..."there goes the neighborhood..."

I have had this idea rumbling around in my head.... my 9 year old and my Dad, his Grandpa, built a birdhouse together... maybe, 6 years ago...  we were on a spring time visit.... we used to do that before school... before routine.... life was a little more 'fly by the seat of your pants' back them...

So my oldest got the idea in his head that he wanted to build a bird house... my Dad looked at me with questioning eye.... we asked what sparked the idea.... he had seen it on a cartoon on PBS... a boy built a birdhouse with grandpa, so logically he would too.... I suggested a lean-to simple structure... they worked out in my Dad's quonset for a few hours... came into the house to ask Grandma what colors of spray paint she had on hand...

I am proud to say the birdhouse still hangs in our yard... housing a family of chick-a-dee's each spring.... this will be it's 7th spring as a 'casa' ...my cat frequently scales the tree to see if 'anybody's home' ...

I've been waiting for them to show up... soon to follow are the morning doves that wake me at 5:00 a.m. each summer... the blue jays that bully all the other birds... last summer I tried to bribe my boys into using the birds as target practice with their B-B guns... I have raised boys with big hearts... and their Dad has taught them well... to not shoot 'non-gaming' birds.... they wouldn't do it... not even for me....

Once the birds all show up, I know the chance of sleeping in .... will be slim to none....

Today I found a new 'neighbor'... and the direction of this 'tale' is swerving.....

Yesterday morning as I was raising the blinds in my bedroom... to let in a little sunshine... I spotted a bug.... I called for my oldest to bring me a paper towel..."You can't kill it Mom!" he replied.... "It is one of God's creatures you know."  ... So my youngest showed up in his under-roos with his bug habitat in hand... they wanted to 'cage' it...

They were successful in their mission while I backed up to a distance, watching my kindergartner nimbly wriggle between the wall & bed ... they laid out the 'insect identification guide' to see what it was... it appeared to be a black beetle... but his wiggling antennas has me fearful that it may be a more pesky pest... a pet famous for urban survival... a call was placed to the exterminator... rather promptly...

So my youngest begged and pleaded to take him to school... "He's never seen what kindergarten is like." ... so I relented, allowing the bug to be a stow-a-way in the backpack....

Today was visitation day at school... it is Christian Education Week, so our boys school has invited parents, grandparents, perspective families in to their walls to have a look..

I forgot about this when I allowed the bug...

So between morning errands I made my 'drop in'... to see the bug toted around, set next to the teacher for 'carpet time'... to know that he had been named.... something that now escapes my brain....

I was mortified... I had sent a bug, possibly a roach, to school on a day that all the other parents would see my son proudly parading it around.... I am a pretty down-to-earth type farm-girl... it takes a lot to 'ruffle my feathers'.... in my defense, I think the creature 'hitched a ride' in my husbands brief case.... we used to have a rule that the brief case stayed in the truck.... it must have slipped the radar....

So there goes the neighbor hood.... (insert a smile) ... the exterminator will come, the problem will be solved....

So this has me thinking... are there people or issues or trials in your life that you are struggling with? ... someone or something that you wish could easily be dealt with, kind of like the exterminator?

In the book of Romans the apostle Paul writes about trials...
Romans 5:3 (New Living Translation)
"3 We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance."

I should REJOICE in problems? ... REJOICE in trials? ..... they help to strengthen us... to give us stamina...  ENDURANCE.... the Lord wants me to sometimes be uncomfortable? ....

So the bug has been 'pardoned'... at least for a few day... he's a tough sucker, lasted 24 hours without food and water.... the boys added cat food & a little towel with water... he can live in the habitat out in the boys fort.... I keep reminding my brain that he was 'cute' in the movie Wall-E...

With the birds showing up, maybe the Lord has new 'morning plans' for me.... maybe He is conditioning me to wake early... with a joyful heart (that's a tough one)... maybe the Lord is training me for summer, when my boys will return to the house all day... leaving me with little free time....

... to spend my daily time with Him in the early morning light... with a choir of feathered friends to seranade me....