Mama Bird

I am really looking forward to today. There's a joyful thrill when I can help in something good that is far larger than just myself. This one holds a special treasure; it involves both helping kids, and helping them help another in need.

Yesterday evening, there was a knock on our apartment door. I opened it to find a gaggle of children holding a large shoebox. They needed help.

It turns out, a couple of days ago, they discovered two baby birds that had fallen from the nest. One, sadly, had died due to internal injuries. But its sibling survived the initial trauma, and they were all helping to nurse it back to health, helping it survive. They named the baby bird HOPE.

Hope was inside this large shoebox, still no more than a ball of fluff with a beak. The kids did the research, and knew the bird had to be fed every half hour, which they could not do with school. So they had gotten one of the neighbors who works as the community's housekeeper to feed it during school hours. But today, she was going on her son's class trip as a chaperone and could not take care of it. 

Could we?

As my boss is traveling this week, my office should be quiet enough with enough flexibility in my schedule today to regularly stop to tweezer-feed a baby bird. The kids had already carefully researched and prepared the food, handling gloves and all I need for it.

I agreed to "babysit" Hope.

In an hour (6:30 am) the eldest of the kids will be getting on the school bus. On her way to the bus stop, she'll drop off the bird at my apartment. After school, she'll walk to my office (in the neighborhood) and pick up her charge. I think I've just become a baby-bird day care facility. LoL

Something tells me that this mama bird will be remiss when Hope has to leave...

~ ESA
(Pictures below added through the day.)

Early Morning Song

Good morning, readers! Many forgot that Jesus / Yeshua is an early riser, though it can be found in the gospels.

In Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed."(NIV)

In John 21:4, "Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus."

In John 8:2, "At dawn He appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around Him, and He sat down to teach them."

We may hit the snooze button, groggily locate the coffee fixings, rush through our daily routine before work, or pull our hair out getting the kids up and out the door in time for the school bus.

But if we get up before everyone else in the house, we notice that it's quiet. In some areas, the streets themselves are quiet, even whole towns. One can hear the birds sing even before the first light of day reaches the sky.

It is a time of Peace. It is a time for prayer. It is a time to reflect on our blessings - everywhere.

It is a point at which we can leave the past behind, and start anew, with a song of Joy in our heart.

This is the day

The Lord has made

Let us rejoice

And be glad in it

~ Psalm 118:24

Birdsong!

I was awake early and heard the first hesitant calls of a bird outside my window a little before 4:30 this morning.

While many know the joys (and sometimes annoyance when one is trying to sleep in) of birdsong right outside their bedroom window, I think that New England springs spotlight it all the more for me.


In winter, there is a silence so profound you can hear falling snow softly whisper through bare tree branches, or a distant rumble-crunch of the snow plow as it trundles down Main Street. Mornings, especially in the hours before the commuter's cars and school buses, are very still and quiet.


Then spring arrives, and with it, a great multitude of birds migrate back to the area. And they bring such sweet birdsong! There is even a tradition in the Northeastern US that "It ain't Spring until you've seen your first redbreast robin."


And what was once still silence has turned into a beautiful melody greeting the morning sun, celebrating the return of life, warmth and growth.


By the Autumn, I may be among those who scowl at the birds keeping me from my sleep, but in the Spring, I bless their little hearts as my joins theirs in sweet song of life!


Sing
for
Spring

-ESA

Birdsong!

I was awake early and heard the first hesitant calls of a bird outside my window a little before 4:30 this morning.

While many know the joys (and sometimes annoyance when one is trying to sleep in) of birdsong right outside their bedroom window, I think that New England springs spotlight it all the more for me.


In winter, there is a silence so profound you can hear falling snow softly whisper through bare tree branches, or a distant rumble-crunch of the snow plow as it trundles down Main Street. Mornings, especially in the hours before the commuter's cars and school buses, are very still and quiet.


Then spring arrives, and with it, a great multitude of birds migrate back to the area. And they bring such sweet birdsong! There is even a tradition in the Northeastern US that "It ain't Spring until you've seen your first redbreast robin."


And what was once still silence has turned into a beautiful melody greeting the morning sun, celebrating the return of life, warmth and growth.


By the Autumn, I may be among those who scowl at the birds keeping me from my sleep, but in the Spring, I bless their little hearts as my joins theirs in sweet song of life!


Sing
for
Spring

-ESA