I have not been able to spend much time on my blog, due to the fact that most of my after work time is spent at the house WORKING 
.
There have been many changes happening and one of these days I will be able to share them with you. But for now, here are couple of photos to show you some of the recent changes.
BEFORE
NOW
BEFORE
NOW
I have not been able to post much of anything lately. The main reason is because we have been so busy working on the house. But I must say that I have been waiting a long time (or at least it seems like a long time) to be able to share this next few photos with you.
Earlier I was able to share couple of special opportunities I had of taking photos of baby Blue Jay and baby Robin. I think I did mention that it has been a real blessing for me to be able to capture the young ones. I have never been able to do that before….mostly because I never see the babies until they are just about all grown up.
And so to my surprise, I had yet another chance to capture the start of a new young life. This time it was Doves.
It was exciting and took lots of patience and hope….hope to be able to witness it to the end. I almost did it, but unfortunately my persistence was not good enough….the timing was not on my side to carry this to the end. BUT I am so excited to have seen what I have and for that I am thankful.
JUNE 14
I arrived at work as I do each morning and walked the same path from my car to the front door. I have to pass few cedar trees and as I approached the first one, couple of doves almost hit me in the face as they flew out of the tree. This happened for three days in the row when I finally clued in that something must be in that tree….so I looked and looked and there it was….A NEST This discovery started my new daily routine (except weekends when I am off) of talking to the mother who was always sitting in the nest, asking her to please let me see…haha…I felt little better asking her first, and then as she would leave….taking a picture. I could not see into the nest, but it was low enough that all I had to do is put the camera over it – tilt it – and shoot. And this is what I would see:
Day 1 – JUNE 17 – What a surprise…there was an egg
Day 6 – JUNE 22 – Even bigger surprise…two eggs now
THE MOTHER – She let me take a photo of her willingly…that or she was tired of me coming over each morning and refused to leave
Day 16 – JULY 2 – 1 Day Old – FINALLY…they hatched – one I can’t even tell what is what
Day 19 – JULY 5 – 4 Days Old – They seem to be filling that nest pretty quickly
Day 21 – JULY 7 – 6 Days Old – I think I can start seeing the Dove in them
Day 22 – JULY 8 - 7 Days Old – They are almost too big for the nest now
And believe it or not…that was the last time I saw them, because I didn’t want to disturb them on Friday July 9th. And when I returned back to work on the July 13th (today)…they were all gone…gone gone gone 
. You see – it seems to take them longer to hatch then to spread their wings and fly…or at least till their father pushes them out of the nest, which can happen as early as on the day 11 of their little lives. Unfortunately – day 11 was YESTERDAY….arrrgggg!!!!! Didn’t they miss me coming over each day? Couldn’t they have waited?
Well, as I said earlier, I am very thankful to be able to get this far with the family of Doves….Thank You Lord!
I try not to make comments on the sermons because they are ALL awesome, but I will say that YOU MUST LISTEN TO THIS ONE!
Suffering and Sovereignty Makes Sense, Don’t It?
Job 1 & 2
Part 1 of the Series on the Book of Job
Curtis Allen
July 4, 2010
Tags: sermons
Slowly but surely we are getting closer to the day we will be able to move in. We have been working hard and slowly seeing the changes. Sometimes it feels as if the work will never be done or that there really isn’t much improvement, but then…a neighbor comes over to tell us how wonderful it is for them to look out the window and see the changes and my flowers. WOW! Really? So I guess there is an improvement.
Yesterday we finally opened the door to our friends from church to come and help us. We are very blessed to be part of a church that truly is a community and family to one another. People want to come and help. How awesome is that?
Everyone that came over helped where their talents and strengths were used the best…physical lifting, raking, shoveling, removing nails and screws from 2×4′s, cooking lunch, etc. So much was accomplished and we are so grateful. I cannot even imagine what will get all done over next few Saturdays (we are doing this till we get to finish and move in). THANK YOU EVERYONE SO MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK AND THE HEART TO WANT TO HELP!
Remember the fire we had last week and the mess it left? (if you have not seen the photos on that, you can see them here).
THE MESS IS GONE NOW
BEFORE
WORKING
AFTER
ALL THE TRASH FROM BEFORE AND AFTER THE FIRE HAS FILLED 1/4 OF THE DUMPSTER
MORE RAKING DONE -we have now filled total of 70 bags since the day we bought this place. I am sure we will hit 100 bags.
WORK IN THE BASEMENT
LOOKING BETTER
I BROUGHT MORE FLOWERS OVER BUT DIDN’T GET TO PLANT THEM ALL YET
AND I CANNOT FORGET…MY NEW MAILBOX 
WHICH THE NEIGHBORS APROVE OFF (THEY GAVE VERY NICE COMPLIMENTS)
Improvements are happening no matter how slow it may seem, when I look at the photos of before and after I am reminded that non of the work is in vain. Thank you to all who have been helping. There is much more work left to do tybut I know that one of these days we will be able to move in.
Tags: house project
Called to Contend (part 2)
Jude
Continuation of sermon given by C.J. on March 28, 2010
C.J. Mahaney
June 20, 2010
Tags: sermons
June 21st – Anniversary of our little Petra
(sorry – I am one day behind with posting this – it was a busy day yesterday)
Two years ago on June 21st I gave birth to our little girl Petra Johanna Wilson. If you have not read my testimony about this Journey of Faith, you can do so here.
Many of you have walked the Journey with us and have witnessed what the Lord has done in my life in the midst of the most painful experience and trial I have ever gone through. I know that such anniversary as the death of your child is normally not celebrated with joy, but in this case…….it is just that…a joyful time.
I want to thank all of you who have been praying then and even as each yearly anniversary passes by. And this I want to share with you:
I have no sorrow on this day, I have joy and peace that surpasses all understanding. Not because I am happy that our baby died, but because through her I have received renewed Faith. Through Petra I have received Amazing Grace and Mercy from our Lord Jesus Christ. I cannot be sad on this day, because it is this day I am reminded of just how much the Lord loves me. On this day I am reminded of the tremendous forgiveness I have received. On this day I am humbled by the awareness of the Mercy that was poured out on me. I have peace that surpasses all understanding, not because of what I have done, but because of what my Heavenly Father has done for me – He sent His only son to die for me. It was because of His death that I have received life – He loved me so much that He paid the ultimate sacrifice for me and all my sins are covered – including those I have committed during the time of carrying Petra.
There is so much to be thankful for when I think of that time in my life that it leaves no room for sorrow. In the light of eternity, the pain and suffering I have gone through is very minimal and temporary.
So thank you again, to all of you who have been praying! Rejoice with me for the miracle that has been brought through the precious life of our little girl.
Tags: christian life, forgiveness, Grace, Mercy, Petra
As some of you may already know, I have bought myself a chainsaw as soon as we bought the house. I have been very excited about being able to work in the yard again…and with this house there is lots of yard work. There are also many trees that need to be cut and thus the reason for my ‘second’ chainsaw. That’s right – my second one.
The first chainsaw I bought was a few years back when I still lived in Ontario Canada with lots of land and lots of trees to cut down. That time I was just as excited as this time to use it. But I never have!
After I purchased my first saw and all the protective gear, I read the manual in detail – looked at the saw and………GOT SCARED
Now a few years later (and me also few years older and that much weaker) I decided to try again. So I once again bought myself a Husqvarna Chainsaw…read the manual (a few times) and finally decided to JUST DO IT! Following every step over and over…I could not get the darn thing started. This was all taking place the day after our fire accident…hmmmm…should I just give up? Was this going to be another day to call 911?
Well, no matter what the book said and what I did..it wouldn’t start. Finally after asking for help, the fourth person who tried got it going. This person had some experience already so I even had him cut one tree down so I could see – it looked so easy, until he passed the saw to me and LEFT …oh my!
In this video I cut down my first tree. Most likely you will laugh (I did and still do each time I see it) but you also might fear that I will try this again, but not to worry…I am going to get a professional to come and teach me. I made those arrangements already….you will see why!
Tags: house project, yard work
WARNING TO ALL MY READERS! DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME!!!
Once upon a time, there was a husband and wife, working very hard in their new yard. The yard was full of trash from previous owners and overgrown with thick vines. This fine evening they came to work in the yard full of ambition and plans to get lots done, the husband started to attack the vines which have overgrown the fenced area in the back yard. Swinging his machete, cutting off the vines and he was making a progress until…….UNTIL he hit a hornet’s nest.
The wife was sitting on a tree stump, studying her new chainsaw manual when the husband discovered that the vines were buzzing with hornets. The husband had an idea on how to get rid of the nest, an idea the wife said was not a good one (couple of times)….or more like…no no – honey no, I don’t think it is a good idea …well you know how it goes, we all have been there – RIGHT???
Few minutes later – this was what the hornet’s nest looked like:
I did say – DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME – RIGHT?
As you can see – the vines are truly all over the fence. On the other side of the fence is lots of trash (you can see those photos in my earlier posts). The flames you see in the photo, took only couple of seconds to spread – from a nest to this in no time. Meanwhile, the husband is trying to turn the main water on in the house so we can get the hose and try to extinguish the fire, but the fire was faster than any of the efforts of trying to stop it. The wife is frantically yelling….turn the water on, turn the water on, turn the….CALL 911, CALL 911………..
For some reason the wife knew that calling 911 was the only option at this time, yet didn’t call until the husband came back out of the house…saw the fire and said….YES CALL 911
And so she did…
They had a bit of a hard time finding our house at first because the wife kept giving them the wrong address between panic, fast beating heart and shaking legs….well lets just say – the numbers were correct, just in the wrong order. But it just happens so that friends from our church live one street over and could see the fire through their back yard, so after saying a prayer, they called 911 also, and then ran over. Actually since they didn’t know the correct address either, they had the fire department come to their house and they dragged their hose through all the back yards to get to our house, till another truck arrived at our address.
You may wonder by now, wow all that for that little fire? Well that little fire turned to this in just a few minutes:
Thank the Lord that the husband pulled out all those tires a few days before…that would be even worse. As you can see in the next few photos – we have more mess to clean now.
So as you can see, there are no more vines overgrowing the fence….actually there is hardly any fence left and most of all….THERE IS NO MORE HORNET’S NEST!
Now more on a serious note:
We are very thankful that nobody was hurt, that our house is still standing, and that the Fire Department was there to help us out. They did a great job! Thank you Riverdale Volunteer Fire Department! Thank you to our neighbor accross the street who was trying to help us and carried a big bucket of water over and then later had the fire department cut through her yard to ours. Thank you to our friends from church who live behind the neighbor accross from us, for calling 911, for praying and for checking up on us. And last but surely not least….Thank You Lord for keeping everyone safe and for showing us mercy and grace once again. As humans – we make mistakes, we are not perfect, but His Love for us is perfect.
The lesson has be learned! Next time…..well never mind…LESSON HAS BEEN LEARNED!
AND ALWAYS TELL THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW HARD IT MAY BE TO ADMIT…THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE!
Tags: house project, yard on fire
This year more than others, I have been blessed more than once to see baby birds as they are learning to fly and be independent. Not so long ago I was able to capture a few photos of a baby BlueJay. And today….baby Robin.
As any babies, the little birds are so adorable…fluffy, soft, innocent looking, and totally dependent.
Tags: Animals, birds, creation, Photos
