Premium Property

Yesterday, we woke up to a winter-wonder landscape. 

My sidekick and I went out for a look around and some photos. 

We found this cozy bird bungalow still vacant, 

but what a view! 

A tiny home among snow-capped dogwood blossoms is 

premium property for sure. 

Maybe when spring sets in for good, bird tenants will come as well. 

I'm hoping for bluebirds. 

Here's a collection of favorite bird books to share with the littles in your life. 

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These days, I'm pondering this verse: 

"Your own ears will hear him. 

Right behind you a voice will say, “This is the way you should go,” 

whether to the right or to the left."

Isaiah 30:21 NLT

Handmade Gifts

How do you feel about handmade gifts? 

I've always hesitated to gift my own creations, believing them to be a little bit "less than."

Less valued than store-bought; less useful than a gift card; 

less dazzling than whatever the most popular social influencer recommends--"swipe up!"

But this year, I'm feeling some freedom to give handmade. 

So this morning I handled brittle antique sheet music and forced 

myself to cut it, recalling how the pages were rescued from the trash. 

Folding tattered edges into shape took extra time, but I didn't mind, 

envisioning the final lovely outcome.

I shrugged aside qualms and pushed a wooden brace through 

centenarian page layers, taking care not to waste a single scrap of print.

 

That's when phrases from Psalm 103 slid into the corner of my heart.

God forms you in the same way, the Spirit seemed to hint. 

"For He knows our frame; He is mindful that we are dust." 

He knows you're often fragile, brittle, tattered.

"As for man ... your days are like grass--blooming, vanishing, forgotten."

Yet He tenderly chooses you anyway, knowing the potential for glory exists. 

"But from everlasting to everlasting the loving devotion 

of the LORD extends to those who fear Him."

In unmatched patience, He shapes, folds, and fashions you into the 

image of the blessing He intends to gift to others.

" ... we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, 

which God prepared in advance for us to do." 

(Ephesians 2:10)

And just like the psalmist, my soul rose up in joy. 

Bless the Lord ... bless the Lord ... bless the Lord.

Lust for Nuts

After seeing this on Pinterest, we gave it a shot.

Ours didn't turn out to be quite as tidy as theirs, but it's a pretty cool feeder, I think!

One slinky, a wire hanger bent into a circle and a few bread ties.

We filled it with raw peanuts bought at Krogers for $1.49. Pretty cheap project, when all is tallied up - less than $3 if you have a wire hanger and bread ties banging around the house.

We did get our big, tough blue jay. He was lovin' the nut buffet! 

I even saw a nuthatch who was able to get a peanut out of the slinky, but he couldn't fly with it. 

Is anyone else hosting an overwhelming herd of chipmunks? Our dog spends alot of time in pointing position, since everywhere she turns --- there's a chipmunk! 

So it's no surprise then to see this little guy shimmying up that pole, right? 

(The teacup and cupcake stand are inside the window.) 

On his hasty way up, he caught sight of us in the sunroom, watching the bluejays at the feeder, and he froze immediately. He was hiding, he thought, peeking out at us. Can you see him behind there,  clutching that pole, thinking he's finally been found out? That the end of the party has surely arrived?

Oh, how often I do that same thing! Do you see a bit of yourself in that silly chipmunk?

We thought he'd leap down, but the lust for nuts made him bold, and he leaped across thin air, right onto the swinging feeder. He grabbed his bit of bliss and jumped down head first - he had to hurry, before the jay returned to peck a hole in the top of his tiny head.

I think I saw him doing a joy dance out there in the grass!