If you would like to learn about the animal or would like to share this letter with your sponsored child, here is what I shared:
Dear Name,
I would like to share with you some about butterflies! We have a small vegetable garden and we also have some flowers. We have one sunflower that grew huge! And it's so pretty! The butterflies and bees love drinking from its nectar. I included a photo of the sunflower and a butterfly!
Butterflies go through 4 life stages. The first stage is the egg and it all starts when a female butterfly lays her eggs, usually on leaves or stems of plants. Inside these tiny eggs, caterpillars grow. Once ready, the caterpillar leaves its egg home and enters stage 2! Caterpillars have a serious appetite - they actually eat their way out of the egg and immediately start chomping on the leaves of the host plant. During this stage, they shed their skin four or five times - as the caterpillar grows, its skin becomes too tight and splits open, revealing a new, larger skin underneath. A fully grown caterpillar can be over 100 times larger than when it emerged from its egg. Once fully grown, the caterpillar forms itself into a 'pupa' (or chrysalis) - a kind of vessel in which the caterpillar changes into a butterfly, which is stage 3. They usually do this on twigs or safe, hidden areas around the host plant. The 'pupa' stage may last a few weeks to several months depending on the species. During this time, a hardened case forms around the pupa to protect it from predators and extreme weather conditions. Inside, the tissue, limbs and organs of the caterpillar transform in a winged butterfly, stage 4. Once the butterfly is ready to emerge, the case around the pupa splits open. But it’s not time for take off just yet, as the wings are at first wet, soft and wrinkled against its body. The butterfly waits for its wings to dry, and pumps a liquid called hemolymph into them so that they become big and strong.
Did you know that we can learn a lesson from butterflies? Jerry Bridges, an author who teaches about the Bible, says this: "The purpose of adversity is often illustrated by a caterpillar struggling to break out of its cocoon into a beautiful butterfly…the struggle to emerge is necessary for developing the muscle system and pushing the body fluids in to the wings to expand them. And it is trials of various kinds that produce the fruit of Christlike character." The Bible says this about trials and adversities in James 1:2-4, "Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." So when we have hard times in our lives, let us remember the butterfly and that God is using those trials to make us like Himself, perfect and complete! I am praying for God to give you strength and wisdom in the trials that you face in life. Love, Hannah
I'm enjoying learning about all these animals and I think our kids will too!
