NEWS FROM THE HERON

When I returned to Iwatsuki, I didn't go back to the park right away...gimme a break...IT WAS SNOWING! So I assumed God wanted me to stay home and draw all those pictures about my time down in Okinawa, until it got warm enough for me to go see my critter friends again.

Yesterday, warm or no, I HAD to go out. I needed to go to the doctor's. Last weekend, I'd asked Kinya to go pick up my medicine for me--the clinic said they'd give it to him--but he couldn't take the blood test in my place; I had to go now and take that myself. What a relief tho'; it got up to 22 degrees Celcius (72 Farenheit) by the afternoon! Thank You, Lord! It was so warm, in fact, on the way back, I asked Kinya to come with me, and we both went to the park.

What fun to see the carp, mallards, crows, turtles, herons...but as I was zooming in on Little Blue Boy (a Great Blue Heron), it seemed he craned his long neck to the south side of the park.

Yes, I'd seen that level piece of ground covered by loose soil, but what...I sucked in my breath...oh! The Old Storytelling Tree (July 6 post) was no longer there!

It had stood there and seen so many things, but it wasn't there anymore, was it? I was glad then, I'd drawn it last year when I felt the urge to do so.

No, he doesn't have two heads; I just didn't know how to draw him.

BULL'S EYE? BIRD'S EYE!

The white heron, a Master Fisherman, alto' at the same time a graceful, beautiful sight for the eyes, a bird I call "The ballerina of the sky," was at Far End again. I guess he could sense even the faintest twitch transmitted thru' the murky water. It should be difficult to detect the movement of fish in hibernation.

But the Great Blue Heron accompanied the egret yesterday. He seemed to want to show that his species too could claim skill in fishing. I was pleased to see the GBH and decided to take its photograph. Just when I plunged the camera's shutter, the heron plunged its head into the water after a fish!

If I had waited for that moment, no doubt, I would've missed this shot.

Heaven's Rain: God's Air Conditioner?

The Great Blue Heron! (This is an account from last year.) Just when I started sketching, it began raining, and my watercolor brush pens...well, the gesture drawing would be ruined, so I had to pack everything up.

Since then, I try to do quick outline work and do most of the coloring and details at home. See the greenheads and egret drawn in April who benefitted when drawn like this?

I benefitted from the rain. It's been unspeakably hot the past few weeks, but the precipitation made it so cool by yesterday morning (the rain had lifted), Kinya and I could walk downtown.

While we sat reading in the library to pass the time before seeing the dentist, we could hear the thunder and rain outside. But when it was time to walk across the alley to go to the office, it was just sprinkling. By the time we were done and needed to walk to the cabstand to go home, it had stopped completely and felt like the entire outdoors had been air conditioned.

I guess it had. God had done it.

WELCOME BACK, KRITTER

When I came back to Iwatsuki after almost 2 months of being away, I worried about seeing the animals right away. But it was no problem (I wrote about it Feb. 27 post). The other day, I was finding myself concerned about having to stay away from the park animals so long. Would they welcome me?

When I thought back to Feb., I knew they'd welcome me back as one of their own to their flock, school, or murder..."murder"? Oh--that's a group of crows. I didn't sketch them, but they always come.

THREE MORE

Do you remember "Seiko & Six Cousins", the Feb. 24 post? At that time only 3 of the cousins--myself and my 2 sisters--knew the Lord Jesus, and we were praying the other 3 find His salvation. Will you pray fervently with us? Uncle Seiko, 101 years old, was hospitalized this past weekend, and the doctors are saying he doesn't have very long left.

I am sure he--and his wife, who knew the Lord Jesus also--want to live with their children in Glory. Would you pray with us that they not have to go alone?

My sister Joyce, who needed a haircut before leaving for her stateside furlough, used the opportunity to go to the hair salon of one of the girls, Masako, and have a good talk with her. It seems because of the years of seedsowing of her childhood years, she has a basic understanding of the person of God and actually prays to Him from time to time.

The three have gotten so far away from the sound of the Word tho'.

The apostle Paul said to Festus he wished that he were not "almost" but "altogether" like himself, except for his chains, that is. I so understood how he felt when he said that. I wished Masako didn't just pray somewhat to God but altogether entrusted her eternal soul to a living, loving God Who would care for her for eternity--for her and for her siblings too.

I finished coloring in 3 more pictures this weekend--don't you think it would be so much easier for God to work in the hearts of Masako, Mori, and Chieko; than it was for me to color in pictures of Eida, Peter, & Alabaster? Oh God, manifest to us your merciful redeeming power!