BBD

Have you ever heard of the BBD?

It is the Bigger, Better Deal.

When I was young,

my family was always chasing the bigger better deal.

My father has a PHD in Chemistry.

but he always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

And so, the BBD was born in the Ward house.

There were so many attempts at the BBD.

When I was in the 2nd or 3rd grade,

we raised baby calves.

We bottle fed them.

We raised them to be butchered.

We also had a huge garden.

We raised tomatoes, potatoes, corn, okra

and the list goes on.

The plan was to sell the vegetables.

In junior high we raised honey bees.

We bought hives and a spinning contraption

to harvest the honey.

Easy to bottle and sell the honey?

About the same time, artificial insemination

became popular for raising new brands of cattle.

Names like Chianina, Maine-Anjou, Pinzgauer and Simbrah.

It never did really take off.

We had a barn where we kept a variety of rabbits.

We raised the rabbits

 and then would haul them 100 miles away to auction them off.

Rabbit will be the new chicken.

We leased acres and acres of land for hay baling.

Plow the field, plant the Bermuda sprigs.

Watch it grow, cut the hay, rake, bale, haul.

Feast when it rains. Famine when it doesn't.

Buy raw lumber to make furniture.

Cherry, walnut, pecan.

Get it planed, build an armoire, quilt box, rocking chair. 

Each of us kids got a piece of the furniture. 

Did you know you can turn cooking oil into bio-diesel?

Travel to numerous plants to see how it is done.

Work in a plant in another state to get experience.

Too much competition from big companies.

Buy pieces of silver and turn them into Krugerrands.

Buy silver from Craigs List or Ebay.

Melt it down in the rented space in town.

Who will make the Krugerrands for me?

As an adult, I also pursued the BBD.

I made macrame pot hangers.

I took oil painting classes.

I took flower arranging classes.

I took a quilt class with a friend.

It changed my life forever.

My pursuit of the BBD was over.

God gave me a ministry.

Note: My dad pursued these interests while he worked as a chemist.

Although I was never looking to make money, I eventually quit my 

corporate job to pursue my ministry. I do not make any money to

speak of, but I am serving God with the gifts He gave me.