Jail Birds

Look at this great breakfast we had this morning!  What a wonderful surprise this morning, as Mommy made some Mickey Mouse Waffles.  That's a great way to start the day.  Even though we didn't really go anywhere, we still attacked this day with a good bit of fervor.   For example, we were writing cards to seniors in the senior centers, the ones who can't have any visitors for a time.

This is the one that Madison wrote.  We've been writing a lot of these lately, as there are a lot of senior centers around us.  The two of us can't write all the cards, but we'll probably have about a hundred of them done by the time this week is over.  My fingers are sore from actually using a pen to write things - it's been ages since I've written this much!  But it's something important, and hopefully will help brighten someone's day.  We'll keep on sowing that seed.

Here's something else that Madison was doing, and it's something she's been doing a lot this week.

Even when there is not live practice, there is a page for the ATA students, and Madison visits there to do workouts and practice.  This is part of a worksheet that she keeps up with, and once it is all filled out, she starts earning stripes on her brown belt.  She's moving forward, as are all the students, despite the obstacles.  It's inspiring to see.

We were doing some work today - Daddy has the blower out there on the front lawn, and that's when I noticed something on the front porch:

It was a mourning dove!  This fledgling wasn't going anywhere, not flying at all.  He could hop away, and tried to when we were attempting to round him up.  But we couldn't just leave him there on the porch, unable to fly.  The thinking is that he's either injured, or he's just not able to fly yet.  So we had a cage that we put him in, along with some newspaper for a ground area.  And Mommy made some food with powdered oats and warm water.

It was a good sign, because the dove started to perk up throughout the day.   It was more alert, and actually eating and drinking what we were feeding it.  Still, it was later, so we opted to put a blanket over the cage, and allow the bird a good night's rest.  We figured it hadn't been asleep in a while.  It kept trying to close its eyes, but was quite nervous for a time.  It relaxed, and hopefully got some rest tonight with the blanket over the cage, and the lights down.

Madison's next project, done entirely on her own, was DARTH VADER.  That's right, we had a LEGO Darth Vader.  This one might be our favorite LEGO project so far.

Here he is, the Dark Lord of the LEGO Sith.  But we must not be too proud of our technological terror we've constructed!

He's a fairly tall LEGO construction.  Madison sat there with the pieces, patiently assembling this villain, and now she can rule the galaxy!

Madison made this after taking a picture with her cell phone.  She finds our lack of faith disturbing.  In other words... FAITH OVER FEAR!

In that Star Wars spirit, tonight we were watching a few more episodes of "The Mandolorian."  Also, we spoke with the grandparents.  We've been doing that each day, and everything seems to be well.  We didn't go anywhere today, and odds are we aren't going anywhere tomorrow.  That's "the new normal," as people like to say.

We were praying tonight for a quick end to this all.  Daddy was reading the passage about Peter escaping from jail, and how it all took place over Passover.  Looking on the calendar, Passover is coming up soon.  Anyway, the story of Peter's escape was so amazing and fast, he himself didn't initially believe it.  And neither did Rhoda, the young lady who heard him knock on the door when he returned.  That's what we're praying for:  an escape from this situation our world is trapped in, and one so miraculous and fast that nobody can believe it.