Come And Gone And Still Going!

What shall I say? "Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year"? Or should the salutation be, " Happy Valentine's Day"? Since I have last posted, the first two holidays have come and gone and the third is fast approaching. Where does the time go?

Alas, 'time marches on and waits for no one', as the saying goes. Within this perimeter of time, life continues and ebbs and flows with the challenges of daily decisions and circumstances. Steve and I had to make a very hard and somewhat emotional decision. We found a new home for our parrots of which we have had since they were babies. The daily care and their need to have lots of attention became too much to handle. So it is, that we packed them up along with their cages, food, toys, and medical records and gave them to our pastor and his family.

Now, this may be a good way to brownie up one's pastor or it may the quickest way to get excommunicated from his congregation. That thing called, Time, will tell! We have one trump card in this game and that is that pastor asked for the birds, saying that it would be a blessing for him. He misses the sound of parrots. For him hearing screeching and sqwakking parrots is comforting like hearing a morning dove or a robin, is to us. You see, pastor and his wife are from Zambia. And Zambia, is in African where Mikey's roots are, or at least his relatives'. We were a bit dubious about this but, it now seems to be a good move.

Mikey, and Ziggy, the Goffin Cockatoo are now readjusting to their new surroundings. They have six new people who want to be their friends, two of whom are hoping for a close bond with Mikey. Hopefully, Mikey will quickly make himself at home with his new family. With Ziggy, there is no worry in regard to his adjustment. He loves to be held, touched, and played with no matter who has him or where he is. He will forever be the percocious two year old.

The transfer was last evening. today, the house is soooooooo quiet. At times, the tears well up if I think about their absence. But, Steve and I will continue to have access to them. I will see the birds each week since I will be at the pastor's home for a ladies' Bible study. And Steve can come then, also. Perhaps them seeing us, like this, will aid in their transition.

God is so gracious to bless when things get hard...if you look for it. My blessing I have enjoyed, thus far, is a large snow storm. It has snowed most of the day, accumulating about 8 inches of snow. It has made the outdoors look like one large bubble bath! There is snow covering everything. It is so deep that Chloe, the bassethound would be engulfed, if she tried to go out in it. Out of courtesy to her, I swept the deck steps off and cleared a small area for her personal needs, at the base of the stairs. I would like to think that she would appreciate it but, I highly suspect that she could be less concerned or grateful for this thoughtfulness.