Precarious Yates's Blog: Precarious Precipices, page 12

Cornelia’s Playlist, and a giveaway

Today, I officially release How Shall We Love? In celebration, I’m sharing a bit about my writing process. At the end of this list you’ll see how you can be entered to win a paperback copy of this novel.

I make a playlist for every main character that I write, and Cornelia’s character demanded an eclectic list. Here’s the scope of music this character needed:

[Many of these songs are easy to find on the web, but for those that are not, I’ve linked the artist’s name to the website where the music is available.]

Coldplay [from the album X&Y]:

Fix You

Speed of Sound

Swallowed in the Sea

Til Kingdom Come

FrouFrou [from the album Details]:

Let Go

U2:

Original of the Species [How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb]

Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own [How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb]

A Man and a Woman [How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb]

Magnificent [No Line on the Horizon]

Moment of Surrender [No Line on the Horizon]

I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight [No Line on the Horizon]

Breathe [No Line on the Horizon]

Fleetwood Mac:

Landslide [live version]

Jonny Rodgers

[all from The Aviary, except the last song, which is a single]:

The Ice Storm

Jerusalem

Bowl of Blackberries (see below for video)

The Bluefly and the Bee

Wine Glasses

Darling, Losing You

All Wrapped in White

Little Foxes

Balulalow

Aviary (I love this song!!!!)

Lovelay

O Love, Let’s Renew Our Vows

Jon Thurlow

[IHOPKC]:

Sons of Men

Julie Meyer

[IHOPKC]:

Alabaster Box

Lab Partners

(All from the album DayStar):

Still Shine On (a song that’s on my top ten list of best songs EVER)

After Hours

Those Things

Sensations

Magnify

Luke Wood

[IHOPKC]:

Hosea

Merchant Band

[IHOPKC]:

You Love Me Forever

Muse

[From the album The Resistance]:

I Belong to You [+Mon Coeur S’Ouvre A Ta Voix]

Glen Hansard

[From the movie soundtrack of Once]:

Falling Slowly

If You Want Me

Audra Lynn

[IHOPKC]:

Without You

Zero7

[from the album When It Falls]:

Somersault

Misty Edwards:

Resting Place [Fling Wide]

Fling Wide [Fling Wide]

Point of Life [Point of Life]

i24 [Point of Life]

Psalm 150 [Point of Life]

Light of Your Face [IHOPKC Best Of]

Arms Wide Open [Fling Wide]

link to the e-book

Leave a comment below about any of these musicians, or about the book, and you’ll be entered to win a paperback copy of How Shall We Love?. (Winner will be picked by a name drawn from a hat at 10pm CST, March 6, 2013.) If there are more than 15 comments, two winners will be selected!

Here’s some Jonny Rodgers for you! Can you see why it would inspire someone’s writing?

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story, part 5

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover part 5

A Rosefinch sees the Burning Bush

Wonder of wonders! Gideon the Rosefinch thought as he flew to the ground in the midst of a flock of sheep and a flock of his brother and sister Rosefinches. My Maker, the King of the Universe, is talking to that man from out of that fiery bush! And the fire is doing no harm to the bush.

As he heard the Lord’s voice, Gideon stopped gathering food, he stopped his chirping and he stood very still. Even an Eagle had soared in from high in the sky and stayed still on a branch. Gideon’s brothers and sisters sounded no alarm songs. No one feared anything on that mountain. They had nothing to fear except the Lord. And He had just declared who He was to a man named Moses. Then He told Moses He was going to free the Israelites!

Who were the Israelites?

Oh, that’s right. Gideon heard one flock who flew from Egypt tell about the Israelites. They were slaves. They served the Egyptians with no hope of escape.

But God was going to free them! And He was going to send that shepherd named Moses.

Moses answered, “What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you’?”

Then the Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A staff,” he replied.

The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.”

Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”

Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow.

“Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh.

Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”

The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

Gideon never saw anything like that before. If he’d never stopped to observe, he would have never seen anything like that again.

Kissing Your Future

Hope as a puppy judging whether or not it’s okay to kiss Faith’s nose.

“The future needs a big kiss…” ~ Bono

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord…

“plans to give you hope and a future.” ~ Jeremiah 29:11

Hope. It’s the sloppy wet kiss you can give your future. And if you’ve had even a cursory glance at the news lately, you’ll probably agree that hope is an important thing to infuse your future with.

Hope. It’s like the five smooth stones David plucked from the stream before he ran to face the giant.

Hope. It’s less about the thousands that might help me out of my current financial pit and more about reckless wisdom to do what my current yearnings scream against.

I’ve given lots of thought to the idea of HOPE lately, and kept my ear to the ground to listen to what people are saying about it. Here’s what I’ve learned.

When kids, particularly teens, hear about End Times scenarios, no matter which version they hear (pre-trib, post-trib and other scholarly terms that most people wouldn’t be familiar with) it doesn’t give them hope. Rather, for most of the people I’ve talked with, hope gets sucked clean out of them. This is contrary to 1 Thessalonians 4:18. What’s going on?

I’ve needed a paradigm shift of what HOPE is. And I have my arms wide open to embrace this new view.

If tomorrow is filled with famine, is there still hope?

Yes. Why?

Several years ago, I heard the response in the Lord’s still small voice when He told me I could hope because of the loaves and the fishes. Because miracles are still alive and well in Him.

And there’s this from Habakkuk 3:

17 Though the fig tree does not bud

and there are no grapes on the vines,

though the olive crop fails

and the fields produce no food,

though there are no sheep in the pen

and no cattle in the stalls,

18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will be joyful in God my Savior.

If tomorrow is filled with war and strife, is there still hope?

There is hope in becoming all you were meant to be in the face of adversity. There is hope for you to be strong and blessed in the midst of persecution.

If I wake up tomorrow and everything I’ve worked toward is suddenly obsolete, is there still hope?

Can we hope when our dreams for the future crash on the floor like some ill-played parlor trick with the swiped table cloth and way too many dishes?

If my definition of success stretches beyond what God can do for me and into a chasing after Him no matter what happens, then yes, I’ll still have hope.

Proverbs says that hope deferred makes the heart sick. I’ve experienced this one too many times. One too many times. My heart’s been healed, but this new paradigm of hope has been a centerpiece in the healing.

Here’s another question:

Can we hope if we get everything we’ve desired and more in such rapid succession that it takes weeks to catch one’s breath and months to figure out what to dream of now that all dreams are fulfilled?

That’s one that I’ve been praying about too. What if I do get what I hoped for in this life? Is hope exhaustible?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not anxious for a downward spiral of our country or our world. The future really does need a BIG kiss. I long for the day when I can gift a hefty sum to each one of the organizations on my links page. I have hope in my heart for abolition in my lifetime, and I’ll work as hard as I can to see that happen.

But if my definition of success is getting to spend time with God, no hope deferred will make this heart sick.

I’m going to leave you with portions of Psalm 73, one of the great passages of scripture on the topic of hope.

23 Yet I am always with you;

you hold me by my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will take me into glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

And earth has nothing I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart

and my portion forever.

Guest Post – How High Is Your Wall?

I think there may be a few of you who will need this post, this book and this woman’s wisdom as much as I do right now! Welcome with me my guest Laura Marshall!

How High Is Your Wall?

By Laura J. Marshall

I can’t see over this wall.

Many days it is like a fortress protecting me from the outside world, against more hurt and disillusionment.

Most days it is like a prison.

If I peer down I can see some of the first bricks that were laid.  A few are from when I was in 1st grade and I lost my two front teeth playing Red Rover.  The kids called me names.  There are more next to and on top of those, the ones that were built when my parents divorced and I built as I grew.  Cracking and old, yet they still remain and hold up the others I have added over the years.

I noticed today there were new bricks…still wet with cement.  I cried to see them.  NO!   They weren’t going to hem me in anymore.

I tore at them with my hands.  I embraced the person they were intended to keep out.  I put my pride behind me and forgave.

I tried to see life from their view.  The bricks loosened and came down.

There are moments where someone can smile at me, just waiting on me behind a counter or opening the door for me and I feel another brick fall.

It is amazing how fast they fall with a little kindness.  The bricks come down even more quickly when I extend myself over the wall and reach out.  I’ve seen extraordinary things happen, like a door suddenly appearing in my wall or a window being thrown open.

Many times the people that have loosened my bricks don’t even know it….a little kindness, compassion, or mercy can affect so many.

I have little ones now.  I’m a Mom with a capital M.  Today a few bricks fell when my 4-year-old brought me the first daffodils of the season, gripped in his muddy hand.  I pray he hasn’t started his wall yet and that over the years he learns how to knock bricks down and to not rebuild.

 

Bio:  Laura J. Marshall is a writer and mother of five boys.  Her first nonfiction book is called A Mom’s Battle Cry for Rest: Battle Cry Devotional Series.  You can find out more about Laura and her books at www.LauraJMarshall.com

 

A Mom’s Battle Cry for Rest: Battle Cry Devotional Series is FREE today, Thursday 02/28/2013, on Kindle today.  Link:  http://www.amazon.com/Moms-Battle-Devotional-Series-ebook/dp/B00BI2HMDM/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1361756053&sr=8-2&keywords=a+mom%27s+battle+cry+for+rest

Guest Shelley Hitz Shares About Her Free Book and Giveaway!

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A Life of Gratitude: Free Kindle Book & Giveaway

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By Shelley Hitz

About the Book:

A Life of Gratitude: How to Overcome Self-Pity and Negativity

During a season of transition in my life, I found myself overwhelmed with negative emotions like self-pity and a complaining spirit. It was as if a dark cloud had descended over me. I prayed and asked God for wisdom on how to overcome these negative emotions. As I did, I sensed Him leading me to do a 21 day gratitude challenge.

Over the course of the 21 days, God began to change me as I spent intentional time being grateful for all I had been given. I did this through writing in my journal each day and also sending a hand-written thank you note to someone different each day. This also led me to writing out 21 prayers of gratitude and compiling 21 stories of gratitude.

I want to share what I learned with you in the pages of this book which includes:

21 Days of Gratitude Challenge
21 Prayers of Gratitude
21 Stories of Gratitude

What to Expect On Each Day:

Read my personal stories, struggles and reflections.
Read one scripture and one quote about gratitude.
Apply one personal application step from the challenge.
Read one prayer of gratitude
Read one story of gratitude

Get Accountability and Encouragement

Along with the 21 day challenge, I also started a private Facebook group to provide accountability and encouragement for myself but also for others who decide to join me in the challenge. You will get access to this group as well. It has been amazing to see God at work in each of our lives.

Will you join me on this journey to gratitude?

 

Download on Kindle

FREE on Kindle 2/27/13 & 2/28/13)

Purchase Paperback | Purchase Large Print Paperback | Purchase Audiobook

 

Shelley Hitz

Shelley Hitz is an award-winning and international best-selling author. Her openness and vulnerability as she shares her own story of hope and healing through her books will inspire and encourage you.

Shelley has been ministering alongside her husband, CJ, since 1998. They currently travel and speak to teens and adults around the country. Shelley’s main passion is to share God’s truth and the freedom in Christ she has found with others. She does this through her books, websites and speaking engagements.

Follow Shelley Hitz

Website | Facebook | Twitter

Enter to Win a Paperback Copy and Coffee!

Enter below to enter a paperback copy of “A Life of Gratitude” and a $5 Starbucks gift card, sponsored by author Shelley Hitz!

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“I Will Repay the Years the Locusts Have Eaten”

When my husband and I bought our first house, scarcely three months after we married, it was from one of the sweetest couples we ever met. And this very sweet couple gave us this gigantic head’s up: our new neighbors would be…trying.

Trying is an understatement.

God used this neighbor to gave me a crash course in practicing the fruit of the Spirit. Could I still show kindness and gentleness when my neighbor took pictures of our friends visiting us (she said it was for evidence if she needed to call the police)? Or when she nearly called the cops because my dad dropped by at night? Could I still show gentleness when I was yelled at for getting a grass clipping on her side of the hedge?

Crash course.

It took years before I was genuinely thankful for that crash course. I was so thankful for kind neighbors after that experience, but I wasn’t thankful for those cantankerousness neighbors until a few years ago. The Lord does a quick work in the furnace. Could I love THAT neighbor as I love myself? I thanked Him for lesson my ‘trying’ neighbors gave me.

The Lord will also repay for the years the locusts have eaten.

In a perfect world, neighbors love one another and speak kindly to one another. They look out for one another and don’t suspect the worst.

My husband and I have lived in many places during our eleven years of marriage, but now we own a house again. This time we live in Texas.

And our neighbors are amazing.

This last week, while I fed chickens, chased my dogs and discovered that my daughter could read, and has been reading for a while, and refused to perform for me, my neighbor put up posts for a fence. For us. Without asking for a cent for his labor. “I’m out here anyway, and putting up a posts around my yard. Just glad I could help.”

I almost cried. His kindness was almost startling! I hope to pay this forward somehow.

Meanwhile, when his wife came home, she’d found a Frisbee for my daughter. They’re like an extra set of grandparents while the others live far away.

As grumpy and trying as our first neighbors were, God flipped it all around and tipped the scales in our favor.

Our neighbors on the other side homeschool their little girl. My daughter and this girl are becoming fast friends and spend every possible moment together.

The Lord will do exceedingly, abundantly above all that we could ask or even imagine. If He tells you that He will repay for the years that the locusts have eaten, prepare to be blown away by His generosity.

The Lord is good, and His mercy endures forever.

The Eagle and the Burning Bush, A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story, Part 4

This is one of my very favorite passages of scripture, Exodus 3. Here, God reveals Himself as the LORD, and shares with Moses His heart for His people, Israel. It also shows how He feels about slavery. My daughter usually has a LOT of questions about this chapter, and I let her ask away. I wrote this adaptation for homeschool because she LOVES birds. While I read the story, I let her color a picture of a golden eagle.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story Part 4

The Eagle and the Burning Bush

As she soared through the sky, Deborah the Golden Eagle spied bush on fire on the mountains below. A gray-haired shepherd suddenly turned aside from his flock to gaze at this burning bush. Deborah eyed a wandering lamb in the flock. It would be easy prey while the shepherd looked at this fire. Then something within her said ‘stop’. The warning to stop was so strong. Maybe it was an angel that spoke it.

Deborah calmed her appetite and glided toward a tree near the bush. She landed on a thick branch and tucked her seven foot wing span behind her. She sat quietly and watched.

This was strange: the bush was on fire but none of the leaves or branches burned up. No wonder the shepherd turned aside to look at this!

Then a voice spoke from the bush. “Moses! Moses!”

The shepherd timidly spoke out, “Here I am.”

“Take off your sandals, for the place on which you stand is holy ground.”

Moses the shepherd obeyed quickly.

The voice spoke again saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey… And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,

the name you shall call me

from generation to generation.

“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land … flowing with milk and honey.’

“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go…”

Deborah curled her talons around the tree branch and waited with bated breath. Her Maker, the Lord, was speaking. What would He say next? And how would He free His people, the Hebrews, from slavery?

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story, part 3

To me, this story is one of the sweetest tucked away stories of the Bible. Moses rescues Zipporah and they marry. There’s so much drama in Exodus ch 2, and it was hard to pack it all into these three short vignettes from the bird’s eye view. You can find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

I chose the pallid Scops owl for this story because it’s the only Scops owl native to the area of Egypt and Arabia. My daughter absolutely loves Scops owls!

Without further ado, here’s part 3:

Moses at the Well

Jacob the Scops owl squinted one eye open. From his nest in the cliff face he could hear the far off commotion beside the well. It was loud enough to wake even him. Jethro’s daughters had been drawing water for their sheep when a group of unkind shepherds tried to chase them away.

Jethro was the high priest of Midian, the nearby tribe who worshiped the Lord. He had seven daughters, all of whom were strong and able to fend for themselves. But this group of ruffian shepherds was just a bit stronger than these girls.

Jacob fluttered to the rock and watched.

He made ready at a moment’s notice to fly off to Jethro for help when he saw another man staggering across the desert toward the shepherds. This man looked so weak that the slightest puff of breeze would blow him over. His fine clothes had been turned to rags by the desert winds. What did he think he could he do to help Jethro’s daughters? Or would he help the bad shepherds?

Jacob the owl shifted his head from side to side to take in the whole scene.

This new man drew a deep breath and looked up to heaven. In that moment he transformed and looked strong again. He ran over the rough sand toward the well.

“Excuse me,” this new man said, “is there not enough water for everyone?”

“This is no business of yours,” one of the unkind shepherds replied. “We don’t discuss our business with Egyptians.”

“I am no mere Egyptian. My name is Moses and I am from the house of Pharaoh, although I am a Hebrew. Move your flocks along until these young ladies have watered theirs, or I will teach you a few lessons according to my training from the house of Pharaoh.”

Another of the unkind shepherds scoffed at Moses. “Do you think you can take on all of us?”

When Moses turned to him he looked like a king. A tired king, but a king, a man of nobility all the way down to his heart. “If you are the sort of men who cannot wait until a lady feeds her flocks, then you are poorly trained indeed. And if you are the sort of men who harass ladies instead of helping them, then you are cowards as well as poorly trained souls. I have no doubt I could take on all of you.”

One of the men looked as if he was going to challenge Moses, then backed away.

“Now, go on and learn some manners before I’m forced to teach you some,” Moses said.

Jethro’s youngest daughter stepped closer to his side. She shouted out to the men as they drew their flocks away from the well. “Yes, go learn some manners.”

Moses set a gentle hand on the girl’s head. “Shh. That’s enough now.”

“Thank you, sir,” Zipporah said. She was the oldest of Jethro’s daughters, and the only one whose name Jacob remembered. He remembered when she was a child and practiced with her slingshot against his cliff. She was tough. Of all Jethro’s daughters, Zipporah was the toughest. But she was also kind.

Moses smiled at Zipporah. “Now, if you let me have a small drink, I will gladly draw water for your whole flock.”

“By all means, drink, good sir,” Zipporah said. She drew the bucket for him and handed him her dipper. “Are you really from Pharaoh’s house, Moses?”

“I am, but I can never go back. My people, the Hebrews, are Pharaoh’s slaves, and though I’m treated like I’m Pharaoh’s son, I can never forget where I came from.” He drank the whole dipper full of water. “Thank you, kind lady. And may I ask your name?”

She bowed to him and smiled. “It’s Zipporah. But tell me, if you are like Pharaoh’s son, why can you not free your people?”

Moses hung his head. “I tried to do that, but I did the wrong thing.” He filled up the water troughs for the sheep.

“What did you do?” Zipporah asked.

Moses shook his head and continued to draw water for the sheep without looking up. “I can never go back. I am hoping to find shelter somewhere near. Can you recommend somewhere?”

“You can stay with us.” As soon as Zipporah said this, all six of her sisters giggled. She turned to them with a stern look. “Is there any reason this man would not be welcomed?” She asked them in such a way that all of them lowered their head and apologized for laughing.

“It’s not that,” the youngest one said. “We just know why you want him to stay.” She giggled again.

Zipporah’s eyes flashed at her sisters. “Go now to Father, lead these sheep, and not another word out of you.”

*

Later that night, when Jacob the owl went hunting for his dinner, he flew over Jethro’s camp to learn news about this Hebrew stranger.

Jethro stood outside his tent with Moses beside him. “Thank you for rescuing my daughters from those bully shepherds, and thank you for the kindness you showed them by drawing water for our sheep. You are welcome to stay with us for as long as you’d like.”

“Thank you, sir. And I see that you worship the Lord, as we Hebrews do.”

“Abraham was our father as well as yours. The Lord called our father his friend, and has always shown us His faithfulness. It is right for us to worship Him.”

*

Hunting kept Jacob the owl away from the tents for many days, but when he flew by again, he saw a sight that made the old owl smile: Moses and Zipporah were getting married.

We found an owl coloring page to accompany this, and there was much contentment that homeschooling day.

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story, part 2

Here’s a continuation of the story I wrote as part of my daughter’s homeschool curriculum. You can find Part 1 HERE

Part 2

Baby in the River

Boaz flew as fast as he could to the Nile River. He did not see Jochebed, Miriam or the baby in the basket, but he did see Ehud, the ringed-plover. Ehud was digging for insects and worms in the mud beside the river.

“Did you see anything peculiar?” Boaz asked Ehud.

“I have seen sad things today,” Ehud said. “Pharaoh’s soldiers have done awful things.”

“Have you seen a mother and daughter carrying a basket?” Boaz asked.

“Hush!” Ehud said. “Someone’s coming!”

As Ehud scurried under the reeds, Boaz flew to a nearby branch and watched.

It was none other than Jochebed and Miriam walking toward the river. Jochebed carried the large basket in her arms. Inside the basket, the baby cried softly.

Jochebed stepped through the reeds until she reached the clear bank of the river.

“What is she doing?” Ehud asked. “Doesn’t she know that crocodiles live in this river?”

Jochebed set the basket in the river, the basket that carried her baby. As the current carried the basket downstream, Jochebed wiped tears from her eyes. “Miriam,” she said to her daughter, “follow the river to see where the basket goes.”

The little girl ran as fast as she could, all the while keeping a close eye on her brother’s basket floating in the Nile.

Ehud fluttered about in the reeds as if he would cry. “What will happen? She’s running toward Pharaoh’s palace!”

“Be calm and trust in God,” Boaz said. “God will deliver that boy.”

“Fly, Boaz,” Ehud said, “fly to the palace and tell my friend Peleg, the ibis, that this baby is coming his way.”

Boaz took to the air before Ehud even finished speaking.

*

Peleg the sacred ibis waded in the shallows beside the palace steps, giving orders to the flock about him.

“You three must watch for predators! You four make sure no one gets too close to those palace steps! And the rest of you, watch the young ones while you catch the fish and frogs!”

Nearby, Pharaoh’s daughter and her servant girls waded in waters near the steps. All of them giggled and splashed and played like children, even though the princess was already a mother.

A barn swallow flew over the Nile. “Peleg!” he cried out. “I need to find Peleg!”

The ibis stepped away from his flock and looked up at this barn swallow. “What is it, little bird, and what has you flying so far from your nest during hatching season?”

“My name is Boaz,” the barn swallow said. “There is a basket in the river. Please, you must help me keep it safe!”

Peleg gave Boaz a stern look. “What is in this basket?”

“It’s a baby,” Boaz said. “A Hebrew baby boy.”

Peleg fluttered his wings as he gasped. “I see the basket now. It’s headed straight for the steps of the palace, right in the midst of the princess and all her servants. You fly home to your mate and your children. The ibis will take it from here.”

“But what can you do?” Boaz asked.

“What can any of us do but trust in God?”

As Boaz flew away, the basket floated right toward Pharaoh’s daughter.

Peleg turned toward his flock. “Whatever happens, we must not startle and we must not fly away quickly. The princess needs to open this basket.”

The whole flock hushed as the princess gave a gasp.

“What is this?” she asked.

Before any of her servant girls answered, the princess had pulled the basket from the river and opened the lid.

She gave a wide smile. “A baby! A beautiful baby boy! I will raise him as my own. I will name him Moses because I drew him out of the river.”

Suddenly, a small girl pushed her way through the reeds into the water. “Excuse me, your highness, excuse me! Do you need someone to care for that baby?”

The princess looked at all her servant girls and then at the small Hebrew slave girl at the riverbank. “Yes,” she said, “yes I do need someone to care for this baby.”

*

Boaz stopped on a branch and waited. The ibis said he would take care of things, but Boaz still stayed. He hoped to have a good report to bring back to Dinah.

He watched as Miriam asked the princess if she needed help. Then he watched as Miriam ran back up stream to her mother.

“Mama! Pharaoh’s daughter wants you to help care for the baby! Come quick! Come and see Moses!”

Boaz flew off to see Dinah, both to tell her the news and to help her with their own babies.

…to be continued…

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover – part 1

Hi everyone, and especially you brave homeschooling moms! Here’s something I’ve been putting together for school with my five year old. She absolutely loves birds, and talks about them for hours, so I’ve incorporated them into the curriculum. I’m presenting 1-2 stories a week from Exodus, told in a very gentle way so she can learn without nightmares (always a goal on my part). She’s been telling her friends about the Exodus story, and about these stories I wrote for her. I read the bird version, and then the original so she knows the history. Without further ado, here’s the first part of A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover:

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story

Part 1

The Birth of the Boy

Dinah the barn swallow returned to her nest in the eaves of the house when she heard a sound that startled her. The sound startled her so much she dropped her little piece of straw. From inside the house came the sound of a baby’s cry.

Three days ago, Dinah had heard sad news from a swan who lived near Pharaoh’s palace. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had given a command to have all the Hebrew baby boys killed.

Dinah fluttered to the window of the small house and peered inside. The mother looked tired and happy and worried all at the same time. The father paced the floor.

“Amram, do not worry,” the mother said to the father. “God will give us wisdom.”

“Will we be able to hide him from the soldiers, Jochebed?” the father asked.

“Look, he is quiet now,” the mother said. “And he is a beautiful baby.”

“I’ve never seen a lovelier baby,” the father said. “You are right—God will give us wisdom. Shall we bring Aaron and Miriam in to meet their brother?”

The mother’s face beamed. “Yes!”

Although Dinah worried for this human baby, she had to check up on him later. She had her own babies to think about, and a nest to finish so she could house them.

 [Right here I put in

a picture of a barn swallow.

I don't have a royalty-free picture of a

barn swallow, unfortunately.]

Dinah’s nest was all built with straw and mud, and day after day she sat on her eggs to keep them warm. While she’d been building her nest, she saw the Hebrew men using the same materials she had used, straw and hay, to make bricks for Pharaoh.

Dinah sat on her nest and listened to the lullabies Jochebed would sing to her son. Boaz, Dinah’s mate, would bring her bugs while she waited for her eggs to hatch. Every time a soldier passed by the house, Boaz and Dinah did their best to distract him. But Jochebed’s baby was so pleasant and hardly ever cried.

One day, Amram and Jochebed’s daughter, Miriam, brought home an armful of reeds and a basket filled with pitch. Pitch is a dark mud that is used to make boats airtight so they won’t leak.

“That’s perfect, Miriam,” Jochebed said. “Now you set those down and sit here with the baby while I work.”

Dinah couldn’t pay any more attention to them—her eggs had begun to hatch! One by one, the baby barn swallows emerged from their eggs. Dinah began to understand, just a little, how Jochebed could feel tired and happy and worried all at once. Now she had lots of work to do—she had to feed those barn swallow babies.

Dinah and Boaz made dozens of trips every day to find food for their little ones. Each time she returned, Dinah glanced in the window at Jochebed working. This mother used the reeds and pitch to make a large basket, large enough to hold a small child.

“It’s finished,” Jochebed said sadly one day. “Miriam, place him in the basket.”

The little girl kissed the baby’s forehead and set him inside the basket. “Don’t worry, Mama. God will take care of him.”

Jochebed smiled at her daughter. “Will you come with me to the river?”

Dinah fluttered impatiently as she waited for Boaz to return with food for their little ones. When she saw him, she explained what she heard the mother say.

“You stay and feed our babies,” Boaz said. “I will follow them to the river.”

…to be continued…

As soon as we finished the story, I gave my daughter a coloring page of a barn swallow. When she finished coloring, she acted out the story with me. This was one of our best homeschool days.

And if you have any older readers in your house (10+) I have a YA Fantasy book that is free on the Kindle this week.