Poor Birdie

When I got to work a couple weeks ago on Thursday, I saw a little sparrow in the lobby by the window, trying to fly through it to get out. It didn't work very well. I watched it for awhile, feeling sorry for it and tried to pick it up to take it outside, but it kept fluttering and I didn't want to scare it too much to make it fly farther into the building. I told the concierge and he called someone to take care of it. I waited with the bird, watching it for about 20 minutes but had to leave to get to work on time.

I knew how the bird should go, but couldn't get it's attention. I doubt if it trusted me much either. It reminded me of how God must feel when we insist on doing things our way instead of His way. We are like that little bird, banging persistently against the glass instead of going through the doors that God has for us. To me it makes a lot of sense to trust God completely because He is so much wiser and knows the best way for us to go. He sees the big picture and knows the future. I find great comfort in knowing my life is in His hands.

What about you? Have you surrendered control of your life to God? I guess this is on my mind after reading "Flight to Heaven" by Captain Dale Black, the lone survivor of a plane crash who was in critical condition but recovered enough to fly again just a year later. Check out my review at Grab A Book From Our Stack.

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Miracle Monday: "The Man Who Wouldn't Budge"

This true story is about a repair shop owner in China:

A JESUS film worker went to a video repair shop carrying his well-worn video player. The machine had faithfully played the JESUS video innumerable times. The owner quoted an outlandish amount (equivalent to a month’s wages) to repair it. Discouraged, that the man wouldn’t budge on the price, he could only leave the player there and hope for a change of heart. He returned a few weeks later, anxious to continue his video ministry.

Beaming, the owner of the shop handed him the repaired player, along with a bill reduced by 90 percent. Responding to the incredulous stare of the worker, the shop owner said, “I watched the video you left in the machine. My life has changed. I gave my life to Jesus!”

From p. 32 of The Power of Jesus used by permission from The JESUS Film Project®.

Have you ever seen the JESUS film? It’s very good! We sometimes use scenes from it in Sunday School and there is also a children’s version too. This story is similar to the story of Zacchaeus in Luke 19:8-10.

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Our Favorite Reads For September: "Mockingjay" and "The Last Song"

We read so many good books during September, it was a very difficult choice but here are the ones we finally decided on:

Gerard's:

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

You know the deal about Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins--the last book of The Hunger Games trilogy! Some people were disappointed in this book, but I am not one of them. I thought this was the best of the three because it has tons of action! I never knew what was going to happen next. I like how not everyone thought Katniss was all that, the Gale-Peeta-Katniss triangle, and the surprise ending! I enjoyed Mocking jay a lot! It was hard to put down and I couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next! Definitely read The Hunger Games and Catching Fire first though.

Karen's thoughts on it: It's great! Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins is the last book in The Hunger Games trilogy and did not disappoint.  This book is amazing!  There is so much action, well developed interesting characters, and psychological drama that I was engrossed in it right from the start all the way to the end.  To get the most out of Mockingjay though, I highly recommend that you read the entire series.  I felt so bad for Peeta throughout the book but am satisfied with the ending.  There is a lot of suffering but loved that Prim’s cat survived and enjoyed Katniss’ relationship with it.  There is some humor in this book too which helped balance the gravity of it.  I liked Katniss throughout the series and admired her intelligence, determination, spontaneity, skill, compassion and perseverance.  At no point was I able to know how it would end for sure. 

This is a great book to end the series and I highly recommend this series to anyone 14 and older.  I also think this entire series would work great for a book club, there is just so much to discuss.  This series is a MUST READ for anyone who likes suspense, adventure, science fiction, excitement and books about relationships. 


Karen's:

The Last Song by Nicolas Sparks

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks is an amazing story about teen rebellion, love, friendship, romance, and forgiveness.  The main character is a girl named Ronnie who held a grudge against her dad because he left, but her 10-yr.-old brother, Jonah, brought out her tender side.  One summer, she has to go live with him and learns and grows into a mature woman who realizes she was not always right after all and everything is not about her.

It's a very good story and I liked it a lot! I liked the characters in this book because they were all very believable.  Parts were sad but overall, I liked the ending because it was touching and happy.  This is a must read if you enjoy books about teens and parents.

Other reviews of great books we read in September are over at "Grab A Book From Our Stack"
Cleo by Helen Brown about a special cat (Gerard's)
Flight to Heaven by Dale Black about a lone survivor of a plane crash and his amazing journey (Karen's)
Where Are You Now? by Mary Higgins Clark about a search for a missing brother (Karen's)

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Did You Ever Have This Yard Problem?

This just happened over night!  We got up this morning and look what I saw when Gerard told me to look out our back window:

Half our yard was all torn up.  Looks like an animal was looking for something in our grass.  At least it was our backyard and not our front yard.  Our next door neighbor had both the front and back torn up.  What animal would do this?  A mole?  A skunk?  The bigger question is what do we do about it?  This is just beginning our 14th year living here and nothing like this ever happened before. 

Would a fence stop them or would they just burrow under it?  Here's our conversation to start our day:

Gerard:  Put up a fence or something.

Karen:  Well, I don't have a magic wand I can wave and up goes a fence.

Gerard:  Then call someone.

Karen:  Who?  I don't know who to call.

Gerard:  Look in the Yellow Pages. 

Karen:  Under what?  Yard torn up?

Gerard:  Under yard torn up by animals.

Karen:  Yeah, right.  I don't know what to do either.  I have to think about it.  I'm not good at making snap decisions.

Gerard:  Well, I'm putting down more patch.  It looks like they didn't tear up where the patch was.  Then I'll put bricks over it until you come up with a better solution.

Karen:  Fine, do what you want, but the animal probably won't dig up where it already dug, it'll move on to the rest of the yard.

Gerard:  Ask your blogging buddies.  Maybe they'll know what to do.

So now our yard looks like this:

Any suggestions on who to call or what to do?  We're asking you!  Help!


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4 Things I Learned This Week #89 (polls, funny, social media, roosters)

How Many Books Do You Read At A Time?

According to my little poll of 22 people at Grab A Book From Our Stack, 12 people read only one book at a time, but what surprised us is that six read MORE than two at a time!

Social Networking

I never knew there were so many social networking sites until I watched this video at Mike's Live Live 365 blog. It's hilarious and he is so creative. Check out his post about it: How To Increase Your Network Of Friends.

Getting Spayed

I had Spunky Doodle spayed when we took her in as a kitten and I felt horrible but after reading Harley's explanation, now I know about the garden inside the girl cats. Harley has a great way of explaining things in his "How Does That Work?" posts over at "Daisy, The Curly Cat."

Roosters

Being a city girl, I love learning more about farm animals and the country over at Red Pine Mountain. This week I learned from Mountain Man that roosters fight when they are in closed quarters and get bored. They have seven roosters!

Click here for more Friday Fragments.

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