When You Find Snake Skins (plural) in Your Basement…
Friends!!! Happy month of May and I pray wherever you are your weather is shaping up into a beautiful Spring. Our blooming trees and flowers and green grass have never looked more beautiful.
Here in Louisville, our city nearly shut down the first week of May to allow for festivities for the Kentucky Derby. If you didn’t catch any coverage, google it and just gaze at the hats, wild-colored mens’ sport coats, etc. as every year it’s something new, and different, and more clever.
So for some bizarre reason, John and I’ve recently had a snake or two, maybe more, show up in our basement. (He hasn’t given me a grand total: Gulp…) The snakes have been large, as in very long.
My better half now parks a shovel near the air dyne bicycle in case he needs to “take care” of the intruders. The bike’s next to the elliptical (my machine of choice), however given what just happened last week, my exercise routine (or lack thereof) has been temporarily suspended…
I don’t “workout” with snakes. Just sayin’….
To further enhance my “freaked-out-with-fear-face,” this week John just spied not one, but two snake skins (PLURAL) up on a ledge in the basement… So where’s there’s a snake skin, there’s surely a snake lurking around the bend, right?
Our construction guys who’ve been here working on a project hunted high and low after that little discovery, finding a couple more holes outside which could invite snakes into the basement, plugged them up well, and it seemed “problem solved.” Right?
Wrong!
Let’s now meander around to the back of our house where roofers were adding a roof. Last week they reported seeing a snake on our new porch floor. Before they could climb down a ladder to catch the intruder, it promptly climbed up one of the new columns! I DO DECLARE….
Never fear, Poppy-to-the-rescue (Poppy is what our grand angels call my very brave husband) with a newly purchased sonar device. It sure enough lured the jerk, uh, I mean the snake, out, only then to be scared away by same brave Poppy who, upon spying the slitherin’ slimeball (I’m getting worse, aren’t I?) sped straight for it and … Poof! Back up the column he went. I DO DECLARE…
This story sends shivers straight up my spine. I have never, ever, EVER been a fan of snakes. Thankfully, we have friends who do not fear snakes. They believe these lovely reptiles are rat snakes and after their help last week, we must enlist them again this coming week…I just want them GONE.
Well, enough of that trauma…we hope this will end well. Stay tuned.
By now you know in these posts I’ll eventually get around to telling you about a book and this week is no different. And since we’re addressing fear (as in my fear of a snake), a dear friend told me her granddaughter is loving a devotional by Melanie Shankle called Fearless Faith: 100 Devotions for Girls. Who doesn’t need fearless faith???
I’ve been a fan of Melanie’s writing for a long time. A while ago, I wrote a review of her book on marriage The Antelope in the Living Room: The Real Story of Two People Sharing One Life. Be prepared to laugh out loud over, and over, and over again.
I also wrote a review on her book about friendship, There’s Nobody Cuter than You: A Memoir About the Beauty of Friendship. It was a gift from a friend to a group of our friends (The Yayas for those of you who know us!) and we all thoroughly enjoyed it. Feel free to click on these links to learn more about these books.
Melanie and her husband have a daughter named Caroline, whom she dedicated this devotional to:
“To my sweet Caroline:
May you always have the kind of faith that makes you fearless.
Be brave,
Be kind,
Be all that God made you to be.”
(And whatever you do, do not be afraid of snakes. Kidding—)
I ordered a copy of Fearless Faith to give to our oldest granddaughter, Claire, who’s turning six May 9th. The description on Amazon says the book is for ages 9-12, but my friend’s granddaughter is 8, and even tho’ Claire is just turning 6, from what I’ve read, she will love it.
The devotions are short and sweet. Plus, every six days, there’s an activity to try. Oh, and we all know with these young ones, we all desperately need ideas for fun activities!
The illustrations on the activities’ pages are done by an artist named Heather Gauthier. Check out her website: www.HeatherGauthier.com I know Claire and her younger sister, Charlotte will flip over them! (And before we know it, our sweet little Mary Abbott will too!!!) FYI, Heather has prints and all kinds of goodies you can order with her artwork on them on her website.
The format of each devotion is easy to grasp. It begins with a Scripture, a short and inspirational message, followed by two more sections: “Takeaway” (sort of a “bottom line” idea which I find super helpful), and “Write About It” where you can write out thoughts from the devotion.
Let me show you Day 3, for example. The Scripture is from Galatians 5:26, in The Message:
Further in the body of the devotion, Melanie says,
“Life is too short for comparison. We need to walk our own road and not spend our time looking to the left and the right to see what everyone else is doing…”
“…Let’s encourage each other to be the best version of who God has called us to be and cheer each other on. That’s how you build a solid foundation for real friendship. And remember, God has far more interesting things for each of us to do with our lives than spend our time comparing it to someone else.”
So the “takeaway” for Day 3 is simply this: “You are an original.”
And the “Write About It” section says, “Instead of comparing yourself to someone else, list five things you like most about yourself.” See, these are simple, yet thought provoking in the best of ways.
Honestly, while these devotions are for our young gals, they’re pretty great advice for us “old folks” too! (Or, at the very least, they’re super reminders.)
Melanie also addresses many of our emotions and ways to tackle them, i.e. worry and jealousy, just to name a few. On her post on worry, she ends it with, “Trusting Him is the only thing that will give you real peace.” I love that!
Earlier I mentioned that every six days there’s an activity to try. One of my favorites is Activity #15: “Taste Testing.” I would soooo participate and “help” with this! The illustration is priceless too—it’s of an elephant with a tiered tray balanced on his tusks with beautiful, make-your-mouth-water cakes on display.
The activity says, “This is a fun way to see how unique you and your friends are and that what one person thinks is best isn’t necessarily the way others think!”
Melanie suggests you and your child find a suitable date on the calendar for you to invite 3-4 friends over. Then you need to decide what kinds of foods you’d like to taste test (and don’t forget to ask about food allergies!)
Some ideas she offers:
“2 different kinds of ice cream
Different kinds of chocolate bars (I’m in!)
2 different kinds of fruit (example—an orange vs. a pineapple or different kinds of apples)
Different kinds of soft drinks
Different kinds of potato chips or crackers”
I believe just from these ideas, you could easily come up with more and/or a different plan entirely. There are several ways for how to do this included.
I even thought you could come up with an entire meal with different options, i.e. different types of burgers or pizza or pasta, even veggies, and well, my mouth is watering. (Note to self: NEVER WRITE WHEN YOU’RE HUNGRY…)
Ok, so I’m off to wrap up this book for Claire Bear. Happy Birthday, Sweet Angel. You’re a blessing to all of us straight from our Good-n-Gracious God and we thank Him every day for you and your sister and your cousins!
The book is a good little, portable size, It also has a pretty pink silk moveable book marker for when you’re advancing thru’ the book.
Now you know how we love to close~!!! Run, don’t walk to your nearest bookstore and grab Fearless Faith for the young gal in your life. You’ll be shining the light of Christ all over her. Pray it opens her eyes to a fresh, ever blooming faith.
‘Til next time!
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are “affiliate links.”