The Turtle Came Back

Baby turtle found on island, 2010

At one missionary family conference, many years back, on the island, the boys learned a song about a cat that came back.  And oh, they would sing it and sing it... here's the chorus:

But the cat came back, the cat came back
I thought he was a goner but the cat came back
'Cause he wouldn't stay away

 

Today's story is about the turtle that came back.  Every once and a while our aquarium has been empty for a bit.  Fish would all go belly up, or we would travel off somewhere and have to set them all free.  During one of these dry aquarium spells, the boys found some baby turtles down near the boat {not the same one as pictured on the island above}.  Papa agreed that one could be brought home and be put in the aquarium for a time of observation.

Little Mr. Turtle was well cared for and the boys even found a friend to keep him company - a freshwater crab with only one claw!  He grew and seemed happy enough.  For a while we were able to find some aquatic animal feed at a pet store in the big city.  Once when we ran out and went back for some more, the storekeepers had no knowledge of any such food and no clue as to when they might get another shipment?  So dear me, cut up small bits of meat for our turtle and crab, and hunted online for other foods they might like.  

Soon it became evident that the wild pets needed to go "home" to the wild and we were getting closer and closer to a furlough in the States.  So Papa suggested that it was time for Mr. Turtle and Mr. Crab to go...

The crab was released earlier and the photos above are of the turtle... sometime in mid-2008.

And so we left for our furlough near the end of 2008.  The boys and I traveled ahead of Uncle Byron arriving in the States before Christmas with Uncle Byron coming later in January.

It had been several months since the turtle release, maybe about six months.

And one day as Uncle Byron was painting and fixing up the house before his departure, he found a strange thing in the living room one day -

a turtle.

Was it Dalton's turtle?

Could it possibly be the same one?

What should he do with it?

 It seems many turtles have a homing instinct.  They like to go back to their birth place when it's time to nest.  Box turtles especially should never be moved from their original location.  They will always try to "get back home."

We don't know if the turtle that Uncle Byron found was the same one, but it seems possible - but not very likely.  It would have had to walk more than 5 kilometers to get back to our house from the lake.

Uncle Byron released it again near the lake before he left.  Maybe some day in heaven that's one of the things we can ask God - if we remember about an old turtle in the glory of heaven.

Lessons Learned:  

1.  Part of MK life is saying good-bye - to pets and family.  

It's not easy, and nobody ever "gets used to it," 

but we can learn to grow from it.

 

2.  Everybody has a "home."  

Perfectly that eternal home is heaven. 

Sadly many people try to get there but don't know how.  Some don't care.  Some are lost in their attempts.  Isn't it great to know we have a heavenly Father calling us "home"  and all we have to do is say "YES" to God!

 

2.  Homeschooling is fun!  

My boys can complain if they like about being homeschooled, 

but look at all the crazy stuff they had opportunity to do and experience as a result! 

A Verse about Turtles:

Jeremiah 8:7

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but My people know not the judgment of the Lord.