outside my window

sneak peek friday ~ february twenty first

Remember last week’s birds that I was less than happy with?

This is what they grew up to be…

sorry for the glare!

 Amazing what a few book pages, 

some inks, 

and some cool calendar 

pics can do!

What did you create this week in your studio**?

Please share here or over at Studio JRU.

**remember a studio is anywhere 

you find yourself creating art***

***art is what you do 

when you bring beauty into this world 

and we are all artists 

who happen to use different tools

a way out

in our family the garage is my husband's space.  in the course of a normal day one won't usually find me in it.

yet the other morning i felt a need to open the door and look inside.  i then heard it...

a peep... 

then another...

then what became a plaintive cry for help...

i turned the lights on and the brightness caused the bird to fly out of fear...

the frightened bird flew from one side of the garage to another where pinholes of light could be seen.

back and forth the poor thing flew.  my gentle words of no comfort to it as its fear rose to new heights of panic resulting in faster trips across the garage.

worried i would cause more harm, i left the door open and went back inside.  

when i checked a while later, the little bird was still trapped.

i knew then i would have to get its attention in a more dramatic way.  i opened the big garage door and walked away.

this is the point in the story i would like to say the bird immediately flew free, but the reality is i had to go back inside.

when i returned the bird was gone.  my heart was happy and i prayed the bird was safely home with its bird family, but i will never know if it truly was.

as i thought about that little bird i realized God comes to me in little ways, often in darkness or shadows of doubt and fear, but i don't respond.  there are times God has to use a more dramatic way to get my attention.  

sadly God is in those quiet places if i settle down just enough to pay attention...usually i don't.  i pray this weekend i am able to be still and listen in the quiet places.  be still with me?

God promises He is there...

He leads me in right paths^*

   for his name’s sake. 

Psalm 23.3

the babies today

the egg i worried about has hatched...aren't they perfect?

I know all the birds of the air,

   and all that moves in the field is mine. (Ps. 50.11)

new babies!!!

here they are!

a little worried about the egg just outside of the nest.


(these are the light fixture babies)

nest update

and today we have robin egg #1!!!!!

hope the neighbor's party doesn't upset mama too much.

for the birds...

the birds are teaching me much about life in community these days.


as i took my nest update pics today i was amazed at how carefully mama robin is making her nest.  remember yesterday it was mud and bugs and a few pieces of straw and twigs.


this is it today...

she has carefully padded it for the eggs that will soon be nurtured here using every means she has to prepare a safe place for her babies.  a place of safety and a haven from the elements.


we too try to carefully construct places that are loving, warm, authentic, and safe.  sadly, like the starlings above our garage, there are those who  come and try to take for themselves things that are not theirs to take or to destroy what has been built in our life together.  they engage in actions that undermine the fabric of the community, much like the starlings did to this nest...

it is easy to become discouraged and take their words and actions as permission to give up, to walk away, to search for a cave instead of build a nest.  


that is where i found myself today.  thanks be to God i was able to spend time with a beloved who reminded me that nests can be rebuilt, reused, and even added to.  they are stronger than they appear and often take much time to construct.


i left the visit encouraged, thankful for a respite in the midst of the chaos of life in community, and time on the porch brought the remembrance of swallows from my childhood (learn more here: swallows ).  i found myself waiting with anticipation for the bells to ring.  as a child the joy of hearing them was a reminder of continuity in the midst of continuous change.  a re-learning or re-remembering that some things, like God's love, never change even when we try to move them away or think others can tear them down.


i was also able to take these pics  (reminded again how social the swallows are)...

notice the careful construction of the nest.  literally thousands and thousands of nests used to be found built right on top of one another at Mission San Juan Capistrano and you can see here why they are able to do so...

feeding time (didn't want to get too close)...

this little one threw a stick at me to say it was time to go home...

... and i did grateful to my friends, feathered and not, for encouraging me to keep on building and loving me enough provide a safe place to land when the winds blow me off track. 


so again i wait with anticipation for the bells to ring as we enter our little nest as a family to worship together the parent who loves us so completely.

and now there are 3!

checked this morning and now there are 3!

mama hovered close by.  hopefully soon she will recognize me like mama robin did.

and this afternoon a new nest!!!  this one right outside my writing window.

haven't seen mama and daddy yet.

nesting again

earlier this spring i had the gift of watching a nest become a home to three baby robins and share in their journey from little blue eggs to finding their way in the big bird world.  

one of the most heart wrenching things for me to see in this season is broken eggs on the ground.  i am sad for the lost opportunities and after saying a quick prayer am reminded of the need to not let chances God sends to me become like those broken eggs.

recently i noticed a nest above a light fixture outside one of our back doors.  

as it was just in its beginning stages i took it down as i thought about the hazards to wee little birdies sitting above a light switch outside a door we are in and out of and directly across from the nest of aggressive starlings that won't leave their roost on top of the garage or quit troubling the littler birds at the feeder.  

after the second time of taking down a new nest, i left it alone and figured it would be easier to use the other door.  perhaps mama bird knows better than i what her babies need.

so for now our light fixture is home to mama and daddy and baby...

oh make that two babies...  

looking forward to another chance to watch this gift of life.

3 gifts found in the dark

the moon and stars dancing with the clouds...

that precious moment on the cliff between wake and sleep...

the birds waking up, their song a reminder that a new day is close...