This year we hatched chicks in an incubator, partly as an experiment and partly as a way to get some chickens. It didn't go so well the first time and I think I baked the babies. So we bought 11 chicks at the local Tractor Supply. Then the extension agent called to say that we could try the incubator again if we wanted. This time we were more successful and had 5 chicks live. All 5 happened to be hens! Our hens started laying this summer and we have been enjoying fresh eggs for several months now. The boys' allowance money comes from the extra eggs that we sell. One of the hens that we incubated is now sitting on her own nest waiting for the day she will be a mother hen. Her name is Goldie and she started trying to nest several weeks ago, but I wouldn't let her. I couldn't believe that she wanted to already. She just wouldn't give up though. When I would take eggs from underneath her she would get so mad. She would ruffle her feathers and growl at me. Then after I had the eggs in a bucket, she would follow me clucking very loudly. I don't speak chicken, but I knew what she was saying. I finally gave in to her about a week and a half ago. I made a special nest for her in part of the rabbit hutch so the other hens wouldn't mix their eggs in with hers. Goldie stopped laying eggs that day and happily nests all day long. I let her out every day to stretch and move her bowels, but she always comes right back. She wants me to raise the lid and let her back in the hutch to tend to her business. Her strong desire to be a mother has made me reflect on motherhood. I did not have trouble getting pregnant, but I know many who have had. They go through all of the pain and misery of trying medical alternatives to become a parent. What is it that makes us want so badly to be a parent? For my part, I would have to say it was the love I share with my husband. I wanted to pass it along in some way. To find joy in another; to watch it grow and become someone. Could that be God's reason for creating us? To share his love, to pass it along, to take joy in us, to watch us grow and become someone? What a wonderful thought that God would want to be a "parent" so badly that He created me.