My mom and I took the kids to the zoo today. Of course, those who know me well know this was a true sacrifice of love on my part. Paying actual money to view smelly animals ranks right up there with a day at the tag agency for me, but alas, zoos are the stuff of childhood memories, right? In all reality, I do enjoy the experience of the zoo with my family, just not well...the excrement, heat, walking and various scents. The Waco zoo is a small zoo, and so it was fun to walk the entire area in a short amount of time. The weather was cool, but we noticed an absence of large animals. Notice Annabeth's up close and personal shot with the giraffe behind glass? So here's the little glimpse of gratitude for this day: Jack has a thing for lemurs. I have no idea...really. He just loves lemurs. I'm sure it's one of those quirky Sampson genes but for whatever reason, lemurs are just the hot thing for him right now. And oh yeah- he also loves maps. I know, I'm really impressing the ladies with all these qualities, but that's Jack for ya. So he's walking around the zoo with a map that numbers the animals and shows their numbers on the map. So picture little scrawny guy, walking blindly with map over face, little voice, "Yep, check! Number three-Macaw, yes, check!" Like we need confirmation that that was indeed the macaw not to be confused with number four the sloth. Anyway, lemurs were number two and were strangely absent when we started the zoo journey, but Jack had full confidence that we would circle back around and end the day with the lemurs of Lemur Island. Mom and I were becoming slowly aware throughout the day that most animals were contained instead of roaming free. Then we overheard a lady mention that Waco was under a severe storm threat so "all difficult to gather-up animals" were being kept inside. Oh dear, I had a foreboding sense that the darling lemurs of Lemur Island would indeed fall in that category. Now I want to be clear that I do not walk around my days treating God like a genie in a bottle, but when you walk for awhile with your Father, the Spirit brings a beautiful gift of constant prayer to your life. I've only noticed this within the last ten years of my life, but often my first thoughts of joy or peace or concern are lifted right up to His loving care no matter how small they may seem. So as Jack was excitedly bounding toward Lemur Island ("Yes, check! Lemur Island next up! Check!") I prayed that those little lemurs would be released from their confinement for the enjoyment of my son. At first, there was a dreadful stillness at Lemur Island when we arrived and Jack was starting to get tears in his eyes (I'm telling you, he really loves lemurs). But then suddenly the powers that be slid open the doors and the lovely lemurs leaped (yes, purposeful alliteration) out to the giddy delight of my son. That is what he is joyfully watching in the last pic. I never thought I'd be so happy to see a bunch of lemurs in my life! For today, I'm thankful for zoos and lemurs and quirky sons and a relationship with the Creator of the universe who cares about little boys and lemurs too.
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