Happy Happy Bird Day (Weekend)!

How do I sum up the best birthday I have ever had?! I had no clue 27 would feel this superb! The

past few birthday have felt pretty mediocre or blah-ze. I think that goes to say just how powerful positive thinking truly is. I was absolutely determined to have nothing less than a fabulous birthday this time around! Or should I say, "BIRD DAY?!"

My overly-organized self created a list of 27 amazing things to do on Friday. Here is just a quick snippet of a few of my favorites:

Carolyn's coffee cake!

Hot chocolate, heavy on
the whipped cream!

Walking to the mailbox in my
Christmas socks and owl
slippers with Kobe dearest

Dancing around the house
to Owl City!

Birthday cards from family
and 3-juice mixed drink!

Super Sushi 

"10 Minutes Ago I saw you..."

I love braids

Best smell ever!

Thankful journal entry

27 feels good!

Maltby Cake

It was a day to remember, but, not only that, it was a weekend to remember!

The following day, we ventured to our first-ever renaissance faire! First, but not our last! Well, only if there is a birds of prey show each time.... Talk about something far exceeding my expectations! Sky Kings put on a bird show I will never forget! The show was complete with a Laughing Kookaburra, 2 Harris's Hawks, a Black Vulture, an Eurasian Eagle Owl, a White-backed Vulture, and, Lenore, some type of collared Raven.

A few highlights of each:
The Laughing Kookaburra actually laughed for us! The Harris's Hawks flew so close over our heads, we had to duck down, and we still felt the breeze over us! What a rush of adrenaline! The Black Vulture had an absolutely huge wing span! The White-back Vulture devoured a chicken leg in 5 seconds! But the best part was when the owl came out, flew to a perch, flew to another perch, then decided to fly, fly, fly, fly right over the on-stage perch and straight out of the tent into who knows where, but not in the show! He did not come back for our show, unfortunately, but what a funny turn of events! The star of the show flies away! Another amazing part was how they trained Lenore to take dollar bills from a person's hand and stuff it in a collection box. If she messed up, she could be reprimanded, and she would fix her mistake and take the next bill. What skill! (And brilliant way to get easy tips!)

Cute little thing

Harris Hawk

Harris Hawk taking off

Harris Hawk

Stunning!

Beautiful!

Black Vulture landing

The White-backed Vulture was rather aggressive, despite its clipped wings

Santa Fe Dam Recreation Area -- Renaissance Pleasure Faire 2015

The rest of the Renaissance Pleasure Faire was fun and we came back with some amazing souvenirs (a medieval-looking ceramic mug, homemade soap, a special garlic seasoning, and a metal hummingbird decoration). We also got to scout out a great new location to go birding at, although, I don't recommend lugging around a pair of binoculars in your purse for hours. The price birders have to pay.... It was worth it, though. Those "nocks," as I like to call them, gave us a great opportunity to see Cliff and Barn Swallows flying around slower than their usual speed, and we also saw 2 beautiful Forster's Terns!

Love Birds

Our next adventure led us to The Master's College for a quick drive-thru tour with a few snapshots, dedicated to Christy Swagerty.

Surprise visit!

And this adventure led us to our next: meeting the parents at Stonefire! It was a lovely time for celebrating one day late for my birthday and one day early for Mother's Day, but, as my mother and I know, every Mother's Day should be my birthday since that is how it all started 27 years ago.

This is what is known as the best
meal in the whole entire world

You would think the bird day weekend adventure would stop here, but, alas! No! We need more birds!

To make a long story short, we got a hold of an established and well-known birder's email around town through a birding website. One thing led to the next and, before we knew it, we had a scheduled birding outing to Montecito Memorial Park for Sunday morning at 7:30! This was a big deal. We were going to be birding with the big timer!

And then, guess what?! The big timer turns out to be a student at Loma Linda University as well, knows my husband's brother, his dad may know my husband's grandpa, and his sister is graduating from the same occupational therapy program as me! Small world!

We meet up to bird and are instantly amazed by his ability to identify birds by their call. That is my long-term birding goal that I am no where close to as of now! We started making an extensive list of sightings as we slowly strolled through the park while sharing bird stories back and forth. Shortly into our outing, his dad pulls up to join us! The four of us have such a grand time birding!

Check out our ebird list here: http://ebird.org/ebird/view/checklist?subID=S23358538.

Justin is doing another Big Year this year, but I am only working on building up my Life Bird list. This outing helped boost both of our lists!

What a perfect birthday (bird day!) present to get 13 new life birds in just a few hours! (It's going to get harder and harder to gain life birds as my list grows, but with a current list at 183 North American species and 218 world species, I still can have amazing birding trips that boost up my numbers quickly!).

1. Wrentit
2. California Quail (!!!!!!)
3. Western Tanager
4. Pacific-slope Flycatcher
5. Olive-sided Flycatcher
6. Swainson's Thrush
7. Great Horned Owl (!!!!!!)
8. Willow Flycatcher
9. Western Wood Pewee
10. Black-headed Grosbeak
11. Costa's Hummingbird
12. Black-chinned Hummingbird
13. Calliope Hummingbird

I went into this birding adventure hoping I can just see a California Quail and a Great Horned Owl. My expectations were more than exceeded!

The best part about our trip is, we not only had a great birding outing, but we made a great connection with this wonderful family in town and have made new friends! The last 3 new life birds for me were seen in their backyard because they invited us over to look at their feeders while drinking coffee! (How they make the most amazing coffee we have ever tasted will have to wait for another blog!)

In love

It was at their house where I met 3 lovely and beautiful and friendly and silly racing pigeons that are going to be used for therapy! Saturn, Mercury, and Jupiter are going to be great! Now if I can only remember which was which!

Justin assured me we can get me some pigeon pets whenever we are able to buy a house. I await that day with eagerness!

2 new friends!

Combination of overwhelming excitement
and terror it would peck my eyes out!

God is good! He reminded me of his continual goodness with all of the multitudes of blessings he showered upon me over this weekend. And, speaking of showers! This was the first birthday I can ever remember where it was stormy, rainy, overcast, cloudy, and crisp at different times throughout the weekend. What joy! My love for rain continues to grow!

Xoxo,

One very happy girl who is in love with God, her husband, family, pets, birds, rain, and all things joyful!

Birding can be "Ruff"

Birding is a blessing, but, with nearly everything in life, it can have its brighter times and it can have its duller times. Last weekend was a combination of both.

The best husband in the world and I were on the search for a Ruff. The Ruff had been spotted in Chino by a well-known Loma Linda, California birder. This bird is a rare bird for this area and we felt the calling to go search for it.

After getting lost on dairy farm roads and making u-turns in almost every direction, we finally found the correct dairy farm pond the bird had been spotted at the day prior. Eventually, another birding couple joined us, who, as always, was older than our under-30 ages, which always surprises people we are so into this "retirement hobby."

Birding has allowed us to strike up conversations with strangers and meet very interesting and kind people throughout these last two years.

While the other birding wife and I were more interested in looking for baby Black-necked Stilts, both of our husbands took turns climbing a large pile of manure in order to get a "better look" at the Ruff no one was able to spot.

The smells, the wind, the bright sun, the hot sun, and the sounds of a nearby truck show did not make it the most luxurious birding outing, but we all laughed about the places birding takes us!

There are many reasons I love birding and two of them happen to be the people you meet and the places it takes you.

After about an hour later of staring at large masses of sleeping Short-billed Dowitchers in the glaring sun, we finally were able to spot the one and only Ruff! Although it can look similar to Short-billed Dowitchers sitting down, it definitely has distinctions. A few of them being its legs, its belly, and its beak, amongst other less noticeable differences.

Closer view

A view of the back of the Ruff on the bank!

The Ruff's bright orange legs!

The Ruff taught me a lesson that good things come to those who wait. Have I mentioned yet how much patience it takes to bird? :)

Occupational Therapy Month - April

April is OT month every year--what joy!

As the month progressed, I kept a list of 30 reasons why I love OT and what it means to me--one for every day!

This month opened my eyes to what a beautiful profession OT truly is. I had the opportunity to hear emotionally-moving stories from guest speakers in my classes, interact with individuals with progressive diseases online, and witness the remarkable Rolling Bears.

The Rolling Bears are a wheelchair basketball team in Loma Linda, CA. They are amazing. The team members have different sorts of conditions, such as spinal cord injuries, amputations, spina bifida, etc. I thought wheeling a wheelchair straight was hard enough--throw in high speeds, quick stops, pump fakes, dribbling, guarding, and shooting on top of that! These guys have my utmost respect.

They also use this program as a rehab outreach to encourage individuals with similar conditions to join their team. They are remarkable individuals. And they even let me and my classmate try it out. It looked hard...but it was even harder than it looked! They taught me how to do a lay up, but learning how to spin in a circle definitely was my favorite!

I had a chance to interact with one of the players who volunteered to be quoted in my blog! With exuberance, he is a valued member of the Rolling Bears team and has been for many years. He says:

     The Rolling Bears have been everything to me. It's about competing at a high level and being a 
     real athlete, not just a person in a wheelchair. We are athletes that give everything to the sport 
     and for one another.
     Edward

The Rolling Bears practice every Thursday night 6:30-9:00 pm at the Drayson Center. Go check them out! They are part of the greater PossABILITIES ministry, which has many other amazing ways to get involved!

It was a blessing to spend my last night of OT month with the Rolling Bears.

Every day is a blessing in my OT program. I learn more and more each day how to open my mind up to possibilities, opportunities, and the power of positivity. I see new blessings every day.


30 wonderful things about OT:

1. OT is the perfect mixture of creativity, helpfulness, science, and optimism.

2. OT helps stretch my mind into learning more ways I can exhibit the fruit of the Spirit through what I do.

3. OT opens wide the door to opportunity and advocacy.

4. I love that I chose a career path that focuses on quality of life.

5. I love this quote and think it breathes life to what OT's do, whether or not individuals have the use of his or her hands: "Man through the use of his hands, as they are energized by mind and will, can influence the state of his own health" (Mary Reilly).

6. I love looking at experiences holistically--and that's just what OTs do!

7. Every patient I will treat will give me the challenge to touch a person's life for the better.

8. OT allows the option to work with the whole lifespan of individuals.

9. OT is not just a health profession--OT gives voice to the speechless and involves advocacy and seeking of occupational justice.

10. OT encourages me to engage in meaningful conversations with people I don't know.

11. OT is fun! We can incorporate crafts into our treatment sessions!

12. OT has so many beneficial and wonderful resources for all individuals in every aspect and condition of life!

13. OT offers so many choices in career settings!

14. OT is a beautiful career and I love talking to those interested in checking out this profession!

15. OT has made me a better person.

16. OTs make great friends!

17. OT draws me closer to God by being in awe of how He has created the human body.

18. OT reminds me to count my blessings.

19. OT has given me my professional wings--the sky's the limit!

20. OTs meet people on the path they are on.

21. OT embodies the "therapeutic use of self" so well.

22. OT makes me a lifelong learner--there is never an end to the amount of information I can learn!

23. OT has brought amazing, interesting, and inspirational classmates, teachers, professionals, and patients into my life!

24. OT makes me want to have kids so I can watch the developmental milestones in real time (side note: I want to have kids for more reasons than just this one!).

25. OT teaches me to hone my skills of leadership and teamwork.

26. OT keeps me on my toes and staying positive!

27. OT has made me a better listener and observer.

28. OTs are storytellers.

29. Every day is different for an OT!

30. OTs are able to bring out the best in others.


I am so thankful God has opened the doors wide for me to become an occupational therapist! God is good!