Deer in the Suburbs

Our first morning at my parents house, in Suwanee, Ga (NE Atlanta) we had a wonderful treat. I walked out onto the deck while I was talking to Lee on the phone and got the sweetest little surprise. My parents deck is about 10 ft off the ground and as I stood at the railing, I looked down to see a teeny tiny little baby deer curled up in a little circle, sleeping. I called the children out to see her and before I could get back with a camera my dad (the biggest kid of them all) was down petting her, which (of course) was an open invitation for the kids to follow suit.

Of course, I'm really no better than the kids. I was so taken with her that I  scooped her up for a closer snuggle.

I told Lee that I wanted to keep her. He asked "What would you do with a pet deer?" "I don't know," I replied "But I still want to keep her!"

We called the Chattahoochee Nature Reserve and asked them what we should do. They said this was their third call of the morning (8:30 am) already! They said that mamma deer usually leave their babies for several hours at a time. They said that based on the fact that she let us touch her, she was probably 5 days old or less!  day They also said the mamma probably felt that our yard was a safe place. So, they instructed us to wipe her down with a damp cloth to remove our scent and to leave her alone, that the mamma would return. She was so so sweet. Her little hooves were still a little soft and her knees were wobbly. When she first stood up I was sure she was going to topple right over.

When we finally managed to tear ourselves away from her, she actually tried to follow us up the stairs!

I couldn't stop taking pictures. She was such a beautiful miracle, living proof of our Father in Heaven's love for us. It was the perfect start to our vacation. The only thing that was missing was our Dad!