Baby Bird

Just over a week ago, we had a nesting bird hatch four baby birds on front porch in a very convenient location for us to watch the whole thing unfold.

It was very exciting and much anticipated. 

On Sunday, the baby birds were chirping super loud and the kids wanted to "take a peek" so we lifted them up to look inside the nest. The birds were so small and so cute.

We gave a stern warning about no touching and headed inside to get ready for the day.

That lasted approximately 30 minutes. 

While I was getting ready, Asher grabbed one his little chairs and headed onto the front porch for further investigation. 

He comes back inside with a big, triumphant smile on his face and declares, "I just touched the birds!"

The looks on our faces must have conveyed how displeased we were because immediately he started crying, followed by leading us to the scene of the crime. 

We had no idea what would happen to them. But had a pretty good idea. 

We left for a couple of hours only to return and find three featherless, baby birds gasping for breath on our front porch and sidewalk.

Awesome. 

Teachable moment #4056 of Asher's life.

I googled what to do and google said, put the birds back and leave the nest well alone. 

We all complied.

And have been nervously watching over the nest ever since and the Momma bird just resumed feeding the birds as if she hadn't given them the boot just hours before. 

And she feeds them all day every day ever since. I love watching it. 

So now, all day long-I hear the birds chirping, calling for their momma to come and feed them. Totally dependent on her for everything and it reminds me. 

It calls me.

It has set within me the reminder that this is how I am with God. I am dependent on him for my everything. Every bit wisdom. Every bit of depth, gentleness, goodness, self-control. Anything good or worthy has been hand-delivered to my soul by him. Through him. Through Jesus. On the cross. 

And he watches over me.

When I throw myself out of the nest, he lovingly puts me back.

And watches over me as I feed again.

As if nothing ever happened.

And get nourished.

And grow.

What a picture of grace. 

Don't Even Get Me Started

Today we are moving!

It might come as a surprise to some of you, but I have not been posting about all of this because well...it has been a pretty insane process to sell our current house and buy the next house. I will break it down for you here:

Last year, we switch high schools for Young Life from the school where we were leaders for six years to a high school that has really strong Young Life. All of their leaders departed for grown-updom and there was nobody to head up the ministry. Matt and I knew that the Lord was calling us to this high school and so we started the long process of getting our hearts AND house ready to sell.

Early in the spring, we were approached by my sister-in-law's (Buffy) mother-in-law (Got THAT?) who lives in Asheville near the area we were looking to buy; and she expressed an interest to move near to her son and Buffy. Would we be interested in buying her house? She named a price and well...we were VERY INTERESTED.

But we knew that some crazy stuff was going to have to happen. Such as, sell our house AND her have a new job that started simultaneously with our closing date. But we knew that God had called us to this new part of town and this was not beyond his abilities to orchestrate.

We all agreed to try to make this happen, however bizarre it might seem.

So we listed our house and had a lot of traffic over the summer and even came under contract albeit briefly.

Right after our first club, I totally lost heart with this process. I was overwhelmed with high school kids I didn't know, the ones that I did know and the ones that want me to know them better. I just wanted very badly for us to get to move down near them because it is so much harder to have relationships when you don't shop, live etc. all in the same neighborhood as them. It is really a Jesus philosophy because he came to US and moved into the neighborhood of Jerusalem in order to speak directly to those he loved. We want to do the same thing and thought that it was never going to happen.

Mostly, I lost heart because the news that mortgage market was tightening up and nobody was getting loans. I saw the writing on the wall that would mean nobody would buy our house.

The very next day we had a second showing on our house and on the very day that the market plunged 700 points-we had a contract on our house! It was unbelievable! People are amazed that we were able to sell our house in this market, IN THIS MONTH. The worst financial month in history. Oh, and we needed to close in 21 days.

We have had no problems qualifying for our mortgage which is incredible too.

The biggest "X" factor was that seller also needed to get a job this month too. Not so easy. As soon as we told her that we had a contract, she freaked out. But a few days later approached her boss and told them the situation. They decided that it would be best for all parties if she continued her job via telecommuting. So she could go ahead, move to Florida AND be able to BUY a house since she still has her steady employment.

Seriously y'all? I can't make this stuff up.
So we are moving into her house this afternoon and tomorrow. Matt's mom and sister have graciously taken the kids off of our hands since Sunday so that we can make the move happen without them underfoot. And to tell the truth, that has made this seem like a vacation rather than the most stressful week of the Fall.

How 'bout them apples?
I will post pictures of the new house as we get settled. Stay tuned!

Psalm 16:8, 11

"I know that the Lord is always with me.
I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me...
You will show me the way of life,
granting me the joy of your presence
and the pleasures of living with you forever."

I hope that this will bring you the comfort that it has brought to me today.