Oh Baby!

This past weekend was simply beautiful here in Virginia. My husband got it in his head to do lots of yardwork and when he went to untangle the hose, where it's been left since the end of last summer, he found that a bird had built a nest inside the hose...dispenser? I don't know what you call those things but it helps wrap up the hose:-)

Anyhow, when he moved it the nest fell out, and so did five little baby birds, just hatched. I know, I know! We were upset and worried and did the best we could to replace the nest and get the baby birds situated back in there. And we all prayed that the momma bird would come back.

On Monday, I finally got the courage to check on them and found that all of them had tumbled out of the nest and were flailing around at the bottom of the hose thingie. One had died, but the others were moving fairly well. So, I rearranged the nest and put the other four back and prayed again.

When I got home this afternoon (Tuesday), we checked again, they weren't in good shape. Another one had died and the one live one I could see wasn't moving around much.

I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to let the poor things just die out there, because at this point I figured the momma bird had abandoned the nest. So I called our animal shelter to try and get some information and was given the name of a woman who does wildlife rescue. She said I could bring them to her and she would take care of them.

In ten minutes I had the kids back in the car, and the three live baby birds tucked in a shoebox. My heart was pounding the whole way (and it was a LONG way!) thinking that I should have done something earlier.

We arrived at this house and my two littlest girls and I were invited into the basement or as I call it "rescue headquarters". There were dozens of baby birds (we learned that our babies were finches), four squirrels, several older birds...and a swan swimming in the bathtub!

It was amazing. Our little babies were quickly nestled under a warming lamp, along with others that were about the same age. I felt such a sense of relief that someone was going to be able to care for them properly. I could have tried, but ultimately, I don't know anything about feeding newly hatched birds. But this woman did. I knew those babies were in good hands.

As I was driving home I couldn't help but think about how prayers aren't always answered the way we think they should. The obvious answer to me was that the momma bird should come back. But God knew about this woman even when I didn't. He knew they would be taken care of - but I had to actually do something. Praying is good, but there are times that God is calling us to add action to those prayers. Sometimes it's just not enough to pray for someone, sometimes you've gotta go wrap your arms around them and cry with them. Sometimes you've gotta bring in some help when you know you're in over your head. It's still God at work. He knows what each situation calls for. But we have to be willing to jump in and be a part of what he's doing.

So, I hope this week, you each get a chance to "jump in".