Hi there! You know I bet
you think that it is all fun and
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games here at
grandma's house, don't you?
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Well the truth is we
do have a lot of fun.
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And we do, do a lot of games
but sometimes there is a lot
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of hard work involved too.
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I've gotten a lot of letters
from you, and you ask things
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like where do I live? What
do I do on an ordinary day?
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So I thought maybe today I
would take you into my private
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life a little bit
and let you see what
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I do on an ordinary day.
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Where I am right now is just
outside of my house, it's the
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place we call the summer house.
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Just because we like
to put on air sometimes.
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This is a fun
place in the summer.
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Over my head, up here there's
a robins nest that they built
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earlier this spring out of
some of the moss and leaves
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and twigs and things
that are around our place.
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They have already raised one
family of babies, but in this
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box, let me show you some
really special things that
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I have found when I have
been working out this spring.
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One of them, look at
this, it's a robins egg.
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Some bird just dropped it
when they were on their way
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to their nest, didn't quite
make it home to put the baby
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to bed so I picked it up
off the grass and saved it.
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It is just perfect.
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I like these kind of things
to take inside and I decorate
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my house with them.
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Then I have, oh, I
like bird feathers too.
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This one is from an orange and
brown bird that flies around.
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I don't know if you can see
the back of this feather how
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nice and orange that
is, I love the color.
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And this one is from, we
have lots of stellar jays around
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here, they are very bright
blue and they have a topknot
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on the top of their head.
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They are so noisy and they
like to scold kids and adults
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who get in their way.
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Then, I bet you know I love
go to the creek, well this is
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one of the agates that
has formed in a pocket inside
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of a rock and it
makes a perfect teardrop.
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So some day I thought I
should put a little chain on it
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and hang it in my window.
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Then I have another treasure,
and this is a different
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kind of one, some people
are kind of grossed out by this
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but I know you will love it.
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I found this little skull
out there when I was working
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on under the
rhododendron plants.
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I think it is from a possum,
but I'm not really sure so
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if somebody knows for sure
you could write in and tell me
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what you think it is.
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It even has its little
teeth in here, they're kind of
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sharp but I was very thrilled
when I found this out there.
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The last thing I have in
here is the very best of all.
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You saw me and Michael
down at the creek one time
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collecting rocks and agates.
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Well once when I was doing
that I saw something shiny and
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red and when I picked it
up, it's this perfect Indian
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arrowhead, I was so thrilled
you should have heard me
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screaming and
jumping up and down.
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So those are some of the
rewards I get for doing my hard
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work, but right now wouldn't
you like to come up on the
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ladder with me and look down
into the nest and see if the
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babies have hatched?
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Like I said this is
their second family this year.
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Oh I love surprises so
come on up here and let's see
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what's in the nest with me.
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I want to go really carefully
and quietly and you too,
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climb right up
the ladder with me.
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This is a wonderful nest
all made out of moss and oh,
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there is one, two,
three baby birds in here.
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They are just getting their
feathers and they are fuzzy
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and some of them
are half-naked too.
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But look, come up
closer and look right in there.
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Oh what
wonderful things God makes.
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But they are napping too hard,
I don't think they're going
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to wake up for us, and
that it's probably a good thing.
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We don't want to scare them.
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You know the mother is around,
not too far away, so I think
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I will get down now.
We'll let her feed the babies.
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Well here I am out in my garden.
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One of the things I have
to do a lot is get the weeds
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out of here, down in these pansy
plants, boy they smell good.
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I wish you could smell them, one
thing I wanted to show you is
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what I have to do is
after they bloom and they are
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droopy, I come along and
pick all these dead ones off.
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That makes them bloom even more.
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But if I don't pick those
dead blooms off it becomes
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like this, this is a seed pod.
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If I leave that alone for
a few days then, we end up
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with something
that looks like this.
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When the seed pod opens
up these are all the little
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seeds to make
new plants in here.
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Actually that is where all
these plants came from because
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grandpa and I were so
busy this year we didn't have
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time to plant a garden,
so most of the things in our
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garden are what
we call volunteers.
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Come on I want to show
you some more over here.
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If you don't get every bit
of potato out of the ground,
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then it will grow
a whole new plant.
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Grandpa is going to
come and help me now,
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aren't you
grandpa? - I certainly am.
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He does most of the digging
and I do most of the grabbing
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when we do potatoes.
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It is a lot of fun,
get a little closer.
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Oh, I think there's
one in the mud here.
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You know this is just like
hidden treasure in the field
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like in Bible times, you
shake off the dirt and look
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at all of those potatoes.
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I want to tell you, if you
have one of these for lunch
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right out of the
ground, oh Yum, Yum, Yum.
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So good, have
you seen this before?
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Some of you, I am
sure, knows what this is.
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We fertilized last year
when we put potatoes in we put
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straw around the plants so
they would grow more potatoes.
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Well the straw was made
out of oat straw, and there
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happened to be a
few oats attached.
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So this year they just grew
up like this, and if you have
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oatmeal for breakfast this
is the sort of plant that your
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oatmeal comes from, then if
you're going to have oatmeal
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you must have
strawberries right?
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Heh grandpa can you
help me find one or two?
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I think there is a few
in here, they are blooming
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really well, um, um, um.
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Oh, Yum, Yum, Yum. Ah,
here is one, here's one for you.
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Yeah good, huh? Oh yummy.
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I hope you guys like
strawberries as much as I do.
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Anyway that is a lot of
what I do in the garden.
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I'm down in the dirt lot,
and I get pretty dirty as you
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can tell from my clothes.
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But there is a lot of other
things I have to do too, like
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mow the lawn, would you like to
see me drive the lawn tractor?
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Come on, it is over this way.
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Ah, some of you know
that I have a new puppy.
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She doesn't look much
like a puppy now, does she?
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Well she is seven
months old, this is Sophie.
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She is a wonderful puppy but
I want to tell you, she makes an
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old woman out of your grandma,
I have to work really hard to
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keep up with her.
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But this is one of the
things I do every day is to play
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with Sophie, and since she
likes to do some of the things
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I do, I like to come
down here in the creek.
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Every year when the rain
comes up it washes bigger rocks
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down into the creek like
this and I like to take them and
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put them on the side, now
Sophie likes to do that too.
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And she also likes
to snorkel for rocks.
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Sophie, find a rock down
here. Get that rock, get it.
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Get it, find one,
oh, good girl, good girl.
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Wee, come here,
come here, come on girl.
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Come on let's go down into
the water, look here Sophie.
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Whew, get it, get it.
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Needless to say Sophie is
a water dog, she loves the
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water, you can
hardly keep her out of it.
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She takes after
her grandma that way.
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I love being down
here in the creek.
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Let's see if she will catch
this one is a little bigger
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one, hey Sophie, Woo! Get it!
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Get it girl, anyway that
is a lot of the things we do
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around here, but you know
grandpa has work to do too.
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Let's go see were
grandpa is, huh, come on.
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Sometimes our trees fall
down when the wind blows in the
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winter time, well here is
one of them that came down
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last winter, we had
some real windstorms.
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In fact we probably
lost seven or eight trees.
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What we do with them
once they are down is grandpa,
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in all his radiant
glory, is the mighty woodsman.
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He didn't fall the tree,
but he cuts it up for us to have
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firewood, so let's go and
get some firewood grandpa.
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Having fun yet grandpa?
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Well you know as you can
see there is a lot of work to
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this place, we did
show you the half of it.
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You will have to come back
another day, and I just can't
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wait to see you again.
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Anyway you have a view
of what it is that happens
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when you are not here.
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Anyway come back soon, will ya?
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In the meantime, get out
your paper and your pencil
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because I would love to
hear from you and what goes on
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at your house when I'm not
there, can you tell me that?
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I love getting the
mail. All right are you ready?
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Here is the address:
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Hey kids Graham Joyce
would love to hear from you.
00:11:02.41\00:11:05.38
So why not sit down
and write her a letter?
00:11:05.41\00:11:07.99
Like every grandma
she loves to get pictures,
00:11:08.03\00:11:10.57
drawings or
anything else you send her.
00:11:10.60\00:11:13.47
Just write to:
00:11:13.51\00:11:15.24
So what are you
waiting for? Write her today.
00:11:25.96\00:11:28.64
An ordinary day becomes a
holiday when I'm with you.
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I just remembered that
song from a long time ago.
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I haven't thought about it
for a while, but I was just
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noticing that I called
my days at home ordinary.
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Well why did I say that?
00:11:47.41\00:11:49.55
Not one of my days is actually
ordinary, or plain Jane.
00:11:49.58\00:11:52.81
I guess I've gotten used
to the blessing and the beauty
00:11:52.85\00:11:56.18
of each one, and maybe I
am not as grateful as I should
00:11:56.21\00:11:59.51
be, what do you think?
00:11:59.55\00:12:01.28
I am thankful to God
that He gives me wonderful
00:12:01.31\00:12:04.75
healing work to do all
around the yard, and the
00:12:04.78\00:12:08.18
gardens, and the woods.
00:12:08.22\00:12:09.48
Sometimes when I get stressed
out with something in my
00:12:09.51\00:12:12.76
life that isn't going the
way I want it to, well I just go
00:12:12.79\00:12:16.01
outside and I start puttering.
00:12:16.04\00:12:17.60
Before very long I have
found something to do that is
00:12:17.63\00:12:20.99
a real effort for me, and
soon my mind is soothed and
00:12:21.02\00:12:24.34
calm again, He restores my soul.
00:12:24.38\00:12:28.07
Do you think your
days are ordinary?
00:12:29.48\00:12:31.04
Maybe you have gotten used
to the routine and you don't
00:12:31.08\00:12:33.97
think about it much, if
you don't think about it much
00:12:34.00\00:12:36.86
your days will become ordinary.
00:12:36.89\00:12:39.29
But each one is unique
and a rare gift from God and
00:12:39.33\00:12:43.03
He wants us to cherish each one.
00:12:43.06\00:12:45.66
It's kind of sad how we
humans let miraculous things
00:12:45.70\00:12:49.60
become ordinary just
because they are always there.
00:12:49.64\00:12:53.25
It's like our eyes get
tired and we don't really see
00:12:53.29\00:12:56.64
the faithfulness in God
in providing us with things
00:12:56.67\00:12:59.99
we take for
granted, like even breathing.
00:13:00.02\00:13:03.26
You never think about
it unless you can't do it.
00:13:03.29\00:13:05.39
So I'll tell you what,
let's be more grateful for the
00:13:05.43\00:13:09.84
ordinary things that fill
our days like chores, school,
00:13:09.88\00:13:14.26
homework, maybe even broccoli.
00:13:14.30\00:13:17.45
What if you
didn't have chores to do?
00:13:17.48\00:13:19.45
That might mean you didn't
have anything to take care of
00:13:19.48\00:13:22.84
like clothes, your
room, your pets, your house.
00:13:22.88\00:13:26.28
Some people don't have those
things you know, and if you
00:13:26.32\00:13:30.44
have them to take care
of, you are very blessed.
00:13:30.48\00:13:33.98
What about Robin's eggs?
They may be ordinary on this
00:13:34.01\00:13:37.60
planet, but what if they
live somewhere else in the
00:13:37.64\00:13:41.16
universe, how precious would
a Robin's egg appear on Mars,
00:13:41.19\00:13:45.24
or floating around
in some other galaxies?
00:13:45.28\00:13:47.72
Let's open our eyes wide
to the beauty of the ordinary.
00:13:47.76\00:13:52.07
Till next time, an
ordinary day becomes a holiday.
00:13:52.11\00:13:59.67