Picnic Please!

A day of delights.  That's what yesterday was for our family.

We began the morning with Daniel's famous waffles.

We worshipped together again as a family, the first time since Daniel left for Ranger School.  I loved watching Daniel be Tirzah's Daddy.  She played quietly at our feet during the service: delighting in an envelope, a pen, and some leftover waffle I brought as a treat.  She sat beneath us, crawling over our feet, and quietly whispering sweet baby nothings to her toys.  When she would crawl out of her little space out into the wide space of the aisle, Daddy would grab her skirt and pull her back to her place.  O the joys!

Tirzah is absolutely fascinated with nature.  She loves to watch out the back door, waiting, watching, for any sign of movement.  The wind in the trees causes her to bounce with excitement.  The sound of a squirrel or even the faint swish of a bird's wing causes her to look in eager anticipation.  What beauty can be seen with the eyes of child!  Simple wonders of nature that I take for granted create the greatest delight.  And shouldn't they do the same for us?  Slowly she is teaching me to come back to that place of wonder...

"But not a single sparrow falls to the ground without your Father knowing it" Matthew 10:29

"For every animal of the forest is mine; and the cattle on a thousand hills" Psalm 50:10

So yesterday, to increase Tirzah's love of nature, we had our first homeschool activity!  Daniel found a Suet recipe for the backyard birds... and we made it!  You combine equal amounts of: 

peanut butter

flour

cornmeal

Crisco

bird seed

and put it in a mesh bag to hang outside (we used a grocery onion bag...).

Notice the crisco on her eyelashes... woopsies!

We have yet to see any birds enjoying our creation, but I know they will soon come!  We will join Tirzah to watch and to wait...

Later in the evening last night we had our first family picnic!  We put together some shredded chicken, garlic bread, potatoes wedges, and a salad and headed to a local park.  The weather was absolutely perfect: that crisp air with which your lungs fill with life.  It couldn't have been a more perfect evening.