Common Caterpillars?

After seatwork time was over this morning, my kiddos were playing over at the table and I was doing some stuff at my desk. I just happened to look over at the butterfly pavilion, and I saw movement in one of the cocoons. I grabbed my camera and shouted, "Quick, everyone, come over to the butterflies!!" I was sooooooo happy that we were able to actually witness one of the butterflies coming out of its cocoon!! That made my day :D

You probably noticed that there was an argument regarding the amount of butterflies left to come out of cocoons :) It is rather tricky because the butterflies basically slip out without really damaging the shape of the cocoon too much. Sometimes it is hard to tell whether or not there is still a butterfly inside! It soon turned into a math lesson...I keep discovering that every moment in Kindergarten is a teachable moment!

Joshua peering at our new butterfly as it crawls up the wall of the pavilion.

One of our pretty butterflies spreading its wings.

Note: The red liquid is not blood but actually something called "meconium", which is made up of the leftover coloring and tissues from the wing formation.

When the first butterfly emerged, I put a paper towel inside that had been saturated with sugar water. Yesterday I was able to get some pink carnations to also add to the floor of the pavilion. I have been sprinkling sugar water on them for the butterflies.

Today during rest time, we watched a movie called Hermie - A Common Caterpillar. It is a story done by Max Lucado. It's about two caterpillars - Hermie and Wormie (featuring the voices of Tim Conway & Don Knotts...gotta love that!). They are wondering why God - their close friend and Creator - chose to make them so common. After all, every other creature they encounter boasts something bold or beautiful that makes it special and unique. Hermie and Wormie do all sorts of stunts to try to be just like the other creatures, but they come up short every time. They keep asking God why He has made them so common and ordinary. God's reply is always, "I am not finished with you yet." Hermie especially gets frustrated with this answer. However, when Hermie finally decides to be content with who he is and how God has made him, that is when a change starts to take place. Of course, in the end Hermie is transformed into a beautiful butterfly and he understands what God had meant when He said, "I am not finished with you yet." Its a cute story filled with lots of humor, but the simple truth you can glean from the story is that God loves you just the way you are and that you are indeed truly special! God is not finished with you yet!

It's amazing how much the whole butterfly process correlates with Biblical truths. Two verses that came to mind today were...

II Corinthians 5:17

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Philippians 1:6

Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.