The Miracle of the Serpents

Preface:  This isn't a Bible story but it is miraculous nonetheless.  And I'm not including pictures because I don't want to see snakes anytime I look at my blog.

The Miracle:  I caught the most horrific stomach flu earlier this week. By Tuesday morning I was literally asking G to call the coroner to dertmine the cause of my death.  I had no ability to care for my chidlren, so after G got them dressed, fed them, then made them a lunch for later, he sent them outside to play in our fully fenced yard (not that that stops them half the time...).  He headed for work (I told him he could.)  One thing you probably know about my boys is they love playing outside and will happily play outdoors for hours.  I'd figure they'd open the sliding glass door if they need a drink or to tell me something, but I knew they'd be out there for awhile.  I knew I'd be safe to doze my stomach cramps away.  Two hours later I woke up and jumped from the couch to discover I had been asleep for two solid hours and neither of them had opened the door to ask me anything.  I quickly checked to make sure they were both still with us, and there they were happily playing on the grass with two snakes.

I shielded my eyes, asked Buddy to come to the door to talk to me.  He told me that moments after daddy put them outside they found TWO snakes sitting on the grass and they had been playing with them ever since.

Now, in case you don't know me very well, I am PETRIFIED of snakes.  I can't even look at a picture of a snake without getting scared.  We had a real snake problem at our last house and I'm not joking around, I actually prayed several times that God would remove them from my yard.  I also did a google search once looking for snake repellent, but saw one too many pictures of snakes on my computer and had to stop searching.  This current house backs up to the same wildlife refuge that our last house did and also backs to a field, but we don't have nearly the snake problem here, thank goodness.  Buddy catches them in the field or in the blackberry bushes around the area, but I have only seen one in our yard in the 1.5 years we've lived here.  Thank goodness. 

So to discover my boys were playing with snakes in my yard ordinarily would put me into a full-blown panic attack.  Except this was no ordinary day.  Snakes make my boys really happy and I was on death's doorstep and was unable to care for them.  It only took a moment for me to realize that God sent two snakes (two-so they wouldn't fight) to babysit my boys so I could sleep.  A miracle indeed.

After that realization, I ran to the bathroom.

Postlogue:  One snake has escaped, and the other is hanging onto dear life in a rubbermaid bin on our back patio (the same rubbermaid bin that houses all of the "pets" that come and go from our care:  12,000 mosquito larvae, slugs, frogs, and 300 salamanders to name a few this summer.)  I have yet to look at the snake and it scares me silly that it'll somehow find it's way into our house.  But, that snake got me through a rough day and I have to have a little gratitude.  Plus, Buddy cries every time I try to encourage him to set it free.  He's always wanted a pet snake, you know.