No, I'm not talking about an Alfred Hitchcock movie in this post...
Back in May while I was cutting the grass I accidentally, very lightly, "tapped" the gutter downspout with the mower. The support holding it to the house gave way, accelerated my annoyance (already high because I was tired and I was cutting the grass which is NOT my favorite chore) and I didn't even care about the gutter so much and I just kept cutting the grass with it literally hanging in mid-air. The WHOLE time.
When I'd finished I asked my fabulous (really, they are) children to then help me sweep and put the clippings bags back behind the house. After I had all grass cutting tools put away I finally decided to check out the annoying gutter downspout which, by the way, I was fairly certain broke away on purpose to make my annoyance level rise. You have to look out for those gutters - they have minds of their own. I grabbed a landscaping stone to hold annoying gutter in place until I could figure out how to fix it permanently. (And it has been fixed by now, thanks Mr. Mike!)
Much to my dismay, this is what I came across.
Now, I knew that nest was perched there on top of the annoying gutter, but I thought all bird activity had long ago ceased. Boy, did I feel sick over this discovery! I made a few frantic phone calls - and NO ONE I KNEW WAS HOME! (I apologize to my friends the Richter's for the weepy, very girlish sounding frantic voicemail I left... thank you for still being my friend). After all the phones of my friends went to voicemail, I prayed. (Now WHY didn't I do that FIRST?!!? Sheesh!)
Back in May while I was cutting the grass I accidentally, very lightly, "tapped" the gutter downspout with the mower. The support holding it to the house gave way, accelerated my annoyance (already high because I was tired and I was cutting the grass which is NOT my favorite chore) and I didn't even care about the gutter so much and I just kept cutting the grass with it literally hanging in mid-air. The WHOLE time.
When I'd finished I asked my fabulous (really, they are) children to then help me sweep and put the clippings bags back behind the house. After I had all grass cutting tools put away I finally decided to check out the annoying gutter downspout which, by the way, I was fairly certain broke away on purpose to make my annoyance level rise. You have to look out for those gutters - they have minds of their own. I grabbed a landscaping stone to hold annoying gutter in place until I could figure out how to fix it permanently. (And it has been fixed by now, thanks Mr. Mike!)
Much to my dismay, this is what I came across.
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| Look closely at the the top of the nest. |
Now, I knew that nest was perched there on top of the annoying gutter, but I thought all bird activity had long ago ceased. Boy, did I feel sick over this discovery! I made a few frantic phone calls - and NO ONE I KNEW WAS HOME! (I apologize to my friends the Richter's for the weepy, very girlish sounding frantic voicemail I left... thank you for still being my friend). After all the phones of my friends went to voicemail, I prayed. (Now WHY didn't I do that FIRST?!!? Sheesh!)
My main issue with picking the baby birds up was that I was afraid the mother (who was crying at me the ENTIRE TIME from the neighbor's roof top WITH A worm in her mouth even) wouldn't come back to them if she smelled me on her babies. Isn't that what you learn in grade school?? She was definitely NOT helping my anxiety level with all her crying! Then I remembered that I had just purchased some new gardening gloves - THAT VERY MORNING! (Praise God for Costco and packages of things I don't know I need until I see them!)
I ran to the garage, grabbed the massive ladder and some fresh gloves.
These birds were soooo small. They were not even strong enough to lift their own heads up and they barely had any feathers. Where their "ears" were (actually just flaps) the skin was still translucent. I was in awe of how special these little creatures were. Now, my tears were much different than the franctic ones left on voicemails all across town... they were sheer amazement of how wonderful God had protected them from the fall off the roof top gutter, protected them from my NOT hitting them with my lawn mower, and protected them from the length of stay they had on the ground while I took my sweet, annoying, time doing finishing my chores.
Owen and Evie are watching me respond to these creatures, a point that is not far from my mind any minute of the day, but I was so actuely aware of their soaking in this moment. They wanted to examine each bird and make sure each one was breathing. This teaching moment was not lost on me (Praise the Lord for His goodness in THAT!) and I was able to show them how "just fine" the babies were and explain how God loves these little birds as much as He loves us. He created them, and He created us. He loves His creation and to Him it brings glory.
After we'd done our due diligence of ensuring each bird was breathing fine and had no broken "limbs", we prayed over them, I fixed the gutter (temporarily), and returned them to their "home".
And we waited... would the mother come back to "mother" them? Or would she abandon them as I had feared...
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| SHE CAME BACK!!! God IS good!! |
"Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows." (Matthew 10:29-31 ESV)
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