Into the loving arms of God

Our friends were expecting another grandchild. They are with their daughter and her husband and family, not celebrating a new life but planning a funeral. This was a baby who was diagnosed with trisome 18 early on in the pregnancy, a condition that is fatal for the baby.

The question put to me was how could a loving God allow this to happen. God did not do this. We are not perfect...not internally nor externally. Our genes are not perfect....a healthy baby is not always the outcome of a pregnancy. What has been amazing is the response of the mother, knowing she was carrying a baby she would never see live through his infancy. The father, a Navy man, was at sea for most of the pregnancy and only returned in the last few weeks. Though it is his loss too, he has not had the priviledge and the burden of carrying this child, has not dealt with it daily as she has.

This mother knew from early on in the pregnancy that her baby would probably not survive to term and if he did, he could not survive outside the womb. The only thing keeping him alive was her body and her heart, beating for his damaged one. She was offered the option of termination.

She decided to love him every moment she could, to do everything in her power to give him a chance, however slim, at life. She carried him under her heart until he was nearly full term. Two days before she was to be induced, his heart, which had developed normally on only one side, stopped. She still had to endure labor and delivery. When Andre was delivered his family was there to hold him and to say goodbye to him. To cuddle him and to kiss him. The only time they will ever have to touch him.

How did she do this? How could she deal with this and not become bitter or angry ? This woman is a Christian Catholic... a woman who knows that her son now rests in the loving arms of Jesus. She has turned her son over to God knowing she did the best she could while she was blessed to be carrying him. And she did see it as a blessing. She is grieving and torn, her heart is still broken, still shattered. Yet God in His goodness and grace will heal this because she has done what she knew was asked of her. Love this child, honor life and have faith.

I pray for His mercy and peace for this family, especially this mother, and I ask you to do the same.

Oh well.......

John called this morning at 2am and by 4am I had decided there would be no more sleeping since Thud was awake and whining. I knew there had been some snow during the night but not how much. The aspens are not faring well....too much wet snow and still too many leaves....even the big ones are bent over with the weight of it. The small ones are breaking. Out of the three in the bottom picture, one has already snapped.

sNOOOOOOOOOw

I was only yesterday glorying in the beauty of fall. That may not last long. When Stryker needed to make his potty call at 5:50am this morning it was snowing. I am not quite ready....ok, I REALLY dont want it to be full on winter yet.

There are some advantages. You can live in sweats and nobody thinks you are crazy or just too lazy to get dressed. Makeup is definately optional since you dont see anyone. You can live in your houseshoes...again pretty normal. The dust dies down...some. Fires in the fireplace are toasty and lovely. Stews and hot soups.

Some disadvantages too. Wet dogs and muddy pawprints. Frozen showers ...and I dont mean freezing in the shower, although that happens too, no...I mean the shower literally freezes and cant be used. Icy slick driveway, ditto for the roads. A husband who thinks fishtailing the car on ice is a winter sport. Winter blasts coming in under the french doors. Chapped lips. Critters sheltering in the garage ( there is another one out there : Bikki has been losing her mind since yesterday, again by the woodpile inside the garage door and she is never wrong on this count ).

At least for the moment the snow has turned to rain. You wouldn't think I would be thrilled with rain but I am. I am just not quite to the winter place yet.

The middle kingdom

There are times here when my location seems suspended between earth and sky. Times when earth and sky are unbounded by the limits of physics...when I am witness to the simple glory of light, falling like grace on all. None is deserving...it just falls, covering and uncovering all.

What a blessing to observe the wonder of His creation....

I am grateful.

Compare and contrast

Same bed....same dog. Need I say more?

The fog creeps in on little cat feet.....

It sits on silent haunches....

Everything goes still. No birds sing, nothing moves in the trees. Truly ethereal.....wonderful, beautiful and so different from what I am used to.

Thank you Lord, for every new thing.

A birdie with a yellow bill

hopped upon my windowsill
cocked his shining eye and said
"aint you shamed, you sleepyhead"?

Ok, not exactly. We have huge windows in the living room and dining area and birds fly into them. When my son in law Joe was here a hummingbird smacked the window then fell into Jessica's lap. I think she was channeling the Hawaii B-52 cockroaches because the screaming that ensued was the same. Joe gently scooped up the little guy and stroked his feathers to calm him ( the guy is basically the animal whisperer...ALL animals adore him!). After a few minutes the bird ruffeled his wings and Joe lifted him several times and off the lil guy flew.

This little yellow bird was sitting on the deck table looking stunned. All the dogs wanted to go say "Hi" but considering that fact that Stryker eats things bigger than the bird I decided this was probably not a good idea. I went out solo and scooped it up and did the Joe thing with the wing stroking....there didnt seem to be any damage to his wings. I think he just knocked himself silly and needed a minute to recover. I put him on the birdfeeder and a minute or two later, off he went.

I am not a big bird person....I love watching them but have absolutely NO interest in touching them. Thanks Joe....it really wasn't as icky as I thought it would be.