and the countdown begins...

That's right! We are officially taking our first family Disney World vacation! Of course, the kids don't know yet, so it's a BIG secret for now, but Mama and Daddy are getting PUMPED...

Where'd he go?

Yes. When sitting on a curb watching my kiddos ride bikes - one with training wheels and one without - I about lost my lunch when a CRAZY spring "breeze" almost knocked me over. Then I looked down. Not far down. Just to my knees. There they were. Two caterpillars - one on each knee - and I had an idea: Let's raise these suckers!

Well, lots of Google research and leaf testing later, we had it figured out. Thanks to Gran and the bug habitats - ok, jars basically - we had them set up with watered branches - carefully watered so they wouldn't drown - and lots of climbing twigs. Then, after 4 days, while cleaning out cages - and MAN, do these things ever POOP! - I discovered my son's was deader than dirt. So, I waved madly to my husband for help and we positioned the dead thing back in the cage to buy some time to find a replacement.

We ran to the garage, grabbed bikes, and went back to the spot where we found the originals. Praise the Father, there were three right there! I put one in the playdough container and got it back and in his new home before anyone had even noticed their parents were gone. SUCCESS! W e l l... I thought they could use a little "fresh air" - there are holes and slits in the top of the cages - so I left the tops off while we went bike riding. (We grownups just got bikes for the first time in 20 years, so we're WAY excited for any chance to ride.) Guess who also went on a trip?

Yup. The newest LIVE addition decided to make a run for it.
So, now we have an empty cage, a loose wormy fuzzy thingy, and soon a sad little boy if I can't figure out how to get out there and get another "replacement" without him finding out... GEEZ! We should've just let him find the first one limp, said some prayers, and flushed it! I'm too old for this... ;-}

History merely repeats itself.

It has all been done before; so says Solomon in Ecclesiastes 1:9. (New Living Translation) How true! Matthew Henry comments: "Men's hearts and their corruptions are the same now as in former times; their desires, and pursuits, and complaints, still the same." (Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Bible) Funny how we can be made to feel, by satan himself it sometimes seems, that no one else has EVER suffered, grieved, wanted and been denied as much as we have. How silly I am! I am comforted in knowing that satan has employed no new tactics for me. I am able, through the power of Christ, to defend myself against all evil attacks.
Another verse in Ecclesiastes caught me: "As you enter the house of God, keep your ears open and your mouth shut."(5:1). I have so much more to learn than to impart. May I remember to listen and learn first.

"Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God."
Ephesians 6:14-17