Smokey Mountain Breakdown

For some reason, I remember as a child singing this rhyme...but doing so when I was trapping ant lions. Did you ever do that? You know, those little cone shaped indentations in the soft dirt? I'd squat with my chubby knees sticking out and put a tiny bit of leaf or grass in the little indentation. The ant lions would come to the surface and I'd scoop them up in my hand. Their tiny pinchers tickled the skin of the palm of my hand. It was such a fun feeling.

But the lady bugs arrived today. Which means the weather is about to turn cold. They swarmed over everything on my porch. They will gradually try to work their way into the walls of the house and the doors of the jeep. They will give off an unpleasant odor. Right now, they are still pretty and red, but they will turn a sort of dull orange. What is welcome in the summer, becomes a pest when winter draws near.

The wind started howling today. Perhaps it was this wind that blew the lady bugs to shelter. But it is a strange dry wind. I'm used to the big clouds and rain coming across the mountain when the wind blows...but this dryness is parching.

I want to thank everyone who prayed and wished well for the Babies' return. We should also probably pray for whoever it was that took them. I'm not sure what sort of dreadful poverty of spirit caused them to take them in the first place. But it must be very painful to live with that sort of meanness in one's heart. I'm very glad they are back.