Summer Serendipity Found in a Winter Novella

Books! It's one of the things I LOVE about summer! My kids sit around reading books... Two discovered all my Nancy Drew mysteries from way back when and are almost through the entire series. Another has discovered Father Tim! But one of the best perks of all this reading going on is that I have more time to relax with a good book as well. 

A few years back, I began participating in a couple of the different blogger reading programs where I'm given a book from one of the publishing companies in exchange for posting a review on my blog as well copying, pasting and publishing the same review at one of the online bookstores. 

My most recent read is Evergreen, by Susan May Warren. It is a novella... so it was a super quick read. I think I finished it in an hour and one-half in one afternoon. John and Ingrid Christiansen are about to embark on their first holiday season as official empty-nesters. John wants to surprise his wife with the trip of a lifetime, a celebration of this new phase of life and the opportunity to really invest in each other and their marriage once again. Ingrid, however, is grieving the many changes and nursing an angry, bitter spirit. John notices his wife's sadness, but figures that this trip will fix it, just as he's always been able to fix everything in the past. If only life were that simple...

A series of unexpected happenings, including beginning a relationship with the nephew they didn't even know existed, brings old hurts to the forefront of their relationship and they both realize that their marriage is balancing, but only just so... and doing so precariously at that. Ingrid ends up, at the last minute, playing the character of Mary in a living Nativity scene sponsored by her community... and as she does so, she can't escape this thought: "Maybe, however, you're Mary, and God is simply asking you to be willing to say yes to whatever He asks."

It was, for me, a poignant read with a real life lesson... on many levels.

Although I don't typically enjoy "romance" novels, I do like stories about people who seem real enough that I can identify with them. I could, with the characters in this story... This novella is part of the larger (and still unfinished) Christiansen family series. I believe each book is supposed to be a stand alone work. But that was the only annoying part of this novella, from my perspective. The necessary "background" info to help make sense of the story, information that has been covered already in previous books, didn't integrate super well, which made the book a little hard to really get into reading... at first. Thankfully, that didn't last for long.

If you are looking for a quick but not completely light summer read, especially on a sticky summer day when nothing sounds better than the cool of winter, I'd definitely recommend this one.

According to guidelines from Federal Trade Commission, I received a complimentary copy of this book through Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

photo credit: HAMED MASOUMI via photopin cc

"For Mine is every beast of the forest..." sayeth the Lord

For every beast of the forest is mine, 

and the cattle upon a thousand hills.

I know all the fowls of the mountains: 

and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

Psalm 50:10-11

It all started with a shirt tail full of wild turkey eggs. 

Our kids had noticed a mama wild turkey building her nest out in the "forest" behind our house.

Then, they started counting eggs in that nest.

Just a few days later, the Daddy walked out to check on the nest... saw feathers, smashed eggs and destruction. He salvaged five eggs.

He gently carried those eggs to the house - in a sling made from the end of his shirt. I remember it well because it was Mother's Day and I was trying to get dinner stuff organized for my parents and in-laws who were coming by after church for dinner. He and the kids decided to try and incubate them - and were distracted with scheming and planning. I was irritated because they were distracted from helping. That first night, those eggs rested under a damp towel under the light on the piano bench.

Thankfully, my wanna-be wildlife rehabilitaters got in touch with a friend who had an incubator. She brought it to town the next day.

Twenty-eight days later...

Observing that miracle of hatching entranced us all... and we'd sit silent and quiet as we watched those little eggs rock, chirp, crack and finally pop open. 

Rebekah actually had to help two of the chicks break free. Have I ever mentioned that she is considering pursuing a career in midwifery?

And then we were left with a bit of a conundrum. Somehow, we never really imagined that they just might hatch. But they did... and wild turkeys are not pets... not to mention it is illegal to keep them without a license... 

It was a crazy couple of days which included a trip to Chicago to drop the girls off for a week of serving at Pacific Garden Mission with the youth group of one of our supporting churches... and wild turkey chicks in a box, under a heat lamp and riding in the van with us for some of that trip. It also included an hour drive north, into the heart of Roscommon county, to a licensed wildlife rehabilitater, to find a legit place for those turkeys to be.

While there, we found out that they are always looking for volunteers to come and help with the animals they have at their center. My two oldest began volunteering first. And over the past 6 weeks, we've had the opportunity to help care for robins and racoons, opossums and owls, fawns and squirrels, wood ducks and woodpeckers, Canadian geese and wild turkeys - and lots of other animals that I'm sure I'm forgetting. 

One of my personal favorites is Henri, the green heron. We started calling him Henri after Rebekah moved him into a larger cage and asked me to come and take a look. He really is green and he's got this long narrow beak. I started thinking... green is the color of envy... envy in French is envie... envie rhymes with Henri (or French for Henry)... and I could just picture him as a sarcastically sophisticated cartoon character with a top hat. Yep, Henri just fit.

photo credit: Savannah Sam Photography via photopin cc

photo credit: Rick Leche via photopin cc

photo credit: Gregory "Slobirdr" Smith via photopin cc

photo credit: Dan Pancamo via photopin cc

Can't you see what I mean?

Just yesterday, we were able to release a red fox back into his neighborhood. We called him Gordon. To say that it was pretty cool is an understatement... To say it was overwhelmingly cool that the whole family was able to be there and observe is even a bigger understatement!!!

It almost seems cliché to share that first "Gordon" timidly crept out of his cage. Then, he bounded off into the woods about twenty yards or so and stopped where he turned, sat back on his haunches and looked back toward us for a few moments - just long enough for me to think I'd be able to zoom the lens and snap a good close-up with no bars, no newspaper and no motion... Note I said "think," because then he ran quickly away, a flash then blur of red disappearing among trees. But for that second when he turned, you could almost sense the wonder and relief he felt to be back out where he should be, running and bounding through the trees. The thought that went running and bounding through my mind, in that moment, was wondering if he wasn't, in his own way, praising  and thanking God for freedom and for life!

Those of you who know me well know that I'm rather fond of AA Milne quotes... particularly when they come from Winnie the Pooh... 

“Some people talk to animals. Not many listen though. 

That's the problem.

That quote started me thinking...

Then I looked, 

and I heard around the throne and the living creatures and the elders 

the voice of many angels, 

numbering myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice,

“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,

to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might

and honor and glory and blessing!”

And I heard every creature 

in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, 

and all that is in them, saying,

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb

be blessing and honor and glory and might forever and ever!”

(From Revelation 5)

The Great Salt Lake... our morning on Antelope Island.

... remember the buffalo burgers? 

 

For geography studiers (that would be Tim), nature lovers (really everyone, but particularly Brendan and Rebekah), adventurers (Richelle, Nadia, Anna, Tori & Jonathan), social butterfliers  (Elsie Mae), and happy to be along with-ers (who else but Mary Michelle)... we thought Antelope Island would be a great thing to do first thing the morning after the fireworks, and before we headed through the Wasatch Mountains and to Bear Lake and Idaho.

It wasn't exactly what we hoped it would be.

We got a later start than we had initially planned on.

And we forgot to fill the gas tank up before we paid and drove the causeway out to the island which meant Tim didn't want to risk too much driving on the island.

We still tried to make the best of it. 

Driving across the causeway, the reflection of the sky, clouds and mountains on the still water was pretty impressive. I though Anna did a pretty good job 

snapping these photos from our moving van!

However, as soon as we drove on to the island, the kids immediately 

started noticing the briny stench.

They weren't impressed and they weren't very forgiving. 

This was the beach we were heading for... Some were insisting they wanted to swim in the lake. They were telling this story about a missionary man they knew who decided to stick his head under water in the Dead Sea even after he'd been clearly warned not to. He didn't believe anything bad would happen.

It did... 

Any ideas what happened to their friend?

We reminded them that this WAS NOT going to be another Huntington Beach escapade (fun as that was!) and that

they'd only have the opportunity to wade.

Probably our most devoted Dr. Quinn fan, Elsie Mae wanted to re-enact 

this episode when she saw this buffalo sculpture.

A herd of buffalo as well as lots of other animals inhabit the island.

How many buffalo do you see in this photo???

Rebekah buddied up with Mary Michelle.

And no one could keep up with Elsie Mae and Jonathan.

Victoria and her mama... a shadow photo!

Brine flies... there were a lot of them...

Big sis helping little sis.

The orange swimmy things are brine shrimp. These and the flies are the only two things that live naturally in the Salt Lake.

Each one indicating their opinion... what they thought of the Great Salt Lake. 

It was very mixed, as you can tell.

Of course, this was BEFORE the buffalo burgers.

Yep... we were photo-bombed!

Modeling those shades... 

You'd never guess they were sisters, would you?