Catching Up with Lily Grace

Dear Friends, I am sorry I haven't been sharing too many new adventures the last couple of days. It's been kind of busy around here and Mommie just didn't have a lot of time to help me here at the 'puter  writing my stories. She had to do her taxes and some other business stuff and so we had to wait to do our "adventures".

The good news is, while I was waiting for Mommie to get done with her business, the Bluebirds came back to the birdhouse again! We hadn't seen them for several days and we thought maybe they decided to go somewhere else to build their nest.  But then all of a sudden here they are again!

Mommie thinks that maybe the Mama bluebird has been inside all the while, sitting on her nest, and maybe the Papa Bluebird has been bringing her food and we just never saw him at the right time:

But here he is, 

And she sure seems happy to see him! So Mommie says we just have to "wait and see what develops".   

Meanwhile, the Canada Geese have also been busy on Still Waters Pond. This picture Mommie says is kind of blurry because she had to snap it really fast.  She said that goose that is flying down on the water had just done something really strange. A few minutes before this, Mommie was sitting in her "Room With a View", and she was looking out the window to see the geese because they were making a lot of noise. And then this goose flew right up out of the water right in front of Mommie and landed on the roof of our back porch!!! It was as if he couldn't get up any higher because he started his flight too late, and had to make an emergency landing on the porch roof with a big clunking sound.  So Mommie stepped outside on the porch to see what she could see, and just as she did that the goose flew right back down off the roof and into the water:

His mate was sitting there in the water watching the whole thing. Maybe he was showing off for her. 

His mate quickly swam over to where he had landed as if to say, "Are you okay?"

And then they both swam off together to the other side of the pond.  It just seemed really strange to Mommie and me, but it was fun to see.

So guess what else we've been doing?

Well, yesterday was Daddy's birthday.  And so Mommie said we needed to bake a cake for him. I asked if I could help, and she said yes, of course!

Mommie said she prefers to use a cake mix for a birthday cake, because it turns out moist and good.

And then after the cake was done and cool, Mommie said I could help her frost the cake. She said Daddy likes chocolate icing and so do my big brothers. So we decided to make that kind since they would be here to help eat it.

Yes, my big brothers were here, and they both wore their special t-shirts again so Mommie could get a picture of all of us wearing our "I'm Mom's Favorite" t-shirt.  They still think this is kind of crazy I think...

But anyway, my brothers are really funny and good sports...and Mommie said that she loves all of us all the same...we are ALL her favorites!!!

Next everyone sang happy birthday to Daddy and he let me help him blow out the candles. Actually, I blew them out before he could...

So Mommie had to light them again so he could blow them out and make a wish!

I wonder what he was wishing? He said you can't tell or it won't come true.

Mommie said Daddy is a good sport too, because he let me help read his birthday cards and open his presents.

I helped Mommie wrap that present above, and I picked out the paper from Paw Patrol. It was a new pair of shoes for Daddy. He was very happy.

While I was reading the cards, my brother Benton was acting like we were all kind of crazy or something and he was embarrassed...but I noticed he didn't go home until he got some birthday cake to eat! Ha Ha!! My Auntie Rose couldn't come 'cause she had to work but we sent home some birthday cake for her.

We sure had a lot of fun at Daddy's birthday party. This was my very first birthday party! I hope we have a lot more!

Oh, guess what else?  The other day I got to help Mommie bake some more cookies!! And guess what else?  My new little dolly friend helped me! First we had to think up a name for my dolly.

She was a good helper and I wanted to name her something special.  Daddy seems to like helping name us special little people, because if you remember he named me Lily after his grandmother Lillian! So he said he thought my little dolly should be named "Dottie".  I asked who she was, and my Mommie said that her mother's name was Dorothea, and "Dottie" could be a nickname for her name.  (Although she said her mother would never let anyone call her "Dottie"...she always wanted to be called Dorothea!) But Mommie said that her mother Dorothea loved to bake cookies and pies and all kinds of good things to eat, and so it would be very nice to name my new little friend Dottie after my Mommie's Mommy Dorothea...who would actually be my Grandma!!!!

So Dottie it is!!  I sat down and sang some little songs to Dottie and played my guitar for her. She likes to sing too, so I know we will have lots of fun together.

Oh, Mommie's tea bag tag above says "Never quench your THIRST FOR ADVENTURE"

I like that idea!  I hope we can have lots of new adventures every day.

By the way, the plum tree blossoms are all changing, and there are lots of green leaves on the tree now, and Mommie says that soon there will be tiny green plums to watch grow!! That is so exciting.

Mommie said that we heard some very sad news last night and that was another reason she wasn't feeling like having any new adventures today.  We heard that our special friend Miss Terri from Your Friend in Florida had some very very sad news. Her very nice hubby Mr. Joe got very sick last week and then he passed away yesterday.  This made me very sad too, because Miss Terri has been so nice to write to me every day with such nice comments, and Mommie and I have been praying for Mr. Joe every day.  I asked Mommie why did Mr. Joe have to die?  Mommie said that some things we just don't always understand, but that apparently Mr. Joe was so sick and it was his time to go and meet Jesus in heaven and live there with Him forever.  She said that Mr. Joe knew Jesus and that he wanted to go to heaven someday, and so Jesus sent His angels to come and take him "home" to heaven. 

I said, "But won't Miss Terri miss Mr. Joe an awful lot?"  Mommie said that yes, she would miss him terribly, and so would his sons and family and friends.  But Mommie said the good news is that if we all love Jesus like Mr. Joe loved Jesus, someday we will all go to heaven too and be there with Mr. Joe and Jesus and everyone forever and ever.  And you know what else?  She said that Mr. Joe isn't sick anymore!  She said that Jesus will give him a brand new body that won't ever get sick or hurt ever again!!  

I asked Mommie how can we get that new body like Mr. Joe?

Mommie said that when we believe in Jesus like Mr. Joe did, we believe that Jesus died on the cross and took away all our sins, and then three days later, on EASTER Sunday morning, Jesus woke up from the dead and was alive!!!   And He had a brand new body too, that was "resurrected" from the old dead body...and she said that Jesus will give us a brand new "resurrected" body someday too in heaven and that we will live forever and ever!  

Mommie said this is what Jesus taught us:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish 

but have everlasting life."  

John 3:16

I told Mommie that I hoped everyone we know believes in Jesus like Mr. Joe did,  so that we can ALL go to heaven someday and have a brand new body that won't get sick anymore too.  Mommie said she hopes so too, and that is why we like to share this special news with everyone, so maybe they will want to know Jesus too.   Mommie said that we celebrate Easter every year to remember what Jesus did for us, and that Easter is coming soon.  She said right now we are beginning a special time called Lent, which is the 40 days leading up to Easter, and that we should be praying and thinking about ways we can serve God better during this time and preparing our own hearts for Easter.   I said maybe I can do some nice things for other people instead of just for myself during Lent. Mommie agreed that would be a nice thing for both of us to do.  

So, I guess we'd better close this for tonight, but Mommie said one nice thing we can do right now is to remember to pray for Miss Terri and her family as they have a lot of things to take care of and they are so very sad.  I hope you will all be praying for Miss Terri too, and for others who are also having a difficult time and may be sick or sad too.    

Thank you for being my special friends. Mommie said you are all very special to us just like Miss Terri. Thank you for visiting us.  

We love you,

Love,

Lily Grace and Mommie, oh, and Dottie too!!

xoxoxoxo