Sandhill Cranes at Ewing Bottoms...

I just happened to hear today about Sandhill Cranes making their appearance at Ewing Bottoms near Brownstown, IN. Evidently every year about this time, these incredible birds use this low lying area in southern Indiana to stage (to rest and refuel) on their migratory trip north.

After doing a little internet research, I figured the best time to view them would be either at sunrise (when they fly off en masse and then scatter to find food) or near dusk (when they make their way back together to spend the night).




Well, it was too late to try to catch them at sunrise, but I talked Greg into taking off early today so we could all drive the hour south of here and just maybe catch a glimpse of them before nightfall.


We had no idea what to expect -- and weren't going to be terribly disappointed if we didn't see anything. The directions I could find on-line instructed us to take Spring Street north out of Brownstown and after crossing railroad tracks and a bridge we were to just drive around out in the country side and watch for activity in the fields. Not real promising sounding to us townies, but we decided to give it a try. I'm so glad we did!

 

These pictures are the best ones we snapped on our little digital camera and while I'm pleased we were able to catch some action, these photos just don't give you any picture at all of the thousands of Sandhill Cranes throughout the country side in this area. The birds tended to stay away from the heavily traveled roads, and even along the less busy roads (where we snapped these pictures) they stayed back quite a ways. Off in the distance one could see these birds massed together foraging in the fields and sometimes 25-50 at a time would fly off to "safer" areas. And to think this was a small sampling of what these gatherings can look like.

It was a fun way to spend a 55 degreed February Friday afternoon and we saw something we'd never seen before. Next trip we take the camera with the telephoto lense!

What can I say? It's FAFSA time of year again.

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Free Hugs

Doesn't this just give you a kick? I love it!

What is a Family?

Some books take a long time to get through because they're..... well - just hard reads, but some books take a long time to read because you want to savor them - you simply don't want them to end. What is a Family? by Edith Schaeffer was that kind of book to me over the past year.

Since I've entered the inevitable season where my children aren't so young anymore, I really thought much of this book would be irrelevant to me, but because I love Edith Schaeffer's style of writing and her ideas, I decided to read this book anyway. I'm so glad I did! From the first chapter to the last this awesome lady challenged me to consider how I impact my family every day and how I will continue to impact our sons when they've left our daily care, and how my influence (whether or not anyone gives it a second thought) will have its effect in the lives of grandchildren and great grandchildren when I'm long gone from this earth.

The Schaeffers lived a unique lifestyle of ministry - rubbing shoulders with the world in a way that many of us are tempted to glamorize or think idyllic, but Edith writes honestly and sometimes humorously about their struggles and relates to things we all experience in our immediate and extended families. There is so much meat to savor and ponder in this book. It could be read very quickly, I have no doubt, but reading it slowly gave me the opportunity to relate her teaching to different seasons and crises that occurred in our extended family over the past year. It was like having an understanding and like-minded friend come alongside me as our family encountered uncomfortable issues. What an encouragement she was to me!

I was convicted, blessed, strengthened, and encouraged to be a better mom - not because I've been such a lousy one up to this point (okay, sometimes I have been, but that's not the point.) The point is that the Lord always wants us to reach for His holiness and at the same time live in humility - understanding what we're really made of. He wants us to be witnesses of the redeeming work He does in the lives of all His people. He wants our families to love each other and to mean something in a godless culture. Did I mention that I was convicted by this book? The ways we do that will happen in our relationships with each other and in the traditions we create and in the way those things flow out from our families to touch the world. And it will be different for each one of our families. That's what's so wonderful about this book. It doesn't contain a formula for creating a perfect family - never mind that the perfect family doesn't exist. It's simply an encouragement to live humble and meaningful lives in the context of family to the glory of God.

I have no doubt that others will glean different things from this book than I did. If you haven't read What is a Family, I encourage you to put it on your list of must reads. If you're like me, you'll probably want to read it several times to gather the many jewels it possesses that are relevant to the different stages of life we experience as women and mothers.

It's the 1st day of February and baby, it's cold outside. Brrrrr.

What's that? That's not snow. It's sand!

In honor of the first day of February (or rather to thumb my nose at it) I'm posting this photo taken of the guys a few years ago. I love this picture. It is taken on top of Mt. Baldy on Lake Michigan.

Mount Baldy. Yep, it's bald. Just a great big giant (and I do mean GIANT) hill of sand. It nearly killed Greg and I to climb to the top, but we were rewarded with an exhilarating view as we stood there gasping for breath and clutching our chests.

Thinking of that hot white sand almost chases the shivers away!