Our December began with the celebration of Olivia's birthday! She turned 3.......she is quite adorable I must say . But don't let the big blue eyes and the blonde pigtails fool you! Our Miss Olivia is always on the go and can very quickly get into many things.She is always getting a "snack" from the chocolate chip drawer or sneaking something from the frig. She copies everthing Christian does and says and she had a very Tinkerbell Birthday!
The days are getting much colder and we are expecting much snow and blizzard like conditions the next few days........nothing like snow for the Holidays!! Kate moved back home this week to spend the Christmas holidays at home. I was very excited to have her come home.....................what I wasn't expecting was all her "stuff". We spent a full 25 minutes hauling all her things from her car to her room......"options" she said ," I like options". My bathroom counter is again full of "stuff".....there are cords from computers and phones through out the house, the lights are left on......... dishes and glasses are left by the couch, I hear her on the phone way late at night and the shower runs for 20 minutes leaving her wet enough to use at least 3 towels!!! Oh.... and she used MY razor!!!!
I decided not to fret about the new found mess all thru my house and just enjoy the time with her......bake cookies, watch movies and play games. Maybe all my kids will be snowed in for 3 days!!!!! Hooray!!!
So we will celebrate this week.......the birth of Jesus. Maybe we will be surrounded by families, church, food and parties or maybe God will just stop all our busy activities and leave us snowed in ....together as a family....forcing us to stop and remember the real meaning of Christmas. Whatever your week brings you, my wish is that you are blessed and that you are surrounded by those you love and that you feel the true JOY of belonging to Jesus.

A Lesson from "Larry"

This is Larry. Larry showed up at our house one sunny afternoon this spring. He couldn't fly and was very friendly. He seemed to be looking for a home and he very much liked having contact with people. First Larry wanted to be by the house. He would sit by the door or the window if he heard me inside and he would "talk" to me. You can laugh if you want but he did! He was very responsive when I would talk back. Larry tried to belong in the house with us, he tried to belong with the dog but Tanner was not to thrilled with a big grey goose following him. Larry tried to belong with the chickens but they just didn't have the social skills he was looking for.

One day while I was cleaning inside the house I heard a terrible commotion outside, Larry was honking VERY loudly . I opened the door and looked around.......nothing unusual. But when I went back in , Larry started honking and pacing on the driveway. I went outside thinking maybe the dog was bothering him or something. It was then that I heard a loud "maaaa maaaaa". Oh dear it was my 2 little goats that I had been bottle feeding since early spring. Tinkerbell (Named by Olivia) was up on the pool deck making all the noise and much to my horror Lightning McQueen (named by Christan) was frantically paddling in the pool. I ran and swooped him from the water, he was quite thankful because I don't really think that normally goats like to swim. After that incident Larry took ownership of the baby goats. If they got into any trouble or got out of Larry's sight he would honk and honk till they would come running and he knew where they were. Larry slept with the goats in the barn, he ate what they ate and he came running when they came running. Larry seemed to think he was a goat.....he thought that was where he belonged.

As the summer went on Larry became part of our lives. He would welcome you when you came on the yard. We all talked to him and fed him crusts of bread. He would join us by the pool on hot summer days waiting for someone to splash him or he would swim and do his own version of tricks in the baby pool. If we would take walks at night with Christian and Olivia in the stroller ,Larry would want to come along. he would honk and make a fuss until Daniel would lift him up and perch him on the top of the stroller. He would perch on the top as if it was quite normal to go for a walk on a warm summer night. It seemed to make him feel like he belonged.

Towards the end of the summer I would catch Larry trying to fly. It made me wonder where he really did belong and if he would try to join the geese that would fly over in the fall. So being kind of "motherly" I decided I would teach Larry to fly.................yes my kids thought I was kinda crazy and I am quite sure some of the neighbors might have too. BUT.........who was supposed to teach Larry to fly? he had no example or encouragement to spread his wings and fly.....everyone needs that right?? So Larry learned to fly. He started by flying just a few feet at a time, just a few feet off the ground. I ran around the yard....yes flapping my arms and encouraging him to keep going. As Larry got better and better, I got on the moped..............Christian would sit on the back and we would flap our arms and Larry would go farther and farther. Not higher but farther. Soon we no longer had to flap our arms, we would just call to him and he would fly right beside us all the way to grandma's house. I wish I had this on tape because it was unbelievable and very funny. Christian and I would have to stop because we were laughing so hard. He would fly right next to us....we could feel the little breeze his wings made. Christian would yell "turn Larry , turn" when we approached the corner so he would not fly into us.

This fall when we got rid of the goats, Larry became very attached to me. He followed me everywhere, he slept on the deck right in front of the door. He came right in the house the day we were moving Kate out to college. As the boxes went out, Larry came in. He followed me to the field when I would go with the tractor and then he started to follow me when I left the yard with the van. It seemed he just need a sense of belonging somewhere, he wanted connection with someone. It amazed me what an awesome creature God made this goose and how we too long for that sense of connection. We all want to belong somewhere, we want to fit in, we want a safe place to call home. The lesson from Larry is this......accept who you are....... accept those who are different.....accept where God's calls you to be and who he wants you to be. God gives us that sense of belonging, that sense of safety and best of all, if we listen...........He is there right beside us encouraging us to fly.

I would like to write this story for a Childrens Book............hmmmmm. Something to think about!