Are We Smarter Than a Pea-Brained Chicken?

      So, knowing that we would be spending a lot of time in the hospital with Ricky this summer, I felt that there were a couple of things that had to get taken care of before I went.  One of those things was to relocate the chickens.  I have a rickety old pen that I built, but there are 16 chickens packed into it, and it should fit maybe 4-6.  So not the most ideal environment.  With the help from some guys in our ward we built a new wall in the back of our shed to create a small room with nesting boxes and a roost, and I put up a wire fence to try to keep them in.  It isn't a very high fence, so I needed to clip their wings before I moved them.  Chickens can't fly very well, but they can fly enough to clear my little 4 ft fence.  I am awesome at procrastinating, so of course it was the morning of the day we had to leave, and the chickens still weren't ready to be moved, nor was the fence finished.  So I got up early, threw on my big rubber boots and headed out to hurry and get the job done.  I finished the fence and patched up any other escape route I could find, then watched a youtube video on how to clip chicken wings. :) ----click here to learn how to clip a chicken's wings  Then I went out and started catching chickens one by one, then two by two once I got the hang of it (Noah had a rough job!).  I walked them back to their new home, pinned them down and clipped off their "flying feathers". Then I'd put them in a nesting box to show them really how nice their new set up was and go get the next one. I got the job done and was pretty proud of myself, I stood outside the fence for a minute and watched how they would react to the new situation.  One hen jumped up and a ledge looking for a way out, even though this new situation is way better.  When she tried to jump down/fell off it was pretty apparent that not having flight feathers makes a big difference. She thumped down to the ground on her side, then stood up and tried to save a little dignity. I was sad for the chickens, but I needed them to be in a better place, and if I hadn't done it then they would just hop the fence and return to their old coop, out of habit, even though it is gross and cramped and not as nice as the new one.  I was pretty sure it had worked, so I went to get the "people" ready for the day (there are only 10 people to take care of, phew!)

     A couple hours later we were sitting waiting for our boy to wake up from his lumbar puncture, and test on the bone marrow.  They had also started the chemo by giving him a bit in his spine.  Rick and I sat waiting and talking about how awesome Ricky is, and what his future might hold.  We really believe that the future holds some amazing things for this kid.  But we are also aware that there are some great responsibilities that go along with greatness.  So that makes me nervous, because I know it won't be easy.  He is being prepared to be strong enough for great things... great things don't come easy.  He started the Methotrexate that evening, and slept most of the time.  The next day he was still sleepy and nauseous, throwing up a little, and very weak except for a mean case of hiccups that you can hear down the hall.  The drastic change in his condition, going from up and about, going to school and basketball and being pretty independent, back to weak and needing help to get around and to the bathroom and needing motivation for everything, caught me off guard.  I wasn't expecting things to change so quickly.

     It felt like his wings had been clipped.  Although he hadn't flown very high to begin with, now he was really limited.  It was sad to see him need his dad to hold him up while he walked and help shower him.  I didn't want to clip his wings!  I want him to walk through this with his head held high and have people say, "Wow! Cancer can't even touch that dude!"  In a blessing he had received earlier it talked about him realizing what things are really important and getting his priorities in order, and that this hard time was meant to help him do those things.  I realized that sometimes we have to get our wings clipped.  We have to stay grounded for awhile and get a refresher course on our priorities.  When we have our wings clipped we get a chance to stop and look around at what is really going on, and realign ourselves with what is really important.  

    Rick told me that when he got home that night every chicken was out and back to the old pen.  I thought "They are SO STUPID!" The new pen has fresh water flowing through it, clean beds to nest in, a new big ladder to roost on, with room for all!  I don't get it!  Why go back?  Why go back to a coop full of crap!?  Why go back to a stinky, cramped, nasty old place where you have to hope someone will come feed you and bring you water that day!?  Habit!  It is what they are used to.  Its all they know.  They don't get that I am offering them greater things than I ever have.  They haven't taken the time to see how great this new situation can be, they just looked for a way back to "Crapsville" as soon as they could.  So when I got home I found the hole in the pen, and fixed it.  Rick helped me catch them all again and move them back over.  They were all still there the next day, so hopefully they will look around this time and see how good it is.

    Back to the analogy...  How often does our Heavenly Father want to bless us with greater things and we are too busy with our habits to accept his offerings?  We just keep looking past the fresh flowing water to what we are used to.  Like "Man, I'm so thirsty!  If I could just get around this beautiful flowing stream of fresh water, then I could get back to that nasty algae ridden water bucket and get a muddy drink of murky muck!"  How often do we think we know better? And we go back to doing what we were, and what comes easy, or what is fun, cool or popular.  So I guess the question of the day/month/year/life time, is 'Are we smarter than a stupid chicken!?'

    Not just Ricky, but it seems like most of our family has gotten their wings clipped lately.  Dad, Mom, Ricky, even down the line to Hyrum, and in some ways even the littlest ones.  It has been a rocky 2014 to say the least.  We have been getting our rear kicked!   And there are times where I just want things to go back to normal.  To go back to where we were.  We were fine! Right?  But that would be looking past all of the love that has been shown to us by family, friends and communities around the world.  It would be looking past the blessings Heavenly Father wants us to have, and longing to be back to the things that I am familiar with.   I have got to be smarter than a pea-brained chicken!  Our wings will grow back.  Eventually we will easily be able to hop over that fence and head back to Crapsville if we still want.  But then we'd just have to get our wings clipped AGAIN!  Or!.... we can use that time while our flight feathers grow back to readjust our focus, so we can eventually fly on to even greater things than we ever had planned.

     I just sat down with Ricky and explained my little analogy of getting our wings clipped, hoping to open his eyes a little.  Because he was being grumpy and barking around at me.  He even told the maid who was taking the garbage out to "Be quiet, and Knock it off!" Then he apologized cuz he thought it was me doing it.  He didn't seem very thrilled with me nor with my analogy. Nurses kept interrupting the story, and when they would he would turn his ipad back on and continue with his movie.  So when I finally finished with my story, I asked him if he was smarter than a chicken, or if he would continue to return to Crapsville (i.e. just chilling watching tv, wasting time with unimportant things, grumping around at family, etc).  If he would get through cancer and be no better off than he was before, or if he would use the chance to become great and miraculous....  He sat up in bed, (which got my hopes up) then grabbed his IV pole and went to the bathroom.  Darn!  I grabbed my computer and left the room.  After chatting with the nurse for a second I went back to the room to remind him to eat his breakfast that had arrived.  I expected to just yell it into him while he was in the bathroom, but when I opened the door to his room I found him kneeling on his bed praying....  So I left.

    Here I am now finishing this blog in a room down the hall, starting to tear-up a little, and praying that my Heavenly Father will help me be smarter than a chicken.