They have been deserted - I think...

 I told you about the new quail nest I have found.  I saw mama and papa quail running around in the courtyard the other day, along with one baby.  There was one other baby still in the pot.  The other eggs had not hatched.  I was reading up on it this morning because I think mama and papa quail have deserted the remaining eggs.  They have not hatched yet.  I read... and it said sometimes the quail leave the eggs behind if they haven't hatched, because the eggs are to hatch within the same timeframe.  One after another, supposedly.  But, these eggs have not hatched.  I haven't heard the quail in our courtyard, nor seen any, for two days now.  So have these babies that are yet unhatched - 'unfertilized' or just deserted?  Will they hatch on their own?  I haven't gone out yet to look this morning.  But I have prayed that mama quail will come back and sit and get her babies born.  From what I read, the article said to leave the unhatched eggs alone.  Do nothing. These are 'wild' quail so it is unlawful to try to help them.  Seriously.  And since I have no clue what to do to help.... I guess I will leave them alone.  Makes me sad they didn't hatch... but what if they do eventually?  Do you know that female quail can lay between 250 - 500 eggs PER YEAR??? That is what the article said.  The find a nest and then lay one at at time... but surely not continuously - and they have to change nests, right?  I'm so confused!!   And no, I'm not going to break open an egg to see if it is just an egg... if a baby quail fell out I'd be devastated!!

We are having an early dinner with friends tonight.  I still think it is 4PM but hubby says we agreed on 3PM - which is earlier still.  It doesn't matter to me.  It just means I don't need to cook a meal today - we will snack for a meal at Popo's will be huge - and we will be sharing.

It feels good not to have an agenda going today other than the dinner.  It's 9AM and I'm still here in my room.  Hubby has popped in a couple times... "never meaning to interrupt"... but does.  Questions that do not need immediate answers, but I pause and give them.

My sister has been trying to get a personal trainer.  She told me how much she could pay for one. I told her to talk to them at the gym.  Well, they are trying to rope her in to a 9 month (so it seems) contract.... and when she told me about it - I told her NO.  She can't afford it. She can't afford a monthly charge.  There are programs on YouTube that will show her how to do the exercises.  The trainer that is trying to get her to sign up even took her through a lot of exercises yesterday.  She said her legs were shaking.  Well, good. Anyway - I told her no, do not sign anything.  They are charging too much for training.  She only wants a few training lessons.  That's all she can afford.  (and I'm not offering to help).  This may get 'ugly', you know.  I'm training and she isn't.  Is that fair?  Maybe I'm reading too much into it.  If I tell her I have something, she thinks she should also have it - or something better.  (so it feels).  When she buys something, she thinks I should get it.  (no, I don't need to get it).  Sigh.  I've learned the hard way over the years - actually, my big brother brought it to my attention during one of her 'transitions' of tearing me down.... she is jealous of me.  She is jealous she quit work at 55-ish and her husband quit at the same time. They have struggled ever since financially.  I have a job. I have a pay check. And right now, I can do whatever I want.  I want to retire, yes, but I don't want to struggle to live. So I keep working.

I do a lot of stupid buying - rather, paying 'stupid tax' as Dave Ramsey would say.  I tell myself NO, and then it keeps popping up so that I eventually buy it.  I am once again telling myself "NO, you don't need this" and am trying not to buy things.  Sure, we always use what we buy.... but for how long?  There is nothing I/we need.  If we NEED it, we can get it. God has provided for us to do that.  I need to quit just getting something that is 'there'.  Some of you know what I mean.  I call it my 'stupid tax'.... cause once I receive it, I wonder why I bought it.  Please tell me I'm not alone in paying the 'stupid tax'!

What has been popping up recently that has caught my attention?  You know if it is on Facebook, it is true, right?  NOT.  Well, I read (and I want to stop that) the stories on Facebook and I enjoy a good story - A1 generated or whatever.  And they are basically all the same, as a rule; different scenarios, right?  Anyway - this advertisement is for the bedspread.  What has caught my eye as I read it?  They talk that it stops snoring.  Seriously.  How can a bedspread stop your snoring?  I am so self-conscious about MY snoring, as my husband and my children tease me about it all the time, so that part has caught my eye enough that several times now I have filled out everything..... only to stop before I hit 'submit' because we don't need another bedspread (you know I just bought two inexpensive ones from Amazon a month or so ago and they are sufficient).... but if it will truly stop my snoring, it would help, right?  But I'm not willing to pay $179 for a California King bedspread with two shams.  That's why I don't buy my bedspreads from Macy's!  I've seen some up to $500 at some stores!  Who pays that kind of money?  But it would stop my snoring, yes?  It says it does.  But no, I'm sure it won't, and I am going (to try really hard) to stay off those stories and just check posts from family and friends and get off.  I rarely post at all on there anyway.  People don't need to know my personal stuff.  And what I post should be edifying and uplifting, right?

Which reminds me, I read an article this morning - rather it was an email - from someone I used to be a lot closer to.  She is very Bible knowledgeable, and I had hoped to learn from her.  But, during one visit where we met for lunch at her apartment, we got into a bit of confrontation in that she expected me to stay an additional hour for us to continue talking (about the bible), but I knew I had to get back to work.  We haven't talked or met since.  But, she does do a blog and she definitely tells it like it is!  In this email she shared about a post (which I hadn't read for I don't read her blog very often) where she 'called out' someone who was prominent in the 'Christian world' and had recently passed away unexpectedly.  What was interesting is that (not that I knew for I didn't watch the program) this woman had the spirit of unforgiveness for a relative who had disagreed with her.  And I guess, from this article, she had also committed adultery. Like I said, I didn't watch this show, I know the name, but that's it.  Anyway, my 'friend' called it out - that people were saying she was such a good Christian because of all the good things she did.... and 'my friend' posted that she was a hypocrite because she held unforgiveness in her heart, and had committed public sings and did not confess publicly... and so on.  Tag a comment below if you want to read her blog.  She 'tells it like it is' regardless of what is popular. I have not found anything she said to be false.  Of course, I'm not into 'reading other things' like some people are.  M Bible and the books I read are enough for me.   

But it made me stop and think of people I know who say they are Christians and yet, hold unforgiveness in their hearts.  My terminology for anyone like that - they are giving power to the offending person (who usually doesn't care or know that they are being held in unforgiveness) and because they are holding unforgiveness in their own heart... they won't get into heaven - no matter how 'good' they are, no matter how much they take care of others.  UN-forgiveness will keep you out of heaven.  You can confess all your sins every single day.... but if you hold unforgiveness in your heart... you won't get into heaven.  Jesus said so.  

Matthew 6:15  (NIV)  "But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive you your sins."

John 20:23 (NIV):  "If you forgive anyone's sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven."

Yes, you can be angry with someone, but Paul says in Ephesians 4:26 (NIV):  "In your anger do not sin; do not let the sun go down while you are still angry."

You know how angry I can get... regardless whether I call it disappointment, or frustration.  But I cannot just let it keep going day after day after day.  All that does is make me a mean mama.  I cannot let my anger take control.  So Yes, I have to pray a lot of times that the bigger picture be opened up to me, that I can understand not only my anger, but why I got angry in the first place.  Angry people are also hurting people.  People who don't have control of things going on around them.  We cannot allow that anger to live in us and control us.  And only Jesus can remove it from us - when we ask Him to.  So yeah, some of us may have to pray constantly, right?

And with that - I'm off here.  I'll just leave you with this - Forgive as you want to be forgiven. Do not give the enemy a foothold in your life.

Blessings!