Last Saturday was our #5, resident comedian, and hunting and fishing enthusiast's 19th birthday! Joshua is such a blessing to our family in so many ways and we had a great time celebrating his birthday as a family.
For a birthday present I gave him my 35mm camera.
Guns of the Lion by Douglas Bond
Christianna made this really neat blanket out of canvas/denim and pieces of camouflage fabric.
An Illinois license plate from Mr. Reiche (hunters dream country), Stand Fast in the way of the Truth by Douglas Bond, his own complete tool set and his favorite drink...sparkling cider. ;-)
Mom worked her charm again by crafting a cake that looked like the sword Josh has.
The word of God is powerful and sharper than any sword!
Happy Birthday Josh! May God bless, lead and direct you steps through this next year as you strive to know His will for you and serve Him with your life!
This past Friday found Dad, Grace, Faith, Josiah and I (Josh), once again hiking the rolling hills of the Ortonville Recreation Area with our good friend Mr. Reiche and the men of the Bryson family. God blessed us with a beautiful day full of warm sunshine and cool breezes and we all greatly enjoyed our 5+ mile hike. Now keep in mind that the 5+ miles would be if we were on flat ground. This area however is anything but flat. It seems like every square foot of these trails is either uphill or downhill. Despite sore feet and tired muscles, we were able to appreciate the wonders of God's Creation so I thought I'd share a few pictures from our adventures in the beautiful "Hills of Hadley."
Off we go!
Our guide, Mr. Reiche, consulting his handmade map.
"Beaver" Lake.
(At least thats what we call it.)
Dad and Mr. Reiche on the trail.
Round-Lobed Hepatica. (As the girls pronounced it: "AAAWWWW, how cute!)
The first animal life encountered.
(As you'll see in some of the other pics, I love snakes) :-)
Cute li'l fella. He liked the camera.
A babbling brook.
Our intrepid friend Mr. Bryson.
Me with a gorgeous Blue Racer.
This guy/gal decided to hide in a patch of brambles along with 3 other Racers, and the thorns took their toll on Josiah's and mine arms before I was able to get my hands on him/her.
Isn't He handsome?
(The snake I mean) ;)
U F BD IS
(answer at the bottom of the post)
You can see its beautiful blue stripes in this picture.
A good 4 1/2 to 5 feet long.
A-Hiking we go.
Pausing at the crest of a hill.
At the base of Pinnacle Point looking up...
...on the way up...
(Notice Faith's bent-over, "I'm almost dead" posture.)
...almost there...
...we made it!
At the top. This used to be a cottage resort, owned by a Mr. William Neer.
Check out this link for more info.
Daniel, Timothy and I resting on Pinnacle Point.
The photographer, (Grace) Matthew and Mr. Reiche.
Twacy and I among the rubble.
(No she's not actually taller than me.)
Looking down one of the trails. Kinda steep huh?
Rest stop.
Sore feet Dewey? :)
Discussing our route with Mr. Reiche.
New spring growth.
Off we go again.
An old stone well.
Two sisters on the steps of an old ruined cottage.
Consulting the map.
Find the animal in the picture. Pretty well camouflaged isn't he?
Cute little guy.
Another garter snake.
A pretty little pond in the hills.
Theres something about boys and throwing rocks in ponds.
Sploosh!
Drop a pebble in the water:
just a splash, and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
Circling on and on and on,
Spreading, spreading from the center,
flowing on out to the sea.
And there is no way of telling
where the end is going to be.
Drop a pebble in the water:
in a minute you forget,
But there's little waves a-flowing,
and there's ripples circling yet,
And those little waves a-flowing
to a great big wave have grown;
You've disturbed a mighty river
just by dropping in a stone.
Drop an unkind word, or careless:
in a minute it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
circling on and on and on.
They keep spreading, spreading, spreading
from the center as they go,
And there is no way to stop them,
once you've started them to flow.
Drop an unkind word, or careless:
in a minute you forget;
But there's little waves a-flowing,
and there's ripples circling yet,
And perhaps in some sad heart
a mighty wave of tears you've stirred,
And disturbed a life was happy
ere you dropped that unkind word.
Drop a word of cheer and kindness:
just a flash and it is gone;
But there's half-a-hundred ripples
circling on and on and on,
Bearing hope and joy and comfort
on each splashing, dashing wave
Till you wouldn't believe the volume
of the one kind word you gave.
Drop a word of cheer and kindness:
in a minute you forget;
But there's gladness still a-swelling,
and there's joy circling yet,
And you've rolled a wave of comfort
whose sweet music can be heard
Over miles and miles of water
just by dropping one kind word.
~By James W. Foley~
U F BD IS= You have beady eyes. Same as CDC=See the sea?
We had another nifty nature experience recently. A friend told us of a nesting phenomenon that she had seen north of Lapeer, so we headed out to find it one afternoon. In a small section of trees surrounded by a corn field we came upon an amazing sight - a community of nesting Great Blue Herons!
Although we couldn't get very close, Grace was able to capture some spectacular pictures. You can't see it in this photo, but there were well over 20 of these high rises.
We were able to pull off onto the edge of the corn field and got out to get a better look. It was amazing to see those big birds perched so high in the trees!
Here you can see one of the birds coming in for a landing. Look at the birds sitting above or on their nests.
Gliding in over the budding tree tops . . .
Engaging landing gear . . . putting on the brakes!
Whoa! Catch your balance . . .
Kind of tricky to sit in this tree with such long legs!
*GULP* I'm not so sure I would want to be raised in that flimsy looking nest so high off the ground! I found out that these large Heron communities are called (appropriately enough) "Heronries," and that they are used year after year by the same birds.
We were so grateful to be able to witness this incredible aspect of God's creation! If you live in the area you can e-mail or call us and we will give you directions so you can see for yourself. They should be nesting through mid -late May.
