Fly High, Sweet Igor

In the Fall of '07, Isaac decided to get a little buddy to keep him company during the long nights of engineering work for classes.  He decided a parakeet was low maintenance but cute and friendly.  Isaac found a young blue and white parakeet, and as he was taking Russian at the time to help him out around NASA, he named the little guy Igor.

Igor and Isaac became good buddies.  Isaac could take him outside to enjoy fresh air, and with only a slight clipping of his wings, Igor would flutter around but not fly too far.  Since he was so young when Isaac brought him home, he quickly learned to trust human hands, and he enjoyed sitting on shoulders, singing along to the TV, 'kissing' human noses, and taking a bath with the help of a spray bottle.

Bailey adjusted to Igor really well when Isaac moved down here permanently.  We were all a bit shocked that they got along so well.  Igor liked our new house, and was even more excited when we 'bought' him a 'wife' named Nika in the Fall of '09.  We knew parakeets did better in pairs, so we had decided to test the theory.  It was correct!  Our little love birds adjusted to each other very quickly and acted just like any other married couple.  One second it was pure bliss in that cage, and the next second they would be squawking up a storm at each other. There were days it felt I lived in a zoo instead of a house, what with the two gerbils as well, but I've never minded the countless lessons God has shown me about Who He is through the lives of our pets.

Bailey meeting Igor for the first time.

Igor and Nika in our Christmas tree.

Today was just a series of errors that amounted in hearts breaking.  I was gone part of the day, and Isaac was busy making a cake for a shower.  The birds were at it, so Isaac opened their cage which always quiets them.  Late this evening, Isaac asked me to go with him to grab a cake box from the store.  We weren't going to be gone long, and when that's the case, Aggie Belle has been left out of the kennel.  Isaac never even thought about the open bird cage, and I didn't know about it.  We came home to a feather-y mess of a house.  Apparently Igor decided to be brave but wasn't fast enough to out-fly a 5 month old, 34 pound dog.  While we had been working on teaching Aggie Belle about the birds, she hadn't learned well enough yet.  Aggie Belle has yet to show a mean bone in her body, and today was no different.  She's a puppy; she likes to play and pounce and chase things.  It's what puppies do.  Sadly, she doesn't realize just how big she is and just how small some of her 'toys' are.

Igor is now buried in our backyard, and there are four broken hearts in this house tonight.  Isaac is so sad to have lost his friend.  Baily keeps looking up at the cage wondering where his blue buddy is.  Nika has chirped and chirped, and didn't quiet down until Isaac had some quality time with her.  As I type, Aggie Belle is laying on the floor with Nika sitting on her paw with Isaac and Bailey closely watching, trying to teach our youngest love that we all need is to just be friends.

Aggie Belle and  Nika learning how we're supposed to live.

I cried when we found Igor, but I cried harder as God quickly showed me that this isn't how life, His perfect Creation, is supposed to be.  In Eden, all creatures got along in peace and unity, but once sin entered the world through one selfish human act, all was lost-for a time.  Yet, as I watch Aggie Belle learn that our feathered friends are to be treated with gentleness, and as I see her now calm manner as she interacts with Nika, Christ is allowing me a glimpse into what is to come and for what I desperately long.  Eden will return; Christ is coming soon, and all the strife and hatred of this world, not just in my house, will be put right.  Satan will be destroyed, Hell locked up for eternity, and Christ will reign.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus, come quickly.

Igor:  Early Fall '07-7/9/11