Encourage Me: Misplaced

It was a Saturday, June 25, 2016 (somewhere between 4:30 to 5:15pm), Bobbi and I were returning home from The Brain Injury Summer Movie and Talk series. We had viewed and talked about the 2015 film called Concussion starring Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, who discovered Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in football players.

On the car ride home my daughter texted me the first picture below. Once home, the story that unraveled would eventually involve the entire family, instantly turn my emotional female Chihuahua into a search and rescue dog, and place Allena in the position of immediately becoming a substitute mother.

About the time things were coming to an end for Bobbi and I at the Dempsey Center in Riverside Methodist Hospital with our movie event, Allena had decided that she needed to get some exercise. A walk down Woodmark Run (with the dog that enjoyed these strolls the most) sounded like the healthy and smart thing to do.

Lola loved all the smells in a journey like this that tended to be different from what was available scent-wise in her own back yard. She was straining at her harness to smell and tinkle on everything.

Midway through the walk, she pulled up to the base of a tree to get a good sniff at a dark chirping ball of feathers that was on the ground. Looking closer, Allena realized immediate that Lola had discovered a baby robin that had tumbled out of its nest.

She looked to the top of the tree, and saw the home where it had tumbled from. Did the mother robin not notice, realize, or care that one of her children had been misplaced?

Allena quickly scooped the bird up before Lola mistook it for a chew toy or a dog treat. The only advice the veterinarian could offer was to attempt to put it back in the nest. Since that wasn’t an option, Allena placed the bird back where Lola discovered it.

Both she and her mom would come back, and check on this robin she was calling “Beau.” Besides liking that name, the bird faintly resembled the team member (by that same first name) from her six month mission’s experience with Youth with a Mission (YWAM) in Akron. Anyway, Allena had no idea whether this bird was a male or a female, but “Beau” was now this robin’s permanent bird name.

Later, the two went back to check on Beau. He had moved from the safety of being underneath a tree to the dangerous location of the middle of this busy road. How was Beau still alive? Allena quickly scooped Beau up, and the three proceeded home.

A quick search on the Internet revealed the empty shoe box (from the new tennis shoes she’d recently purchased) would make a suitable “home away from home” if she filled it with hay. Water was not advised at this age. For nourishment, worms were the best food source.

Dog food softened with water would also work as a substitute. With three dogs, we had plenty of that in supply. The box was placed on a kitchen countertop far away from canine eyes and mouths.

Beau was a lot like Lola in that he was always hungry. The whole family got to feed him by putting the softened food on our fingertips, and placing it directly into Beau’s opened beak. (See second picture below.)

If Beau was to survive till Sunday morning, an all-night vigil was needed feeding Beau every hour and a half. I didn’t stay up as I deemed my sleep more important than Beau’s existence. (Sorry to be so selfish.) With a cup of coffee, Allena was out within thirty minutes of this intended plan. Though Bobbi was exhausted, her strong maternal instinct could not allow any kind of a baby to die (if she had any control over the situation).

The next morning, Beau was still alive. A trip to a local wildlife preserve proved there was no room for Beau there. A nest was given to Allena to place back in the tree (with Beau) as close to the mother’s nest as was possible. This was done (on a lower branch).

After Bobbi got several hours of sleep, both her and Allena went back to check on Beau. The nest was empty. They assumed Beau had flown away.

Just like my daughter found importance in her short experience with Beau, so God values life in every creature He has fashioned (that includes you).

At any time, He always knows exactly where you are (no matter where you are emotionally or physically). He won’t lose you (in the rush of today’s electronic age). Luke 12:6-7 (MSG) makes this proclamation. (It is repeated almost identically in Matthew 10:29-31).

“What’s the price of two or three pet canaries? Some loose change, right? But God never overlooks a single one. And He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail – even numbering the hairs on your head! So don’t be intimidated by all this bully talk. You’re worth more than a million canaries.”