Life is good.
My husband is faithful, Godly, patient and wonderful all rolled into one. My children are beautiful, healthy and FULL of life. We live in a safe, strong, happy, home. I have nothing to complain about. Really.
And yet, I manage to find things...
For example, yesterday. My neighbors {the ones with the annoying dogs, one of which bit the kid I babysit} bought 4 baby chicks a few weeks ago. They have been raising them - I guess - to sell. We live 2 mins from downtown so I am SURE they weren't for food. Also...did I mention we DON'T live on a farm?
Anyway, they have these chicks. And I admit they were cute in all their yellow fuzziness and chips and chirps. But then after a few days they were just ugly chickens. Mini chickens. I have had to call the police {Animal rescue} 3 times on these neighbors. They don't care for animals well, and I'm not the kind of person to sit around and watch animals suffer and die. Though I am also not a "save the animals" kind of person outside of this realm. Jus' sayin. Yesterday they left the chickens out for the entire day in a metal cage in 90 degree weather. Imagine my horror to look up from washing dishes at the sink to see not 1, not 2, but all 4 chickens DEAD from heat. I cried. I was so severely frustrated and angry with these people who are so lazy and uncaring. How could you think for 2 seconds that animals could live in a HOT, METAL, cage all day in this heat?! And I felt sorry for the dumb chickens... But I was enraged that my daughter had to see that, and I was horrified that I was crying over dead chickens and that things like this keep happening with these neighbor people! So my husband was greeted by teary eyes (from me) and a frantic toddler explaining "da chickens are all dead, what happened? What happened? Why is mommy crying?" Lovely.
And then I remember. Life is still good. Well, not for the chickens. But, still good. And then I look and see my girl acting JUST LIKE ME... all spazzy and crazy over the situation and it dawns on me... she's simply imitating. Am I even handling this situation the right way? Answer = no. She heard me bash and grumble about "the neighbors" and she watched my expressions and overreactions and...but she also saw my tears and we had a good talk about why we take care of animals. God gave us authority and dominion over them - to care for them and use them correctly. It was a YIKES moment. This momma thing, this parenting job, is a HUGE deal. And it's these silly little moments in life that seem to impact the most. So now I'm backtracking and reteaching. I can't take back my initial reactions - but, Ava is open to learning and I hope to explain how I was wrong and teach her how to make it right. In doing so... wow have I learned some things.
But, can I throw in one more thing here?
PLEASE shade and water your animals. For the love of all things!
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