We have been so excited about the baby expected in our son's family ever since we learned it will be a boy! Next on the agenda is the selection of a name, but Jamie has been mum on that one, only kidding around on Facebook with pun-like names for our amusement (and my exasperation!). I even suggested naming his son and heir with his own name, as a Junior.
Yesterday the phone rang and I saw it was his number. "Hi, Jamie!" I said cheerfully, "What are you doing?" (I had kidded him pretty hard about the names, and I thought he might be a little offended and was relieved he had called.)
"Hi, Mimi," a little voice answered. It was Anne-Marie, their six-year-old daughter! We haven't had many conversations on the phone, and to keep her talking, I immediately asked her about her kindergarten graduation and the "field day" afterward. She patiently explained the games, then I asked what room she would choose in their new house. "The turquoise one!" she said.
When I finally quit peppering her with questions, she announced, "Isaac. His name is Isaac." The reason she had called! I squealed and told her I loved it! I looked up the meaning and found it means "He who laughs." Perfect, if he is anything like his father! Besides, I love biblical names.
Later that day, we were enjoying fooling with the chickens, letting the "teenage" ones out into their fenced area where they found bugs under leaves, picked at grass and leaves, and scratched and ran to their hearts' content. We sat on a lawn bench in their midst and exclaimed over the beautiful coloring the sunshine revealed in the feathers of the three young guineas kept with them.
We also noticed how some of the chickens were mistreating the smaller banty chicken we had put in their midst a few days ago. It hardly got to eat before one would attack it, sending it shreiking away. It kept to itself as much as possible, especially out in the chicken yard where it could get away. I noticed it coming up under our bench, then it hopped upon the arm of the bench right by us! She (I called it a she) was friendly and seemed almost tame! I think she would have let me pet her!
"We should take her home," I suggested to my husband. "We could keep her in the rabbit cage out back." However, I knew city regulations would not permit that. "She could be a pet," I ventured. I had never felt affection for a chicken before, but she tugged at my heart. This morning I read that some bantum breeds have gentle dispositions.
The small, white chicken reminded me of a dove in her gentleness. I thought about the Holy Spirit being personified as a dove. I found out that the name, "Jonah," means dove, coming from the word, "yo-nah," the sound of mourning that a dove makes.
I was telling Jamie I would miss their old house, especially the nursery where he has painted the walls with pastoral scenes of sheep and a shepherd, and where he hand-lettered the whole 23rd Psalm bordering the ceiling around the room. I forgot to tell him how I always knew we were in his neighborhood when we heard the soft, melodious cooing of the resident doves in the area trees. Even better, though, will be the cooing of baby Isaac and the melody of laughter in their new home!
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