About 25 years ago Bob and I met Gérald Theurillat in Valais, Switzerland.
He and his wife, Celia, are friends of our daughter and her husband.
In the years since we first met “Theu,” he has retired and has become a phenomenal photographer of birds in his region.
Gérald Theurillat has a FaceBook page where you can see more of his wonderful photos and learn the names of these gorgeous animals. I recommend you visit him there if you love birds as I do, and if you want to learn more.
Leave a comment on Theu’s FB page – and tell him “JanBeek sent me.”
Have a Wonderful Weekend, my friends.
Today is the day Bob & I pack and get ready to leave this beautiful spot.
Canadian geese in Rancho Mirage – I wish Theu could photograph these birds. You’d see them a lot better through his camera lens!
We’ll leave early tomorrow morning. Pray for our safe travels, okay? Next destination is Turlock, in central California, where I graduated from Turlock Union High School back in 1957 (yes, I know… that makes me ancient!) – But, no, I don’t feel old!
(BTW, I get to meet on Monday with a bunch of my class of ’57 girlfriends. Ain’t that a fun thing to anticipate?)
Like Theu’s beautiful birds, I still am soaring high and loving every minute!
Visit Gérald Theurillat ‘s website and let him know you appreciate his wonderful photography as much as I do.
Thanks for visiting JanBeek. Send your friends, will you?
I’d like to have 1,000 followers for the fun of celebrating the announcement of my 1,000th post.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”
Listen for His Leading
In my Daily Guideposts 2020 devotional today, Kim Taylor Henry told us about her trip to the Holy Land. God took away her fear of traveling to that part of the Middle East. She listened to His prompting when an invitation showed up on social media. Signing up for the trip was a leap of faith.
Is there a place you would like to visit, a spot you’d like to go, but for whatever reason, you are hesitating? Take it to the Lord in prayer, and listen for His leading.
I have had Maine and Nova Scotia on my “Bucket list” for about a decade now. I am not sure why that part of the world is calling me. Is it the lobster? The ocean? The farm stays? A cruise opportunity? In my 80 years on earth, I have never taken a cruise. Many (if not most) of my friends have. I can die happy without ever going on a cruise, but I feel God calling me to that part of the world. I wonder why?
God places in our hearts other reasons to have certain places on our Bucket List. Usually for me, the places I want to travel have little to do with the place. They have everything to do with the people. (That’s why we have traveled to Switzerland so many times… our daughter and her family are there!)
If you have followed my blog for awhile, you will recognize these people below as my cousin, Janine, and her husband, Cliff. I posted about Cliff’s battle with esophageal cancer last November 9th. Since that time he has been through Hell and back… and is a determined survivor.
Janine and Cliff moved a year or so ago from the Seattle, Washington home where we last saw them – about 5 years ago, I think – to Clinton, north of Seattle on Whidbey Island. Wikipedia tells me Clinton is on this 3.7 sq. mi. piece of land whose total population back in 2010 was less than 1,000. I am sure it grew by leaps and bounds in the last decade. Wikipedia has a few delightful pictures of it on their website:
But, it is not the scenery that draws me to this place. As I said, my motivation is the people I love. As I listen for God’s leading, God calls me to the love.
Faith Step
What is the next step you’re ready to take? Are you leaning on your own understanding?
Ask God to make your path straight. Listen for His leading. Then step out in faith.
2020 is a year for 20/20 CLARITY. It is a time for New Beginnings. What will they be?
THESE DAYS, Daily Devotions for Living in Faith, ended its 2019 entries with this prayer:
“God of all our beginnings, plant your hope so deeply within us that we never lose it. Show us the beauty of small beginnings and nurture Your life within our own lives.”
Yesterday I promised I would send you a video of Liam and me playing at my sister’s Masonic Home. My niece, Jodie, recorded videos and took these pictures. Thanks, Jodie!
We had a “full house” of residents from the Masonic Home listening to our “concert.”I have videos so you can hear the residents singing along to “Home on the Range” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic” – but I can’t get the videos to load here. Sorry! You just gotta trust me, it was fun – and the residents really seemed to enjoy it. I know I did!
And today I said “Good-bye” for now to my sis, Sally. I’m glad I got a chance to see her in her new environment.
Now, as Thanksgiving approaches, we plan to celebrate with dinner out – and then our first opportunity to see a performance of Les Miserables! Thanks to Jodie & Bill… what a wonderful gift!
Have YOU had a chance to see that production?
This afternoon I am sitting and watching the birds find food here in Pennsylvania. I pray with God’s grace, tomorrow we will be looking for birds in our Montana snow. They won’t be these colorful ones… but we’ll be happy with whatever feathered friends we find.
