Birds Are A Blessing.

I know I haven't covered much on our big goal, but this weekend, Jonathon and I will be going out (without children), and we will sit down then and write out what our goals are and THEN I will get on the ball with this. Stay tuned, but until then, we wanted to share our birds with you.

Once a week we do a story time with another family from church, and we take turns hosting it and planning it. One week, we decided to do it on birds, and for the craft we made suet blocks (this is a great winter project. Directions for making at the end of the post). We hung one of ours in the tree just outside our big front window and Jonathon screwed a piece of wood outside the window where we sat the other two. So far, no birds right up at the window. I wonder why with three chilren who as soon as they see a bird, yell, "BIRD". = )

Alegra has enjoyed taking pictures of them, so I wanted to display some of her work.

This one is of a female Cardinal sitting right outside the window by one of the suet blocks.

Here she captured both a male Cardinal and a Downey Woodpecker.

This morning, I was up early to feed Benaiah. Here I sat in my chair, thinking about what the day would hold and some visitors arrived. Mr. and Mrs. Card came by. Mrs. Card was very brave this morning (maybe it was because the children were still in bed or she was sleep flying). But joining them was Mr. Downey. Though I remember that he and Mr. Hairy Woodpecker look very similar, so I am needing somebody to remind me of the difference between the two. I didn't want to embarrass him in front of Mr. and Mrs. Card. I sat and nursed Benaiah while they enjoyed a bite to eat also. What a pleasant visit we had! What a blessing!

These little guys look like sparrows to me, but I do believe they are a fancier kind of sparrow if there is such a thing. If anybody knows what kind this is, please leave a comment. The head had more distinct markings than a sparrow, which makes me think it is one of those, something or other crowned sparrows or something like that. Any help? I really need a good bird book!

And these guys weren't at all afraid of the children. They would let them get right in the window to watch them. How fun!

That wasnt' all we saw. We watched Tufted Titmouse, Juncos (snow birds), Red Bellied Woodpecker, Blue Jay, 2 male Blue Birds, and 1 female Blue Bird. What a pleasure it is to watch this simple creation of HIM. We certainly enjoy the simple things in life and this happens to be one of them. What a lovely thing to watch while I nursed my infant, praising HIM for all His blessings in my life, both big and small blessings!

Homemade Suet Blocks

-Start by melting down some beef suet. I didn't measure I just estimated. And be sure you stir while it is melting, so that it won't burn.

-Other than suet, you will need bird seeds, berries from bushes or trees, peanut butter, and containers such as coolwhip or sour cream containers.

-After the suet is melted (DO NOT add the peanut butter to the suet while you are melting it or it will burn. And then your house will smell nasty for days to come. Lesson learned and sharing with you) add peanut butter.

-Let it cool a little and then pour into your containers.

-Have children scoop out bird seed and berries and dump into container, then stir thoroughly.

-We also put a tied piece of yarn at the top of the inside of the container for hanging it up. Seemed to work good on two of ours. We just pushed the yarn into the mixture so it would solidify within it.

-Let it sit until it is solid, then carefully try to tap out of container.

-Then hang in a tree or put on a ledge and enjoy the birds during the winter months.