Trauma, Tragedy, and Triumph

   I have thought a lot about this post. I know I could turn it into a little life lessons for you, a sort of allegory I suppose. I could say some words of wisdom to tug at your emotions, but I have come to grips with the fact that it is just not my gifting. So, I’ll just tell you what happened, show you pics, and let you come up with your own heart tugging life lesson to accompany it. :o)

  This last week we had a family of little chickadee chicks (I think) leave the nest from the tree in the backyard. Sadly, their mother had not warned them of the danger of glass…… We were cleaning house when we heard 3 thumps on the window. The kids ran to see what the noise was and discovered 3 baby birds laying on the steps below our slider.

We all went out to see what could be done.  We gently helped 2 of them into upright positions and found them a place to recover that was safe from the cat. Sadly, the third was beyond help. 

 

There were tears shed by one sensitive member of the family, but we had many good discussions on life. (I thought about telling my kids just how dangerous leaving the nest was and letting them know they should stay with me forever but thought that, 30 years or so from now, I may regret that little talk  ;o)  The kids were thrilled to be able to touch these little birds and to “help” them recover.  They were also thrilled when they finally flew away.  I think it took a good 1/2 hour before they flew. I wanted a pic of their departure but I wasn’t patient enough  ;o)

They had the most vibrant yellow on their tails, which is kind of making me wonder if they really were  Chickadees…….

but they had the little “masks” like a chickadee.  :o/

If any of you are bird experts and want to help with a positive I.D.  that would be lovely.

A song

Recently heard this song and am loving it today:

Stronger

A promise kept….. ;o)

   Once again time has gotten away from me and I am wondering how in the world it has been so long since my last post, how my baby boy got to be 10 months old AND officially walking, how summer can be so far gone, etc…..  BUT, because I said I would, here are the plant pics from our Fathers day outing.  :o)  You just might notice a theme as once again my fascination with water drops is rather obvious. Someday I will get a perfect water drop pic but until then I am pretty pleased with these  :oD   So, without further ado, here are the pics.

I have never done much photographing if Scotch Broom but it has such perfect rain drops :o) This first one is SOOC

 

I love the greens in this one

 

Not real happy with the color on this first one…… I think I had been staring at the screen too long :oP  I may have to try and fix it later

 

I thought the four drops in a row were neat  :o)

Not sure what this guy is, I am assuming some sort of fungi, but I thought he was unique enough to earn a pic

 

I love how Wood Sorrel has heart shaped leaves  ♥

 

  So there you have it!  We *should* finish school next week so maybe I will find time for a few more posts.  I am not holding my breath though and would advise the same for you  ;o) 

Father’s Day 2011

For Father’s day this year Brian had to work, so we only had a few hours together.  To celebrate we went to one of our favorite places.  Most of the time my view of the kids was like this:

Though I was sure to torment them by demanding a few facial photos ;o)

Though overcast, it was bright. Please excuse the somewhat pained expression  :o)

and, though he has the BEST smile in real life, capturing it on “film” has become impossible. I hope this phase passes soon!

My amazing, wonderful husband spent his time cutting trees for the owner. Here he is with his saw near the beginning:

and here is after, taking a break by the creek  :o)

There are no pics of me as I was behind the camera ;o)  but here is what the youngest family member did:

He is just too cute and oh, so sweet!!!  His napping allowed me to get some flower and foliage pics that I am pretty excited about. Sadly, it is too late tonight to add them.  Hopefully I will add them soon.

Mother’s Day part II

  My eldest is all about fun and, as any day with a name *must* be fun, she spent the week before Mothers day getting her card ready, discussing gift ideas, and doing things for me because “Mother’s Day is *almost* here”. :o)  Saturday night she asked to do the reading for our family devotional time “for Mother’s Day”.  She started by reading Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.  “There is a time for everything under heaven – A time to be born and a time to die…….”  ;o) Rather an interesting start but She loves the rhythm of those verses. She then turned to Song of Solomon because “that sounded fun” I tactfully discouraged that and asked her to find something in the New Testament to finish with.  I guess Song of Solomon may have been fitting if we wanted to discuss how I got to be a mother! I just wasn’t ready for the sort of discussion that could arise from some of the verses that she might open to. Lol!

  She decided to read in John 19:14-27.  It is the account of Christ’s death on the cross. What got me was the last 2 verses and how touching they were for a Mother’s day reading. Listening to her read, I was struck by Christ’s act of love for his earthly Mother. He was suffering an agony I cannot even imagine, physical, emotional, and spiritual pain, and what did He do?  He saw Mary and, concerned for her well being even in the midst of his suffering, He arranged for her care. He was dying by means of torture and still He took initiative to ensure that she was loved and cared for.  It was such a beautiful picture and, as a mom, such an encouragement to me that He cares for me and my ministry as a mom. The poignant beauty of that passage has lingered in my mind since she read it.

Though I have read those verses many, many times, they have never really hit me like that before. My little girls “random” choice of passages really blessed me and were one of the sweetest gifts I received, so I thought I would share……. 

Mother’s Day 2011

  Here is a picture I took today of my amazing kids. I can’t begin to tell you how much I love them! 

I will also say that getting a picture of 4 kids all looking at the camera and looking decent is harder than I thought! ;o) I may be slightly biased but I think I have a mighty good looking bunch of kids! :oD

Absence

So, I have been thinking about my blog and wondering why I don't have any desire to update it. I finally came to the conclusion that my blog is like my happy place... It is what I want to do when life is good, when I have things to share that are upbeat, inspiring and happy. When life is hard I really don't want to blog. I don't want to put up a false front and make it sound like life is going great and I don't want to be a downer, so I just don't blog.  Lately my camera has stayed tucked away in it's bag, I have tons of unedited, ignored pictures on my computer begging me to play with them, and I have a neglected blog. I guess that gives you a pretty clear picture of life right now and how I am handling it. So, when life gets better or I get out of this funk I will be back. ♥