The Best Zoo Ever!

At least that is what Richard Scarry would call it. We spent our past week at a retreat where we enjoyed great fellowship, encouragement, and, unexpectedly, a day at a zoo. One day the grounds we were renting for the Retreat were overtaken by a large funeral. They expected anywhere from 600-1000 people and set up tents, chairs, and sound systems accordingly. Deciding our best option would be to make ourselves scarce for the morning, we all went to a nearby zoo.

It turned out to be a lot of fun for nearly everyone. Except maybe the little children who didn’t like the idea that the baby elephant greeted us upon our arrival. It was an escape artist and had heaved the boards away from the door of its cage to roam at will. Being an affectionate creature, it rubbed its trunk on anyone it could reach, tried poking it into baby strollers, and left dirty marks on anyone it touched.

Some felt the safest after it was back in its pen with the boards carefully wedged in place.

 Others rather liked the opportunity to hang out with an elephant.

Turns out the elephant wasn’t the only guy who could escape. The camels came and went from their cage at will and nearly joined us for our picnic lunch. (The lion cage was empty, too, but the zookeeper assured us they had been transferred to a different zoo. We chose to believe him. . .)

The children fed the camels bread.

Others got neat family pictures.

Peacocks are cool, too. 

But rivaling roaming camels and baby elephant were the monkeys who love to entertain visitors because they get rewarded with food. It isn't every day you can hand-feed monkeys! 

By far, this guy is the best as long as you reward his antics with a food treat of some kind. Any kind. He isn't picky. But if you don't give him something he quickly tires of doing tricks for nothing and takes revenge by throwing his dung at the crowd. And watch out, folks! He has remarkable aim.

All things do work together for good. We wouldn't have chosen to be ‘chased away’ from the relaxing grounds we were renting but going to the zoo turned out to be one of the highlights of our week. 

The Precious Seed

Ever since we settled into our new house, my husband and I have talked about planting something along our wall. We were thinking of a climbing vine that would cascade across the other side in an explosion of color. We weren't thinking of anything quite as precious as the tiny seed we planted there this past week. 

Paul, in Corinthians, talks about death and dying and how the body we lay in the ground will one day be raised up into a glorious body. Like a seed that grows into a plant that is far better than the shriveled seed it began with. Our seed was the tiny baby of our miscarriage. 

The picture I had so much fun taking
to announce our pregnancy

Our hope is our future in heaven where we'll get to meet our treasured little one who will have exchanged this seed-like body for a glorious one. Heaven is real. Life in eternity is real. We look forward to that real life, then, when we'll get to hold and love the child we never got to meet here. 

Until then, we continue to sort through the pain of our loss and hold onto the grace God gives His children in times like these. How good God is to walk with us.