Tender Mercies

Yesterday before naptime, I was reading the girls some stories and one of those happened to be Pinkalicious. In the book, she describes herself as being the color of a sunset. I usually never pause at that point in the book or have paid much attention to it, but yesterday I happened to stop and tell the girls that one of my favorite things in the whole world is a beautiful sunset.

Later that evening, I sent all of the girls on an errand with Miguel just to get some peace and quiet. I made cupcakes for the girls, since I had been promising for days, and went through a few books that my visiting teacher had left that day (she also did my grocery shopping and did a load of my laundry), all the while trying to nurse and get my baby to sleep. One of the books had been recommended to me at one of those retreats I had been on, but probably would have never picked up. It has been a delight to read. Once the girls got home they ran in and told me that there was a beautiful sunset outside.

So I took my baby,  who was not interested in sleeping at the time, and went outside to see what was there. It was the most amazing pink. Kind of reminded me of Pinkalicious. And then I felt like the Lord was smiling down on me.

If I looked up, I saw this.

 And if I looked down, I saw this.

And I felt loved. And blessed. The Lord truly is mindful of us and blesses us in his own ways and through his ministering angels on earth.

And I guess he looks after those little ladies of mine, because they came home to hot cupcakes and pink frosting.



Tender Mercies

Today, well actually the last few days, have been rough around here. I'm ready to give away my two year old. There is none stop fighting and crying, and did I mention whining, going on around my house. I feel like I'm going to have a heart attack at least once during the day because my stress level gets so high. We've been running to and fro constantly and my house has exploded. Today I was just feeling overwhelmed, tired, and kind of beat up. Miguel has had some late nights too, so throw that in the mix, and it's not good.

So today after gymnastics, I just sat on the couch, looked around at all the mess, and felt depressed. I called Miguel for some moral support, but that didn't seem to help. I finally decided what I needed was a short nap. I told the girls that they could watch a movie as long as they stayed in their beds and then when it was over, it was time for a nap. They eagerly agreed, so I layed down while they were watching their movie. Once it was over, I tucked them in and went to the kitchen to tackle the dishes. And when I looked out the window over the sink, this is what I saw!!!

And then she did this:

And I immediately felt love from the Lord. It was one of his tender mercies in my life. It totally changed my focus. She just layed there while I cleaned my kitchen and when I was done, she got up and walked off. I love nature and when I see wild animals, I sort of feel like a six year old again. I had a peacefulness wash over me and knew that the Lord was aware of my struggles. I haven't seen a deer in our back yard in probably two years, and that is usually in the fall.

So I went from Depressed to

and I got my dishes done.

and while I'm at it, one of my babies flew the coop. Here's my little update on the hummingbirds.

The other day, we noticed the babies like this

I guess the nest just got too crowded. The girls were so facinated by them. Miguel became worried that the mom wasn't feeding them, because Gabriela tried to knock them out with a stick one day. She said that she wanted to pet one. So I got the hair brained idea to see if I could get one down, now that he was already out of the nest, let the girls pet it and them put it back. Bad idea. I got the ladder, climbed up and rubbed his belly. I was super nervous, because I was worried once I took him off, what if I couldn't get him balanced back on the board. I looks big in the picture, but it's actually pretty small. Gabriel's below me and is chanting, "do it Mami, do it Mami" and grinning from ear to ear. I asked her if I should really do it and of course she said yes. When I rubbed his belly he started squeaking and making noise and then here comes super woman, a.k.a. Mommy Hummingird, flying in and squawking at me. I guess the baby told on me. Anyways, that made my mind up right there. So today I noticed this,

One of my babies had flown the coop!

Don't they look nice and pretty with their feathers on. I keep waiting for him to go flying off now.

Here's a shot from the other side.

It's been really fun watching this process. We'll miss them when they are gone.