live webcam of eagle's nest

I received an e-mail from a homeschooling friend today with fabulous educational links.  My children are enthralled with these nests--eagle and hummingbird!  She explains the links below:
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Oh, I have two links your bird-lovers might be interested in, if you want to preview.  They are live web cams.  One is of a hummingbird nest (eggs to hatch in about 10 days, I think), and one is of an eagle next with chicks.  We check in on these from time to time and it's neat to see eggs hatch and the mommas feeding their young.

http://phoebeallens.com/  This is the hummingbird one.  I usually adjust the window size so the chatting on the side doesn't show - you never know what people will type in those!

http://www.stltoday.com/news/multimedia/html_a6804686-5cb4-11e0-bcf2-0019bb30f31a.html  This is the eagle one.  They both have a commercial before the video appears.

two-inch furry things--not for the skittish

The other night as I sat down to dinner with the children, Peter was at the window, again, watching his bird friends.  Only rarely is Peter not at the window.  He doesn't want to miss a single bird!

A few mourning doves were ground feeding, and out of the corner of his eye, Peter spied something small, fast, furry, and jet black.  A closer look revealed an extremely tiny mole!  He was smaller than the palm of my two-year-old's hand!  The cute little guy was dragging a long piece of meat fat--put out for the birds--back to his home.  Oh, the giggles!  He kept dropping it and having to go back for it.  My children found this the funniest, cutest, most endearing thing ever!  Suddenly the dinner they were so hungry for, didn't matter.  They only had eyes for that mole--who was, after all, wildly entertaining, I have to admit.

After fifteen minutes of observation, broken up with my pleas to take some bites of food, Mary announces:

"When I grow up I'm going to have my very own pet mole."

She said it in a voice conveying deep longing.  Oh, it made me smile wide!

She must have known we'd say no to a mole friend right now.  We're kill-joys that way.  A pet praying mantis?  A pet beetle?  A pet frog?  Be my guest.  But a mole?  Notta chance.

The next day I told my husband about our sweet little Mary's love and longing for two-inch long furry things.  He chuckled in spite of himself.  It's so like Mary to say such a thing.

Today, husband looked far and wide for his long lost drill bits.  Following a thirty-minute house search, he went out to the shed, hoping to find them there.

He ran into an old, hardly-used tool box.  He'd left it open about an inch, last time he used it, apparently.  Right away he noticed some soft, insulation-type material on the left side.

A nest!

Now, my husband is all boy!  Truly.  He loves all things creepy crawly, furry, feathered.  Except starlings and cowbirds, mind you.  I'm afraid there are no kind words for them.  And no kind deeds, either.

He moved the nesting material around a little, searching for whatever might have been there.  With his bare hands!  Oh, my.  That's something we gals just wouldn't do!   Not most of us, anyway.

My dear husband loves his children and wants to give them good gifts, as all fathers do.  He remembered what Mary had said about that cute little mole.

Mother Mouse scurried out of the toolbox so fast at this point, that husband wasn't even sure what he'd seen.

Next, he saw two tiny little babies, scared senseless in the corner.

He closed the toolbox and brought it into the house.

We heard the door open, then husband say:  "Oh, Mary!  I have a little surprise for you!"

Mary needs a new bike but we can't spend the money right now.  I bought her one at a thrift store last summer and it's quickly wearing out--the chain keeps falling off, or locking.  I expected to see a brand new bike, as we all went running to see what husband was up to.  The sheer joy, the glee, in his voice, made me sure of it.

But, no.  Not this time.  It was the little boy in my husband--that's where the glee came from--the joy!  He was aching to show his sweet little girl some precious baby mice.  He knew it would make her happy, as well as Peter.

And, oh yes!  They were both smitten.  Paul thought they were cute enough, but he's not a nature buff.  He's the odd man out around here--loves all things numbers and letters.  My mathematician can take or leave all things creepy crawly, furry, or feathered--though he laughs with the rest of us at the mole and squirrel antics.

When husband told us about the mother scurrying away, all I could think of was the horror she must feel at having her babies taken from her!  They weren't pinkies by any means, but they might still be nurslings.

In this photo you can see the nest on the left, and a tiny baby in the top right corner, grayish in color.

Instead of clearing out the nest and reclaiming his toolbox, husband carefully carried it back to the appointed spot in the shed, leaving it open about an inch, so Momma Mouse could make her way back to her babies.

I love that man!  He's a wonderful Daddy, a wonderful soul!  

Am I the only wife who feels the greatest love for my husband when he's at his fathering best?  Is that universal, Ladies?

I won't be retrieving anything from the shed any more, needless to say.  I didn't know there were mice in there!  Peter tells me he'd be glad to go in there, any time.  He plans on checking up on Mrs. Mouse and family, as often as possible.

Now we have a new research project to work on!  All things mice.  If there's some disease or danger involved in playing around wild mice, we'd better learn about it now.  My Mary might decide to catch one of these babies, soon enough.  I don't worry about Peter.  His germ-phobic OCD side would prevent him from picking up a mouse.  But my Mary?  She's oblivious of such things!  Germs? What are those?  That sweet girl is a free soul--one part Tom Boy, one part dress-and-frill-loving princess.

the cup of wonderfulness

Good Friday to you!

Husband had a half day off so we went to a noon Good Friday service at our church.  We sat together as a family, which was such a blessing--notwithstanding the inevitable preschooler wiggles.

During one part of the grave, emotional sermon, the preaching pastor asked a rhetorical question:

"Do you know Jesus?"

Mary answered, not in a loud voice, but in a voice that carried:

"Yes, I know Jesus!"

It was a packed mega-church, so only several pews around us heard.  I'm sorry children were ever taken out of church services.  Truly, I am.  They bless!  Sometimes more than any preacher ever could.

It was a beautiful experience.

I picked up Miss Mary and held her during the last song, enabling her to see better. And also, because I just love holding my sweet babes while singing to Jesus!  Mary held me close, her cheek against mine, and softly rubbed my back.  It was so precious!

After the piano player finished the last of Nothing But The Blood Of Jesus, which the congregation sung together, Miss Beth clapped her appreciation and cheered, "Yeah!"

And finally, as we walked back to the van in the cold, driving rain, Peter said to me:

"Mommy, I'm not sure I understood all of it, but I did understand this part:  He took the cup of sorrow so that we could take the cup of wonderfulness."

"Yes, Peter!  That is Easter!  You understood perfectly!"

Happy Easter, Friends!  Wishing you Resurrection joy!

gratitude and good ear news

Wednesday and Thursday Gratitude

*  I took Paul to the ENT this morning to have the fluid checked in his right ear.  The last check was March 22nd in the pediatrician's office, and the fluid was clear, thin like, and not infected.  The ENT doctor, the most friendly doctor we've ever encountered, couldn't even see the eardrums.  He told Paul his ear wax was so thick it was like having peanut butter covering both his ear drums.  "No wonder he failed two hearing tests!  No one can hear with that much peanut butter in there!"

He took us to another room where he proceeded to look through a microscope and suck all the wax out of both Paul's ears.  As we walked down the hall for a hearing test after that, Paul commented, "Wow!  Every body sounds so loud!  Even my own voice."

He passed his hearing test easily and his eardrums looked great.  He's cured!  We're so thankful!

Now, three hours later, Paul continues to comment on how loud everything sounds.  Hee! Hee!  We're all tickled at him.  He has a very loud voice, which gets on everyone's nerves.  Maybe now that he can hear, he'll naturally tone that down?

Doctor said Paul has a definite 'allergy shiner" look to his eyes, and he also noticed Paul doing mostly mouth breathing.  He said to get Zyrtec 24-hour allergy pills over the counter.  The Loratadine syrup (generic name for Claritin) I was using didn't work at all to relieve Paul's itchy eyes.  I researched children's allergies last week and learned that Paul is probably allergic to tree pollen, given the time of year.  Grass pollens haven't started in this area yet.  I also think he has indoor allergies.  I hope to obtain a referral for allergy testing sometime this year.  My husband is allergic to all the environmental allergens except mold.

My pediatrician never suggested giving Paul allergy medicine to try to clear his Eustachian (nose) tubes, so that the inner ear fluid could properly drain. Ear fluid build-up drains through the Eustachian tubes, if the tubes are functioning normally.  Having blocked tubes, from allergies or from a cold virus, causes fluid to build up, and makes it harder for it to drain once it's there.  I suggested to my pediatrician that maybe allergy medicine would help (based on my reading), and he said no, that allergies were a reason to build up fluid--not a reason that keeps fluid from draining.

I ran this by the ENT, and he agreed with me that yes, allergies need to be treated both to prevent fluid from building up, AND to help it drain once it builds up during a cold.

I need to change pediatricians!  Our guy has been practising medicine about six years.  Apparently that's not enough time to build valuable field experience.

I also asked the ENT if he thought all ear infections should be treated with antibiotics, since 80% are viral--meaning they should go away on their own. He said we can't practice "cookie cutter" medicine.  Each child needs to be treated differently--meaning we look at all the variables.  No surprise there. In a child with allergies complicating the matter, antibiotics might be appropriate. In a child with no special circumstances who doesn't appear very sick, or is symptomless, antibiotics are overkill.  A wait and see approach is better.

That's probably way more ENT information than you cared to read.  Sorry 'bout my long-windedness today!  I'm so giddy with excitement that Paul's only problem was wax!

*  In other good news, Momma and Poppa Robin began building a new nest yesterday in a corner of our neighbour's rain gutter.  They gathered all the materials from our yard and worked all day yesterday, continuing this morning.  We can't see the nest or take pictures without some difficulty, but at least we'll be able to watch the babes learn to fly, God willing.

Two robins got into a fight in our backyard, just as we sat down to dinner last night.  We remembered from our research that the females will fight other females over territory, and the males fight other males.  Of course, we have no way of knowing if these robins are the same ones who regularly nest here.  We just assume that, since they started their nest the day after losing their eggs.  Momma Robin's body must be very healthy to be able to produce eggs again so soon.  She did lay five eggs before, which is one more than normal.  Maybe she'll only lay a few this time?  Three to six eggs is the normal range, but most robins lay four at a time.

Okay then.  That's probably much more robin information than you needed or wanted?

* Another blessing for today is that the sun is out!  It's windy and 50 degrees, which isn't great, but at least we can take a walk!  Our spirits really needed a lift after so much dreariness.

* Miss Beth has a lingering nighttime cough from her April cold.  The post-nasal drip can be somewhat controlled when I hold her head higher, by cradling it in my arms on a pillow.  Late last night as I held her like this, I got teary-eyed. Overwhelmed with gratitude. She is so much sunshine!  So much sweetness! She won't be in our bed much longer.  I can tell her sleep cycles are lengthening and she'll be sleeping through the night soon, and will share a room with her sister--nursing just at naptime, bedtime or when she's overwhelmed.

How I'll miss her!  How I'll miss babies!  My life in some respects will be so much easier. She'll stop climbing cupboards, stealing from the fridge, and getting into things soon, and I'll be able to finish my thoughts, finish my tasks, and keep up a bit better around here.  Sanity will return, so to speak. But with that sanity will come some heartache.  Help me, Lord!  Help me accept change. Help me let go.

* We gave some girl clothes to my cousin's wife, whose young son just fathered a baby.  Peter asked why we were giving them away.  "What if we need them for another baby?", he asked.  I'd been carefully avoiding this question since the 2009 vasectomy, but this time I said, "Daddy decided we wouldn't be having any more babies."

Peter asked, "Is there some medicine people take to stop having babies?"   I said there was a surgery, and Daddy decided to have it.  He asked if it was painful and I said no.

I explained that letting God plan as many babies as He wants takes a lot of faith on the part of parents.  This is why most families have two or three kids, instead of six or eight or ten or twelve.  Faith is a gift, I told him.  People have different levels of faith in God's plan.  Some can let go entirely, while others need things to make sense right away.  And some people, I  told him, have medical problems that make it hard to have a lot of babies (post-partum depression, high blood pressure, history of pre-eclampsia, cervical problems, etc.).

I also told him my personal belief was that God's greatest blessings are reserved for those who put all their faith in God--for everything (notwithstanding following sound medical advice).

He contemplated this for several hours, and then told me he would let his wife have as many babies as God wants.  My husband and I both teared up at this.  What a gift Peter has!  Yes, he is young to even contemplate this, but somehow, I believe him!  He has repeated this twice since his initial decision. I pray his wife is equally gifted in faith!

Momma Robin's Sorrow And Our Lesson

On a dark, rainy, thunderbolting day, Momma Robin lost her eggs at the hands of a predator.  We're heartbroken over her loss!  The nest is located in a rain gutter corner, which we can't see from inside the house.  We don't know if it was a crow, a hawk, or a squirrel.  Regardless, Momma and her husband won't be back here next year, since it has proven unsafe.  Pairs will nest in the same place only if they previously had good luck there.

As an aside: Peter's photo of the blue robin eggs, shared earlier this week, made the eggs look larger then they really are.

Our only hope is that in prior years another robin pair--or we assume it's another pair--nested in the crook of one of our trees.  We hope to see them soon!  We're praying for nesting birds of any species.  Different species of birds nest at different times.  American Robins usually nest in April and in August, or more often if the Momma is especially healthy. 

As the tears flowed around here, I reminded the kids that we can have many interests, friends, and passions in our lives, but all of it eventually slips through our fingers; we will be disappointed in some way.  

I didn't mention, due to their young ages, that the same goes for our nuclear families.  We must love our families with all we've got, regardless.  But eventually, they too will disappoint us.  They too will pass away.

God is the only constant in our lives!  We must cling to Him!  We must hold everything loosely, while at the same time trusting Him enough to pour ourselves out for others, without expectation.

To cheer up the troops around here, I suggested spring-themed sugar cookies.  I used 100% whole wheat flour, which has worked for every other baking project.  I used to use Albino white whole wheat for sugar cookies, but I quit buying that.  We make sugar cookies far less often.

Anyway, don't try this at home!  It was very difficult to work with.  The cookies taste fine--everyone likes them--but we gave up on rolling and shaping them after about twelve shapes were completed.  We rolled the rest of the dough into balls.  I'm not sure this project cheered anyone up--especially not Momma--but it did distract us from Mrs. Robin's sorrow, and our own.

Today we will make the frosting and frost them.

I have a baking question for all you experts out there.  I just started making homemade muffins of different types, and I'm not satisfied with the moistness.  Am I stirring them too much?  Is there some secret to moist muffins?  Please share!