The bird whisperer

Saturday and Sunday, October 5-6:  Emma is amazing with Matey. She is unrelentingly in pursuit of this little bird, and he seems to love her more than anyone! He will perch on her finger like it is the most natural thing in the world to do! I learn a lot from watching Emma with Matey. I'm getting better at touching him and not flinching when he pecks at me. Eventually, he will learn to be comfortable with all of us. I'm thankful my kids are so good with animals.

Sunday afternoon, Emma organized ALL of my piano music. It was quite a job, too! Thankfully, I had a bunch of sheet protectors and extra notebooks. Emma was amazing ... and she was clearly happy doing this job. She has a natural flare for organization. Thank you, Emma!

We also did on our Bible story. This week we reviewed our story of the healing of Naaman, the mighty Syrian warrior. It was good to talk about how SIMPLE God's instructions are, and yet how our hearts resist coming to Him in faith. I'm so glad that Naaman was healed, and that the young captive Israeli girl was kind enough to tell him that healing was available to him. Heart healing. How desperately all of us need that! We prayed that we would be more obedient to God in our lives and willing to share the great news that God loves and forgives everyone who comes to Him in repentance and faith.

"New" playgrounds

Saturday, October 5:   Kaity-Jane and I went hunting for some "new" playgrounds today. I picked her up at the usual time, and instead of going to HER school playground, we went over to Greenridge Elementary, just off 4-Mile. We discovered a super nice playground here! Kaity was excited to see it and try everything out.

 What a monkey she is!

 It's difficult to keep up with this little person ...

 I love to see you play like this, Kaity! You are at your happiest when outside and FREE like the wind.

 Kaity suggested we go to my house and get all my digging toys and bring them over here! I nixed that idea, at least for today.

 We also drove over to Pine Island Elementary (grades 3 through 5). Kaity had a lot of fun trying all of the "big" kid stuff out over there. She LOVES monkeybars (because she is part-monkey herself) and did so many of them she said her hands were burning.

 We did spend time at my house too. We played my new game of shutes and ladders, as well as a tiny memory game (bought on clearance at Barnes & Nobles). Naturally, Kaity beat me at the memory game, but it was at least close!

 We played with our puppets for awhile, and visited with dear Matey-boy. Kaity is relentless with my bird--which is good, I think--because it gets him trained to be touched. He's been at my house now for five solid weeks! He's getting more and more used to people and to having little hands around him.

I love you immensely, Kaity-dear. You are a real JOY to my heart.

A short road trip

Thursday and Friday, October 3 and 4:  I drove over to Detroit early Thursday morning to spend some time with my sister, Ruthanne. Terry was out of state on a mission trip, so Ruthanne and I were determined to get a little one-on-one together! It rained on my drive over to Detroit, and it continued to rain throughout the day. Ruthanne and I ate lunch at Max & Erma's over at Patridge Creek and then we went to see "Downton Abbey." I can't say I truly liked the movie! I enjoyed the series because I found the people, both upstairs and downstairs, to be interesting people. But ... yikes. The whole "class" thing among the British people goes SO DEEP and reaches way DOWN to the servants below. There was so much pride and so much deference given to people based on their "status." The only One worthy of that kind of honor is Jesus Himself. The movie WAS well done, though, and continued the saga right where it had left off. After the movie, we did a little bit of shopping over at Barnes & Nobles and before we knew it--it was time to eat at Bubba's! We really weren't all that hungry, so we split a pizza. I've never had anything at Bubba's that wasn't delicious.

Friday morning, we woke up to a DRY day and quite early on, the sun was shining. We had hoped to drive out to Yates today to take a nice walk by the Clinton River. That last time we did this, I believe was back in 2007 at about the same time of the year--except the colors were VERY brilliant during that visit.

 We enjoyed a beautiful walk, with or without color ... it's really beautiful here. The river was fast flowing from all of the rain we've had, and the sound was soothing and very wonderful.

 Ruthanne and I enjoyed a good talk as we walked along. She is my only sister, and she is very precious to me. 

 We also enjoyed a warm cinnamon/sugar donut ... mmmm.

 Beautiful place, isn't it?

I drove home from Detroit Friday afternoon, stopping to sleep just outside of Lansing (something about driving and sleepiness happens every time), but I felt much better when I continued my drive home. I should have snapped a picture of Ruthanne along the way, but I didn't! She's not terribly fond of having her picture taken (I'm the same) ... so I guess it's okay! I hope to get back to see her every month or so--we're not getting any younger, and I don't want to neglect her.

Connecting ...

Wednesday, October 2:  I prayed this afternoon on the way to get Brendan from school--"Lord, help me to connect with Brendan today." I asked this of God because sometimes it's difficult for me to figure out what Brendan is talking about. He has many passions--dinosaurs, Great Wolf Lodge, video games, Harry Potter--and some of these things I'm not very familiar with (especially Harry Potter, because I haven't read the series). Anyway, I am thankful to tell you that Brendan and I connected just fine today. We usually have very good car conversations. Today, Brendan was telling me all about a brand new dinosaur that was recently discovered UNDER water! He gave me lots and lots of interesting details about this prehistoric beastie. I gave him 100% of my attention, and it went a long way.

We came to my house and hung out with my little bird for awhile. We got out our train stuff and did some building with them. I hooked Brendan up with PBS kids for him to do a few of his games while I was getting dinner ready. Everything flowed along today very naturally and with a lot of joy. I sense (with a lot of happiness) that Brendan is becoming more and more at ease since Dylan and Kelly have adjusted his school schedule. 

 Brendan was able to make a maze with one of the games he was playing and we printed it out for him. He was very pleased.

We also read, "Violet Goes to the Country" while we sat on the couch with Matey on the coffee table right in front of us. Matey enjoys a good story! Brendan, dear person that he is, listened quietly and engaged totally with this sweet story about the little white cat with green eyes going out to the country for the very first time--what adventures she had! I love reading to Brendan. He hangs on every word and joins into the story with perfect timing. I love him so much.

Adorable Aidan

Monday, September 30:  Mondays come quickly around here, but ... Mondays are AIDAN days, and so they are welcome! Aidan is pretty enamored with trains. I hope this lasts for many years. It's just so easy to sit on the floor with him, hand him "fracks" and let him build. He does "allow" me to build too, and doesn't often get overly selfish with how I decide to do the layout.

 Aidan was pretty sleepy this afternoon. I had woken him from a very deep sleep (his nap) at his house just before 1:00 and brought him over here. But I am happy that he is so contented here, knows where all of the toys are, plays with Matey-Bird, and just has a good time.

 We did wander over to Robinettes Orchard--actually these pictures are reversed. We actually stopped by Robinettes on the way TO my house. This little love has finally begun liking slides, so he did this slide about 55x ...

 Aidan certainly had a good time of it too. The slide was the perfect size for him--not too high, and certainly NOT one bit fast.

 Aidan is an adorable toddler. I love this age so much. He is SO full of fun and curiosity.

 I love this dear baby so much. He knows it too. And remarkably, he loves me right back.

 That's certainly a win/win, isn't it? I'm super thankful for you, Aidan Paul.

Jesus, You certainly ARE GOOD to me!