Friday

Letter from Mimi's Backyard::Week One

"Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." ~ Luke 12:32
My Dear Little Flock, I want you to know that Papa and Mimi love and miss you very much. 

I bet you are a wonderful big brother, Mason, and that you help your mom take good care of baby brother.  

Is it hot in Texas now? It sure is hot in Florida, and it rains a lot, too. Gavin came over yesterday after his swim lesson and he and Auntie Em - or Minna, as Gavin calls her - cooled off playing with squirt guns in the backyard.


Squirt Guns with Minna and Gavin


Did you see the mama duck with her ducklings and the cottontail rabbit I showed to everyone on Monday? Saturday morning Papa found the mama duck and four ducklings swimming in the pond. I walked round and round the pond trying to take a good picture of them for you, but the mama duck was very protective of her little ones. She was careful to put herself between me and her babies. Later that day, we saw her leading the babies through the tall wet grass - waddling back to where they came from - probably Miss Iris' down the road.


Mama Duck

The mama duck wouldn't let me close to her babies. I wouldn't hurt them, but she didn't know that. Just like your mama - who always protects you from people and things she thinks might hurt you, too. That's what good mamas do. Papa was glad that this mama duck and her babies left our Pollywog Creek pond. They are muscovy ducks and muscovy ducks can be very messy.


While I was wandering through the pasture and enjoying the pretty flowers and butterflies, Papa was on the roof fixing cracks in the porch before the afternoon thunderstorms rolled in. Papa is a very good papa, working hard to take care of his family and our home. Look at all the wildflowers I found growing in the pasture...


Wildflowers in Pasture

They may not be as pretty as the wildflowers I saw in the field behind your house, Mason, but I still think they are pretty. God made a beautiful world for us to enjoy and take care of, didn't He? Sometimes I need to look very close to see the pretty or interesting things that He made because they are so small and hidden in the grass, like these insects...



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Go to the ant...


While I was in the pasture, a loggerhead shrike perched on a pine tree limb high above the pasture where he could look for the insects and lizards he likes to eat. Isn't that interesting? God made nectar in the flowers for the insects to eat and He made insects for the birds to eat.


Loggerhead Shrike


I made a butterfly coloring page for you this week. This butterfly is called a common buckeye butterfly and there were many of them fluttering about in the pasture.



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Gavin worked on his coloring page yesterday...
 
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Common Buckeye Coloring Page 1 Common Buckeye Coloring Page 2 
(click on the smaller pictures for a larger printable page)


Give your mom and baby brother a kiss for me, Mason, and don't ever forget that Jesus loves you BIGGIE bunches and so do I.

I love you A bushel and a peck A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck!

Hugs and Kisses,
Mimi


Resources for Further Study and Enrichment: All Things Bright And Beautiful, illustrated by Pauline Baynes; The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones, "The Story and The Song" p. 12-17; "The beginning: a perfect home" p. 18-27; Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McLoskey Loggerhead Shrike Common Buckeye Butterfly Muscovy Duck