Rescue Heroes

If you have a boy between the ages of 3 and 10, you probably have at least one “Rescue Hero” action figure in your home. There are police officers, fire fighters, and all sorts of other rescue personnel. (Interestingly, I’m not sure if there are female figures available for any of them.) The figures at our house have helped my young man act out many different scenarios where he helps others.

Last Wednesday evening when Ryan and I were getting home from cub scouts, we saw a baby bird in our gutter! We parked the car and went over to check it out. We have a nest in one of our trees in front (not this nest in our cherry tree in the back yard), and have already had two baby birds fall out and die. We were determined to save this one.

There was only one problem. Well, two really. First, the tree was so thick with leaves, we had no idea where the nest was. Second, I was expecting several people at my house for a cub scout pack planning meeting. A few neighbor kids were outside (including the kids of a couple people coming to the meeting). So they formulated a plan to save the baby bird.

As we started the meeting, the kids took turns climbing a ladder and pulling leaves and small branches to try to find the nest. They came into the house periodically to give us updates. (Moms, rest assured that they were given gloves and told not to touch the bird unless they were wearing gloves.) I wanted to go out with my camera and take pictures of all of them working so hard out there, but didn’t want to disrupt the meeting. About the time we were finishing, the kids came in and told us that they had found the nest, and had gently lifted the bird back into the nest. They were all so proud! Our own little neighborhood rescue heroes!