We Have Babies!

 

I'll start by saying that since June 22nd I have not slept in the same bed for more than four days in a row. And looking towards the rest of the summer, it's going to be like that, more or less, until into August. This doesn't count the 13 nights I'll be asleep 'in my own bed' at Hot Springs. More on that in a second.

This bed shuffling has a lot to do with the cottage comings and goings of various family members, and the fact that Ken and I now have the option to retreat to the bunkie when it serves best to spread us out a little. But it is also a significant feature of the unsettled nature of this season of transition we're in.

I'm feeling it.

Doesn't help that some of that bed shuffling included two nights in a hospital bed. Doesn't help that, while I am steadily improving, I'm still not quite 'myself' or fully back into my regular routines (just ask my kayak).

Almost nothing seems normal.

And I guess that's why hearing the baby jenny wrens chirping excitedly when Mom or Dad arrives with breakfast brings me a measure of comforting joy.

This happens every year. Every summer we watch as the wrens build their nest in the birdhouse above the deck. Every summer we wait until we have evidence - i.e. the chirping - that the next generation has hatched. Every summer I find it delightful to watch the parents come back and forth with insects. And every summer those illusive little fledglings leave the nest without us noticing.

And just now, on this perfect Saturday morning, while Grandad has the little boys down on the boat fishing, and we wait for the arrival of all the parents of all the children, I notice the chirping. And I am glad for the reminder that there is indeed some familiar joys all around, even now.

Reminds me of the words God said to Noah as part of His reassurance after the ultimate unsettling of the flood.

"As long as the earth endures,
seed time and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night,
will never cease."
Genesis 8:22

What a good gift it is that I now feel so at home at Hot Springs that, ironically, half way around the world, I will find something familiar for my un-nested soul to rest into.

Just a matter of days now. One night's sleep in the bunkie. Two or three at the house, then back up to the bunkie for four more, then three days at the home of friends, then off to Thailand.

And the faithfulness of God sustains.

Hope some form of baby birds chirp for you today!!