On my first day in Australia, I was jolted awake by a horrid screeching outside our window at 5:30 in the morning. "WHAT. ON. EARTH?" It was horrible. And it would not stop."What kind of place is this?!" It continued for about 30 minutes.
I am not a morning person. It's not that I am grumpy. I simply just can't. It takes me a solid 30 minutes to become a functional human. And even then, I am just SLOW. I'm content, just not one bit functional. The one thing that might make me grumpy is something or someone that wakes me up when I don't need to be up yet.
So here I was, jet lagged, crazy haired, glossy eyed, and now grumpy. The war on "The Bird" had begun. Every. Single. Morning. The Bird jolted us awake. 5:30am on the dot. Nic and I would take turns scaring him away. (Real life: Nic was the one to do it 87% of the time. He's the real MVP). He would roll out of bed, go to the door, step outside and scare it away. It worked couple times, and then the bird started to just stay there and continue his hollering. We soon began to keep a stash of rocks outside our door, to throw at him. He would then fly off, and as soon as we stepped back inside and crawled back into bed, He would be back. Louder than before. Sometimes we'd tag team it. I'd take round two. Weeks went by and this had become a morning ritual. Weeks turned into months. It was making us tired, and we were both beginning to get a little grumpy due to our lack of sleep. This crazed cuckoo clock was beginning to cause relationship problems. It HAD to stop.
This is the little demon himself. We found out after some extensive research, and some help from our friends, that this little terrorist is called a Little Wattle Bird. Photo and Video Credit on this goes to Nic Wells. He is the only one in the world patient enough to wait around to take a picture, and the only one alive enough in the mornings to video of the little monster. Bless him!
One particular morning, this bird flew from tree to tree just outside our window wailing the most annoying bird call I've ever heard in my life. OUT. OF. CONTROL. I ended up chasing it from tree to tree to tree and back again, throwing rocks and clapping until it finally went away. Yes. This really happened, and I was at the point of ultimate frustration. Wild eyed and in full pajamas, I was ready to get a cat, something I vowed long ago to never do in my life! We even would say our nightly prayers together, pleading for that crazy bird to be calm and to find a new tree.
Weeks continued to roll by, and we slowly started to see slight signs of our wattle bird calming down. We'd be able to just open the door, and he would fly away. For a week or two, it would only call out once or twice before just leaving. Some parrots moved in, and we think it kind of forced The Bird out. I'm not sure I've ever been so grateful in my life. The parrots were just as noisy, but not as early. Oh blessed day! We only had to go out and scare them away a few times, before they eventually ALL left.
Now, nearly three weeks without The Bird and all of our parrot friends, we are finding ourselves counting each and every single little blessing. We are so grateful that The Bird found a new home. We are so grateful to have quiet, peaceful mornings. We are grateful for the rest we have gotten and the newfound energy that we now seem to have. And we are most grateful for the prayers that were answered all in the Lord's timing. Every morning, I now wake up with a new and refreshed energy that I didn't have before. I wake up with more gratitude than I used to, and I wake up grateful that the trial of The Bird has slowly changed my heart to recognize many of the little blessings that I didn't always see right away. As much as I hate to say it, I am somewhat grateful for this little lemon.