Matthews Family Herald

A friend of ours, Christopher, and his cousin, Jake, are going camping and tubing with another person that I work with. Since they won't be back until Sunday afternoon, Chris and Jake asked if we'd help take care of their pets while they are away.

My kids were especially excited and we all agreed. Chris and Jake have a variety of pets and so there's something of interest for just about everyone. They have a cute kitten and a couple of snakes. They have mice and rats (some of which are for the snakes to eat!) and I don't recall what all else.

The biggest pet responsibility they need us to handle for them, though, are their three baby, Desert Cottontail rabbits that Jake rescued the other day. Their mother was gone and so he decided to care for them. Chris and Jake brought the rabbits over for us and showed us how to bottle feed them, hold them, and gave us some general tips and info. We'll be feeding them about five times per day and giving them playtime in the grass.

This morning, it was an adorable sight to see my wife bottle feeding these cute bunnies with a goat-milk filled syringe. After Heather fed the first two bunnies, she handed them to my daughter, Hannah, who took them outside to play in the backyard grass.

Sadly, when my wife reached into the cage to get the third rabbit, nestled into a little, cave-like area, she said "this one is awfully cold..." and then exclaimed a moment later "oh...it's dead." We wrapped the rabbit's little body and placed it in the refrigerator so that Jake can properly bury the rabbit's body once he gets back from camping. The other little ones are doing well, but this is a tragic but unavoidable part of life.

After further inquiry, one of my children admitted that the same bunny who was dead this morning happened to jump out of their hands last night and had landed on the hard floor. I recall Jake emphasizing how fragile their little bones are. My children feel badly and so do I. We'll have to work on being more careful in the future.

Anyway, we'll head over to Chris and Jake's apartment later today and check on the rest of the "zoo" over there. Life is so full of lessons at every turn. The joys and wonders of God's creations, the fulfillment of nurturning life and the satisfaction of helping others and growing bonds of friendship. And sadly, that death is a part of life; that we can't control every circumstance but we have to keep moving forward when life takes a harder turn sometimes. That we have to forgive ourselves and forgive others if things don't always go well. That we can hope others forgive us when we need it from them.