July 11 Deer Tracks Junction, #1

Saturday:  Cal and I arrived at Deer Tracks this morning very promptly at 10:02 am! We were one of the very first visitors of the day. We purchased our ticket, as well as food for the animals: 1 cup of carrots, 1 cup of sliced apples, and 3 seed sticks. I had talked it over with Cal and we decided to visit the budgies first so that they would not be full of other people's seeds by the time we got to them--but we were so surprised that when we went through the passage to their pavilion, every single parakeet was way up at the top of the roof line and were in no mood to come down. We left them and decided they must still be sleeping ... or something. We told them we would be BACK!

Next, we decided to see the guinea pigs. They are SO cute and make the funniest sounds. Cal got to hold a small guinea who didn't yet have a name. The worker asked Cal what he would name this little one. Without hesitation, Cal said "Squeaky!" The worker told him that was a very good name.

Since the corn house was so near by, we went there next. There was absolutely NO ONE THERE but us! Cal jumped and dug and laughed and played ...

Here he is jumping!

We tried to bury half of him but he kept popping up out of the corn. I finally gave up!

We decided this would be a very nice place to take a snooze ...  but we had too much else to see, so we did not go to sleep.

We returned to the Budgie pavilion and ... YAY! They were awake and ready to eat! It was a little bit crowded with people in here, so we didn't get swamped with six birds at a time or anything--but one time Cal had four: two on his stick and one on each arm! Look at Cal's cute little face.

The goats were next ... see how timid Cal was with these goats? They are so hilarious and a little bit overwhelming as they stick their heads through these holes ...

Look at Cal's reaction!

Then we moved on to see if there were any bunnies. When I was here two weeks ago with Erin, there were zero babies. Today, however, we saw two kind of small bunnies and asked if we could hold them, but the worker told us those little ones had just been "put away" and were over stimulated for the time being. That was okay ...

Cal was content to pet the bigger rabbits who were cooling themselves by the fan.

The EMU totally crack me up. First of all ... don't be thinking that you can just casually feed them a carrot. NO WAY. They ATTACK the carrot and practically bit your hand off! Seriously! But they are so funny to watch.

I think they are so ugly that they are cute.

As I was walking away, the whole crowd started running and following me (thankfully they were behind the fence!).

The next post will show our visit to the pigs and also the cool tunnels Gregory went in ...
 

July 10 Gregory's sleepover

Friday evening and Saturday morning: We arrived here at my house for Cal's sleepover by about 4pm Friday afternoon. I had laid out a few of the toys that we hardly play with anymore to see if I could "trigger" Cal's good memories of them and perhaps he would play with them again. It worked!

We worked on a train layout for quite a long time. This picture only shows about half of our finished track. We were a bit distracted by all of the birds outside my side window and kept looking out trying to identify the name of each bird. Cal is quite passionate about this. He says that he and his dad take walks around their neighborhood and use Dylan's phone app that can identify birds by the sounds they make (I have this app too). I love knowing that Cal and Dylan do this. Cal says Erin enjoys it as well. Both Erin and Cal are very good at imitating bird calls. I remember a time when Brendan was very young (perhaps 3) when he and I were at the beach and he called out to the seagulls like he was an ACTUAL seagull himself and they all came to him! He thought that was pretty great.

I keep a small bowl on my front porch to place peanuts there for the squirrels to enjoy. We had a long talk with one of my squirrels this morning (but, naturally, I missed that photographing that).

We began a foosball "tournament" and Cal put his heart and soul into each game. He's a pretty fierce player!

Of course, Cal has all kinds of ways he uses to count what each field goal is worth (point-wise). I have to attempt to at least clamp down on his outrageous rules so that he gets used to playing the REAL game. But it's hilarious to see what he will come up with to score TWO points instead of just ONE.

I promised Cal I would make him tacos for dinner. He was super pleased. This kid can really put away a LOT of food, and he is not a fussy eater at all. Emma and Chris were similar to this at this age as well. Matt was a little more particular about what he would eat, but it wasn't a problem. Brendan and Erin eat a lot of variety as well. As far as Aidan is concerned, I'm just glad he loves my homemade French toast and corn on the cob!

Later on in the evening, Cal requested that we play the game of "LIFE". In the picture below, one of his ACTION cards told him to pick an opponent (there was only me to choose from) and have a dance contest to see WHO was the best ... Cal won without any difficulty whatsoever, and the bank awarded him 30K for his super interesting dance "moves."

Cal's occupation was an ATHLETE, so he pretended he was a pro football player (of course). My occupation was a fashion designer. Cal ended up with twice the amount of $$ that I did! He also had THREE puppies and THREE children--we had to load an extra car for him to move around. He decided that one of his babies could be the driver. His pet puppy was driving the primary car (with the parents in the back seat).

After we played LIFE, we had a small root beer float (YUM), and got ready to watch our movie. We didn't start watching the movie until some time after 8:00. I was trying to be sure to wear Cal down before putting him in bed so that perhaps it wouldn't be too long or painful a process. We decided to watch: "LEGO, Batman". Yuck. I would so much rather watch a cute little story! Sigh. Cal went to bed and was soundly sleeping by about 9:20. Yes!

However, at promptly 6am, he was up and about. He was super quiet, cuddled himself up on the couch with my very soft blanket and waited for me to crawl out of bed. He never once disturbed me, so I laid in bed an extra 20 minutes!

After breakfast, Cal challenged me to a game of CHESS. I did end up checkmating our poor dear, but he handled like a little man.

Before we knew it, it was 9:30 and time to leave for Deer Tracks!

July 7 HERBIE!!!!

Tuesday:  FIRST, I'm going to tell you what happened near the end of our time at my house. I was picking up all of the toys that had been scattered around and requested that the kiddos come into the main room and watch about 15 minutes of "The Road Runner and Coyote" cartoons so that I could accomplish the clean-up task successfully. Brendan and Erin were sitting on the couch, Gregory and Aidan were on the chairs in front of my computer screen. Suddenly, I heard a very excited voice shouting: "HERBIE! HERBIE!!!" I came running into the room immediately. Erin was pointing up to the tippy top of my bookshelf, and peaking out (from behind a bunch of shells) was our very own repeat-after-you Herbie toy that I had LOST about 15 months ago. All of us had looked repeatedly, but he could not be found. I truly had given up ever finding him again.

We flipped the "On" switch, and sure enough, Herbie could still repeat after us in his funny little voice. We all cracked up. I gave Erin a super BIG hug. She was our hero of the day.

The three younger kiddos wanted another chance to make a "movie" of their own using some toy props around my house (I have an unlimited number of items that can be used to make an interesting video). They couldn't decide who would go first, so they requested that I make a video since Cal said he would go 2nd. I grabbed "Sunny" and sat down and had a beauty pageant with her for about three minutes. Erin sat with me and joined in my video. You see, no one wanted to be first because they hadn't decided what their story line would be this week. Cal offered to go second, and everyone took him up on his offer.

Here are some random photos of the kids watching their own videos and enjoying themselves hugely.

Look how delighted Cal is while watching himself on my computer!

Brendan, bless his heart, brought books along with him to keep him occupied today. He does really well with the little kids, but he is fourteen and not really interested in the same stuff the younger kids are. I try to connect with him throughout the day. We did watch a "Paco" video with the puppeteer who created him years ago. The creator is a very good puppeteer and cracks the kids up. We finally we able to find the video of him using a little hand puppet that he calls "Paquito" that has no movable mouth--he just squeals and makes the cutest noises to communicate.

Erin was in a very creative mood today. She was cutting and taping all kinds of things! She made a paper camera for one of my small stuffed animals that actually hung around its neck. Did I get a picture of it? Sigh. Nope.

Erin really enjoys all of the little puppets I have here. She played a long time with Lamb Chop today.

Look at her beautiful smile.

Erin was super helpful today! She helped clean up

some of the toys she had played with, without a single complaint.

Aidan gets a real bang out of both my PIG puppets--he's a real fan of pigs in general and has quite a few stuffed pigs of his own. I love to watch him pretend and make up stories. And I love to hear him really laugh and laugh. He has a very good sense of humor.

Here is everyone watching the Paco video--I forget his creator's name.

We ate a bunch of good food--some of which was actually healthy! By about 3:15, we decided it was time to return to their place to continue our day. It was getting a little bit too warm at my house. So ... that's what we did.

Thankful to be able to enjoy these grandchildren. I hope to never take it for granted that I have good enough health to continue to play and have fun with them.

July 2 MING

Thursday:  I want to tell you about my friend, Ming. She has blessed our small group of ladies for the past two years now at Bible study. Ming does not attend Calvary. I totally forget how she and her husband (Job) began coming to Bible study--perhaps their smaller church did not have a study available.

Ming was born in Indonesia, where she lived most of her life. She was part of a family where "arranged" marriages were the custom, and her parents had already made promises to the other family about Ming. However, she barely knew this older gentleman she was supposed to marry. I forget how she met Job, but he was of a "lower standing" than her family financially and her mother was horrified at the idea of Ming marrying "beneath herself." I won't tell you the whole long story, but God had His own arrangements and worked it out so that Job and Ming could be married. Both are faithful followers of Christ. In fact, I can honestly say that I have never met more faithful lovers of Jesus since way, way back in my life when I first met Grandpa Jim (July 31, 1974). 

In Indonesia, Job worked very hard and became a successful businessman. He and Ming's financial status became well established. Another very long story is what happened with Job's business. He had a business partner who was, unknown to Job, a crook and a fraudster. This man stole a huge amount of money from quite a few influential people and was discovered. When the arrests came, both this man and Job were indicted and convicted to many years in prison. On top of that, the Indonesian "mob" was not satisfied to just have Job punished, but sought to harm many of his family members there in Indonesia.

How Ming and Job arrived in America, I have some idea but I'm confused about the details--so I won't attempt to fill in the blanks. I only remember that they came here in 2021 with temporary Visas. However, Job was picked up by immigration over 400 days ago and detained. Long story short--after all of these days and nights with many people praying, and many lawyers working, INTERPOL has finally reviewed Job's case and has expunged his criminal record in Indonesia--it can never be reversed. Job will be freed from detention very soon and reunited with his family. He will not be deported! 

This is Job (below). He is called "Papa Job" in the prison where he is being held. He is the oldest of the men that are held at that facility, and many of the others have come to depend on him for wise counsel and help adjusting to being locked up. He has studied online and earned dozens of educational and other skill certificates while locked up. In over 40 years of marriage, he and Ming had only been separated four other days. 

Thursday evening, Wisely (their son) gave his testimony at a prayer gathering at Calvary. Next to Wisely is his wife and their son (Reu). 

I'm really thankful I have been able to get to know this dear family. They have never given up. In fact, they have been such an encouragement to everyone around them. Sincere, genuine people whose faith has really been challenged by this trial in their lives. I love these guys. 

Thank you, Lord, for true justice and mercy!

July 1 at Christy's "cottage"

Wednesday:  Our small group from Women's Bible Study was invited over to Montague to swim and hang out at Christy's "cottage" all day today. If this was MY "cottage", I would never ever leave it in a million years. So there!

We carpooled north to Montague--only a little over one hour drive from our starting point. I was in Margaret's vehicle with Lynda, Cindy, Bethany, and Ming. Ming and I were in the third row seating and were able to enjoy good fellowship all during the ride. The only negative being such a small amount of leg room back there for my long legs! 

I'll show you a few (!!) pictures that I took while walking around the cottage. I regret not taking more pictures inside--because the architecture/design of the house is so interesting and beautiful. The cottage is situated on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan.

Isn't it SO beautiful? Honestly, nothing in this world would drag me from this place if it were mine. Probably a good thing it's not!

The picture below is of their lower deck which is nearer to the beach and water--they built this last year some time.

It was super hot even here at the lake today ... hot enough for me to actually SWIM. Was the water cold? YES! I'm a real coward about getting into cold water ... but I forced myself because I love, love, LOVE waves and being under the water.

I took a nice stroll along the beach before I went swimming. I love drift wood, don't you? I was wanting to pick this one up and bring it home with me, but I resisted the urge ... because ... it's not MY beach, and I would feel like I was a robber.

Here are a few of "the girls" playing a card game while waiting for dinner to be served. On the far left is Arlene, a very nice lady who has had a very hard life in many ways; but not bitter, just made "better" from her grief. The little Oriental lady is MING--one of the godliest people I have ever known. I am so thankful for her. Next to Ming is Pamela--she is explaining the rules of the game to everyone else. I thought I would try to play this game--but the rules seemed SO complicated that I declined, and instead walked around and explored for awhile. Across the table from Pamela is Bethany (white hair), and Tamela (who can hardly be seen).

Margaret--she was our small group leader for many years--is in the red (her favorite color) shirt--she is standing next to Tamela, who can now be seen. Lynda is on the far left of the picture. This dining room table is HUGE and so perfect for a lot of people to gather around.

Here is Christy--who was the co-leader of our group for many years, and the owner of this cottage. She and her husband own a company that makes a type of conveyor belt that is sold around the world. Both of them are just regular folk, who are especially kind and hospitable. 

While the card game was being played, I walked outside again. It was nearly 7pm and the sun was lower in the sky, making the water all sparkly.

This is the back of the cottage, with a very nice deck that wraps around on the side to a hot tub. 

This is the pathway leading D O W N from the bluff to the beach below. It's a steeper climb than it looks in this photo. I walked down to the beach and back up two different times, which was good exercise for me, but a lot harder on my knees than I would like to admit.

The upstairs room with the balcony, is the master bedroom--cathedral ceiling and all. It's just beautiful.

One of the beautiful daisies planted around the house ...

Mmm. What a view. Last year, we stayed for the sunset and it was worth it. But today, too many of the women had early obligations on the following morning; so we departed after eating our yummy dinner, and arrived home by 9pm. What a beautiful day.