The birth of a hummingbird....and other things...

I was over visiting at Sparrow's this morning where I read her entry in which she highlighted a homeschooling site which had pics of the birth of hummingbirds. Fabulous close-ups! Go check it out and be sure to go through all five pages because at the end there is a size comparison.

On a side note, I have the most wonderful husband any gal could ever ask for! We spent the late afternoon and evening at the park with friends culminating in the fireworks display. I wore my sunglasses (kind of expensive) until the sun was low enough to not bother me and then put them in the side pocket of my purse. After the fireworks were over, there was a mad dash to gather everything which everyone had brought and, of course, we were doing it all in the dark.

Once we were home, Jim was making a mad dash to get ready to leave for work and I was emptying things out of my purse when I realized I didn't have my sunglasses. *Knotted stomach* I say as much to Jim, feeling just awful. He suggests I call Judy, as we had gone to the park together in their car. I call but no glasses in the back of her car. I went to bed miserable. I did think that after my early morning appointment this morning, I would be fairly close to the park and I would just pop over and search the area.

However, as I sat in my car in the parking lot of the doctor's office building, my hubby pulled up next to me. He got out of his car and returned my glasses to me! He had the same thought about going back to the area at the park. He said he had to walk around the area for a few minutes because they were not just laying out there visible, but they were on their side, kind of stuck down in the grass, a little wet but not stepped on at all!!!! Yea!

This isn't the first time he has come to my rescue. Soon after we were first married I was working in a department store in the houseware department. We had a sale on the big Weber grills and a woman had come in and purchased one. She needed help in getting it to her car and there wasn't anyone available to help her (of the masculine persuasion) so after I rang her up I got a dolly while she went to get her car. I wheeled it out to the curb as she pulled up. I picked up this huge, unwieldly box and tried to fit it in her back seat but to no avail. So next I tried to put it in her trunk and did finally succeed.

I went on back in the store and took my break. As I sat in the coffee shop I looked down at my hand with my wedding ring and gasped. My stone was gone! The prongs had been pulled apart. I immediately got this really sick feeling in the pit of my stomach and couldn't even begin to imagine how I was going to tell Jim. Well, I immediately got up and went back to my station and began retracing my steps. I even searched outside all the way to the curb but no luck.

I went home in tears trying to figure out how to tell Jim when he would get home from classes at 9:00 that evening. However, he surprised me by coming home early and, of course, found me greatly distressed! I immediately asked, "What are you doing here?" And, he laughed and said, "Have you forgotten that I live here too?" At which I just burst into even bigger tears with HUGE sobs! The story comes out as I stick my hand out with my mangled wedding ring.

Bless his heart! He got our largest flashlight and off to the store we went. It was after closing but we went from the door to the curb shining the light on the concrete and checking any shiny object that glinted at us. Wouldn't you know it, a policeman pulls up and wants to know what we are doing. We explain and I show him my mangled ring (as if the red nose and red watery eyes aren't dead give aways!). He helped up look and even shined his big search light over the area we were checking. Nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch.

We went back home. Jim asked me that night if the lady who had bought the Weber grill had paid cash for it or had she charged it. I caught a faint glimmer of hope when I said she had charged it. First thing the next morning I went in to work and looked up her charge receipt and then found her listed in the phone book. I called and explained what had happened and asked her if she would mind if my husband came to her house and searched her car. She was the nicest lady.

Jim called and got directions and showed up a short while later. I explained so clearly to Jim that I had tried once to get the grill in her back seat but it didn't fit and it was so obvious that then I just gave all my effort to getting it in her trunk, so he should concentrate in her trunk.

Now, Jim was a fairly new Christian, just a couple of years old in the Lord. He arrives at the lady's home and she opens up her car and trunk. He began sifting through and removing things from her trunk. Time goes by. He has begun praying. Finally after quite some time, well over an hour, as he sat there, in her trunk, he prayed again. He told the Lord that he knew that this was like finding a needle in a haystack but this was really important to both of us and he knew that he wasn't going to be able to find this small loose diamond without the Lord's help. He spent a few more minutes in the trunk and then got out and to check the back seat. Still no diamond. Her son came out right then and Jim asked him if he would mind helping him remove the back seat. If Jim didn't find it after doing that, he would admit defeat. The young man said he would be glad to help. As Jim pressed down on the back part of the seat area my diamond rolled down into his hand!

He called me on the phone and told me that he had found lots of things....like money, like bits of glass, pens, junk etc and a small diamond. I, not listening because I was so focused on the negative, told him I understood and thanked him for trying when it sank in....he had found my diamond!!! It was a giant step in building Jim's faith as he saw the Lord respond to his simple prayer! You can imagine my joy! So, still 30 years later he is still finding my lost things!!! :) What would I do without him? I cannot even imagine!!! He is the greatest!!!!!