Monday Monday: Empty Nest(s) and So Much More!

Wow! what a whirlwind of activity this past weekend! I hardly know where to begin, so I think I will start at the end and work backwards! Does that make sense to you?  Well, even if it doesn't, hopefully it will all come together cohesively by the time I am finished with this post!    I know yesterday was Father's Day, and I didn't post anything at all about fathers, etc. It was a busy day and I just didn't get around to it, but I'll try to make up for it by the time this is done. Bear with me, please!

We had a couple of big events last evening going on.

As you know, we've been watching the progress of the Bluebird nest for several weeks. I've been anticipating the fledging of the new brood of babies for a couple of weeks, but it just seems like it has been taking forever! However, like I learned the hard way many years ago while awaiting the birth of our firstborn son...who waited an extra two and a half weeks beyond the due date to make his appearance in the heat of summer...sometimes you just have to be patient and wait for these things to happen!

So last night was the grand entrance of at least one baby bluebird from the nest. I say at least one because I don't know if there were others that "escaped" the nest while I wasn't looking or not, or if there are any others still in there waiting their turn, but we got to witness this one, and it was quite an exciting event!

Not at all unlike the thrill of a baby making his way into the birth canal and finally crowning and making his appearance into the world and welcoming arms of his adoring parents...this baby bird took his sweet time working his way out of the nest...

He seemed a bit uncertain as to what to do or where to go...but he kept listening to his parents' voices calling him from the treetops above him.

They were up there cheering him on and beckoning him to emerge and join them...

Come on, Junior! You can do it! That's right, poke your head out a little further...get your feet out of the opening...come on...that's right! You can do this!

"Oh, I don't know, Mama and Daddy.  It looks like it's a long way down and up...I'm not too sure about this yet..."

"It's okay, son!  Keep coming out!  We are up here ready to catch you if you fall!  That's right! Get both feet out and give yourself a little push. You can do it!"

"Are you sure?  You won't let me fall? Are you sure I am ready to fly? Oh, I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..."

This reminds me of Psalm 27:7-10

7 "Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!

Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.

8 When You said, “Seek My face,”

My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”

9 Do not hide Your face from me;

Do not turn Your servant away in anger;

You have been my help;

Do not leave me nor forsake me,

O God of my salvation.

10 When my father and my mother forsake me,

Then the Lord will take care of me."

And he did.  That's me trying to capture a picture of him flying, but he was much too fast once he made up his mind to go...and all I got was a swirling picture of something in the garden below the birdhouse. But he was already safely up in the big holly tree beside him, and his parents were up in the tops of the trees watching for predators who might try to get too close. As a matter of fact, they saw me standing on the back porch (I only came outside after the birdie left the nest, not while he was still trying), and they swooped down toward me to give me a good warning not to come any closer!  I stayed back a respectful distance after that, believe me!  I could hear the baby chirping at his parents, as he was still in the lower branches of the tree, and they were calling to him to come higher.  Now, mind you, this was all taking place around 8:00 p.m. last evening, and it was starting to get dark, so the lighting wasn't very good and I decided to go back inside and let them continue to encourage their baby to fly to safety without my interference.  

This morning I just stepped outside (it's still only about 6:30 a.m. here right now as I write this), and I can hear the bluebirds in the surrounding tree tops and see some activity, but so far no activity near the nest. I don't know if there are any more birds in the nest yet or not. We shall be watching to see. But in the meantime I need to move on to some other things...

In the title of this post I said "Empty Nest(s)" and so much more...

You may be wondering about the plurality of "nests". Well, for the first time in quite a few years we also have an empty nest.  I mentioned in my last post that our son has just gotten a new job in a different city further away, and that he also has a place to live in the home of a friend much closer to his new job. And so yesterday was the day to move out and get settled in his new location before starting the new job today. He spent the weekend cleaning his room and packing clothes and personal stuff to take with him. He's not taking everything as he is just renting a bedroom, and so will have limited space, but for the first time in a LONG time I can actually see the floor of his room. (not taking any pictures of that, however). LOL  But like the Mama and Papa Bluebird cheering their offspring onto freedom from the "nest", we were also cheering our son on as he loaded up his truck and took off for his new adventure.

As he got into the cab of the truck to fly, I mean drive, away, I took one last photo of him:

I didn't realize all the reflections that would show up in this photo. It was kind of cool. And then I started playing around with the picture to try and enhance it to get the full effect, and this is what I ended up with:

Look it over carefully. Do you see my hubby standing in the background on the steps, and me in the reflection of the glass taking the picture, and our son's eyes looking out at us from inside the cab of the truck?  I thought it was a very interesting photo of us as we watched our son "leaving the nest".

Oh, btw, this isn't the first time he's left the nest, and I don't know if it will be the last time...but we wish him well and pray for him as he begins this new chapter of his life.  And, he's only an hour away so it's not like he's going very far. He promised to be back to bake the Christmas cookies like he always does for the family. LOL.  I expect he'll be back sooner than that in and out to get more stuff...but until then we rejoice in this next phase of his life.

Even if the house does seem awfully quiet...

Okay, moving right along...

I said I would work my way backwards through the weekend.

Yesterday was a special day at our little church as we celebrated not only Father's Day, but also there was a birthday party/luncheon following the service for a dear lady who just turned 90! Her sweet daughter in law prepared a feast for their family and friends and invited the whole church to participate. It was a surprise party for the birthday "girl", and a wonderful time of celebration. Here are a few pictures I captured along the way:

Someone gave her a crown and banner as we sang Happy Birthday to her in the church service:

And here she is enjoying her lunch:  She looks pretty marvelous for 90, don't you think?

And here she is with one of her granddaughters and great granddaughters. Yes, those two young ones are twins:

There was SO much food...the basics prepared by her daughter in law, but the church ladies all brought food to share as well, so it was quite a feast:

And this lady is the daughter in law of the year! She truly is a loving daughter in law, who loves her mother in law as if she were her own mother.  What a blessing!! I think you can see she does look a wee bit tired, however...and she managed to do all this and keep it a surprise!  I was quite impressed!

And I want to also acknowledge this other dear lady and friend in our church, Norma.

It was her birthday yesterday as well, but she's just 73! Looks pretty amazing too. 

Norma is the lady who just gives and gives and gives in our church and community. She heads up the drive to collect school supplies and Christmas gifts for our school children in the community. Thanks to her leadership, our tiny little church provides school supplies and Christmas gifts for every single child in our elementary school, and also for children who are homeless, etc.  Norma is an amazing lady!

Our little church is full of amazing people. We are blessed.

And last but not least, yes we did celebrate Father's Day this weekend.  We had our own family celebration here at home on Saturday evening because of the event going on at church on Sunday and also because of our kids' schedules, etc.

On Saturday evening the family gathered here for hamburgers and hot dogs cooked on the grill by our son Scott...(we will miss his cooking skills now that he's moved away)

We had quite a little feast as well...in addition to the hamburgers and hot dogs we had potato salad, deviled eggs, corn on the cob, watermelon, blueberry pie, oatmeal cake, and my sweet daughter in love made some delicious cupcakes with blueberries in them and topped with a lemon cream frosting. I should have taken a picture of them...they were beautiful and delicious!

One funny story was that I had purchased a less expensive cut of ground beef because it was such a good price, but the fat content was a bit higher, which is okay for good hamburgers because it makes them much juicier.  However, when Scott put them on the grill to cook and walked away for a minute he came back to a fiery inferno!  However, with his quick thinking he saved the day and the hamburgers.

He grabbed my container of salt and poured it all over the flames and it put out the fire. However, it also got a LOT of salt on the burgers, so he brought them in and washed them off and then put them back on the grill to bring them back up to temperature and finish cooking.  Everyone said they were very good burgers! I ate a hot dog instead, so I don't know. But the hot dog was good. Oh, I need to put salt on the grocery list too, as that was the end of my larger container of salt. LOL. But it worked and saved the day!

A cool piece of watermelon was the best way to wash down all that good food.

Happy Father's Day to my sweet hubby. He's not only a sweet hubby, but he has always been a great father to our three sons and a wonderful grandfather to our one grandson.

Oh, and he's a great grandfather to the grand puppies too!  Sugar and Spice had to come and help us celebrate!

Okay, with all of that good food this weekend I had to get back on my special diet today:

This was my breakfast this morning: Yogurt with cheerios, pumpkin seed and flax granola, strawberries, blueberries and chia seeds!  Very tasty!

Okay, to close out this post so we can get on with our day, I wanted to share these pictures I took yesterday afternoon of the beautiful Monarch Butterfly that has been flitting around our butterfly garden all week.  I do hope she has laid some eggs on those milkweed plants so that more butterflies will be coming in the future.

But, in case you didn't notice, this butterfly has a broken wing...

In spite of her infirmity, she continues to gaily fly about the flowers and trees, sipping nectar and enjoying the beauty surrounding her.

She gracefully shares her beauty with us even if it has been at some cost to her.

I don't know how long she can continue on like this, but I am thankful for her sharing her life with us during these days of some anxiety and uncertainty about the future on different fronts.

She reminds me of the verses in the Bible that I know I've quoted often, but they bear repeating in the current state of affairs in our nation and world:

Matthew 6:25-34

25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

It's easy to get anxious and worried about our future when we listen to the news today. But Jesus reminds us that He's already got our needs taken care of...we just need to trust Him...seek His kingdom and righteousness first, and He will take care of the rest. That is very comforting to know.  I can commit my future, my children's futures and even my grandchild's future into His loving hands and know that we will be taken care of. It takes a lot of faith to leap out of that birdhouse/nest/comfortable home/job/whatever the situation may be when we can't see what the future holds.  But God is already there waiting, cheering us upward and onward. We need not fear what we cannot see when we place our trust in the One Who has already planned our lives to the last detail. So if you are teetering on the edge of a proverbial cliff today, not sure what to do next...put your hand in the hand of the One Who stilled the waters and calmed the sea...How many of you remember this old song?

"Put Your Hand In The Hand" by Ocean Lyrics: Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea Take a look at yourself and-a you can look at others differently By puttin' your hand in the hand of the man from-a Galilee. Ev'ry time I look into the Holy Book I want to tremble (tremble) When I read about the part where the carpenter cleared the temple (temple) For the buyers and the sellers were no different fellas Than what I profess to be And it causes me shame to know we're not the people we should be. So put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea Take a look at yourself and-a you can look at others differently By putting your hand in the hand of the man from-a Galilee. My mama taught me how to pray before I reached the age of seven She said, "There'll come a time when there'll probably be room in heaven" But I'm feeling kinda of guilty 'bout the number of times To do what we must do Oh we forget what he said when we figured that he'd still make room (So, you gotta) Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea Take a look at yourself and-a you can look at others differently By puttin' your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee (everybody come along) Put your hand in the hand of the man who stilled the water (stilled the water) Put your hand in the hand of the man who calmed the sea (calmed the sea) Take a look at yourself and you can look at others differently By putting your hand in the hand of the man from Galilee.

So let's put our hand in the hand of the "man from Galilee"...Jesus Christ...and He will take care of the rest.  Have a blessed and wonderful week my friends.  And thank you for all of your kind comments on my last post. You are all so encouraging and kind. I thank God for each one of you.