Arik’s Daddy laughed. “Oh yes, very hungry, and like these little birds here you made quite a fuss”.

It wasn’t long before Arik noticed that many other animals were also tending new-borns, like Mrs. Deer watching closely over her beautiful baby fawn. The fawn had big brown eyes and long awkward legs.

Further along the path they discovered Mrs. Bear teaching her two cubs how to pick blueberries. Arik liked picking blueberries too. Maybe, he wondered, if Mrs. Bear wouldn’t mind too much he could help the little cubs. But just then Arik’s attention was drawn to an Otter family. It was impossible to miss them with all their splashing and loud rollicking. Of all the animals in the woods that day the little Otters seemed to know best how to have fun, except that is for Casey who was so excited he couldn’t stop jumping up and down.

“Daddy Bird”, asked Arik, “were all these animal babies born the same way”?

“Oh no”, answered Daddy. “See those little turtles over there? They hatched from eggs that their mother carefully placed in the sand along the river long before they were born”.

“Not in a nest”, asked Arik?

“No”. “You see Son, God has many ways of bringing babies into the world and creating families. Those busy little Otters, for example, lived in Mrs. Otter’s tummy before they were born”.

“And the fawn too”, asked Arik? “Did she live in Mrs. Deer’s tummy before she was born”?

“Yes, Baby Bird”, answered Daddy. “Not only the fawn but those little Bear cubs too”.

This surprised Arik. “Mrs. Bear must have had a really, really, big tummy”, he said.

“Well, I hope for Mrs. Bear’s sake that her cubs were a bit smaller when they were born than they are now”, said Daddy. “But I suppose Mrs. Bear’s tummy did get rather big”. “Speaking of tummies, said Daddy, mine’s starting to growl. Are you ready for lunch Baby Bear”?

“I sure am, Daddy Bear, let’s go”.

© Mark R Schneider