Hello, Big World!

We've been spending a lot of time recently with little creatures newly hatched out of eggs.

On a trip to Nicaragua, we spent a few nights at the Juan Venado Island Nature Reserve, where we were just in time to see a few hundred sea turtles hatch. The eggs were collected months earlier by a group of community members who are working to save these endangered species. The eggs were kept cozy in sacks of sand in a turtle nursary, and then on the two mornings while we were there, they hatched. They spent a few hours in a plastic tub, getting their bearings. By evening, they were ready to walk into the sea. So tiny, so new to the world, (so tasty, if you're one of any number of predators). But when released onto the sand, they turned toward the waves and began to walk.

We stayed on the beach until the sunset had faded, wondering how all those little guys were finding their big, new, underwater world.

When we returned to Monteverde, Alia was ready to satisfy her curiosity about hatching chicks. We borrowed an incubator and a How to Raise Chickens book, and friends brought us ten fertile eggs. We tucked those eggs into the incubator, monitored the temperature and humidity in there, and tilted them three times a day. It's not easy to mimic a mama hen, but the incubator helps.

Twenty-one days later, right on schedule, the first hatcher (who was named First Hatcher) was ready for the wider world.

That night, a companion for First Hatcher hatched. The next morning, three more. Two more later that day. Only three didn't quite develop and never set their eyes on the sunlight. The seven healthy ones we transfered gently into their warm and cozy home in our bathtub. Again, it's not easy to mimic mama's care in the nest, but a 100 watt bulb helps.

The chicks are now doing well in their second week. They climb all over each other and rest heads on each other's shoulders. Their soft down is covered with more full feathers each day, and some are turning out to be entirely different colors than we would have predicted. We won't know for a while if they're roosters or hens. Then it will be time to turn them over to friends with chicken coops.

Over the bathtub that our chicks call home there is a window, and outside that window on a vine is a hummingbird nest. It's very hard to get a photo of it, tiny as it is and on the other side of a screen.

We watched the mama hummingbird build that nest and get it ready. It took her days of back and forth and some impressive construction. It is about two inches deep, narrower at the top than the base, and looks soft, like felt, with a lining of soft white down. It was just big enough to fit the two eggs that she laid and kept warm for three weeks.

Just a few days after the chicks hatched, the baby hummingbirds hatched, too. We could barely see them deep down in the nest, and only when their mama went out for bugs and nectar. They'll probably stay here for about twenty days before they fly. Then they'll learn to search for their own nectar, and the cloud forest is rich with possibility. Here are just a few of the hummingbird flowers that Ed and I have been counting as volunteers for the Monteverde Phrenology Project.

How amazing that from the comfort and safety of inside an egg, these delicate tortuguitas, chicks and hummingbird babes emerge into a vast world, where temperatures swing and breezes blow, food and drink are consumed, songs are sung, flowers bloom, and you must always look over your shoulder in case you're about to be eaten.

Amidst all this change and wonder and potential danger and discovery, these little beings just take off and begin to live. Who knows what tomorrow will bring if you've never known yesterday. What's to be fearful of when a wave crashes over your head if you've never touched water but are drawn to it by the reflections on its surface.

When we first arrived in Costa Rica nineteen months ago, we felt newly hatched at times. We still hadn't figured out when to wear sneakers and when to wear rain boots.

We basically just let Alia lead the way, while we followed along behind. And we've discovered so many wonderful things, like bugs and butterflies and Nicaraguan super-playgrounds and Christmas creches.

Why would we ever want to leave this very special place? The world is big, and sometimes it calls us to set off in a new direction. We hear Oakland calling us back, and maybe like little baby turtles we just feel ready to head that way. Well, almost ready. We're going to make the very most of the rest of the school year at our beautiful Friends School.

We're going to really appreciate the snakes in the living room.

And we're going to find time for as much playing with monkeys and family and friends as we can before it's time to go.