Yup. She knows she’s a cutie.
Oh, to be that confident in yourself again!
Saturday Snapshot: She knows how to work it
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Tag Archives: summertime
All I want to say that won’t fit into Twitter
My two biguns left this morning for their first sleep-away Bible camp, into the wilds of Pennsylvania. I loved camp as a girl. The crafts, canoeing on the lake, the awesomeness of being away from home. I know my two young people (the word children feels too young) were excited to not only be with their church friends for the week, but to be away from home (read: me and Daddy). Isn’t independence one of the greatest allures of sleep-away camp, if only for a week?
We are still in birthday party mode. Friends of the newly minted eight-year-old are due here any minute for a sleep over. Another first around here. We’ve had a cousin once spend the night a long time back, but this is the first time for friends. The plan is to put up the tent in the backyard, but we will see if that happens in this heat. Our official Tent Man is currently flopped on the sofa after changing the oil in my van.
Tomorrow we are set to go to my parents for the day. I’ll be leaving my boy behind to spend the night and my mom can take him shopping for a birthday present. We’re calling it Grandma Camp.
Then I will be down to one kiddo on Wednesday. O, the places we can go for on the cheap, right? That’s how one starts to think when all the kids normally in tow are suddenly scattered hither and yon. Where can I go with this last girlie left behind? She’s easy to please so it might be the park to wade and the lunch of her choice with ice cream.
That’s our July so far. We’re off and running, coming and going. It already feels like the summer is moving too fast. Vacation Bible School starts next week, but more about that later.
What are you doing this week?
Family fun, book winners and a bird rescue story
First of all – the winners of the Mark Batterson book, Wild Goose Chase, are Jen and Casey. Way to go, girls; I know you will be blessed by reading it.
Second – I’m going to be busy with fun family activities for the next week, so I’m not keeping to my regular posting schedule. If you are new to my blog, and simply must have your fix of me and my adventures, feel free to poke around the archives. To get you started, I’m republishing one of my favorites from last summer.
Enjoy these last warm days of summer with your family.
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Originally posted July 24, 2007.
The most amazing thing happened today
We rescued an injured red-tailed hawk today.
The kids and I headed out early this morning to go to my mom’s. Not too long into the trip, I noticed a beautiful raptor sitting on the side of the road in the grass. Being the hip home schooling mom that I am, I always take the opportunity to check out interesting critters we see along the way, so I turned the car around to show the kids the hawk.
When I pulled up next to it, I knew something was wrong. The raptor didn’t fly away, didn’t hardly budge even when I opened the car door to get a better look. Not good. Plus this beautiful bird was a few steps away from a busy two-lane highway. It didn’t stand a chance, but what to do?
I immediately thought of The Raptor Trust, a local bird rescue sanctuary with the expert knowledge to treat this beauty. It was about an hour away, not too far, but how to get the hawk there? The hawk’s beak was impressive, not to mention its’ talons half hidden in the grass.
And I needed a box. All I had in the car was a diaper bag.
I called the bird rescue folks, leaving a message for them to call me back on my cell.
By this time, another car had stopped. Did he have a box? No. Just when it looked like the bird could not be helped, two men on their way somewhere in a work van with ladders on top stopped see what the fuss was about.
“Do you have a box?” Seems like a silly question to ask strangers, but I wasn’t giving up. And my kids were with me. Mom’s going to get a box for the hawk, guys. Sit tight.
You can guess know how the story ends. Not only did Van Guys have a large cardboard box, but leather gloves great for catching a scared raptor. I volunteered a skirt (fished from the back of my car intended to go into the Salvation Army bin) as a make-shift blanket. A state trooper held back traffic as the red-tail ran across Rt. 12, only to be gently captured by one of the men with the gray, Lands’ End fabric. My three eldest children, spellbound by the scene, watched from the roadside. Poor toddler Lucy still strapped in her car seat.
I wish I had a picture to post, but I didn’t think to use the camera on my cell.
I’m tagging this “learning,” for obvious reasons. Our red-tail is a youngin’, not old enough for the distinctive red tail feathers, a woman at The Raptor Trust told me when we dropped the hawk off. It’s very emaciated, she said, but no wing problems. Hopefully the hawk will be set free soon after recovering. I’m calling at the end of the week to follow up. Just because. It’s like she’s our red-tail now.
I’m also tagging this post “Believing” for the answered prayer, “Lord, bring us a box.” I love the way He added the leather gloves, don’t you?