"Cow-Whisperer"

Ethan and I stayed home from church on Sunday since we were both on the rebound of recent illnesses. It was a sunny morning and not too cold. Ethan is passionate about going outside so the two of us took a leisurely walk down our dirt road.

Without Naomi and Josiah there, it was so quiet. We could hear the birds speaking with various songs. We heard the wind blowing gently in the trees. And we approached 10 or so cows without frightening them. I sat down on the grass with Ethan by my side and made some mooing sounds (more like "mmmm"). Ethan loves cows so I was hoping they wouldn't run away from us.

On the contrary, quite a crowd developed around us (though separated from us by a fence). There were a number of calves and two mama cows that stared and stared at us. I think they were perhaps more intrigued by their view of us than we were of them! Every time I made a cow sound, they pricked their ears and a calf would take a step closer.

For at least 10 minutes, I felt like I was a "cow-whisperer." I had no idea what I was saying to them, but it must not have been offensive. It was a delightfully peaceful, quiet time of mutual gazing and admiring. We watched one calf nurse and I laughed to myself as another calf tried to poke his head through the fence to get closer to us. If I'd stood up to pet him, I'm sure he would have run away.

I’m Thankful For…

A wonderful unexpected 6 extra days with my parents before they returned to Nigeria.

A pastor in our church who is giving Steve and me marriage counseling. He is wise, understanding, and our meetings have been helpful.

Two girlfriends who have each recently invited me to “girl” things (for the 1^st time in 2 yrs)

Steve’s Arabic professor giving him extra tutoring on the side.

Eclipse Memories

On February 20, there was a full lunar eclipse, and thankfully my brother called me to let me know! I would have missed it otherwise. It was a fairly clear night, cold but bearable. Naomi was awake in bed so I asked if she wanted to watch the moon with me. We put coats and hats on, made hot chocolate, and wrapped up in a blanket on our porch. I found our binoculars, too, so we could get a closer view of the moon’s surface.

Naomi was tickled to be up late with me and she called it “girl-time” since Steve and Josiah didn’t want to watch with us (at least, not for more than a couple minutes – it was cold and Josiah had been fast asleep in bed). I not only enjoyed the beauty of the night sky and the eclipse, but relished the special role of being Mom. I loved having time with my little girl, when we could cozy up together and share a memorable event. I loved showing her something new and explaining the science of it to her.

We watched until the eclipse was full and then came inside to check on it again from our couch. I suggested we take a nap and then look at it later to see how it had changed. I can’t remember the last time I had lain down with my daughter snuggled on my chest. She started laughing and told me that it was funny to have her head move up and down with each of my breaths. We got the giggles for a few minutes and then settled down and actually both fell asleep.

We never did see more of the eclipse. Steve put her to bed an hour later, at which point I also crawled into my own bed, tired but happy from a special sky-gazing night.