Up from the grave....

Last week our "Walking Stick" pets died. They had been a gift from a friend of the kids last spring or so. The whole family kind of took to them; they'd crawl over you with kinda sticky (pun intended) feet and also generally creep out the insect hating crowd. We started with 4 or 5 of them but only 2 survived and grew (and grew and grew).

Trouble is, like many pets "for the kids", Mr. Incredible ended up having to do a lot of reminding like "Did you give them leaves recently?" or "Anybody give them water?".

So, sure enough, when they died last week, there were some lessons to be learned. There was a sadness and disappointment in the house, especially since we had no idea how to replace them. The friend we got them from is not geographically close if she even still has them.

So, yesterday, I was up early in the morning studying for a Sunday School class. The topic happened to be "In the Garden"; after studying this passage for the past couple of weeks, I was pretty overcome with the "cup" that Jesus has taken on my behalf...the suffering, the pain, the humanity that He took on. Death. I was certainly wishing my study would get past the death and on to the life...you know that Good Friday feeling you get? The one where you can't wait until Easter?

About 7:30AM, Cosmic Boy came running in..."They're alive!" he exclaimed. Huh??? So the big buggers laid some eggs on the way out. And sure enough, we've got at least 8 of them in there now; who knows how many more are coming since the eggs are really hard to see. Hallelulah!



A sidenote, after the death, we pretty much realized that the Walking Sticks are illegal in California. Sounds like they can wreak havoc on beings that have leaves; you know, pretty much all the things in your yard that you want to keep. Apparently, our crime isn't just a state one; seems that they're also illegal in all of the U.S. Hmmm, what to do with this one? Maybe we'll get a ferret so the illegal prisoners can have some company?! More to come on their fate; their lives may hang on the court of appeals, who knows which way the court will go in this country.