More of May

Most of the rest of the month seemed to focus on Rachel.  End of school activities and a birthday, but first - Mother's Day

Rachel's last middle school concert

Followed by her 14th birthday with her favorite - pound cake, strawberries and whipped cream

Then we wrapped up middle school with the awards ceremony

Last day of middle school...off to high school

Robin Saga

We were treated to a nest full of robin's eggs in the bush at the front of the house.  We kept a close eye on these eggs to see how mama robin would get along.

Sitting...waiting...and more sitting

Finally we had baby birds...ugly little things, but still a lot of fun to watch.

We had a traumatic incident.  Dusty and Rachel were leaving the house to go to church when Rachel saw a bird attacking the mama robin and babies.  Dusty chased it away, but not before it killed some of the nestlings.  We were left with 2 survivors and a newfound disgust of crows.  We cheered on the 2 babies as they grew from day to day.  To Rachel's dismay, I began calling them Thor and Loki. 

One day we came home to an empty nest.  I don't think Thor and Loki were quite ready to leave the nest.  Probably going to have to chalk this one up to Survival of the Fittest...and they didn't quite make the cut.

Hitting the Road

I've had the honor and joy of volunteering for Compassion for several years.  Mostly local events, but on occasion, I have also served as the lead volunteer for some conferences and events in Indiana.  I was asked if I might be up for flying to Atlanta to help at the Orange Conference.  As I'm always up for an adventure the answer was a resounding "YES"!

I've been on a handful of flights, and I never quit being amazed at being able to travel this way.

I was surprised to see a familiar face in the crowd.  Emily Bence had been a member of Hope and had been an intern when I was working in the office.  She is working at a church in West Virginia.  She was just as surprised to see me.

Of course, I had to squeeze in a geocache to get my Georgia souvenir

Our main task was to promote the Compassion Journey to attendees.  This is a new event for Compassion geared to churches.

After 3 days of working and meeting some great people, it was time to head home.  I got to fly, gain some valuable experience, and tackle Atlanta traffic.  It was a full 3 days.