They're back....................

Bon jour ~ 

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing, Sunday!  The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day, didn't He?  Opps.....I got a little delayed in posting my Sunday blog......I have some good news to share.  About 18 years ago, we were blessed with 2 ducks who decided to make our pond "home". 

We named them Romeo and Juliet.  Every year they would fly to our pond and we were able to see the "miracle" of Juliet have her yearly "ducklings".  She would raise & protect them until she could teach them all to fly.  Once she had this "task" completed they would all fly off until next year......then Mom and Dad would fly back "home" and Juliet would repeat the same process every spring.

Here's a picture of Juliet and her "teenager's as I liked to call them when they reached this stage in their development.  It's almost time for them to fly away................and find a new home to live in.

Juliet was a creature of habit.......she had a favorite bush she would set up her nest in every year.  And what a good Mom she was.  She rarely left her nest~only to take an occasional dip in the pond and quick fly around the neighborhood with her Romeo.  Then back to the bush she went until it was time for her babies to hatch. 

Sometimes we were lucky enough to catch her in action.....just when her babies were hatching!  Juliet would coach her darling new born babies to take a long leap from their cosy nest into the pond.  The good mom that she was, she would wait patiently until every last baby~made their leap of faith into the pond~and then she would take them on a tour of their new home.  They were so............cute, everywhere she went, they followed. At other times, we would "wake" up to a pond full of darling ducklings.........

Every night aound dusk "mama" would jump up onto a large rock we have in the middle of the pond and her babies would follow.  Sometimes it was all they could do to climb up this huge rock to reach their "mama" but they always made it.  Then Juliet would ever so gently lift up her wings and body and every baby would "tuck" themselves under her for the night. 

I felt privileged to be able to see this darling feat of hers every year.  As her babies grew, it became harder for "mama" to fit them all in, but she did the best she could.

Then sadly, a couple of years ago, we heard a terrible sound outside.  It was Romeo and he was mourning the death of his loyal and beautiful Juliet.  She passed........it was so pitiful listening to him.  And with that, getting to see the yearly miracle of birth, ceased.........until now.

We have a new set of ducks who decided to make our pond their home this year.  I can't help but think it is one of Romeo and Juliet's babies.  They "nap" in the same exact spot along the outside of our pond that Juliet used to take them to.  We have a huge pond so I don't think it's a coincidence.  Our new "mama" is gone for long stretches of time so I wonder if she is sitting on her own nest somewhere.  Time will tell.........................

Susan Doggett, our local bird rescuer, told me she was amazed our ducklings did so good........ I guess normally, it's rare for so many baby ducks to make it to adulthood, there's just too many predator's around.

Which brings me to my verse for today...But not a single sparrow can fall to the ground without the Father knowing it.  Matthew 10:29

My ~tip~ for today is......give yourself a rest!  Take some time every day to find your own "miracle" of nature!  You will find it when you least expect it, just keep your eyes peeled.

ta....ta....for now!
Kathy Renee