the simple beautiful. some more. eureka.

A few facts you may already know:

Hawkeye loves birds.

Our family is in a season of life where money is . . . uh . . . not free-flowing.

God provides in wonderful ways.

We have been blessed by having truly generous friends.

We have lived in many homes in our sixteen-almost-seventeen years of marriage.  (Seven homes.  Three states.)  And our friend base is rather far-flung.

I believe in the simple beautiful.

And here’s where I fill in the blanks:

Last week a package was delivered to our door step.

(Really.  Right to our door step.  The mailman in his black Jeep feels just fine about pulling up in our yard right to the step and then honking his horn for us to hail his arrival of goods.)

The return address was North Carolina.  Near our once-upon-a-time-before-there-were-six-children former home.

The box was from our friend Rhonda.

Who knew us when.

She knew us when we were just Kevin and Lacey.

Kevin – a college student, part-time Youth Minister.

Lacey – a small-town newspaper reporter, wife to part-time Youth Minister.

She had three children.  Whom we loved to hang out with.  Funny, sweet, smart kids who made us laugh.

She watched Kevin fight for things in a country church that just didn’t matter (but we thought they did).  Things like new black paint in the youth room and red electric guitars to be allowed on stage.  You know.

She listened to me say things like, “I could never picture myself having children.”

And she was our friend.

Then we moved.  Left the tiny church.  Sold the red guitar.  Moved to Virginia.  Adopted daughters.  Gave birth to more daughters and sons.

And moved to South Carolina.

Started this blog.  Signed up for a silly phenomenon called Facebook.

And the worlds of The Past and The Now ran smack into one another.

And we all reconnected.

And so now this package arrives at our door step.

It was addressed to Bergen Hawkeye.

He couldn’t believe it.

(Neither could we!)

The surprise?

In like-new condition, Nikon binoculars!

As in  . . .   grown-up, really fantastic, highest quality bird-watching eyes!

A gift we could have not possibly been in a position to give to our young ornithologist in the making.

Plus a sweet letter from Rhonda sharing her bird-watching excursions with these beauties and an encouragement to say “Eureka” whenever he discovers a new bird.

A challenge he has taken quite seriously.

We are helping him to store them carefully and each day, on multiple occasions, he walks up beside me and asks, “May I go outside with my binoculars now?”

In the evenings he and Kevin step outside and see what there is to see.

(Otto follows in their footsteps, little binoculars around his neck too.  It’s just too ooey-gooey sweet to handle.  I just stare and memorize.  Stare and memorize.)

The ways, oh the ways, that God chooses to provide.

Thank you Rhonda.

Thank you!