"One tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime."

His mother put him to bed, and made some camomile tea - and she gave a dose of it to Peter!

"One tablespoonful to be taken at bedtime."

But Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail had bread and milk and blackberries, for supper.

The Tale of Peter Rabbit ~By Beatrix Potter

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced, but they
Out-did the sparkling leaves in glee;
A poet could not be but gay,
In such a jocund company!
I gazed—and gazed—but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills
And dances with the daffodils.
~William Wordsworth

I know My Redeemer Lives

Very early in the morning, on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. ³ And they said among themselves, “Who will roll away the stone from the door of the tomb for us?” ⁴ But when they looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled away—for it was very large. ⁵ And entering the tomb, they saw a young man clothed in a long white robe sitting on the right side; and they were alarmed.
⁶ But he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He is risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid Him. ⁷ But go, tell His disciples—and Peter—that He is going before you into Galilee; there you will see Him, as He said to you.”

Mark 16:2-7

The Buds of Spring.

Awake, thou wintry earth -
Fling off thy sadness!
Fair vernal flowers, laugh forth
Your ancient gladness!
~Thomas Blackburn, "An Easter Hymn"

If you've never been thrilled to the very edges of your soul by a flower in spring bloom, maybe your soul has never been in bloom. ~Terri Guillemets

Where man sees but withered leaves,
God sees sweet flowers growing.
~Albert Laighton

"Happy is the man ... his delights is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither."
- Psalms 1: 1-3

Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail...

Actually, to be completely and perfectly honest, their names are not Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail, but rather, Thumper, Benjamin, and Mr. Chub Chub. And now that you are completely confused as to what I am talking about, I shall return to the beginning and relate the events which occurred...... It was late in the evening on Sunday April 17th, the night had fallen and everything outside was cloaked in darkness. The Sauve family's one and only canine, with the appellation "Baby," was perusing the yard sniffing curiously around when suddenly she came upon a scent that intrigued her, and immediately began to follow her nose to the source. Inside the Sauve family had noticed how long their dog had been outside, and called her in. But not before they noticed some funny squeaking noises coming from the yard. So when Baby continued to want to go outside, some of the humans decided to investigate.

This is what we found. 5 adorable helpless baby bunnies. Two of them perished that night as a result of naughty Baby playing with them, but the other three survived and flourished. They are the little creatures name Benjamin, Mr. Chub Chub, and Thumper, respectively.


When they first arrived their eyes were still closed as well as their tiny little ears pressed flat against their adorable heads.




By the end of the next day though, two of them had opened their eyes, peering around at the big and scary world around them.


Now they all have their eyes and ears open, and are THE cutest things in the world. Yesterday I took the little bunnies outside for some time in the grass and a photo shoot.
(WARNING: the next few photos hold toxic levels of cuteness, proceed at your own risk)




Please call for visiting times for the bunnies. They have a busy schedule.



~Chs

A Day at the Auction

To be absolutely honest, I had never been to a real life farm auction... that is before last Saturday. It was a misty/rainy yet relatively warmish day when I headed out with Mr. Reiche and Matthew Bryson to a farm auction down the street. Josiah would have been in his element there, but unfortunately he was sick and Faith was busy, so I was the sole Sauve representative.

As we walked from the field where we had parked, the sound of the auctioneer reached us way before we saw him. Rattling away words and numbers in a dizzying way. As we came closer he became easier to understand, and then we rounded the corner and encountered a large crowd of people (90% of which were older men/farmers), all grouped around a wagon which was piled with the most miscellaneous gathering of items that I had seen anywhere in my life.

Mr. Reiche explained to me this was what was called the Jewel wagon. All the little odds and ends that could be gathered up around the farm were piled on the wagon for sale, and when I say everything, I mean everything. There were books, saws, traps, tin pails with rusted out bottoms, bushels baskets, wrapping paper, lunch pails full of bolts and screws, and many more items which I do not recall.

Slowly the auctioning left the Jewel wagon, and as the rain came down in fitful bursts, moved on to groups of larger items leaning on the ground.

Lawn Tractors, snow blowers, weed whippers, and even a bike were snatched up quickly, but I believe the item for which the bidding was the highest was a golf cart, which was sold for 1,000 dollars!

When the small equipment was exhausted everyone's attention was turned to the big boy toys=) Tractors.

The sun peeped out as the owner of the farm who was in his 80's started up each of the tractors and other equipment to "show them off". Smoke and noise filled the air as the huge "monsters" roared to life for a few minutes.

I believe this was the my favorite part of the auction, watching this farmer who had probably been working some of these machines for most of his life, rev them up for one last time before they were passed on into other hands.

~Chs

Happy Birthday!!

Monday was the 21st anniversary of Joshua Paul Sauve's birth.

We are very proud of our soldier, not only of the USA but of Jesus Christ as well.

When I asked Josh for suggestions of a cake shape, his answer was prompt and unhesitating. A HMM W V (Hum V). So I did my best and Josh was pleased with the results.

The day for Josh started out with our family tradition of breakfast in bed. His fiance Theresa came soon after, and was able to spend the day with us!

We are very thankful for Josh, and we would all appreciate your prayers for him and Theresa as their wedding day approaches.
~Chs

Shiloh and Manoah

Last week we were privileged to be able to take care of two darling children while their parents were at a conference. I had loads of fun with them, playing outside and in, and snapping pictures in between.

Please meet Manoah, and Shiloh! Shiloh is a little princess, and loves playing dress up, so I found a pretty pink dress for her and she was twirling around all day long.

Manoah, on the other hand was not so keen on dressing up, but I did get him to wear a newsy hat for two minutes. He is the cutest little stinker, and over the week I fell in love with all his little ways. He thinks he can talk and in a good mood will just chatter away at you in a language which you can't quite understand.


Shiloh's favorite activity was swinging. She could swing and swing and swing all afternoon if I let her. And though I got tired of it, she never did.

Grace had bought these adorable flowers from Michael's and one day I was able to make Shiloh stay off the swing long enough to take a photo shoot. Isn't her smile just adorable!!=)

Manoah had just woken up from a nap at this point and would not let go of the bright pink flower he had picked up, nor would he smile. Oh well, I think he is just as cute frowning.

It was a great experience and I would love to do it again when the opportunity arises!

~Chs

Random Nature Pictures, and a Quick Story

Last week our family was blessed with a couple opportunities to observe Gods marvelous creation. As usual I had my camera with me and I thought you might enjoy perusing some of the memories that I captured. One of our adventures only included Josiah and I, as we were on one of the bike rides that we enjoy so much. Actually this was supposed to be a fishing trip, but the fish did not show themselves so we abandoned the idea and gave ourselves up to the beauty of the landscape awakening in spring.

Streams were full and bubbling, merrily rushing along to only the water knew where. This particular stream actually comes from (in a round about way) our pond, but at this spot it was just a vivacious creek winding itself through woods and meadows in seemingly meaningless meanderings.

Our bike ride brought us to yet another location where the stream crossed another road and here we scrambled down the embankment and explored the surrounding brush around the stream.

We espied this little nest in one of the many bushes, but whether it was from last year or a new residence formed this spring we could not quite make out.

Another find, (and in my opinion the highlight) was a large pussy willow bush eking out it's existence in a marshy spot along the creek bed. It was so content looking and elegant, and I borrowed Josiah's knife and took a few sprigs home for observation.
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On Saturday we (Faith, Josiah, Dad, and I) ventured out again, this time with Mr. Reiche as our guide, to Beaver Lake trails. On this occasion we entered by a new and to us, unknown trail. To explain the reason for this exploit, I must become a storyteller and recount to you a tale of bravery, tragedy and discovery.


It was early in the afternoon on Friday March 8th, 1957. Lt. William L. Durkee (22) was on his second cross-country flight, flying from the Selfridge Air Force Base. It was a beautiful day for flying and everything was going well, until Durkee noticed something was wrong with his jet. " I figured something was on fire because it was getting darned hot in there. I knew she was going to go sooner or later." Durkee knew he should evacuate and do it soon. " I didn't wait to remember all the instructions. I just hit the button, and my arms and legs went in all directions." He had jumped out at about 12,000 feet, his parachute dropping him into a tree. Amazingly enough, Durkee only sustained minor scratches received when jumping down from the tree. His jet on the other hand didn't fair so well. 2:30 P.M Ellis Moore's housekeeper Mrs. Ranney was doing her house work, when she was startled by an object that shot passed outside. "I was looking out the kitchen window when the plane went by...away across the field really low. Then I heard it crash." Ellis Moore was the first man on the scene but he could not get near because of the flames. This is from The Flint Journal, "Going down in a long dive, Durkee's ship barely skimmed several heavily wooded ridges before plowing into a State conservation tract in the Hadley Hills." The plane exploded throwing fire and metal everywhere. The engine lay like a burned out stump, catapulted 150 feet from the wreck.


54 years later Mr. Reiche heard about this event, and was determined to find any remains that had survived the years. Surprisingly, once he had located the spot, he didn't have to search far to find random pieces of metal scattered about. As soon as we found time, we went along with Mr. Reiche to discover some of our own artifacts.


Josiah found one piece embedded at the base of the tree, which he pulled out, examined, and then pushed back into the ground for the next group of adventurers.


We decided that on our following trip, we will bring along a metal detector, for there is sure to be bushels full of fragments under the decomposition of 54 years! I must admit though, that some of my favorite discoveries of the hike, was not the jet pieces but rather the miscellaneous pieces of God's beauty depicted in nature. Following are a few of my favorite photographs.




This tree was so hungry that it ingested an ancient barbwire fence line that marked out a road that used to traverse the ridge.


Moss is a beautiful things if you look at it close enough.


Another piece of nature that we sometimes ignore or even think of as gross, is fungus. But take a look at this and the next picture, and be amazed at the intricate design and multiple colors that God has imbedded into these fungi.


How marvelous are your works Oh LORD!

~Chs