Baby Dear. Baby Granddaughter

When my oldest grandchildren were babies and toddlers, I was working pretty close to full-time in some very stressful work settings and was often too tired +/or stressed out to do a lot with them during any free time I had. This was much to their loss, and to my own, as I believe the relationship between grandchildren and grandparents to be quite important to all generations! In fact I believe that this was part of God’s design for families.
Now time has passed, circumstances have changed and I am relatively free to spend time with the youngest of my five grandchildren and I am loving it needless to say! It is fun to watch her as she explores her world and expresses her unique personality--

• How she does not like the feeling of grass or my big white dog but still reaches for them anyway.
• Her many smiles, her pensive looks and even her crying ...
• Her cute little baby talk!
• How she curls up in her grandpa's lap and how he interacts with her--bringing her a flower to smell, giving her a drink of water, getting down on the floor to play with her and more!
• How she reacts with one of my other blessings--her older sibling (and how her older sibling is SO kind and thoughtful of her!)
• How she likes veggies even more than fruit! Shocking!!

Yep, just everything she is and all that she does captivates us--her blessed grandpatents. So here in her AOTM blog debut is my baby granddaughter (we'll call her Baby G--for Baby Granddaughter!)

May you always see life as a blessing little one for you are one of the greatest blessings in ours!

Love always,
Aimee

Farewell Old Friend (On Felling a Tree)

“The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them.” Psalms 34:7 KJV

-

Yesterday this is the verse which came to my mind as I was praying for the safety of our property and most importantly -- our family -- as we fell a 35 ft pine tree.

Even though we have felled several trees since moving here, this would be the largest one yet, and the fall path would have to be precise in order to not endanger life, buildings or our gardens. Needless to say, I called my parents and best friend to keep us in prayer during this time.

A little after noon, the pine tree, precisely cut and perhaps guided by an angel’s hands too, came to rest exactly in the only area where no harm would be done from its trunk or large branches!

My exclamation as I saw the tree land SO perfectly and safely ..."Yes, Lord, thank you!”

Blessings,

Aimee

-
Disclaimer & Important Warning: Felling trees is a dangerous task; we never take this kind of thing lightly and wouldn’t suggest it to anyone who doesn’t have a LOT of experience and knowledge on how to do cut a tree safely. So many things can go wrong and, in our case, as I have said, any other fall pattern would have meant damage to property. Although 35 feet is small compared to a lot of our PNW giants, it is still no easy feat to bring a tree this size down. Even with the experience and knowledge my Farmer Boy has, I would have hired a professional should he had felt that was best.

-
Note: And now, should you be wondering, why did we fell the tree in the first place? The answer is simple--for the last two years or so the tree’s needles had been browning and dying. With the latest high temperatures, we were extremely worried about the fire hazard posed by her being in such a condition so close to a building too. Having said this and knowing it was necessary, I deeply feel the loss of this tree whom for so many years had served our family and the birds of our area with beauty and quiet majesty. I am not ashamed to say I shed a few tears about this and that our yard, despite its extensive landscaping, looks naked without her.

Photos:

White cosmos against pine tree & sky (yes this was her)

After she came to rest safely and before her tree top was cut off.

The reason for the felling -- brown & very DRY dead needles

Another view after the tree top was cut off; she fell in a perfect line alnng a path by one of our buildings! Given her branch size and her length it could not have been better:)