Sandi Hester

Is that a bird sound? I was having a hard time thinking of another bird noise . This wraps up my bird posts for now. The middle painting is what inspired the bird painting you saw that I did for my friend’s wedding gift. The last painting is a sketch I did on the trip I did all these bird paintings. It’s a sketch I did of the dining room table of the place we stayed. I went down for lunch one day while Grady was skiing and painted the table setting – I was drawn to the crayons, flowers and the light hitting the table.

Well, we have some exciting news… we’ve been looking for a house or some land for a little over 4 1/2 years – WAY too long in my book, but in God’s book – well, let’s just say He’s got His own plans . So 4 1/2 years later we FINALLY found some land to build on! Yahoo!!! We are SO excited! In stretched out fashion, we’ve actually been working on buying this land for 6 months now – it’s taken forever, but we finally closed on it last Friday. It’s been quite a journey since we sold our house but well worth it for this property (I’ll tell you a little bit about it in a minute). Last summer we sold our house – in one day – which was a miracle in this market – but we couldn’t find a house fast enough and had to move into a rental. That was NOT what this “nester” wanted to do, but again, I realized we weren’t following my plans but the Lord’s. So we found a great little house that got Grady a little closer to work and we settled in… for 3 months.

The week of Christmas we got a call from the rental agency saying the owner of the rental house let the house go into foreclosure and it sold at action and we had to be out IMMEDIATELY. The rental agency said we could have to vacate as soon as 24 hours – I totally freaked (that could even be an understatement – you’d have to ask Grady). Thankfully the Lord had mercy on us and He gave us one week. But over Christmas we had to find another rental (again the Lord had mercy and allowed us to find one fast) and pack – we moved 2 days after Christmas. To make it even better, the day of the move Grady woke up with the swine flu and I had to do the move by myself. It was an exhausting day! My Mom was a blessing from the Lord because she took care of my sick husband and helped me clean our old rental.

So after all that we finally found a place to live – an amazing place – more than we would have ever thought to ask the Lord for. I’ve always wanted a little bit of land out in the country – just something private and we found just that but more. We just purchased 20 acres out in the country – but still just 20 minutes to Grady’s work (that was the whole purpose of this move – to get Grady closer to work) and 25 minutes to Hendersonville where my family is. The land is beautiful and even has a pond on it with a walking trail around it and a boat dock. We’re beside ourselves with excitement. We start the building process this week. We’re going to build a small new/old farmhouse. We’re calling it that because we want it to look old but it will be new. I’m going to use as much salvaged/vintage stuff as I can find – sinks, doors, fireplace mantels, windows, etc. It’s been a while since I’ve posted but we’ve been pretty consumed with this land thing and building and one other thing that I’ll post about next week.

For every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are Mine… for the world is Mine, and all that is in it. Psalm 50:10-12

I promised you more birds and here they come. I REALLY love painting birds for some reason – I’ve just taken to them. My granny was a bird lover (I started to write “big bird lover” – but I didn’t want you to get confused and think she loved big bird from Sesame Street ) and I guess I got her love for birds – and painting – she’s my grandmother who was an amazing artist. The rental house we’re in right now is right next door to a guy who owns several acres and he has a large garden and bird houses and feeders EVERYWHERE. I love living next to someone who’s a bird lover because I get the benefit of their birds without the work – not like it’s a lot of work to feed birds but my guilt factor kicks in when I don’t refill the feeder and I just end up giving up. I don’t know how many times I’ve told Grady that I love Mr. Paul’s (that’s our neighbor) birds – they’re not really his birds but he feeds them and gives them homes so I talk as though they’re his. Every morning when I’m in my office having my quiet time Mr. Paul’s birds are just tweeting up a storm – I love it! No, these are not paintings of his birds .

As the verses above speak so beautifully, the birds are not mine or Mr. Paul’s, they are actually the Lord’s  – I love that the verse doesn’t just say the birds are His, but that he “knows every bird” – WOW! He created them, He sustains them, and He knows them and He used them to show us how perfectly and personally He created us, knows us, and sustains us – Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

The two paintings/sketches are from a series of bird sketches I did on a ski trip we took this winter. I’ll use the next couple of posts to share more birdies with you. Hope you enjoy!