Two New Caterpillars

So usually I have caterpillars to babysit during Park City. But this year... nothing. Last year wasn't as great as 2017, but this year, to not have anything left me more than a little concerned. No eggs, no caterpillars, nothing but a lot of empty milkweed in the back yard. 

I'm hoping it's not cause they're all dying and will be extinct!! I've been googling information that has me worried! ...
Monarch Butterflies in Crisis
Protecting the Future for Monarch Butterflies
Scientists Scramble to Learn Why Monarchs are Dying so Quickly
Monarch numbers cut by 90% in the past two decades

That would be so sad if monarchs become extinct! So for date night, I asked Corey if we could go see a 3D movie at Thanksgiving Point "Flight of the Butterflies" so I could get my monarch fix and maybe some hope for their species. I liked it and I think Corey did too! Peter slept through it.

It was funny, Corey and I met there for the movie. He came straight from work. And at first he went to the Megaplex theaters. Then he came over to the dinosaur museum were this film was. "There are more people over there..." he teased. Yeah, this theater isn't showing the new Hollywood flicks. I had bought out tickets and we went over to go into the empty theater. "You can sit anywhere you'd like" the lady said as she opened the door for us. But there was one other couple sitting in the middle of the top row. "Not anywhere..." Corey joked. Yes, not those two seats that those two other people are sitting in, but we have plenty of options. The movie was great. I am amazed that they are able to film something so small as the caterpillar coming out of it's egg. There was so much detail! I learned somethings that I did not now before. Monarchs can travel 50 miles a day. And they can be like a mile up in the sky when they fly!! But they don't flutter that far, they glide in the air. Like they are blown where they need to go - that's how they migrate! They said that the monarchs migrate during the day and rest at night. So I decided to check the milkweed the next morning again, and I found two eggs on Saturday morning!! Yay! The eggs turned black today and one of them came out tonight, the other one will probably be out before midnight.

I'm so happy we have two!! I will pray for their little lives! And you can bet I'm against abortion. A little human baby is smaller than these caterpillars, and his or her life is even more valuable. I honestly don't understand how any lover of nature or earth could support abortion. Protect these helpless creations, let them all live. I hope these little guys make it. If they do, we'll match our 2018 butterfly total. Also, at church on Sunday we had a lesson on repentance. I had monarchs on the brain. She shared how in President Nelson's recent General Conference talk, he spoke of being and doing better. He spoke of how we do that through repentance. He shared that repentance comes from the Greek work "metanoao". The prefix "meta" means change, like in Metamorphosis "change form". Change - we can change like a butterfly I thought - by feasting and feasting (not on milkweed, but on the word of God) and that will help us GROW (like the caterpillars grow!) and soon we'll have a mighty change of heart, just like the caterpillars have a mighty change and become new creatures. We like them can become new creatures that can reach new heights that their former little caterpillar selves could have never have imagined nor done on their own. We have to change. We do it through the miracles Christ give us as he blessed us with growth and he will help us become new creatures that are like him. I'm going to keep pondering on that and trying to understand repentance better and how I am supposed to do it daily. Grow little catterpillars, grow! I will grow too, time to go feast on the word.