This past week my family has been under seige........
by this......
......................................................a bird!!!
Sure she looks innocent, but looks can be deceiving. In her mind, we are the enemy.
It started about a week ago. We noticed her hanging around a bush on the corner of our house. The following day, she'd make all kinds of noises if you walked in her direction. I told the kids that she must be the Mommie bird and that she's probably protecting her nest of eggs.
They were all fascinated and thrilled at the prospect of possibly seeing the nest, eggs......and one day soon, the baby birds. I told them, they'd have to wait until the eggs hatched, because we didn't want to disturb the nest.
Shortly thereafter, the full on assaults began.
If one of us would enter our front yard at all, the bird would go nuts. Making all kinds of noises and flapping her wings.
That evening Charlie was messing with the bird and trying to get it riled up, by walking in our front yard....that's it, really, just walking into the yard....and she flew at him about 90 miles per hour and nipped him in the butt!
We noticed that the next day another bird joined her....the father, I presume.
Sometimes our dog likes to go out front and lay in the yard. That day, I noticed that when Dakota went out the birds were in a fit, making all kinds of noise and doing lots of fly bys. Apparently, Dakota is Enemy #1, as far as the birds are concerned. I decided to try not to let her out front anymore just to give the birds some peace.
The following morning when I was outside taking pictures with my new camera, I let Dakota out in the backyard to go potty. The birds took about 3.5 seconds to figure out that Dakota was in the backyard and this time there was lots of noise, and fly bys, and then it happened, she was attacked....3 TIMES! Poor doggy! The birds just nipped her from behind, but she was so startled. She had a look on her face as if to say,
What in the heck?? I'm just trying to pee here.
The rest of the day, the birds would be up in arms, mounting tons of fly bys if any of us entered the front OR back yard!
Now it has reached a new level. Veruka and Mike were sitting INSIDE of our house, in the Study. (That's right, I said inside!) Veruka was on my laptop sitting on the floor, by the window, when the birds started up again. They were fired up that she was invading their territory!!!
Thankfully, the eggs have hatched. We can hear the baby birds, but have yet to even see the nest. Veruka was the brave one who took the bird picture....thank goodness for my new zoom lens! (Just a little aside, when she took the pix and zoomed in she noticed the bird had a spider in it's mouth. She was disgusted and said, "Who in the world would want to eat a spider?" I answered....."Uh....a baby bird." :)
The kids said the birds are crazy, but I told them that they are just parents who would do anything to protect their "children." I can totally relate. I can take all kinds of injustices against myself. People can hurt my feelings or wrong me, and I'll just turn the other cheek. However, when it comes to my children, it's a different story. I will defend them to the end. 'Don't mess with my child, if you don't want to mess with me.' Do you know what I mean?
I guess that is love.
That is what these kids do to us. They make us want to fight any battle for them. They make us want to protect them. They make us want to provide for them. They make us want to make it a better, safer world for them.
That is the love that a parent has for their child. Wholehearted, unconditional, complete love.
I remember when each of my kids were born, I was just amazed at the depths of my love for these brand new little babies. In fact, I was smitten before they were even born. Just like the Mommie & Daddy bird....protecting their babies before they'd even hatched out of their eggs.
I remember one night as I sat rocking Veruka, thinking that I couldn't imagine my own parents having that same depth of love for me. But guess what? They did and they still do. It is mind boggling.
As I lay in bed last night, I was thinking about all of this, something occurred to me.
This same kind of parent-child love is the love that God has for EACH of us. Not just for a few special people. Not just for those who go to church. Not just for those who walk a certain path, but for EVERYONE. We are all His children. He loves all of us wholeheartedly, unconditionally, and completely. How is that for mind boggling??
I miss being able to enter our front & back yard without fear of attack. Hopefully, by the time we get back from vacation, the whole family will have moved on, and we can have a cool nest to remember them by.
PS. Yes, I know that you don't spell Mommy with an 'ie'....I just like it that way. :)
Morning.
