The Friendly Woodpecker

Danny and Hannah were reading in their science book a few weeks ago about birds in general, and woodpeckers in particular.

Danny saw our friend, the woodpecker, coming again one morning a couple weeks ago to our backyard and birdfeeder. 

He got his science book out to try to decide if this was a "hairy woodpecker" or a "downy woodpecker."

"The hairy woodpecker," the book said, "is about two inches bigger than the downy woodpecker and has a much longer bill. He stays mostly in the woods, ridding the trees of insect pests."

"The downy woodpecker," the book went on, "is more friendly. He will visit your birdfeeder with a troop of chickadees and nuthatches [or juncos, I might add, if you live on the prairie!) If you approach his tree, he will  hitch over to the other side and peek around to get a good look at you."

Talk about hitting the nail on the head for our little friend pecker! So we dubbed him Mr. "Downy Woodpecker."

He is obviously the friendly type, the kind that responds to invitations to birdfeeders, supper or coffee or home school meetings or special events, or who extends the invitations himself [or herself, in case the woodpecker is a Mrs.).

He hangs out with people while hunting for food, fellowship, and fun, instead of just hiding behind four walls somewhere like Mr. Hairy Woodpecker who has quite a long bill that he uses for pecking about bugs and problems behind tree trunks, leaving everyone wondering where or why on earth or in heaven above is all the hammering coming from.

Somehow, I even prefer the sound of the name "Downy Woodpecker" any day to "Hairy Woodpecker."

I just wonder in chagrin how many times I have been guilty of hammering away on tree trunks to rid them of bugs rather than enjoying a full bird feeder.

There really is enough joy and peace and love and blessing and provision and cheer and light and friendship in God's fully provisioned birdfeeder to go around without getting hairy and long-billed and hammery-yammery about disappointments and problems and things.

(Preaching to myself.)

"He who hath friends must show himself friendly," says the Good Book.
Matthew Henry writes, "Would we have friends and keep them, we must not only not affront them, but we must love them."

Love goes out of its way to show itself friendly.
"Sometimes," Matthew Henry writes, "there is a friend that is nothing akin to us, the bonds of whose esteem and love prove stronger than those of nature."

I personally have a few of those friends. No matter what has happened, these are true friends who have not responded with pecking, but have simply and faithfully been there for me, actively and lovingly understanding where I was weak or down or hurting. They have invested quality time, positive energy, and cheerful presence in my life, despite my faults.
They have contributed energy to my life instead of draining me.
They have valued me and my family enough to actively seek to keep our friendship alive. Their love has been true and faithful. 

They, like downy woodpeckers, have made themselves friendly.

Fireman Sam in Fallen Deputy's Funeral Procession

Today Sam was asked to be part of the delegation from the Peyton Fire Department that attended the funeral ceremonies for fallen Deputy Micah Flick, killed on duty earlier this week at a shootout in town. Sam was also to be in one of the firetrucks that was part of the procession toward the burial site.

We thought we would drive in and park somewhere along the way to see the procession and watch for Sam along the way.

Little did we know how many others would be parked along the way to honor and respect a fallen friend.

For quite a stretch of road along Woodmen Rd. there was vehicle after vehicle with flags flying, posters saying "We love you!" and just common, ordinary people lining the road to say goodbye to a good man and to let others in the police force know that we are standing behind them in their duty.

What we liked the best was this enormous flag flying from the ladders of two hook-n-ladder trucks over the road on which was to pass the hearse and the procession of police vehicles and first responders.

Other vehicles such as this electric truck with its long boom were parked nearby, flying a flag at half staff.

(It seems to us that flags are flying half staff almost all the time now, with one police after another being killed. We are a nation in constant mourning, thanks to our forgetting God and His laws.)

We ended up waiting about two extra hours before the procession came by, due to the service lasting twice as long as expected. Sam attended the 3-hour service, which we were only able to finally find on the radio and online on Jonathan's phone right near the end. We were able to listen to "Taps," watch the folding and presenting of the flag to Mr. Flick's wife, and hear the final prayer,

The service was at New Life Church, which seats 8000, and many people were standing, Sam said.

The coffin was transferred to a horse drawn carriage at one point, and a horse with empty saddle was there, representing the man fallen in service. Sam said the parking lot was packed with cars 20 deep. He had never seen so many police cars in his life in one place!

Sam said some were from New York, Boston, Portland, and California. About 100 police, representing every agency in the county, went up front to place a blue rose in a vase, and Sam said they then packed the way from the front to the back. 

Governor Hickenlooper spoke.

Meanwhile, we, along with hundreds and probably thousands of others, waited quietly in the 4-degree weather, snow sifting down.

Three snow plows came through ahead of the procession.

We kept taking turns warming up inside Jonathan's truck, then standing outside again. Crystal had to work today and was so sorry to miss this.

We loved watching the quiet, determined support of ordinary folk who want to let our police force know that we are behind them and respect them in their duty of law enforcement. 

 

The hearse came by, followed by two limousines of family and/or friends. From inside the limousines, gloved hands waved to us. Then came maybe a dozen white vans with people going to the burial. Then came hundreds of police vehicles, followed by first responders.

The procession lasted probably a good 45 minutes.

It was freezing, but I loved this family just up ahead of us, the ladies with their hands overt heir hearts, the man with his hat over his heart. They stood there the whole time, in that freezing weather, the man with uncovered, bald head, just taking the cold to respect our authorities and the life of the one fallen.

I held a bouquet of lilies. Jonathan and the other children took turns holding the flag and going back inside the truck to warm up, because we hadn't expected to be out in the cold so long, and didn't know it would be that cold either!

All of us were shivering and shaking at times, but we stuck it out, too, the best we could. 

Here finally comes Sam's firetruck! It was just the humble brush truck, but it may as well have been a hook and ladder for how excited we all were when we finally saw Sam in the procession!

It was a blessing to read that Deputy Flick "loved Jesus." He had attended New Life Church for 20 years, and was well known as a good Christian man.

We felt very blessed to have this unique experience of being out in the cold and snow with thousands of others to honor a fallen brother and to remember his family--a wife and twin children just 7 years old. We pray for their future, that God will give grace, comfort and provision.

We had our own little first-responding deed!

Across from us was a little white vehicle which wouldn't start, and the lady asked if we would give her a jump! Another young man pulled up and offered to help. He stood quietly to make sure all was well, turning on the bright lights on the top of his vehicle to light the situation.

We were so thankful to come home and warm up by our woodstove.

After supper and cleaning up and straining milk and getting the veggies and meat ready for the crockpot, I kind of crashed here to write about this day.

"The Bumblebee Cannot Fly--" and Carrie Can't Walk!

When Sam and his cousins visited the White Sands Nat'l Missile Museum, they took a picture of this poster:

 
It says,"The Bumblebee cannot fly. According to recognized aerotechnical tests, the bumblebee cannot fly because of the shape and weight of his body in relation to the total wing area. BUT, the bumblebee doesn't know this, so he goes ahead and flies anyway!

I loved that! There are so many things that people have been told they cannot do--and then someone goes ahead and does what cannot be done and proves the skeptics and critics wrong.
*****
Well, as I mentioned in the last post, Carrie had injured herself jumping off a bucking horse--and we assumed that unless the doctor found no fractured bones, she wouldn't be able to fly on the mission trip to Mexico in the three weeks from the day she got hurt.
Carrie--the bumblebee who can't fly!! :)
Here we are helping her into the van after seeing the kind doctor that Jonathan "happened" to be working for,  and being sent down the street to the radiologist for an X-ray.

The doc told us we wouldn't hear the results of the X-ray till Monday. Till then we were to treat Carrie's injury as if it were a cracked pelvic bone, and she was not to put weight on that leg.
There is nothing can be done for that kind of break, as, like a broken collar bone, it requires just waiting for it to heal. 

Hmmm. 
Sooo--on Saturday Carrie sat around and mended and sewed.

I had cut out some little hearts from fabric I'd gotten in a packet at the goodwill, and she sewed them into little decorative pillows.

Hannah helped a little.

One side of the pillow was one pattern, and the other side was another pattern.

On Monday, when friends came to ride horse with Rose, Carrie was right in the middle of making homemade lipbalm with coconut oil, olive oil, cocoa butter, beeswax, and wild orange essential oil.

You can't keep that girl down.

 She was becoming professional at wheeling herself around in an office chair!
And it was with great excitement that she finally received a text from her dad, telling her that the doctor had called to say that the radiologist said there was no fracture after all!

She got up almost right away, trying to learn to use the crutches that Jonathan had picked up from his sister. And the first question she asked was, "May I go to Mexico?"

Her injury had occurred just a few hours after being invited to go along on a mission trip to Mexico!
I truly believe that Satan promptly attacked her.
Carrie had come crawling up the stairs after she got home from the bucking accident, and she was going gray and not able to think, and she burst into tears and almost collapsed in my arms. I didn't know if she was just fainting or if we were going to lose her, and I was about to call 911. We both were praying out loud, and I cried "Jesus, please heal her!"

 She came back to in my arms almost instantly, and when we found out a few days later that no bones were so much as cracked, God provided another time and reason to praise Him and watch Him overcome the wicked one.
Carrie has been busy helping chop veggies while sitting down, sorting receipts for us, and otherwise making herself useful while aiming to recover in time to go to Mexico in just over two weeks!

Meanwhile, Rose went right on riding horses with friends and here she is salting the elk hide that she has been curing for months.
She loves  doing things like this in her free time, and I'm really happy about that.

As for me, with Timmy sick all at the same time as Carrie was incapacitated, me spending hours sorting and filing thousands of office papers and teaching school, and now today Danny down very sick and throwing up and coughing, etc., well, let's just say that sometimes we make do with soup and cheese toast!

And peaches served from a can.
(My apologies to anyone who is looking for fancy ideas from blogs!)

This quote from a blog my sister Iva recently recommended to me was a blessing, and I thought I'd share these thoughts from a fellow mother, homeschooler, blogger and author.
"Countless times, I felt like I was not accomplishing anything productive. This is such a hard job, to love, educate and help shape our children's faith. It is especially challenging in a culture that offers so much differing advice that brings voices into our heads, which then that produces guilt and inadequacy. This same culture is isolationist and  provides few support systems or Biblical direction.
However, unless we learn to think rightly about ourselves, we will listen to the voices of condemnation and pay attention to the pointing fingers that say we are not enough and it will indeed influence how we live.

So many moms feel this way, but feelings do not necessarily determine reality! Not one of us will ever be perfect and we will all have voices that condemn us for different reasons. I have failed, I have a terrible past, I was abused, I am angry, I am lazy, I don't feel love in my heart for those in my home, and on and on. 

The starting point for all of us, first of all, is to learn the habit of living in the reality of God's view of us, His very generous and gracious love for us at every moment and to avoid thoughts of condemnation, mess and all.." Sally Clarkson

http://sallyclarkson.com/blog/2018/1/11/living-without-condemnation-oyl-3-a-podcast-part-1

Kitty Face Cookies--and When You Face Disappointments

Week before last, we were preparing for the home school presentation night, to which each family took snacks.

I had seen the recipe for these cute cookies and cut it out long ago and far away and finally we had a chance to make them.It was a project that Danny and Hannah could help with.

If they had turned out delicious, I would explain how to make them, but I thought they were rather dry and not too great. Also, it took so long to poke the candies and licorice into each cookie that by the time we had done a few, the others had cooled too much and the candies didn't stick well. In the end, we didn't take them anyway because the program got rescheduled to a day later on account of an accident that landed one of the children from another family in the ER.

I guess accidents are contagious, for six days later, our Carrie was riding a neighbor's horse with Rose when Rose's horse spooked, scaring Carrie's horse. Then Carrie's horse started bucking, and Carrie made the decision to pull her feet out of the stirrups and make a jump, hoping to land safely away from the horse. Well, she landed away from the horse, but on her stomach, and injured herself--possibly a cracked pelvic bone. We are to find out when the results of the X-ray come back to the doctor.

We were so grateful that Jonathan was to be taking remodeling material to our doctor friend's office, and he told us to bring Carrie in. The doc sent her to a radiologist down his street, and now we are waiting for results. Till then, the doc said to treat it as if it were cracked, keeping weight off it.

So now Carrie is wheeling herself around the house on an office chair, and sitting around a lot trying to help with work from her chair! I am flying around with extra work, and Hannah loves to push Carrie around! 

We are so grateful for the Lord's mercies, that she is not in pain as long as she doesn't move around much. God is so good to us!

She is very thankful that it didn't happen before she went skiing, as she so wanted to go skiing and got to go!

I was glad today was busy, and I forgot about another disappointment until later in the day when it started hitting me hard. Jonathan had stayed home all day, and the children and I helped him clean out his trucks, getting his old truck ready to sell. I also had piles of paper work to sort and file.

When I went to my room to talk to God about the disappointment, it seemed that telling Him made it worse at first. It just seemed like the more I talked about it, even to God, it just wanted to become a mountain. 

So I got my Bible out, and was reading the story of Jesus' transfiguration and how the disciples fell on their faces, afraid, till Jesus came and touched them.

And it said that when they looked up, they saw no one but Jesus only.

"No one but Jesus only." 

There had been Moses and Elijah and a bright cloud and God's great voice--but now, there was Jesus only--Jesus in his same poor old garment like usual, the extraordinary ordinary man.

And they weren't afraid of Him. He was their friend, He was not intimidating.  

And He was just Jesus only.

Somehow, when the lights get bright (or go out!), and the bright clouds come (or dark ones), and intimidating figures like Moses the LawGiver and Elijah the Fire-Calling prophet show up in our lives,

when we don't know what to do or how to feel, and we fall on our faces before the providences of God,

it is good that Jesus loves to come and touch us on the shoulder and tell us not to be afraid.

When He comes and touches us like that, all the clouds and people and disappointments just seem to disappear, and it is Jesus only. 

And He is telling us not to be afraid. He will walk with us down the mountainside into the valley. 

He will be with us through our disappointments.

When accidents interrupt our lives, when we can't afford something, when we are not included in something we hoped to be,

when we're not invited, when we have to give up our hopes and plans, when others enjoy something we cannot,

Jesus is there with us.

He laid aside His glory to walk back down the mountain with His disciples in ordinary clothing

to be with them in all their trials and tests and disappointments. 

And Jesus is not a disappointment!