We’ve not had much luck in attracting the birds.  We forget to freshen the hummingbird feed, run out of bird seed, and so on.  But this year we decided to do better.  Lo and behold, the little guys are visiting us regularly.  Last night we saw four hummingbirds (ruby-throated) around the feeder.  We had a flock of (pesky) house sparrows that steal the sunflower seeds from the cardinals and mourning doves.  We have had goldfinches hourly is seems, and a white-breasted nuthatch has been a regular visitor.

For those of you with a backyard and lots of feeders, I know this isn’t much.  But for us, it has been a record year and we have enjoyed our feathered friends.  To date, I’ve not seen a Cooper’s or Sharp-shinned hawk fly in and make an escape with a meal, but I expect that time will be coming.

I don’t think it is any mistake that the phrase “family of God” is used throughout the Bible.  My family means so much to me, I came from a wonderful family.  I know not everybody shares the same feelings about family as I do or has been as fortunate with their family as I have.  But I thank God for my family.

And I bet the food will be pretty good too.

Bill either was, was to be, or had been (!) the President of the National Missionary Convention.  Later I had the same opportunity.  Bill has regularly invited me to speak at Cincinnati Christian University, for which I have been grateful.

Bill and Verna were missionaries in South Africa.  He educational background is in the fields of education and leadership development.  Verna’s background is marriage and family care as well as pastoral counseling.  We see a great match as we have need for consultants in all of these areas.

The Webers will continue on staff at Cincinnati Christian University and will travel occasionally in the summer.  We expect they will help us at events like our furlough retreat and our assessment center, among other things.

A long time friend, Stephen Burris, edited a book back in 1995 titled Completing the Task.  He is editing another book in the same vein, and has asked me to contribute five chapters (3 on anthropology, 1 on strategy, and 1 on holistic missions).  So I’ve got my work cut out for me.

For the last eight years I have worked from home on Fridays.  I use the time for reading and writing, though sometimes I also work on the CMF archives.  I found it is easier to read and write (serious writing, not memos or letters) from home than in the CMF office.  Since my computer is linked with the CMF system, I can respond to emails while at home.

A couple of other assignments include an upcoming workshop on Creation Care at the National Missionary Convention, and a workshop on Global Poverty and Biblical Justice at the 2011 North American Christian Convention.

Finally, there is my ongoing project of editing and publishing (many of) the primarily unpublished works of the late missiologist Alan Tippett.  Five or six books have been completed and are getting ready for publication.

The more usual way of putting out an RBA is through the internet.  In fact, there are RBA sites that you can join for regions of the country so that you receive daily emails from what is being seen in Massachusetts or Iowa.  I’ve joined a couple of these, for the East (because I mistakedly thought Indiana where I live would be in the Eastern zone), and then later for the Central area of the US.  When I see an RBA for Indiana, I look to see what and where the action is.  If it is something I am looking for, if it is close by, or if I can get away, I might zoom off to go looking for the bird.

If you are a really serious birder, and an especially rare bird (called ‘accidentals’), you might just race to the airport to catch the first flight out to the area.  I am serious.  People do this.  Ever read the paper about a unique bird in an area and seen the photos of the many birders congregating to get a look.  It happens, more often than you would think.  

To tell the truth, I have only followed up on a couple of Rare Bird Alerts.  Once was in Oregon when I was visiting my parents.  I love to go driving with my parents when I am out there, so Dad and I went driving from Eugene to Corvallis to see if we could see the Crested Caracara that had been spotten near the airport.  That bird is very very unusual for Oregon.  Alas, we were too late.

Another time I heard that was a Roseate Spoonbill  a couple of hours south Indianapolis.  It had been in the area for several days at a reservoir.  I read this in the paper on Friday and so drove down on Saturday.  Nice drive, enjoyed the birding, but did not see the spoonbill. 

Not to worry folks, I’ve seen both the Caracara and the Spoonbill in Texas.  But had I seen them they would have been added to my Indiana list. 

Tomorrow I am driving to Goose Lake, a restored wetlands area here in Indiana.  Maybe there will be a rare bird in store for me?  If there is, I’ll send you an RBA via this blog.

So I have taken the plunge myself.  I ordered the Gold Edition of Thayer’s Birds of North America which contains birdsongs for over 700 North American species, as well as photos, videos, range maps, information, articles, and a host of other good things.

Then I ordered a used (let it please be as advertised!) ipod nano, third generation.  I’ll download the songs onto the ipod for use in the field.  Finally, I ordered a portable speaker (Creative Sound i80) that the ipod fits into so that the birdsong can be played in the field.

Stay tuned to see how this goes.

And, if you are tracking with me, I added the Nelson’s sharp-tailed sparrow and the saltmarsh sharp-tailed sparrow to my lifelist.

Sherry tells me that the winter wren has been split into two species, so I added the Pacific wren to my list since I had seen it in Oregon some years back as well as locally here in the midwest.

Then on Friday morning of the convention speaker Gene Appel again highlighted this ministry with a wonderful eight minute dvd showing his own involvement with the ministry as well as the involvement of his church in southern California.  That church, Eastside Christian Church, recently held a child sponsorship emphasis and some 1000 kids from Mathare Valley have new sponsors.

Mary Kamau was interviewed in the weekend services of East 91st. Street Chrisian Church, where she once again received standing ovations.  The dvd they used to introduce Mary is worth watching.

After being in the CMF prayer time yesterday, Mary left for the airport so that she could return home from this very busy two week time in the U.S.

mary interview from rhett owen on Vimeo.