5,000 miles

I can be a homebody.  But during the last couple of months, I have been on the road - A LOT!  I figured out that I have driven over 5,000 miles in the last 3 weeks!  (Not much for a trucker, I suppose.) 

That is the the distance that a purple martin flies from here to Brazil!

When we got back from our vacation at Dauphin Island the middle of August, our purple martins had flown the coop.  We hoped they had not left for Brazil yet.  A friend told us that they were still in Wichita so we went to find them.  They congregate with other groups of purple martins before migrating south.  

It is estimated that about 50,000 purple martins congregate here in Wichita annually before migrating.  They tend to move to a new location around town to roost and it took us a couple of nights to find the place.

This year, grackles and starlings joined the dance in the sky and also a hawk who thought he might enjoy himself a tasty meal!

Time to take down the purple martin house until next spring.

There was an unusual sighting of a swallow-tail kite in our town!!  My "Guide to Field Identification. Birds of North America" puts these birds along the Gulf but a birder friend said 2 had been sited in Kansas.  

Here in our town and one in Lawrence!  What a treat!  We had to go look!!

How cool is this??

A search shows that these birds also migrate about 5000 miles across the Gulf of Mexico, down Central America, over the Andes and across the Amazon Basin to ranchland in southern Brazil.   

So, what trips have we gone on recently that have taken us on a 5000+ mile car ride?

Besides a day trip around the Flint Hills with my husband, I went to northern Wisconsin and western Iowa, then with Allen we drove to Denver and Leadville Colorado, and then down to Arkansas.

Before those trips, however, we went to Clearwater (46 miles south) to look at a sunflower field.

Life cycle of a sunflower

I have 1 more trip to go on soon, which will be another 600 miles.  But, you know, life is short.  Look at the sunflower.  Here today, gone tomorrow.

"As for man, his days are like grass;

     he flourishes like a flower of the field;

  for the wind passes over it,

          and it is gone,

                      and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord

     is from everlasting to everlasting

         on those who fear Him,

   and His righteousness to children's children,

      to those who keep His covenant

and remember to do His commandments."

                        Psalm 103:15-18

We might be enjoying life one day and be gone the next.  As I am writing these words, I hear sirens.  Tragedies can happen just like that.  Cancer, loss of job, car accidents.  We cannot hold onto this life too tightly.

But I can enjoy each day to the fullest, knowing the Lord is in control.  He holds my life in His hands.  And while I have health and the means to do so, I will travel to see my children and grandchildren and enjoy God's creation!  And enjoy my quiet days at home too!  

And when my life is over, well, it really isn't!!  There is more to come!  

My last breath on earth is my first in heaven!  With Christ!!  And what adventures we will have there!!!