One animal that we raised every spring was ducks -- particularly mallards. Mallard moms tend to be pretty poor mothers (sort of like octo-mom) because they neglect their babies. Usually half of their babies either get eaten, or they become separated and aren't allowed to return to their family. So, every spring, we would find where the mallard mom had laid her eggs and "steal" about half of them and incubate them ourselves. Their chance for survival was much greater, and after a few months when they finally had feathers, we would release them back into the wild (there is a point to this story).
So imagine my surprise last weekend when I notice that traffic is actually stopped on Lancaster because of these:
Baby ducks. Mallards to be exact. People were sort of freaking out over these 2 little bugs. The ducklings had somehow wandered out into the road and were running back and forth between traffic. A few people were wandering after them but they didn't really know what to do. The crazy thing was, I knew exactly what to do. I knew these babies would never be allowed to return to their family, and there mom was more than likely already dead. I knew how to raise them, what to feed them, what to do with them etc...and I thought, "What are the odds?" I'm sure there are other people in Salem who have experience raising mallard ducks, but in that moment, one of them happened to be on the corner of Lancaster and Cranston. God must have cared about these little ducks.
So I tried to catch them. One was already sort of hurt so he was pretty easy to get. The other one took me another ten minutes which included running in and out of the street, waving at cars (including 2 cop cars...whom I'm assuming didn't stop because they weren't the animal police?) and literally running as fast as I could down the street. But eventually, I got them both. Just call me Snow White.
Now we have 2 baby ducks in our house. Here they are hanging out with Andrew (they're learning to code):
All that is to say -- I've enjoyed having these "babies" around, but more than that, they've been a constant reminder of God's providence in my own life and of our value to Him:
"Are not five sparrows (ducks) sold for two pennies? And yet not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are more valuable than many sparrows." -Luke 12:6-7
