JUST KEEP ON KEEPING ON

May of 2021. My first try at serious drawing was a frog. I got so tired drawing even just the frog; I knew I couldn't finish it. But I didn't want to just throw it away after working so hard, so I cut out construction paper for the leaf & photographed the frog on a blue jacket cloth background instead of drawing the pond.

The next year, I remember seeing several tadpole-turned frogs at Step Creek and not knowing exactly which one to draw.

One of them saw me and chased the others away. It seemed like his smile said, "See? I took care of your problem!" Then he posed stock still under the leaves along the edge of the creek, seeming to know I would then draw a picture of him.

My problem in Far End Pond 2023 was the exact opposite. I couldn't see the frog where the mellow sound came from. But he croaked consistently, persistently, faithfully, in the same place under those flat, round, green leaves in the pond whenever I went to that corner of the park. So I sketched the leaves!

The Croaker drawn this year? I decided to sketch the leaf and water this time. But I wanted to add a water lily too--a white one? a pink one? So I decided to sketch a white one with pink shading. Can you tell that's a water lily?

There are bound to be difficulties, irritations, questions, as we live for the Lord, but as the frogs have been showing us, God can always make a way for us; we just keep on singing.

UM...TODAY IS SHOW AND TELL?

Here's the picture. It rained hard today, so I stayed home and worked on it! While sitting at my desk. I got an unexpected call from Yoshitaka Ishikawa, from Okinawa.

We'd cheered him on in a soap box derby when he was in junior high; he taught Sunday School then went onto Bible School, married, returned to pastor the village church. At my Dad's funeral, he said Daddy introduced him, not just to Christ, but also to lemonade (Sept. 8, 2016 post). He is the pastor who came to my stepmother's funeral and sat behind the person she led to the Lord 50 years ago.

Wait--how did that happen? I was going to show you a picture but ended up telling you about Ishikawa Sensei!

Well...I hope you enjoyed the picture of the carp, damselfly (can you even see it on the rock???), and toad. I TOLD Moark to come out even a little, that I could hear him, but can't SEE his beautiful croaks. You'll have to imagine him under those leaves there on the right side, ok?

MOARK

I went to the park and was greeted with a sound from that area I haven't heard in a long time.

"CROAAAK!"

It came from those tall grasses growing at Corner Cove. Much greenery had been cut back there. the carp nest area had been exposed, and it looked so bald before...but I realized it was green, lush, and there was no way now I could see the croaker calling to me.

"You've called to me several mornings now," I said in the direction of the sound. "Can I give you a name and we be friends? Do you want a specific name?" (There was a frog that for some reason wanted to be called "Baretta"!)

I waited, and I heard a short Croak.

"Just 'Croak'?" Well, since it's always been a morning call, can we make it a Morn Croak, so 'Moark'?"

I went home that day happy to have made another friend and also thinking, "My, grass and vines sure grow fast!"

(The carp in the water isn't Panda, Wavy, Kiss, Fleck, Milky, Triangle, or PolyCarp, but one of the others waiting to be named.)

FROG EGGS, TURTLE HEADS

I'm not sure I should even post this picture, because I'm not really sure what it is. This is drawn from a photo taken in the spring.

I asked the pond critters for something new to sketch, instead of the same old swimming poses I drew them in. But I wasn't sure what the toads would give me when I heard them calling to me one day.

I went over to where I'd heard their croaking and looked down, but I didn't see anything, felt a strange urge to take a picture of it. Could it be toad eggs just before they hatched? 

Bilbo wasn't much help when I went over to the Irrigation Ditch and asked him what he thought. He thought I should just sketch turtles.

The FROG made me post that picture!

I realized why I wanted to post the picture of the Besses' AkaShiso in yesterday's post. It was seeing that toad! It sparked memories of what happened last year.

I'd been sketching the flowers along the side of the pond for a background for the frog picture when I noticed a tiny enamel green bug with red wings and white pompoms. It lifted its leg as if to say, "draw me too!"

"Thanks sweetie, but you're much too small." When I saw it wouldn't be waved away, I carefully lowered its leg with my pen. I was sure the bug would fly away if I touched it.

But like a toddler who wouldn't take "no" for an answer, he lifted his leg again. Part of me wanted to laugh at the insect; part of me wanted to marvel at the ridiculousness of my situation; and a big part of me said, "Nobody would believe me if I told them this happened!" so I took a snapshot with my cell. It's times like this I wish I had a better-quality camera than my old flip-phone. I hear Smartphones nowadays do better than high-end compact cameras.

But Michael and DeeAnne Bess believed me right away. After all, they'd become friends with some bumblebees recently and eagerly told me about how gentle they were. Many people are afraid bees sting, but the other day, DeeAnne had lifted a leaf to find a sleeping bee; stroked its back; and it simply lifted one of its legs to reach back and touch her finger.

Some don't believe insects and humans can have that kind of contact. The most intelligent minds could stack up arguments about how it isn't logically or scientifically possible; and neither the Besses nor I would be able to refute their words.

But...that wouldn't change what we experienced.

It was a Toad I spotted

They usually come out in May. So from the end of April, I was looking for them, but I didn't see any. The beginning of May, and there weren't any either. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th...

And yesterday, the 17th--finally--they came! I was looking at the turtles in the Irrigation Ditch when I heard their familiar call. I found myself saying to the turtles that I'd be right back as I hurried away, heart dancing, turning on my camera. I'd heard them; but would I be able to spot them?

I intently scanned the pond's surface, now covered with lily pads. I knew I had to be careful, because the coloring was just like the lily pads, and I could be staring right at one and not know it if I looked too quickly.

There! A Toad! Now that I could see it, it looked so plainly visible.

"Took you long enough." it seemed to say.

I find it hard to fathom that the Sovereign of the universe would pass His eyes over the whole earth, looking for those who seek Him. "The eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him."

Huh? Baby in Basket?

I just remembered a picture drawn 2 years ago and felt a need to post it.

It was of an Egyptian steer finding a basket floating in the reeds of the Nile. A frog has leaped up on its forehead, surprised at the gurgling coming from inside. A locust looks on as the basket passes by, and a fly and flea peer down at the baby's face in the floating bassinet.

Moses. Drawn out of the waters. The offspring of these animals will hear of him...and 80 years later help lead his people into freedom. I imagine they never guessed, by looking at that little baby in that basket in the water, what God was planning.

We can't tell what God is going to do by what it looks like at first. Maybe we should just be faithful in whatever it is we're supposed to do, no matter how humble it looks.

FROGS, NOT TURTLES!

I don't know why, but I used to get turtles and frogs confused. They're so different, but for some reason, my brain heard the same signals.

One summer, I caught sight of several toads who went leaping to one place, then looked like...football linebackers body-slamming each other, only doing it with their bellies--wham! Wham! Wham! It seemed some kind of dance before going off in pairs. I thought it was something they did all the time, until I never saw it again.

Something more common was the half-tadpole half-toad creature resting on the boulders of Step Creek. Limbs had grown by then to grip the rock, and features began to bulge out of the round head, making the distinctive froglike shape. They moved up the sandy creek bed towards the deeper ponds. Skin-coloring changed from black to speckled brown to green. (Well, there was one fella whose bodily changes seemed to be happening too fast to keep up; his face had turned a lavender-purple!)

I have seen carp leap out of the water, but I noticed the surface of the creek showed dimples and splashes and realized they were not fish, but large tadpoles! They were developing lungs, learning they were becoming animals called frogs and discovering a craving for air!

Hm. Do we exhibit metamorphosis of sorts too, a desire for heavenly air, or are we content to live by gills in murky water forever?