Happy Birthday, Little One!

Five years ago, we went to sleep in a Rochester hotel and were awakened by the news that our baby girl had been born. Life has never been the same since.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my sweet, affectionate, spunky, active, always exploring, crazy-curled, God-loving, ever curious, always smiling girl. Shifrah, you make my world go 'round. And 'round. And 'round. So glad God put you in our life!


Shifrah shares her birthday with this little robin born just today!  We looked at the eggs last night and one was cracking.  I had forgotten this morning but Shifrah had not.  She came running into the house to declare his birth with much excitement!

Last night, we noticed the one egg starting to crack.

Foxglove

The Foxglove is one of my favorite perennials.  I'm enjoying this even though it's currently surrounded by weeds!

Make-A-Wish

If you could ask for anything this world has to offer, what would it be?  Where would you go?  Who would you meet?  This was the happy position that Hadassah found herself in this past year as the Make-A-Wish Foundation agreed to grant her request.
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Hadassah's choice is to meet Bethany Hamilton.  You may know that Bethany Hamilton is a Christian home-schooled young lady who at the age of 13 had her arm bitten off by a shark while surfing.  Less than one month after the incident, with confidence and faith in God, she returned to her board and went surfing again.  She eventually became a professional surfer with one arm.

Hadassah has been inspired by Bethany's story and admires her courage, her surfing skill, her love for God, and her care for others. We are all looking forward to meeting her this summer as the trip has now been booked.  Plus, we get a little added bonus in that Bethany lives in Hawaii - so, off we go!  If the Lord wills it.

Bethany has good advice for all of us, "Love God, love others and worry about yourself last."

Baby Robins

If you stand just inside my laundry room and peek out through the screen door, you can watch a mommy robin feed her babies.  But, you have to be quiet!
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The Ducks

The ducks were different.  They hatched differently and they behaved differently.  It was interesting to see that.  First of all, the ducks seemed more exhausted coming out of the egg and took a long nap first while the chicks would try to stand in the first 10 minutes.  The first duck to hatch moved himself to an egg that was peeping and snuggled up to it.  As soon as it hatched, the two wrapped their necks around each other which they continue to do.

A day old.  It doesn't take long for them to go from the
scrawny just-hatched look to a cute duck!

Just hatched.  Notice the tiny tooth on the outside of his bill.  That is what he
uses to peck out of the shell.  I am told this tooth will fall off in a few days.

The last one to hatch.  This little guy got his head out but then took a break
before he had the strength to get the rest of his body out over an hour later.

Okay.  That should be the end of the chick and duck posts for a while.

The Chicks

The fun has begun with seven little chicks about our house and today, we hatched our fourth duck.  Our hamster is getting a break from Shifrah's friendship as she has directed most of her attention to the chicks.  (Though I did have to explain to her that NO, Gunther does NOT want to go in the chick pen.  She did take Gunther out of his own cage once and put in a chick.  The chick peeped LOUD!)  She also went outside and dug up worms to give to them.  We had a blast watching the one chick with the worm scrambling to find a place to eat it all by himself!  I'm glad we have seven chicks because Shifrah pretty much plays with them all day and squeals with delight as she does so.  I make her rotate.

Three Plus Two is Five

By now you may have heard that last Friday evening, my little brood of three suddenly became a brood of five on the arrival of two foster kids - a 10-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy.  So, we are having some chaotic fun here.

They seem to be handling the sudden transition quite well and are playing and talking easily among us.  They are eager to obey and want to do well in school.  The girl asked to go on the computer so I told her that was fine except that I needed to see what she was doing.  She called me over to show me a website on which she wanted to practice her math!  Maybe this will rub off on my own kids?  :)

 

The boy likes to analyze people, I notice.  He told me that I looked like the evil lady from a movie he saw and though I don't know the movie nor the person, I was glad when he added, "except you're nice."  Whew!

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And he said that Shifrah was a cross between Darla (from The Little Rascals) and Shirley Temple.

We don't know how long these children will be with us. A search is being made for relatives who could care for them and if they find someone, these children may leave us as quickly as they came. If none are found, they could be with us indefinitely. They are well-behaved children that appear to have a family support system so if I had to guess, I'd say they'll be gone by next weekend.  We shall see.

"Faith in Christ will keep us steady in the stormy sea of change."

Caught It On Video

Chicks were hatching all day yesterday.  The kids and I have witnessed two of them.  Check this out:

With Dominion crowned He stands

O'er the creatures of His hands

All to him subjection yield

In the sea and air and field.

Lord, our Lord, Thy glorious Name

All Thy wondrous works proclaim,

Thine the Name of matchless worth,

Excellent in all the earth.

(Music in the video thanks to John Dunn and Psalm 8.)

Hatching Chicks

We have been incubating chicks and ducks for the past few weeks and the chicks are starting to hatch.  Not the most glorious creature, I realize, but the process is fun to watch!

Ten Minutes After Hatching

Almost Dried Out And Ready To Get Out Of The Incubator

The ducks are due to hatch next week.