In Pursuit of Words

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Micah 1:2

“Look! The Lord is coming from His dwelling place;

He comes down and treads the high places of the earth.”

Micah 1:2

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

what I thought I wanted

When I was nine or ten years old, I dreamed of living on a farm.

Far away from everyone, with only the fields and trees for company.

I wrote fictional stories about farm girls and people who raised cattle and corn.

Claimed to be a country girl, though I lived in a first-ring suburb.

Years go by… and we come to yesterday.

I stood by the stove, making sure the tacos didn’t burn, my back to the window facing our yard.

I hear a commotion and look towards the door. M comes sweeping in, wheels on her feet and hand guards swirling.

“A fox! A fox ran all the way down the hill by Deanna’s, then across the street and through Donna’s back yard! Can you believe it?”

I smile. Foxes aren’t rare with the nature preserve nearby.

M leaves to tell Dad, then back out she goes, only to come in again, her eyes wide and mischievous.

“Kaye! Mom says it was too big to be a fox!”

I swallow hard, stir meat faster.

“It was a COYOTE!”

Send a prayer of thanks up to the Lord that my back was turned to the window. If I had seen it, I would still be hiding under my bed.

M giggles, knowing. “It was tall, and long, and about as big as Kira! Maybe he’ll come back so you can see him!”

I think about swatting her with my spatula, but then Mom walks in, R in tow.

She mouths, “Sorry!” And smiles at M who’s leaving to go tell Dad.

After dinner, Dad suggests we take a walk. I shiver, but being that I’m the oldest, and a little miffed that neither of my sisters who are younger than me seem not to care about a coyote, I nod to going too.

In the garage, M talks on and on and giggles about a coyote coming out from behind the car, the garage, us being on the news for a coyote in the kitchen, and so on.

I look around, see another stick I could swat her with. Thinking better of it, I stand up taller and pray that we don’t see a coyote on our walk at dusk.

Dad comes out, and boy comes too. M asks Dad to bring a stick, just in case. This time, I don’t mind. Dad doesn’t laugh, but grabs an old rake handle.

“It’s even got a no-slip grip, so you won’t get blisters while beating a coyote!” I laugh nervously, and grab for the stick. It’s something to hold onto.

On the way back from the walk, I thank Dad for putting up with my freakiness over the coyote. We hadn’t seen anything except for a dozen walkers like us.

“No problem.” M stands up ahead, peering down at the sidewalk.

She looks up, grinning, and points down to cement.

“What’s that?”

Dad looks, I look. Leaves have left brown imprints in the sidewalks. We explain, and M nods.

“I thought it might be footprints.” She skates away too fast for me to swat her with my no-slip stick.

I think about how if we were living in the country, on a farm, I would have to get used to those sneaky, icky, creatures.

And I thank the Lord ‘cause He knew what He was doing in us not living on a farm.

But placing me in a city instead.

Monday, November 1, 2010

What I’m Thinking of Today

So many blessings coming my way in the past few days…

ones I wanted,

and others I wonder if I could’ve done without…

but being thankful for all of them is what I’m trying to do.

#441-

watching family carve pumpkins

Chemistry tests gone bad

Mom and Dad’s wisdom and understanding about the test gone bad

a no-show showing

emails from friends in college

watching Mandie with Dad… and him predicting the whole thing! :)

lights out in the house last night

wondering how the pioneers did it with only candles

hot fudge, ice cream, and triple-chunk brownies for desert

Mission’s week at churches

bagging more fall leaves

mowing the lawn

ham for lunch…

speech class coming soon… and preparing for my first interpretative speech

cool fall afternoons on the porch

(kaye ann silver)

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Weekends are for Fall Sweeps

May the Lord bless you on this gorgeous fall Saturday!

In Him,

Kaye Ann Silver

Friday, October 29, 2010

The Last Bright Fireworks

Loving the last of the fall fireworks over here today…

(kaye ann silver)

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Staying Focused on the Light

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

A Thought From Doug Phillips on Halloween

Like many, I do not enjoy or find giving credit to Satan and celebrating evil on Halloween.

I have nothing against the sweet things about it- Little kids dressing up is not evil at all, and decorating pumpkins for fun isn’t either.

But when you choose to celebrate and “love darkness rather than Light,” that is when I don’t like to glorify or take part in it.

Doug Phillips from Vision Forum has a note on some things that he calls The Five Scariest Things you can do this Halloween.

They are some great thoughts that I hope you enjoy.

Blessings!

(kaye ann silver)

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

The Lake

We arrived at the lake after a few hours of sitting in the van,

unpacked all of our stuff into the many rooms around the cabin,

then we headed outside

to sit in the cool shade and warm sun and soft winds coming off the water.

Mamo’s bird house caught my eye while we were sitting on the front porch.

Chickadees dove and swirled in the trees above our heads, and Dad tried to feed them, but just got ignored.

The birds feel safe here, and don’t worry about us humans only six feet away from them.

Just like we feel free to run and go around the whole house and trees in the yard.

Papa and Mom laugh loud at the dogs playing in the grass, and we all smile at the bright blue sky.

Dinner calls us in reluctant from the outdoors, but the smells overtake our wish to stay out.

We all sit around the wooden table turned just right to fit us all around it on benches and chairs.

After dinner, Papa starts a fire in the fireplace centerpiece in the middle of the great room. Mamo turns on Norah Jones jazz and we all sing along, just happy to be.

Morning comes early, and soon we are packed and driving down dirt line roads into the real country, where horses and corn sway in the wind.

The new TREE FARM signs glint bright and we all giggle at the little bitty trees making their way, surviving for the next generation.

Mamo points out the ‘sugar bush’, where one day my children and their grandfather will come out to tap trees for syrup, and I dream big about the 2,200 trees growing in the fields.

I stand at the farm house and in its happy 600 square feet while engines rev loud down in the barn.

Sister have looked forward to this since we arrived!

Race the dogs down and find a very happy little boy jumping in his little blue Miranda helmet, just simply in awe of the machines.

We sit on the ATV together while Papa starts the tractor up and I hear my name called down through the pull barn.

I laugh out loud at the idea, but Papa laughs too and boosts me up on the too-tall seat.

I bounce and practically stand up on the gas pedal, and the blue tractor lurches long up to the farm house and back, to show Papa that I can drive it.

And let me tell you- it’s easier than driving a car!

Travel back-way back- to the tree that was just a seedling in 1776, according to the DNR. All those years and her trunk has a circumference of 12 feet.

L and Dad decide to giver her a try.

L tells me later that it felt like you were up about 200 feet in the air.

We venture to the honey moon cottage (pictures to come… hopefully), then back for a smoked lunch.

Cause who doesn’t like a good bratwurst over the fire?

Papa pulls out the .22 and BB guns, and we go after that bear and squirrel like we were true country folk.

I knock over some water bottles standing proud, and my dad whizzes a few BBs into the targets and bottles.

Mamo loads and shoots like Annie Oakley herself (all that practice zinging squirrels off her feeder made her a great shot! :) )

Papa wows us with his aim, then we all break off again- men to fix the bridge, us ladies down to the creek to play.

R tags along to help Grandpapa with his tractor, and we soon call him back from helping them.

Friends of Mo and Po come to hunt for the weekend, and we take off 6 hours after we arrived.

Yet it feels like only a few minutes.

The next morning we all ease out of bed, sore from the hiking and riding,

but we didn’t really care.

happy fall!

(kaye ann silver)

Monday, October 25, 2010

Blessings~

After a wonderful weekend up at the farm and the lake place with Mamo and Papa, (pictures to follow as soon as I can get my camera to cooperate :) ), we drove home past a few houses that we were looking at purchasing.

Some were big with windows that arched up to let in light, some had front porches begging for chairs and flowers, and still others just didn’t seem to be what we were looking for.

The Lord has put us on a journey to find a house, and much like our adoption journey last year at this time, the pattern seems to be “Hurry up, and wait.” So while we wait for our house to sell so that we can move on to bigger things, we smile at our little cottage and pray for the future owners.

#425-440

the turtles on the shed