An Angel Box and Meet Tiggy Winkle

A few days ago, a fellow Trisomy 18 mom tagged me on a Facebook post, after she recognized Lilly in a new Trisomy 18 mom's photos.  After I clicked to it, I sat in surprise with these images looking back at me:

I couldn't believe it.  I was looking at photos from one of the angel boxes my children and I put together and donated to UNC a couple years ago!  (You can see my original post about the boxes here and my post about the day we donated them here.)  The woman that posted the pictures is pregnant with a little girl with Trisomy 18.  Her baby has the sweet name of Mary-Margaret.  Thankfully she is still alive (due in October).  I am praying she'll wear the little dress for a family photo shoot.

I am now in contact with this mama and it is such a blessing to share some of the knowledge I learned from Lilly's life with her!  And how neat to meet someone that received one of our boxes.  I never really thought I'd ever hear from any recipient and I certainly never thought it would be another Trisomy 18 family!

Have you ever read Beatrix Potter's story, Mrs. Tiggy Winkle?  Mrs. Tiggy Winkle is a hedgehog that does laundry for all the animals in the Peter Rabbit books.  It's a very cute story, one I used to read to Tabby a lot.  We even had a cartoon version of it that was very good.

I read it to Hunter last Thursday in anticipation of a little visitor that was to arrive that evening.

What visitor?  A real hedgehog!  Yes we are pet-sitting a hedgehog, appropriately named Tiggy Winkle, for a couple we go to church with.  I've never even thought of having a hedgehog for a pet!  But this has been an interesting experience so far.

Tiggy Winkle looks just like Beatrix Potter's Mrs. Tiggy Winkle, though a whiter color:

Unlike porcupines, hedgehogs can not shoot their quills.  But they are prickly!  So it's a good idea when you touch them, to run your fingers along the quills from front to back.  Tabby and Solomon have both held Tiggy Winkle in their laps.  Tabby said she is definitely a prickly little creature!

Hedgehogs are nocturnal so Tiggy Winkle sleeps all day long.  We never see her as she slumbers in her little plastic igloo shaped house.  But at night she comes out to eat and to run in her wheel.  She runs in that wheel for hours!

Solomon helps me feed her.  She eats cat food and dried worms.

Her owners said they occasionally give her a bath and that she enjoys it.  They use a toothbrush to scrub her well.

Here is a funny sticker on Tiggy Winkle's cage - it says "Warning! This property protected by a highly trained hedgehog.  Not responsible for injury or possible death."

It is absolutely mind boggling the variety of animals that God has created.  Each type is so unique!