Nesting

We have had the privilege the last few weeks to watch the amazing process of life right before our very eyes. A little robin couple chose our pergola to build their nest. We literally sat at breakfast, lunch, and dinner one day and watched as they assembled their nest with mud and sticks and leaves. Then came the little blue eggs and the mama sitting patiently- flying off only when we opened the door too fast and startled her.

A few days ago we noticed the birds bringing in worms and bugs and hanging them over the nest so we did a few pull-ups and held the kids up again to see the baby birds. Pretty ugly little things actually. But we sat again at our meals and watched the baby birds get fed. A couple of days ago I threw the sliding glass door open very quickly and the mama bird flew off- and accidentally dropped one of the birds onto the grass as she took off. I was horrified! The kids were still sleeping but I knew if they woke up to a dead baby bird- oh my...I called Ted totally panicked. "You have to come home and save the baby bird!" He laughed and said, "Whatever- you can do it:)" (Then he told Angie to have Curtis come up to help me- because he's not totally heartless.) So I put two plastic baggies on my hands and scooped it up and stood on our patio table to deposit the bird into the nest. I looked up and saw the Mama bird watching me intently. I was worried that she'd abandon the nest- but she ruffled her feathers right up and plopped back down on the baby birds.

We arrived home from a bike ride today- Emma was too tired to go and hung out with Aunt Lisa- They were blowing bubbles and Emma almost stepped on a dead baby bird. It had fallen out of the nest- or the Mama dropped it out- or something. Oh- there were some traumatic moments in our house. Why do they always happen when Ted's not home? I had to scoop up the dead baby bird with a shovel and put it in the trash. I was heart broken- needless to say so were the kids.

So after our little life lesson- and throughout the last few weeks- I have really been watching that Mama bird. She just sits there on her nest patiently day after day. She leaves for a few moments now and then to gather food for her baby (babies). But other then that she is just content to sit quietly on top of her nest. Ted and I have been in the marriage and family relations class for the last couple of months. Our instructors are amazing- so good at sticking to the scriptures and doctrine of families- no detering- just good hard facts as to why we are doing this. Well- one of the most profound things Sister A. has said was in deciphering Romans 1: 26-31. It speaks of people having unnatural affections, "without natural affection" it says. In the context it is easy to say that this refers to homosexuals. It is speaking of the latter days- and Sister A. said she interpereted it this way for years. Until recently...she said she now believes it is refering to the way that women feel towards their young. (This does all lead back to the bird...) Not simply Mothers who would rather go out and work- but that Mothers are not happy just sitting on the nest- just being Mothers with baby birds (that was my own analogy.) We have to be so much more then that and expect our kids to do the same so we run around like crazy people. My own Mom said to me the other day that she feels like- in a sense- parents have decided that the one who is home with the kids at the moment is the one being "punished." We race around chasing our distractions all the time and it is the kids who are put on the back burner- they're the second thought- "What do we do with the kids?" and therefore in a sense- the punishment. Dad comes home- Mom leaves- it's Dad's turn to do the "hard job." And it is a hard job- there's no denying that. But have we turned it into something harder then it has to be? I've asked myself that question a lot the last few months- and now in even simpler terms after watching this sweet mother bird I WONDER- Whatever happened to just sitting on the nest?