One day Sandy came running home from the school bus stop and couldn't wait to tell her little sister and mother that it had finally happened—the first grade's mother gerbil had eight tiny babies! (Do you know what a gerbil is? A gerbil is a small pet, something like a hamster, that walks like a kangaroo.) But the real reason for Sandy's excitement was that the teacher had said anyone bringing a note of permission would be eligible to take two gerbils home.

At dinner that night when Sandy asked her daddy if she might have a note, he reminded her that the care, feeding, and cleaning would be entirely up to her. With her agreeing to these responsibilities, Daddy wrote the note.

In about three weeks "Salt" and "Pepper" came to their new home. Sandy and Karen had such fun playing with them and bringing all their friends in to see them. After several months Sandy noticed one morning that Salt had made a nest from the cedar shavings in their home, and she heard strange little squeaks—baby gerbils!

Sandy was very excited, but within a few hours she noticed that she did not hear the squeaks and that the babies were not alive. She tried very hard to be brave, especially so her little sister would not be upset. She reasoned that perhaps Salt was not old enough to be a mother. Within a month the same thing happened, and those little gerbils lived only a day.

Soon after, Sandy's mother was in the pet shop buying fish food and told their friend, the owner, about the gerbils. He said, "That happens sometimes. You'll probably never have little ones from that mother, and have them live."

That night Sandy's mother told the girls what the man had said and asked them if they believed it. Both girls shouted "No!" There was a good reason for that "no." From the time Sandy and Karen had been very small, their parents had been taking them to the Christian Science Sunday School, which they both loved. They had learned that God is Life. They knew that nothing could cut that short.

That night was very special because they decided that baby gerbils would be a neat family project and even talked to Nana, their grandmother, who is a Christian Science practitioner.

The next day Mommy looked up many simple references for Sandy—she was in second grade and could read big words. Her favorite passage turned out to be, "O Lord, thou preservest man and beast." ^{Ps. 36:6;} With some practice she also learned to read, "God is the Life, or intelligence, which forms and preserves the individuality and identity of animals as well as of men." ^{Science and Health, p. 550;} Her daddy pointed out that the only thing one idea can get from another is good.

The "project" continued, and several weeks later, guess what! Yes, more baby gerbils. And, boy, did Sandy and Karen and Mommy and Daddy and Nana too, get busy! First, they thanked God for this lovely gift. And then they prayerfully declared that God was the creator, the Mother and Father, of all that is real. They enjoyed Mrs. Eddy's helpful words from the poem and hymn entitled "Love":

Well, what do you think happened? Yes, the baby gerbils squeaked and squeaked and grew and grew. And before long Sandy was busy finding homes for them!

Wasn't that a neat family project?