MR. BITTY

There's a peculiar ziplock in the Saferite's fridge these days. Right beside the cheese, you can find fresh, hand-dug worms. The worms are food for Nate's new pet...a tiny brown box turtle named Itty Bitty. When I asked Nate what his new pet liked to eat, he said "WORMS and STRAWBERRIES!" I might want to tweak the order of those courses myself. Beth swears that when she arrives in Nate's room (singing), Mr. Bitty comes running toward her. He's so smart! He already knows his momma. She's the one bearing the worm segment. Box turtles also like tadpoles, snails, crickets, and dead flies. Yum.

The Saferite's have sweet friends in the neighborhood who just LOVE turtles and they gave Nate his new pet. This couple became turtle experts by rescuing turtles in the road. Then it progressed to bringing the turtles home. Now they built a turtle pen in their backyard where seven turtles live and reproduce! Birthing in captivity is apparently unusual for turtles, so we feel like Itty Bitty comes from sanguine stock. He's eight months old (born last October) and his shell diameter is 1.5 inches. Ring the dinner bell, Mr. Bitty; that's no so much girth.

It is nice to have neighbors who are a walking instruction manual about turtlecare and who give pets away for free. Well, Itty Bitty was free if you don't count buying his "basking"" light, his glass aquarium, assorted aquarium accessories, and his sawdust shavings. At least for now Nate is all over his hunter/gatherer role. But it's not like it's such a big chore. How much grub can a 1.5 inch turtle pack down in a day?

The Lord said we were to have dominion over the animals and I guess He meant reptiles, too. Nate seems to be taking his responsibility seriously. He likes having a friend in his room. The minute they brought I.B. into the house, Nate said "I think he will want to play with my truck"...and off he went to find a matchbox toy to put in the aquarium. He also creatively found a little piece from another toy and they use that for Mr. Bitty's tunnel. Nate says his turtle likes to go for a walk in the tunnel.

Did you have a pet turtle when you were little? I had a green one...a red-eared slider turtle. But the main difference in our turtles would be the pump jar of hand sanitizer beside Itty Bitty's condo. Back in the day, who worried about salmonella? I have to admit, the knowledge of such a disease would have made me turtle-hesitant. But then, we know too much these days. Information overload.

Itty Bitty is a small start toward putting a young man on the road to learning the responsibility of caring for someone besides himself. It's the old "me third" principle...God first, others second (even turtles), and me third. I like to think Nate will be a better husband/father as a result of his new friend, Mr. Bitty.

"Let each of you esteem and look upon and be concerned for not merely his own interests, but also for the interests of others." Philippians 2:4