Category: Nature

Evidence of God

We have raised butterflies for the last four years.  We started out with a store bought kit and then moved to Monarchs.  We find the eggs or caterpillars in the wild, feed them and observe them.

This year, Oma is giving us most of our managerie. There is construction down our road and it seems to have destroyed the Monarchs habitat.  Out of the thirty something caterpillers we have, only two have been from our road. The remaining are from Oma’s three plants!

Yesterday, Pastor was talking about taking time to see God.  He does so much and his evidence is all around us. I love watching the caterpillers grow and change. Observing them change from a caterpillar to a chrysalis is cool.  But watching them emerge from their chrysalis is better.

Only God can change a tiny egg into a beautiful butterfly!

Vacation-Natural Bridge Hike

While the kids and I got to go exploring, Allan was stuck in a classroom learning more about designing on computers. We often wished he could be with us and we knew he would have enjoyed the hike very much.

Our trip started out interesting. There was a little girl off on a boardwalk crying. It turns out she was lost. She was mad at her parents and took off running and then could not find them again. We walked with her up the path until she found her sister and she was taken to her parents.

We went back down to see the cave and Mark found a little one. We also discovered a lot of poison ivy! Adrian picked some and God protected him from getting a rash.

We walked to the the Natural Bridge which was bigger than I thought. We ate lunch there, admired the scenery and talked about how far we walked. We decided to go to the scenic overlook to see the “whole” bridge.

Mark spotted the balancing rock on the way back or we would have passed right by. A little further, Mark found a bigger cave that was boarded over. He tried to look inside but it was too dark.

We kept teasing we should have counted the steps, there must have been a few million of them. Then Audrey got silly and kept saying she needed steps or she would not be happy.

More water and snacky food would have made the walk better, but everyone did a great job hiking. The kids spotted two different types of lizards and some huge dragonflies.

This was a great day! We enjoyed seeing God’s beauty and being able to enjoy the sun and fresh air.

Bluebird Babies

Today we went to check on our bluebird babies.  Three of the four eggs have hatched.  It was so neat!  Mark took the picture of the hungry babies.

 

Adrian kept asking if we saw “Scouts” while we were out.  I said that I did not see any and he insisted “yes, you DID.”  He saw this picture of the Tree Swallow watching and said “see, there’s the Scout Bird”.  I guess I did see some Scouts today.

Bluebird Photo Shot

I promised my children that we could go and look for Bluebird eggs.  They were shown some the other day, and wanted me to see them also.  They were hoping to find some eggs and some baby birds.  We found some eggs but most of the boxes were empty.

However, we had fun watching the birds “play” in empty birdhouses.  We were not “attacked” by them this time either, but a couple of Tree Swallows put on a wonderful show for us trying to get us to leave.

I read that Eastern Bluebirds incubate their eggs for about 12 days. The babies stay in the nest for about two weeks. So, if we have the chance to return in the next few weeks, we may see some newly hatched birds. That would be exciting!

These pictures are of Tree Swallows. They like to live near Bluebirds and often use Bluebird nests for their nests. They live well near each other.

Spring Colors

Audrey and I have been enjoying the Forget Me Nots we forgot we planted in the garden!

I do not think that I ever saw holly flowers. I was surprised to see our holly plants blooming this year after years of trying to get rid of the plants.

In Spite of my Fear

I do not like snakes. My children know that I do not like them. However, that fear has not been passed on to my children!

Today, Mark was so excited to find a small garter snake while playing in the backyard. Audrey yelled asking me to get an aquarium ready for their new pet snake. Mark and the girls waited around for the snake to reappear from its hiding place. They then had a fun time trying to catch the snake.

I am so thankful that they have had a wonderful nature teacher who has been able to teach them a healthy respect for snakes. They are not afraid of them, enjoy holding them and have learned to never tease people with the snakes they hold. I have been encouraged to hold snakes and am not quite so fearful of them–but I still dislike them VERY much! Thank you Miss Krista!

Spring Flowers

The crocus are up!  Spring is here!  The girls were so excited finding the first flowers in our yard. They both loved tucking flowers behind their ears and bringing me my first bouquet of the year.  They love the flowers as much as I do!

The neighbor offered to let them pick his daffodils when they come up…wonder how many flowers they would leave him if they were allowed to pick to their hearts content?