Empty Nest

It's hard to believe.

I never dreamed, as we stood there watching that robin begin building her nest, that we would be blessed enough to see baby robins fly from that same nest. That was a little more than a month ago--and ever since then, we've had a front row seat to one of God's very special miracles.

Here's a picture of Mama Robin sitting on her perch with a worm, waiting until the coast is clear to fly to the nest to feed her babies. Daddy Robin is close by, under another tree in the front yard, keeping a guarded watch on his family. This same routine happened many times each day.


This past Friday, Carrie and I went outside to take pictures of our "babies." We were just sure that one would fall from the nest--they were really jam-packed in there!

As I took one last picture of them and turned to go back in the house, I heard a flutter of wings. I looked just in time to see one of the robins fly clumsily from the nest to a nearby tree.



Close by, Mama and Daddy Robin kept watch. When Jack ran around the side of the house barking, they began flying and making the most dreadful screeches.


I went running back to the house and called for the kids. They were able to see Baby 2 and Baby 3 take off. That left Baby 4. He huddled down in the nest, as if overwhelmed by the noise and the fact that he was the only one left.

I know, he probably wasn't thinking all of that, but I felt so sorry for him because he was the only one who hadn't flown away yet. The kids and I went back in the house to watch.

Finally, Baby 4 left the nest.

And I stood there and cried--unable to believe what we had just witnessed.

I cried, too, because the babies were gone.




I now look out at the empty nest and can't help but think about my four babies--relieved that they don't fly from the nest as quickly as baby robins do. Or do they? Wasn't it just yesterday that we brought Baby Carrie home from the hospital? And not long after that Baby William? When did Baby Joshua become such a big boy? And already three weeks have passed since Baby Matthew came home with us.

It's a reminder to me to enjoy every single moment. To take the time to be silly and to have fun.

My kids remind me everyday to lighten up. After seeing Mama Robin feed her baby worms, we bought some gummy worms, and Joshua wanted to be a baby robin.




It's really neat to think that those little robins hatched from their eggs at about the same time that Matthew was born. And when sharing with Grandma Judy that I was experiencing the Empty Nest Syndrome, she reminded me that I have many years before I will have an empty nest.

That's just fine with me...


...because if I cried over birds that were with us for only a month, can you just imagine what I'll be like when my babies fly away?!

My poor family!