Our Morning Visitor

Josh was out earlier this morning mowing the yard in hopes of beating the heat (even though it was 85 degrees by 7:00 am, I guess it was better than waiting until 4:00)! Our neighborhood runner (as I call him) was out making his morning rounds, and he must have picked up a box turtle on the road as he jogged by our house. He gave it to Josh, probably because he knows we have kids who would be thrilled to see it.

And they were.

Josh brought the little guy inside, and I grabbed a towel so we could place him on the floor. I found this to be a great way to keep the kids still and quiet (I need a box turtle at my disposal at any given moment). "Shh...we have to be quiet and we have to walk softly so that the turtle will know he's safe and he'll come out of his shell!" I said to them with sincerity.

So they waited.















They would giggle from time to time, but really, this was the most patient, quiet, and still I've seen my kids for that length of time. The turtle would slowly poke his little head out of his shell, and then go back inside. He did this several times, and the kids thought it was so cool. They wondered when he would finally come out for good.

Then he finally did.
















We let the turtle crawl around in the small area by the front door for a while, and then we explained to Caleb and Sarah that he needed to go back home, and we should take him back outside. Without disagreement, they gladly took him out to our front yard.















While we were outside, Caleb decided to draw a picture of our visitor.




















We enjoyed our morning with a visit from the turtle. I'm hoping he'll come back when I need the kids to be quiet again.