Music to My Deers' Ears

The kids and I have not been sleeping well for the past month, and the local stores stopped carrying our family's favorite liquid vitamin.  Yet, I find it to be almost miraculous that despite these factors which should have lowered our resistance, our family has remained healthy during this season of record sickness in our area.  The one exception would be our daughter's 1st ever ear infection which she developed while flying (ear infections are a common side effect of flying) on December 31. 

This past week has been super busy, and I have had an urgent project to finish.  I woke up yesterday after only sleeping 4.5 hours and spent the morning with sneezing, coughing preschoolers.  I think a virus finally set up camp here yesterday.  My husband had a late night commitment at church, and I was having such a hard time with the children on my own.  I was weary and had a headache, yet the kids bounced around all day with high energy making much noise and scattering clutter with every step they took. I prayed for patience and strength.  I desperately needed to get them to bed after dinner so I could rest, but I couldn't find the energy to get them there.

Yet, I did manage to stumble into the music room at the front of our house.  I began playing the piano.  Soon, both kids were standing beside me singing quite beautifully.  No longer were their voices like sirens in my head.  They suddenly sounded like little angels.  They began to dance gracefully around the room.  My frustration with them instantly turned into amusement.

Then our daughter looked outside the window to find 4 large deer grazing near our front porch.  These are probably the same deer who eat the heads off my flowers at their peak each summer, but instead of seizing this opportunity to shoot them with a shotgun, I shot them with my camera instead.  They were so pretty under the dim light of our halogen lamp. It was dark, and the windows were foggy, so I had to open the front door to get a decent photo.  The door hinges squeaked when I tried to open the door.  The deer ran across the street when they heard the squeak.  After applying some WD-40, I tried again.  Obviously, I need photography lessons.

This photo makes me laugh because only their eyes are visible.

Shortly after I took these photos, a neighbor told me that she had seen the deer running toward our house.  We wondered why they chose our yard over hers when she had plenty of grazing options there.  We decided that maybe they just liked the kids' singing! :-)  

The deers did remind me of one of my favorite scriptures:
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God.   (Psalm 42:1)
Perhaps I wasn't as weary as I was thirsty for the Lord.

Lesson Learned:
When I am weary, I should seek the Lord and make music unto Him name.  He will renew my strength. (Isaiah 40:31)

Psalm 96:1
Sing to the LORD a new song; sing to the LORD, all the earth.