Silly Animals

I'm pretty sure that bird I hear is laughing at me.  I've never heard that sound before and it sounds just like a high pitched giggle.  One just flew into my screen, so who's laughing now, funny bird?

Sitting on my porch this morning, I can hear all the bird conversations going on around me and they sure sound like a gossipy bunch. 

Nature has been going a little nutty around here the past couple of years and I love to sit out here and watch to see what's going to happen next.

Have you ever watched humming birds?  In my keen eye and mind I have figured out that they must have ADHD.  They do the weirdest things.  They have this thing they do where they look like they're on an invisible swing.  They go back and forth and back and forth dipping down with each pass.  What is that?  Maybe it's a mating ritual of some sort, but, girls,  I would steer clear of that crazy boy.

I had one little humming bird fly into my screen and got it's little pointed nose stuck.  I walked over to put my finger on it's beak and push it out, but it got loose, flew out toward the tree and started with the invisible swing thing again.

Then, one evening I watched a bear come ambling across my field toward the woods. La la la la la.  Paying no attention to anything as it walked into the woods.  Then I hear loud wood banging and teeth clanking and the bear comes running out of the woods.  I really don't blame it.  That noise made me want to run in the house, but I couldn't help watching the bear.  La la la la la, it goes back into the woods.  Wood banging....teeth clanking....running bear.  I don't know how many trips into the woods that goofy bear made, but it eventually got too dark to keep watching, and too creepy to sit out in the dark listening to teeth clanking.

Then there is the deer.  They're like those people who stare at you, so you look away hoping they'll quit, but when your eyes drift back, they're still staring.  You know the kind.  They just keep looking, while your wondering if your pants are unzipped, or if there's something on your nose, or wondering why they don't blink.  Just staring.  Staring.  Staring.  I try to pretend they're not there, but they just keep staring.  Staring.  Staring.

And, spiders. *shiver*  Nothing funny about those things, except when I kill one and do the spider dance all over the porch.  It just doesn't seem normal for anything to have that many legs.

And the other evening, love was in the air.  Two coquettish doves flirting back and forth, were putting on quite a show on our fence, while two robins were having a party in the yard.  I felt like I should look away, but I became a deer.  Staring.  Staring.  Staring.

Nature.  What a funny thing.

Thinking of You!

I'm sitting on my screened porch, watching hummingbirds flit around the feeders, listening to the peeps and chirps of the birds and looking out over my fields with the dew glistening from the sunshine and thoughts meandering through my mind of my family.  What a pleasant, peaceful morning. 

I don't think there is an hour that goes by that I'm not thinking about people that I love, family that has passed,  and loved ones that I cherish.  My thoughts are continually on those that are dearest to my heart.

When my children were younger and still at home and they would be in a flurry to get out the door and on to school, my last words were always, "Love you, be careful and have a good day."  Those weren't just words, they were my thoughts.  I thought of them all day, hoping they were happy, hoping they were having fun.  And then my thoughts would become plans as I would prepare for the time when they got home.  I would wash uniforms if they had ballgames, I would wash clothes for the next day, I would prepare a meal to be ready when they got home from school, and then,when it was time for them to come home, I would either go to the front porch and watch for them to come walking up through the field, or I would drive down to get them from the bus stop, or when they got older I would just wait for them to come bursting through the door with about five or six of their hungry friends.  My thoughts were of them.

Isn't it the greatest feeling to have someone call you, or to receive a card or a note that just says, "I was thinking of you today."  It's so nice to know that  you have been the subject of someone else's thoughts.  It kind of gives you a warm, fuzzy feeling down inside.

I received a special, private note from a friend yesterday.  It was a prayer.  She was praying for me and letting me read her words as she prayed for me.  This isn't uncommon for her.  She's done this many times.  We talk to each other via facebook inbox quite often.  I know of her struggles and fun times as she does mine.  We've been friends just a couple of years and she's introduced me to her family and I've introduced her to mine, but only through pictures and notes because we've never met face to face.  She lives way out west and I'm from the east, yet our paths have crossed and now we're friends.   We'll meet someday, but in the meantime, it's good to know that she thinks of me.

Imagine my feelings when just this morning I was reading Psalms 139 (quickly becoming one of my favorite chapters, ever) and God told me that he was thinking of me.  Don't believe me?  Go read it yourself, and you'll see He's thinking of you, too. 

How precious are thy thoughts unto me, O God!  How great is the sum of them!  If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand:, verses 17 and 18.  Pretty awesome, huh!

Doesn't that just blow your mind?  The Creator of the universe, the One who has created galaxies upon galaxies (over 100 billion and counting), not to mention the millions and millions of solar systems in each of the billions of galaxies, is thinking about you today...right now....this very minute.  And out of all the millions and millions of people on this earth, not just now but the ones that have ever been, He knows your name.

But now sayeth the Lord that createth thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. Isaiah 43:1.

Well, I'm feeling pretty special right now. 

You can deny Him, you can say there is no God, you can say it's all a fairy tale. It doesn't matter.  He's still thinking of you.

Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings?  And not one of them is forgotten before God?  But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.  Luke 12:6,7

PRICELESS

Women, what are you worth?  The Bible says that your price if "far above rubies."

I looked up some prices of rubies.  And the exceptional cut rubies are priced anywhere from $3,000 a carat all the way up to $225,000 a carat.  I also looked up conversion charts for carats into pounds and it takes about 2500 carats to make a pound.  Now, if you figure a woman weighs 100 pounds (anything above 100 pounds is just extra!), then she would be 250,000 carats.  So, if you are at the low end of the ruby system, you would be worth $750,000,000!  I can't even figure what you are worth if you were a high end ruby!

Unbelievable, isn't it?  I'm pretty sure that today's society doesn't look at us moms that way.  They think a woman should have a career above all else and, if there is any time left, you could possibly consider a part time spouse, and if there is any time after that, you could fit in 1.5 children.  However, if you possibly do try to fit 1.5 children into this, then you have to let someone else be the caretakers.  After all, wasn't it a popular political figure that said, "it takes a village to raise a child"?  (Let me say, at this point, that I know that there are times when a woman absolutely has to work outside the home....been there, done that.)

A woman who can have children, a husband, a home, a career, and keep all her priorities straight, sure has my applause.

I read an article that said if a stay at home mom was compensated for all her work she would get $138,095 per year.  Personally, I think that's a little low, but it's a start.  And it also stated that a mom that works outside the home should be compensated about $85,939 per year above her paying job.

We moms have to remember that our worth as a mom, outside job or not, is worth millions of dollars in God's eyes.  We have to acknowledge that God thought so much of us that he told us that our price is, well, priceless.

When we see the first wobbly steps, when we see the first toothless grin, when we hear the first time they say ma ma, we know it's priceless.  We see them wave out of the bus window on their first day of kindergarten, we cheer at every ball game, we get hugs for no reason...priceless.  We get to read them bedtime stories, sing, "Jesus loves me", tuck them in and hear them ask God to watch over every single neighbor within a ten mile radius, pray for the cat, the dog and the fish....priceless.  And most blessed of all is when we get to bow our heads together and hear them whisper the invitation of Jesus into their hearts...PRICELESS.

Proverbs 31:10, 28  "Who can find a virtuous woman?  For her price is far above rubies.  Her children arise up, and call her blessed;  her husband also, and he praiseth her."

Grandkids Are the Best

I woke this morning thinking about my grandchildren, as many mornings I do.  I have a grandson, four granddaughters, and four grandpuppies, and they are add so much pleasure to my life (the grandpuppies, not so much, however I have been known to buy them presents and Halloween costumes).  I have nick names for my darlings, and even though my husband gives me the evil eye when I call them their nick names instead of their real names, I do it anyway.  It's my special connection to them.  A name that only their Grandma uses, and the older ones have been known to think Gram was mad at them because I didn't use their "special" names.


While preparing my garden, I think about my grandson, Poot.   He earned that name when he was just a few months old, and he expects me to call him that when we talk.    He's 13, full of energy and action.  He loves outdoors, tearing apart motors, fishing and gardening.  He's autistic.  I know if he was with me he would be trying to tell me nicely that he knows more about gardening than I do.  And he's right.

I spent the day with my oldest granddaughter, Girlie, the other day.  She's 11 going on 21.  She's gorgeous and funny and energetic and talkative.  While Papa was sitting in his favorite seat, which is a recliner with the tv on some sort of sports, we were in my favorite place....the porch.  After eating at a little restaurant with seating overlooking New River, then getting an enormous ice cream cone, we settled in on the porch and talked.  And talked.  And talked. Later, we built a little fire in the fire pit, roasted marshmallows and made s'mores.   I hope that's a memory that she'll always keep of her Grammy.

My mind wandered to a video of one of my other granddaughters, who I call Luvy, because she is.  She was gently looking through the pages of her daddy's Bible, and with each page she turned, she would say, "Jesus loves me"  "this I know".  She's a lover of nature, animals, books, her little sister, and songs.  She loves to close her eyes and rub her face on her sister's little fuzzy head.  And she always has a song going....when she's reading, when she's playing and somehow, even when she's eating.  When I'm at her house, Mimi is the only one who is allowed to get her something to eat or drink, the only one allowed to color with her, the only one allowed to rock her to sleep, and, yea, the only one who is allowed to change her diaper..  She's full of life and giggles. 

Then there's our little princess, who I call Boo, because it was her favorite word when she was so very little.  Anytime you would look at her and do peek a boo, you could get a beautiful, little toothless smile.  She loves princesses, princess castles, princess clothes and princess cartoons.  Boo is very opinionated, even though she's only three, but she's not mean about it or obstinate, she just has her own outlook on life and how things are.  The other day while her daddy was helping me do some yard work, she decided to try her daddy's patience.  When he gently scolded her (because that's all it takes for her tender little heart), she turned around, walked up the steps and into the house.  About a minute later her daddy walked in to check on her and she was sitting on the little doll bench I have at my house.  He asked her what she was doing and she answered, matter of factly, "I'm in timeout."  How funny she is.

And then there's our newest granddaughter, Emma Tay.  I say "Tay" because her older sister can't pronounce Kay yet.  I'm not sure what her special name will be because she's still developing her little personality, but it may always be Tay.  She's so pleasant and laid back.  Doesn't really matter what's going on, she just lays there, smiling, taking it all in in those big, blue eyes.  I have a mental picture burned in my memory of her.  She was feverish, a little fussy and hungry.  She had been crying, so there was stuff running out of her nose and her cheeks were shiny with tears and I looked at her and said, "hey there, Emma Tay" and a big, toothless smile spread across her wet face.  I will always have that picture imprinted in my mind. 

I know, I know.  You really don't want to hear about my grandbabies, but sometimes something is so meaningful to me that I just have to write it, and this morning I was feeling so blessed and honored to be the grandmother of these precious little lives, I just had to write.

I am so blessed.