up to speed on what is happening so it can feel a little as if we've not had any time with her @ all.  I run her to & from boats, put her washing through the machine & hug her goodbye on the jetty in front of strangers ~ which is so not good because I don't do goodbyes well...

Fifteen months then she is coming home indefinitely because her grandparents are rapidly getting older & she wants to invest the time while she still has them.  She will do some study, find some work & eventually, I expect, head back on the field but as yet only God knows where that might be & what will happen in the interim.