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TURTLES!!!

Ever have a lake turtle in the house? I mean a turtle about 6 inches across and wide. One that actually came from a lake. Ever have three? Well if you have never had the joy of that, then you have never had the opportunity to know the smell that they can leave!! And it doesn't matter if you clean their cage everyday or not! It has a terrible odor that just doesn't go away! Trust me on this!

Well my family had the "joy" of this wondrous smell via a gift from the kids' dad. He was always bringing some kind of "live stock" over for his children. Usually they were immediately sent on their way, like the raccoon and the three-legged bull frog. But somehow the turtles got "in". ( I must have been a weak moment). Had to have three you know... One for each child... Well, my daughter Shelly was a soft touch for a creature and just loved them. Oh, but the smell just got to be too much to bare..so after several weeks.. Mom had to assert her authority and put an end to the turtle "farm"..Ofcourse this was very painful to Shelly and being compassionate myself I came up with the old "mom standby"... "you know they will be happy in a big lake like they were meant to be." Well, that never does seem to make the child feel better...just guilty for loving them selfishly. So we prayed... I left it up to her.

After a few days Shelly came to me and said .. "mom, we have to put them back..they need to be free with other turtles." Well , this was good news to me and the smell of my house..but i could see a little heart aching here. And no mom likes to see that...So I hugged my Shelly, told her that it was the right thing to do... (not that that ever matters at the time either) and we got the turtles in the car and headed down the road for the lake.

It was a quiet drive... You could tell Shelly was wrestling with this.. and trying to keeping her chin up. We arrived and got the turtles in hand and headed down the hill to the lake. It seemed like it took an awful long time. Hard things always do. We put them in the water and I looked at my Shelly. She had tears in her eyes. We waved and said good-bye. They swam out about three feet and then the sweetest thing happened. Shelly's turtle turned around and just looked up at her...as if to say good-bye and thank you.. If you could have seen her face light up you would truly know that the Lord was just giving this little child of HIS a blessing. Her heart leapt.. She was so excited! I said..well...he (the turtle)...just wanted to thank you honey. Now you know you did what was right! Shelly was in smiles all the way home!

You may think this is a silly story.. I swear to you it is true.. Never underestimate the Love the Lord has for His little ones.. He knew EXACTLY what Shelly needed to comfort her. And that is what HE gave her.. And we sang and praised Him all the way home!!