Pictures from the Zoo

Here's Nicholas with his good friend who lives right down the street. They love to play together!

What a look! So very cute...

Of course, we could not keep the kids away from the petting zoo. Thank goodness no pigs were around. And, yes, we washed those hands (scrubbed them, in fact).

My Cardinal at the Zoo

While I was at the zoo with Nicholas, I kept thinking about Mary a lot, for some reason. Maybe because this reminded me of something she would have loved to do with her kids. Nicholas and I walked around with a small group, and a grandfather was the ring leader. He had us moving along quickly so we wouldn't waste time or miss out on anything. I was tagging along quietly, taking pictures and watching out for Nicholas when suddenly I spotted a beautiful bright red cardinal. It was not part of the zoo exhibit. This bird was just there. I knew exactly what was happening and said a prayer of thanks, while I quickly fumbled for my camera. I followed this bird around and took several pictures (I hope they show up okay on the blog- can you find the cardinal in each one?), then I realized that my group had left me. But I did not panic and two young girls appeared who worked for the zoo. They were ready to get me back with my group, but one of the moms came looking for me, so they did not have to. Thank you, Jesus. Anyway, this was such a delightful experience on my zoo trip: seeing a cardinal to reassure me that God is with me, and Mary is with Him, and we are all in this together.

Roadblocks in Life

I just came home from an awesome field trip to the Houston Zoo with Nicholas' kindergarten class. I have many pictures to share and a VERY inspiring cardinal experience, but will have to post those later. Right now I have to share a revelation I had on the way home. You see, I accidentally took the wrong turn, and then got stuck in traffic from a lot of construction, so what usually takes 90 minutes, took us three hours. Nicholas was quite happy at first, oblivious to all the congestion (thanks to portable DVD players). Then he fell asleep for a while. By the time we got home, he was saying he never wanted to go to the Houston zoo again because it is so far .

Anyway, as we were driving through the roadwork, I watched cars impatiently zip in and out, back and forth, thinking they could outsmart the traffic. Then at one point, the cars began exiting the highway. I thought to myself, 'Who would do such a thing- you never know where that road will lead.' I just trudged through, chewing piece after piece of gum and listening to music. I soon noticed that all the people who had exited had a bigger pileup than we had on the highway. One daring car eventually drove across the grass, back onto the highway, and as I drove on and looked out my rearview miror, I noticed a lot of cars following suit- illegally driving back onto the interstate.

Hmm. This seemed strange. If they had only stayed on the road and gone through the congestion, they would have been better off. They wasted a lot of time thinking they could outsmart the traffic. Then, I realized this is so much like life. I am on a road through life. Sometimes traffic or congestion stops me, or causes me to take a detour, but if I have patience/ faith, and stay on the right path, I will get to where God wants me to be. But so many times I jump off the path, and think I can do things my way, just like those drivers today. Or I avoid going through the jams, because I know they will be too painful. But If I trust God, he will steer me in the right path. And this is a wonderful thing!