meet val!
I was at a bird fair in a cage with a bunch of baby birds who looked just like me! They were all very noisy. I was just sitting on my spot on the birch when a girl decided I was the one she wanted because I was really quiet and kind of shy. I was being really good because I just wanted to get out of that place. It worked!!! I got picked out of all the others! It was Valentine's day and Mama didn't have a boyfriend so she got me and that's why my name is Valentine! I'm 15 years old!
so god created...every winged bird according to its kind. and god saw that it was good. -genesis 1:21
When I was about 4 years old we went on trip for the whole summer. I was on Mama's shoulder when she stepped into a porch room where I saw a thing on the ceiling that was spinning around really fast. It was a ceiling fan and I never saw one before. It scared me and I just flew up into it in the opposite direction that it was spinning in. Mama was screaming and trying to get me while trying to find the switch to shut it off. I hit the fan hard and fell down. I hurt so much and blood kept coming out of one of my eyes. Mama was crying and praying to God that I wouldn't leave her. She found a bird doctor in town who gave her some medicine to make me better. The good thing is I didn't break my neck. The bad thing was that I ended up being blind in my right eye. Mama tells me all the time that I remind her that she was once blind but now she sees. I don't fly so fast anymore but it's ok cause I'm safer now cause I'm more careful about the direction I'm going.
When Mama leaves our new townhouse to do her ministry or go to work or whatever she does, sometimes, I think she's not gonna come back. When I hear the garage door open I get so happy that I can't stop talking til she takes me out of this cage. Mama calls it a room because she doesn't believe a bird like me should ever be locked up, but, believe me, it's a cage.
I get eggs for breakfast and peas and chicken for dinner but I love pasta and lima beans too. For lunch, though, I'm on my own. And my food has to be lukewarm. If it's cold I won't eat it. I pick from Mama's plate too, especially the grains of salt. I love salt and coffee too. I sneak it when Mama's not looking and she catches me and gets mad.
BATH TIME
One of my visits to Dr. Lutz in Nashville. He's the best Dr. for birds in town but I don't like to see him very much It was a rough day.
I get nervous sometimes when I hear Mama praying to God about bringing her the guy who is right for her to marry. She wants so bad to marry someone who will be in ministry with her because she knows there are some places that are not safe for her to go by herself and she just really needs the support because sometimes ministry is hard when the devil attacks her. Even so, she is so much stronger than she used to be. I remember times when she wasn't doing so good and she'd go to sleep a lot and even go away for a while. And she would just do things that weren't good for her. But now she helps other people not do the things that she did when she got really sad. I hated it because I was stuck in this cage. I really missed her. And when she gets married I'll have to split her time up with someone else and I'm not gonna like it one bit.
THE LOGO!
Mama loves me so much that now I'm her logo. She says because I have one eye that sees and one eye that is blind that I remind her that she was once lost but now she's found. And the light bulb is from the first vision God gave to her when she was a little girl. When the light bulb was over her head and followed her everywhere she went. Her father told her that it was the Light of the Lord.
THAT'S ME!
She keeps drawing me so she can use me on everything!! So, you'll be seeing me around.
Thank you, Nicki Dicicco, for getting me started on my website and for having the vision for my LOGO! I love it!
You can check out Nicki's website Graphic Design & Illustration @
www.nicoledicicco.com
Sometimes Mama does crazy things like when she prayed for me to be born again so that I would be in heaven with her someday. She said the Bible says animals would be there. Maybe that's one of the reasons God put all the animals on Noah's arc to save them too. King David even mentioned how from the skies and the mountains, where the birds fly all the way to the bottom of the ocean, where the fish are and every animal in between, he said, "Your love, LORD, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies. Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep. You, LORD, preserve both people and animals. How priceless is your unfailing love, O God! People take refuge in the shadow of your wings." Psalm 36:5-7
YOUR RIGHTEOUSNESS IS LIKE THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINS, YOUR JUSTICE LIKE THE GREAT DEEP. YOU, LORD, PRESERVE BOTH PEOPLE AND ANIMALS. -PSALM 36:6
From the time I was a little bird mama would always ask me,
"Do you know how much I love you?"
And I would say, "No, how much?"
And she would say...,
​
"I LOVE YOU AS MUCH AS THE SKY IS BLUE!"
Me and Mama, we're doing pretty good together. I know I'm just a bird to some of you but, I help Mama get through on the hard days and, she helps me too. We need each other.
Mama has lots of names for me! She calls me her, bunny boy, but, I tell her I'm not a bunny, God made me a Birdie! I know who I am. I am Mama's, 'sweet tweet, her jelly bean, her silly willy, her sweet little baby boy, her crazy critter and her buttercup.
I may not know things that you know because we don't reason the same way but the one thing I am sure of is that I am loved for just being me everyday of my little life!
