A few years ago, we lived in the mountains of southern California where almost every night we could hear the owls high in the pine trees. One night just before dawn, I woke my two oldest girls, who were two and five at the time, to see if we could see the owls. We stood under the tall pines with a flashlight waiting for the owl to "hoot." All of a sudden, it dropped down silently with wings spread, right over our heads. The children were very excited to have seen the owl so close, and we stood there on the edge of night as morning broke over the treetops.