On Our Way to Disney

Tuesday morning, the kids and I headed out to Disney World bright and early. We no sooner got to the top of the hill by the main road and there sat a Bald Eagle on the road fetching a road kill rabbit for his breakfast! He was no farther than 8 feet from the car!! I was so shocked to see him sitting there, I gawked for a few seconds, and then the photographer in me kicked into overdrive. I had my camera right next to me in my purse, but I was too late. He flew off down the road and landed on top of the telephone pole. There he sat, eating away. This is the best picture I could muster. Oh, how I wish I had a picture of him sitting on the road. He looked right at me and I will never forget that picture; it's forever ingrained in my memory.

This experience reminded me though of something I have known before. Whenever we are studying something, or interested in something, God seems to throw instances of enhanced learning our way. He surprises us with unexpected reinforcements! He is, after all, the Principal of our Homeschool. I have seen this time and time again. There was the time we saw a raccoon under our tree in broad daylight (they're nocturnal!) the very day we came home from the library with all our raccoon books. Or how about the time I was reading to the kids and a skunk entered the story? You guessed it!! We smelled a funny smell, and when I opened the front door, a skunk had sprayed outside somewhere! But the kids were then able to smell it for the first time (hopefully the last!), which did reinforce the story we were reading! To some, these things might be considered just coincidental occurrences, but I choose to see them for what they are. Our Heavenly Father is looking out for our homeschool journey in a very personal way. I really believe this.

We just had our Eagles class a couple months ago at Tibet Butler Nature Preserve, which we visit once a month during school months. They told us about an eagle's nest not far from the Preserve, so we stopped to see it on our way home that day. (bfarmmom--Joe was with us that day, so he saw this too.) Here's a picture of it, though it is pretty far away. (Click on the picture and it will enlarge.) One point brought out in the class was that eagles are opportunistic. If an eagle has a choice between a freshly killed meal (road kill or by another animal), he will take that over having to kill a meal for his own. He is a bird of prey, but would rather take the easier route. It was neat to see the kids recall this information, seeing the eagle with the fresh road kill in his talons.