Bugs

Nebraska has a lot of bugs.  I knew that before we moved here.  In fact, I remember when Mike and I drove out to Minnesota the very first time, I stepped out of the car in Lincoln, and couldn't get over how loud all of the secadias were.  It reminded me of Korea!

Now that we live here I'm lucky enough to hear those guys rub their wings all the time.  And, we've discovered lots of other new bugs.  Like a hummingbird moth.  Or a black hornet.  And, rediscovered lots of bugs that we've always known about, but are twice the size here thanks to the climate.  

But, my favorite is the tomato worm.  We had a lot of tomatoes this year.  I can't even count how many bowls we picked that looked like these below.

Recently, I was ripping out the plants (we were done for the season!) and came across the LARGEST CATERPILLAR EVER.  I showed it to Max as soon as I found it, and he ran and grabbed a container from inside.  It was a big plastic container, perfect for him to hold and inspect the worm as much as he wanted.  And, he didn't have a lid - which was no big deal since he wanted to pick him up a bunch anyway.  Upon closer study, we found out it was a tomato worm.  Easily two adult finger lengths long, an inch in diameter and a long red horn just ready for poking another tomato.  A whole bunch of my tomatoes were scarred on the outside thanks to this guy.  

Max was studying insects at school and was so excited to take this guy in to show his class.  I was too - we'd never seen one so big!  He played with it outside, and I went back to my project.

One thing led to another, and Mike had to leave for a meeting, and we seriously needed some groceries.  Hastily, I packed the kids in the car and we zipped off for a quick trip to the store.  As we were leaving Max said, "what about the tomato worm?  remember we were going to put it in a different container?"  I was in a rush, really wanted to get this mom stuff done, and said, "oh, don't worry, we can do it when we get back.  He'll be just fine."  The back of my mind reminded me that the worm didn't have a lid on, but I figured it was way too deep for him to get out.

Arriving home from the grocery store, Max bolted out of the car to check on this tomato worm.  Only to find that it was gone.  G.O.N.E.  He was heartbroken.

And I was heartbroken.

We looked everywhere, only to discover he was G.O.N.E.

Max was so heartbroken about it, and I tried to stay positive, like clearly he's doing something somewhere that is better.  We created scenarios that were like this:

*A bird swooped down and ate him.

*A bunny hopped over and ate him.

*The wind whisked the container and he flew to find his family.

But the real truth (which I suspected) and was later confirmed, came down to the curiosity of other young kiddos who'd witnessed the catch earlier in the day.  

My heart sank.  If I'd only taken a bit more time to put the tomato worm in a better spot for Max, I could have avoided this completely.

Max said many prayers like this, "and please let me find the tomato worm so I can take it back to school to show my class."  or "please bless the tomato worm to find our house again."

Ouch.  The plants were ripped out, the worm was GONE and I felt like such a bad guy.

A few days went by and as kids do so well, Max moved on.

About two weeks later, Max had the day off of school.  Alexis is actually on a different calander, so she still had preschool.  I'd toyed with all kinds of things we were going to do, but since Tayler and I were battling a cold, a day at home seemed like the best choice.

Driving home from dropping Alexis off at school, I drove on a road that I run tracks onto.  I can't even tell you how many times I drive on this road in our neighborhood.  To one side is houses, and to the other is mostly an open field (with a handful of lots that have yet to be built on).  

Staring at the road ahead I saw it.  A tomato worm crossing the street right in front of me!  

I pulled the car over, we grabbed a water bottle (I knew I had water bottles in my car for good reason!), and stuck him inside.

Max was delighted!  So excited to bring him to school the next day.

Back on the same road a couple hours later, I spotted ANOTHER tomato worm, crossing just as the other one had!  Giant!  We snagged him up and added him in with his friend.

Two tomato worms found with Max on a road that I travel on all the time.  I've never seen a tomato worm before or after that day, and I know it was an answer to his prayers.  The odds of us seeing those worms (and not just running them over), coupled with the odds of Max actually being in the car with me at that time, added to the oddness of finding them in the middle of the road was no coincidence.

Sometimes the greatest reminders that prayers are answered are in the small moments of life.   Or as well stated in a talk written by David Bednar, the tender mercies from the Lord.  

I'm so grateful we had one of them that day.