Mangrove Trees

I know I've talked before about Amelia's love of science, or even just her love of learning. She is so interested in anything science and the enthusiasm she has for the topics that they discuss is contagious. She loves talking about the topics that they are discussing in school. Just in the blog we've discussed giraffes, bats, and other topics that Amelia has come home excited about. Well, there's a new one to add to the list. Amelia and I had only been face to face about five minutes tonight when she started in sharing what she had learned. "Mommy! Guess what? We started studying a new topic tonight. Guess what it is?" "Hmm...I don't know, Amelia!" "No, really guess!" "Umm...OK. Is it..." "It's mangrove trees!" "Mangrove trees?" "Yes. But just to make sure you're saying it right, it's MangroVE trees...not mango trees. Mangos are fruit, and have nothing to do with what I'm about to tell you. These trees are AMAZING! They're called walking trees and they grow in the water and they are mostly in rivers. There are animals that live in them, and do you know that people, yes people, are destroying the mangrove forests and causing them to die?? They're just pulling them right up out of the water and there are animals and other creatures that live in them, and people just don't care about them either. They animals have no where else to go and they are dieing and people just don't care that bad things are happening to these beautiful trees." and the talk about mangrove, not mango, trees went on and on for like the first 15 minutes I was home, at least. She was horrified that no one was interested in what was happening to the trees, or the the animals that lived in the trees either. Later that night as I'm tucking her into bed, she says, "Mommy, just one more thing...Mommy, it's sad! I don't think it's right that people destroy things like the mangrove trees. Why can't we just be respectful with God's creation! It doesn't make any sense to be mean and cruel to plants and animals! We should love everything that God made and not destroy it. How would people feel if the places they lived were destroyed and no one cared. It's just not right." "You're right, Amelia. It's not right. So, all we can do is do our part to make sure that we're not destroying God's creation. Clean up after ourselves. Remember too be careful. Leave things the way we found them." "Hmm...just like our hearts." "What, Amelia? What are you talking about?" "Well, I'm worried about people destroying the trees and the animals. But, people are so mean to each other sometimes, that we destroy each others' hearts. Right, mommy?" "Sadly, you are right Amelia. We are not nice to each other and we destroy each other. It's just like bullying, or teasing, or being mean to each other. Why tear each other down when we could just build each other up?" "Mommy, I was worried about how I was going to save the mangrove trees. But maybe I should worry about how I'm going to save the people that are important to us! I know that we've kind of had a hard time the last few years, and our hearts sometimes feel like they are broken. But, I think if we try hard, we can help others with our broken hearts and show them how we mended them and they're not broken anymore." With tears in my eyes, I kissed Amelia's forehead and told her how proud I was of her. She is right. We have had a hard time lately, and our hearts have been broken, but it's just like the blog post from yesterday where I talk about walking the line. I know that we have a heavy, heart breaking story. I know that our story is filled with people tearing us down, and wanting us to be destroyed, but there were so many people that built us back up. So many people that bolstered us up in our trials and tribulation, and now that we are stronger and better than before, we all want to help others through our tragedy. This blog is one little piece of that. Maybe someone someday will read our story and will read some of the advice that we give, and will be bolstered up by our advice. Life is a delicate dance. Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow, but always you dance! Don't let the haters tear our your mangrove forest. Fight for it! Know that there are a lot of things you can do to protect the forest. And fight for it! Because the fight now will be hard, but when you save a piece of yourself, or a piece of someone else, you'll realize it was worth it!