Mom's Rose-breasted Grosbeak Arrives in Colorado!

About a week ago, my mother wrote that there had been a rose-breasted grosbeak at her birdfeeder there in Missouri! 

 I didn't even know what a rose-breasted grosbeak looked like, but I was sure it was beautiful, because aren't the birds back in the east beautiful?

Mom wrote that she thought she hadn't seen a rose-breasted grosbeak since a flock of them came through one place we lived maybe 45 years ago. 

I didn't remember EVER seeing one. I thought of how Mom's feeder boasts so many pretty birds, like cardinals and bluebirds. 

I felt so  homesick for pretty eastern birds, even though we've seen quite a number of robins this spring.

Or should I say winter?

I've had some of these pictures uploaded for weeks waiting till I  had time to post them. 

One April day there were dozens of birds visiting our little ranch and perching in our tree!

Here is a robin and bluebird both!

There were several robins and bluebirds in this tree!

You don't very often see these particular birds together, and certainly not in a snowy tree!

I wish I could have gotten a picture closer.

It really was spring time, though you wouldn't know it on the high prairie where we live!

This is what greeted our eyes just a couple days ago outside our window.
This is May, folks.

Our feeder attracts gray birds like these doves--though for all their gray color, aren't they charming, too?

Lots of black birds come, and grackels, and juncos, and sparrows.

And lately these red-winged blackbirds have been coming. We have to admit, these are pretty birds with a very pretty, cheerful song!

And then a couple days ago, we had a new visitor. It was what my children decided was a black-headed grosbeak after looking in our bird book. 

So mom gets a rose-breasted grosbeak, and I get a black headed grosbeak. 

For all the plain (and sort of gross) name, it is a very pretty bird--if you like black and orange!

I got several pictures through our window as this new birdie checked out the tree with the plastic bottle birdfeeder.

That grosbeak has been hanging around now for two or three days!

But orange and black are NOT my favorite colors, and I couldn't help that "rose-breasted grosbeak" had stuck in my head as some eastern bird whose beauty excelled all western birds--

all because my mom had been so enthralled with it!

And then wouldn't you know what happened? 

One week after my mom wrote about the excitement of having a rose-breasted grosbeak at her feeder,

I looked out the window today and saw this!

It was such a surprise!

I had a hunch it was the same kind of bird my mom saw, but I wasn't certain until Danny looked it up in his bird book. 

Yes, it was! A rose-breasted grosbeak!

In fact, later it was sitting there right near the black-headed grosbeak, in the very same tree by the very same bird feeder that is hiding below. 

I just felt sure the Lord wanted to tell me something.

I just felt like the Lord knew how a middle-aged lady raised in Pennsylvania was missing some of the eastern flowers and trees and birds, but she was endeavoring to live in contentment by choice even when she didn't feel like it, and He let me know that moms in Missouri aren't the only ones who are allowed to enjoy rose-breasted grosbeaks!

Moms in Colorado can enjoy them, too!

 And  I just think the Lord sent that little bird to the high plains of Colorado on purpose--
maybe for a Mother's Day gift!

Celebrating our Engagement 25 Years Ago--and Our Birthdays Now!

I've been wanting to post this picture for weeks--the day we celebrated our engagement 25 years ago! Jonathan posted this picture on Facebook, and so many people congratulated us for our anniversary!

That was so funny!

It was not our anniversary, just the day we got engaged--April 15th!

This 25th wedding anniversary year we are celebrating and remembering back 25 years every chance we get!

My sweet hubby got me this bouquet that day.

Then there were our birthdays a couple weeks ago, and I was so sick I decided to wait until another day to have my favorite meal. We celebrated Jonathan's birthday late, too, on my birthday actually, and then mine a day later. 

The children did a great job of concealing under this blanket four newer tires for his four-wheeler.

He could not even begin to guess what was under that!,

The next day I was still not well, and here I was, opening gifts right in the middle of piles of laundry I was trying to fold!

Rose was delighted to give me a hunk of homemade cheese that she had bought from a lady at whose dairy she works now. I love such gifts!

Rose has made fast friends with this lady and often brings home extra milk or cream if the share-holder doesn't pick it up.

 I was so touched and delighted with all the books my mother sent home for my birthday with us from Missouri to save postage. I always enjoy books by Corrie ten Boom, Ideals magazines, the books by Margaret Jensen (I've read the three pictured but I will pass these on maybe to my daughters), and books about olden days.

This one, The Old-Time Art of Thrift looked so interesting that I opened it up and read a couple articles out loud right away!

Margaret Durfee Adams and IHC

This is the dear lady who with her first husband (whom cancer claimed only a few years later), 25 1/2 years ago in Ukraine, urged me to reconsider corresponding with the young man by the name of Jonathan Lucas who had written a letter to me.

He had sent the letter via the Durfees to Kiev, Ukraine, where I was teaching.

I thought he had to be a nut to take such a risk as to write to someone he had never met.

I already knew I was a nut, but I was afraid to marry another one!

Fortunately, when Margaret Durfee nabbed me about a week after giving me Jonathan's lettter, and urged me to give him a chance, I listened to her advice. 

Now 25 plus years later, we meet again at IHC at Dayton, OH! Sis. Durfee has written a book about her first husband, John, which will be published with Allegheny Publications and available in July. The book tells about their missionary experiences in Haiti and Ukraine. The incredible thing for me personally is that I was there as a fellow missionary during part of their time in Ukraine, and I was in on some of their experiences!

I can hardly wait to read the book!

Below the three young boys of the Tom and Rachel Sanders family (who are PR directors for AWC) are singing a beautiful, three-part harmony trio, "Unworthy."
I really like how IHC is using lesser-known but highly talented and wonderful people like these little children. We were able to get to know several of the Sanders and Young families in the last couple years.

We also got to see our friends Ken and Carol Lefever and family set up with Edward Jones in the vendor section of the convention near us. We were set up with a display for the Construction Department of Mission Helps, along with David and Rose Evans, the Asburys who lead Ropeholders, and Will and Darlene Byler, president of Mission Helps. 

The story behind this blue and red baby blanket above is rather hilarious. 

The Hobe Sound Bible College choir had sung in Ottawa, KS, the night before we arrived on our way to IHC. After staying overnight and attending service, a man at whose home Tim and Julie Cole had stayed with their baby came to give us a baby blanket they had left behind. The man knew we'd be at IHC and would hopefully see the Coles. Well, we did spy Julia Cole, and Jonathan hurried to give her the blanket, only to be told that the blanket was not hers, but belonged to the closet of the man where they had stayed! The man and his wife had told Julia and Tim to use any blankets they needed from the closet, so they had used this blanket! Apparently the man did not recognize it, and so sent it with us! So poor Jonathan is running around the convention center at IHC carrying this blanket which one of our girls started teasing him about being his "security blankie!" 

Of course, Ken joins in the teasing!

Below, if I have the right picture, is the youth choir in which our girls, Crystal and Rose, participated. Hannah had sung in the children's choir earlier. There were almost 400 children in the children's services, and I believe about the same in the youth services.

A real highlight was the patriotic service Thursday evening, before the roll call of the states, when two veterans of World War II were honored. One was involved in D-Day, although not on the beach. Wilson Douglas, now in his late nineties, was General Eisenhower's personal guard on that day, and prayed with him on the morning of D-Day. 

This archived service and the life story behind this old veteran would be worth listening to.
Here all are standing to our feet to applaud. 

I didn't take very many pictures this time. It's toooo bad I didn't take more than one at the Albertsons with whom we stayed Monday night before IHC. That one picture was this of my piece of the Cincinnati sausage patties they served us. This sausage is one specialty of the region!


It was such a joy to have a taco salad supper with Rowen and Janet Albertson and their two girls, Emily and Elizabeth, and then visit for the evening. The girls and I took a walk around the neighborhood with their girls, enjoying the spring blossoms and birds. Also we explored their lovely back yard with flowering vinca nearby.
Their home is full of love and kindness. We appreciate this family so much.

When the Greenhouse Crashes Down

A couple weeks ago, we bought this little greenhouse up the mountain. Jonathan and the boys, with jacks and tow straps and blocks, managed to load it onto the flatbed trailer. Then yesterday with the same helps they unloaded it into our back yard.

It was such a beautiful morning and having Jonathan working outdoors almost all day with us in our own back yard was very special. Like a once-in-six-months sort of experience. 

I took the opportunity to rake almost the entire back yard plus over by the pasture gate.

Somehow, working with or beside one's sweetheart makes even dirty work sweet!

 Almost all day long, Sam kept getting emergency calls to accidents, a downed pilot of an ultralight somewhere out in a great ranch several miles away, or an explosion somewhere. So Timmy had to be the one to help Jonathan the most. After getting the greenhouse jacked up and off the flatbed, we had to figure out how to safely let it down.

Here they are working on the blocks and jack. I kept going around worrying that we needed more blocks underneath it.

 And then suddenly that beam you see up there on the back of the greenhouse just plain broke off,

and the whole greenhouse lurched over and fell down with a great crash. 

I did not take a picture, as it was one of those things where, you know, you don't want to advertise your failures. 

It was sagging badly to one side, and this is what the cute porch rail looked like. 

I was kind of horrified.

 But at the same time, I was thankful no one got hurt, and I was sure Jonathan could fix everything.

He and Timmy got the greenhouse straightened out, saying that at least it was down now and they didn't have to put it down inch by inch!

Little by little, they got it leveled and set up right and straightened.

One of these days, we'll get the porch rail repaired, too.

This morning while most of the family made the trip up to Denver to our church, two sick girls and I, still recuperating from sickness, stayed home.

I decided to go out to the warm greenhouse to have my devotions.

 As I observed that broken porch rail and wondered how and when it would be fixed, I couldn't help thinking, "What do we do with our broken dreams?"

 Yesterday the greenhouse, right while we were trying to successfully set it up, broke down.

The porch rail, the cutest part of it, came apart and broke.

And that is precisely what happens many times to our dreams. 

Right in the middle of trying to make them come true, they crash underneath us, and leave us horrified and haunted.

The cutest part of them is left mangled and broken.

What do we do with our broken dreams?

I didn't stay there looking at the broken porch rail. Instead, I went into the house and found a rocking chair. I set it inside the little greenhouse, and brought out my Bible, my journal, a pen, and a cup of water. 

It was warm and cozy and private in there. I loved the sunshine and the quiet, and the sense of being enclosed and sheltered and yet still in the light and sunshine.

And I sat there and read my Bible and then I walked up and down inside that 12-foot long greenhouse, and prayed.

That, friend, is what you do with your broken dreams. 

You stop looking at them.

Instead, you get a rocking chair of some sort, and set it right down near those dreams.

You open your Bible and read the promises.

You keep praying.

And you just walk in the light. 

When you find yourself in some greenhouse on the high prairie of Colorado instead of at church or on the mission field on a foreign land, or somewhere else at the place and with the person of your dreams,

you make your own sanctuary, and you worship--right in the middle of your broken dreams. 

Right there in the middle of the brokenness, there is a shelter, and there is sunshine.

There is rest as you look to God and simply let Him know, 

"I will trust You with the broken pieces and the unknown bundles of my life."

May your personal rocking chair and your inner sanctuary today be blessed with peace.

Birds at My Mother's Feeder

A week ago on our way home from IHC, (a few pics of that in future hopefully) we were able to stop for part of a day at my parents' place in Missouri.

I was not just drinking in the springtime beauty. 

I was taking great gulps of it.

It seemed such a long time since I'd spent much time at all in the lush spring beauty of  the east.

We've flown to IHC three years ago or once to the  mission convention at Penn View in April, but had little time to spend outdoors in the spring time.

In other places, dogwoods were in full bloom, but at Mom and Dad's place, the rain had knocked most of the blossoms off the tree. The irises and tulip trees were not blooming yet. 

But the violets were blooming, and the flowers my sister Joella's family had transplanted into Mom's flower bed were blooming. And there was no end of beautiful eastern birds coming to Mom's bird feeder that my nephew Samuel had built for her.

The feeder was not the only place we saw birds. Not far from my folks' place we spied what we thought was a bald eagle. We turned around to check again, as we thought maybe it was a statue, but the bird moved its head and after we snapped a few pictures like this one, it flew away!

At my folks, the girls helped my dad mix some potting soil for his planters while Iva and I worked inside.

I took a walk with my mom to visit the mailbox and the pond and look around in the springtime. Then my sister Iva, who had caught a ride down with Craig and Joella's family and who stayed a week helping my parents, helped make supper with me.

After supper, we visited and Rose played her mandolin.

We stopped in again for a bit Saturday morning after spending the night at Craig and Joella's place.

Craig's family was down to Missouri for a week and had been gone till late that day, so we didn't see them till next morning. Not much time to visit as we had to hurry off to get home.

Later that morning we stopped in to see our friends the Goodwins near Springfield. He is suffering a lot since his stroke. And then we had a very long trip home. I felt worse and worse with a cold, and was thankful to be able to stretch out in the back of the van.

Monday was unpacking day.

And on my birthday it snowed.

The end of April. 

Back east the trees were leafed out, flowers were blooming galore.

And then we come back here to high prairie where it is still freezing cold at night, and snowing the end of April. 

Thankfully, we see a few robins stopping through to tell us spring is on the way.

A few daffodils are finally blooming now that April has ended and it is already May.

I miss fuschia, lilacs, dogwood, apple and cherry blossoms, tulips, redbud, and myriad others.

We have to hunt for a few flowers like these.

It seems we hardly get springtime here. It's winter almost until it's summer, and then it is just summer.

I can't express how homesick I felt for the early spring beauty back east, yet trying to find joy in the west here,

like this kill deer Danny spied.

And the red-winged blackbirds that come to our feeder sometimes. They are all over the States, not just in the east.

And anyway, I look at the birds at Mom's birdfeeder, and I start thinking. I think how pretty Mom's birds are--those red cardinals and blue indigo buntings and she just wrote about a rose-breasted grosbeak!

But I have pretty ones, too. 

If I will be content with them. 

I thought about some different birds at my Mom's feeder. 

The birds of contentment.

Birds of thankfulness.

Birds of gratitude.

My mom is an amazing example of making the best of wherever she is. 

She finds beauty regardless where she lives, and both my mom and dad are genuinely grateful for whenever any of us children can stop by, even if just for a few hours.

They never complain about how we should have come more often.

I was enjoying the robins in Jonathan's parents' back yard a few weeks ago, and was telling Jonathan's parents how I miss robins, and about the birds we see out on the prairie where we live, like the yellow-headed blackbird in the picture above, and the meadowlark pictured below, which has such a beautiful morning song. (Danny got these snaps.) Jonathan's dad said it had been a long time since he'd heard a meadowlark, and he'd like to hear one again.

When I heard how Jonathan's dad wished he could hear a meadow lark again, it reminded me that I have beautiful things out here, too, out here on the high prairie where we still aren't sure if it's safe to plant lettuce because it might freeze yet in the next few weeks. 

I can't describe my homesickness for the beauties of the east where I grew up, and I think westerners can only understand that if they were transplanted back in the rainy east and only got to visit their beautiful, sunny Colorado on rare occasions, but then had to go back east to live for the rest of their lives. 

They would be homesick for the sunshine and for Pikes Peak and the clear air and the mountains and their old friends and family.

Maybe then they would understand.

 But there are beauties here as well, if I will look for them.

If I will be content. 

If I will be grateful. 

If I will be thankful for what I have instead of longing for what I have not.

"I have learned," Paul wrote, "in whatsoever state I am to be content."

"Godliness with contentment is great gain."

So goodbye dear flowering dogwood and hello prancing dogs and new batch of puppies.

Goodbye cardinals and hello meadowlarks.

Goodbye tulips and lilacs and hello barrel cactus.

In whatsoever state I am, I will be content.

Carrie's Birthday

Yesterday we celebrated Carrie's birthday. In our house, cooking is a privilege, so the privileged person gets to pick what they want to make, and they get to cook it

while the rest of us clean house, do laundry, study school, mop, grease muffin tins, grill the meat, pull out the table longer and set it, and wash dishes. 

Carrie put together a fabulous supper with some help from the rest of us.

Here is the delightful orange chocolate chip cake she made.

Rose and Timmy helped grill the steaks, now smothered in peppers and onions.

Carrie likes brussells sprouts, so she made a wonderful dish of those with bacon, cream, cheese sauce over them.

Birthdays are a chance to  have friends and grandparents.

The children made a batch of homemade icecream after lunch and then froze it in the freezer.

It was scrumptions with the cake!

We couldn't get enough of that beautiful cake.

I managed to squeeze in a little time that day to sew her a pot holder made out of quilting scraps I'd found at an estate sale. Had to use her sewing machine since mine isn't working!