The Final Chapter

This morning, it was obvious that our resident cocoon was in the final stages. You could literally see the entire butterfly through thin cocoon. So since we had heard that the butterfly *suddenly* emerges, in a matter of seconds and giving absolutely no warning, we were keeping a close eye on it. After all that we've gone through with this little guy, the girls would've been so upset to not witness his grand entrance into the world.

Thankfully, God was watching out for us. ;) I had just walked back into the family room to put a music dvd on for the girls (they dance and worship daily)...and I noticed that there was a small opening in the side of the cocoon!

"Girls! Girls!! It's opening!! Quick! Watch it!"

I ran in one direction to get my camera. The girls literally ran in every direction...running in circles around the room, unsure of what to do. *laughing*

"Nooooo ,girls!!...Go WATCH IT!" We all made a bee-line to it, just as it was emerging.
Now because I had just put new batteries in the camera, but forgotten to go in and change the setting to higher quality, the pictures are a bit blurry. Bum-mer. But, in my mind, at least we got to witness it!
When Charis saw this, she stood up straight and started to sing/hum over the butterfly. Like she was singing a National Anthem or something. If you have seen the children's video "Little Einstein" where the story is about Monarch butterflies, you'll understand. ;) ...you'll hear her loud and clear in the video at the bottom.

Apparently nothing is "concrete and real" until Grandma or Granddaddy knows about it. If you pay attention during the short video clip, you'll hear Selah announcing that we NEED to tell them.
She is obviously extremely enthralled. I love how she got to see this whole process from beginning to end. I'll wager that she will NEVER forget it.We took the little guy outside. You know, just in case he got all daring and decided to try out his wings.
This butterfly was a little timid. The only reason he walked to the top of the branch was because I kept touching his wings over and over so he'd flap them.
....ok, cut me some slack. A girl gets tired of watching a completely still insect for 30 minutes straight. I wanted something to happen... ...so they held him. Oh,how they loved it! And our little guy finally flew away a couple of hours later when we went to touch him again. I guess he just needed a little push to try out those beautiful wings of his.

Here's the video of the LOUD reaction (turn your volume doooowwwwn!) that happened a few minutes after the butterfly came out. I so wish that I could have had the first few minutes of it on video since it was REALLY crazy! But alas, I was taking the pictures.