Rebecca

This is a Swinhoe's Tree Lizard (Japalura swinhonis), I named him Bobby. I usually just see the smaller less colorful females, but was fortunate to get a decent shot of a male.

The relationship between plants and pollinators is amazing to me, and just shows how much detail God thought of when creating the small things of the world. To me even the simple things like this can disprove evolution all on their own. "But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee: Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?" Job 12:7-9

There are a few forums I’m a part of that requires new members to first post in the introduce yourself section, it’s set up so that they’re unable to post anywhere else until that’s done. Then they’re restricted to only commenting and not starting new threads until they’ve commented a set number of times which varies on the different forums but can be from 5-20 comments on different threads and not on just one over and over.

It's not as clear in the OP as it should be, but after the heading "Trump's Lies", it's then quoting from the NY Times article by David Leonhardt and Stuart A. Thompson, so they are the "we".

Somewhere in Michigan Somewhere in Missouri

It's a bit hard to tell from the angle, but it might be an American Salmonfly or Stonefly. Was it near water? Whether it is or not, an interesting fact about these insects is that they lay their eggs in water, and if the water is polluted in any way, the larvae will die, so if you see many of these insects and their larvae, it means the water is clean! The larvae eat algae and rotting plant matter in the water. The mature, winged adult only lives about a month and doesn't eat.

That’s wonderful news!

Thank you for the update! I’m glad the church members and the church building are all okay. Where you in Hualien during the earthquake?

Glad to hear you're okay! I'll pass on the news to those who've been asking about you. Do you know if all the church members are okay?

Beautiful photo, Weary Warrior! It makes me really want to be there! Beautiful photo, Jim Alaska! It makes me glad I'm not there!

Yes, it is a rabbit. The distance and the fact it was running does distort it a bit. There are more rabbits around here now, but they are extremely shy and will bolt at the slightest movement, as prey animals usually do when in areas where they are heavily hunted. There are hawks, bobcats, and coyotes commonly in the area. Unfortunately I haven't been able to get pictures of the predators, and likely won't.

I love seeing wildlife in their natural habitats, and if I manage to get a halfway decent picture of them, I'm thrilled! These two pictures were taken the same day, unfortunately I have a knack for startling the animals and don't generally get great pictures, but I'm happy with what I got. Can't expect wild animals to cooperate with a photo session! haha!

Happy birthday!

The American celebration of Thanksgiving is this month. It's usually a time when we reflect on the blessings we've received, and so I thought a thread dedicated to sharing those blessings would be a good idea. For me, after five years on the mission field I didn't have a proper oven, and now I do. And I'm so thankful for it that I did the unthinkable and signed up to cook a turkey for my church's Thanksgiving banquet! I'm also thankful for the safety God has given me while traveling. There has been two clear instances when I know God had been protecting me, and I'm sure many more I'll never know about. I'm thankful for my Pastor helping me find a cell phone that works even out in the middle of nowhere. I'm thankful that I turned the porch light on and looked out before I opened the door and stepped on the skunk.