When we lived in Belgium there was a strange type of bush that grew up high in the summertime at the front of our house.
So we never bothered to find out what type of bush this was.
Because we were renting the house the owner was responsible for the borders, shrubs and trees and all we had to do was cut the grass.
One day in July 2009
Fred and I were sitting in the house on our own when I saw a butterfly go past the front window. Then just a few mins later I saw another one and then another and another. I remarked to Fred that I had seen four of them and thought that was unusual.
Then when I saw another I walked over to the window to have a look to see if it was simply the same butterfly flying past different times or had we got a few hovering around.
You can imagine my surprise when I saw not one, not 5 but loads of butterflies all the same type sitting on that strange bush. I called to Fred and we both opened the window and stepped out onto the balcony/veranda that stretched the length of the house. We were able to stand there and see the butterflies close up and we counted 34 butterflies on that bush at the same time.
Fred went and got his camera and spent some time taking pictures of this awesome sight.
We stood for about 30 mins watching the butterflies as they fed on this bush, parts of which were showing the effects already.
We just stood and watched in amazement, not able to tear ourselves away from this beautiful sight.
How did all those butterflies know to appear at our bush on that one same day?
This was a day we will never forget, a unique day a quiet but awe inspiring day.
14 months later and we were in the throes of doing the inventory of our belongings in this house and organising to buy a house back in Northern Ireland. The time had come to leave Belgium.
We had been back on a few different trips looking for a house and had fallen in love with one which had a lovely kitchen and Sun Room and nice bathrooms, almost the opposite to this one in Belgium.
At different times I would say about what I would miss about the house in Belgium but there were a lot of things I wouldn't miss.
One of the things I would miss was the fact that our house was in a lovely location enabling us to drive past the Tervuren Roundabout most days and that was a sight that put a smile on my face with it's beautiful fountain.
Another thing I was going to miss was the butterfly bush as I continued to call it even though by this time I had looked it up on Google and found out it was really called a "Buddlea". I knew I was going to miss seeing the butterflies gathering there even though mostly we only saw a few at a time. I have always loved butterflies and like things that are decorated with butterflies.
Along with all the friends we had made I knew that certain little things had made our 6 years in Belgium very happy and special to us and this simple bush was one of them.
Well in December of 2010 we left Belgium covered in snow and could hardly see what was left of the Buddlea bush which had been pruned back excessively and was practically hidden by the bush in front of it
We moved to Northern Ireland also covered in snow and were very busy moving in the week leading up to Christmas.
The New year passed by and quite a few months also as we continued to get settled in.
Then one day we realised that a bush in our new front garden which had been rather scrawny looking when we arrived was now growing up tall, then a while later it started to flower and you can image our surprise and delight to discover that we had a Butterfly Bush at our new home.
We had even taken a family picture in front of the bush a few days after moving in not realising what it was.
Now we have never had 34 butterflies on this bush in Northern Ireland but in the past few summers we have regularly seen 5 or 6 at a time. Maybe someday they will all come but because of our open location at the top of a hill we may never get a mass of butterflies like we did that day in Tervuren.
It is hard to move home and to move from one country to another. It is hard to leave people & things behind
So thank you God that I don't have to say "I miss the butterflies".
Who can say that God doesn't care about how we feel when we see that he gave us another Butterfly bush in our new home!
