Holy Snakes, Batman!

This is a running blog - but it is also about me - and I do a lot more than run!

This weekend, for instance, we celebrated my youngest son's 8th birthday!  It is hard to believe that it has been 8 years and 8 months since I lay in bed on a cold Christmas morning, trembling from head to toe as I stared at a + sign on a pregnancy test!

It had been 10 years since I had birthed my last baby, and both my husband and I were well aware of what we were getting ourselves into - basically giving up all independence for the next decade!

A decision that neither of us have regretted for even a moment!

Levi has brought such joy to my life!  Right now, his greatest passion is SNAKES! - so we had a snake birthday party!  It was impossible to find snake party supplies (imagine that!) but the "Dollar Tree" has snakes galore!

Oh, and my youngest daughter thought it would be hilarious if everyone had to wear a mustache!  We had a blast!

My oldest daughter and her husband.

Yeah... they look thrilled!

My husband looked scary!

I looked scarier!

My grandson was not happy with this mustache thing AT All!

And he is now convinced that his Daddy is crazy!

Oldest son, Joshua (the original snake lover) gave Levi a snake for his birthday!

Thanks to a wonderful post that my friend, Mindy, over at Road Runner Girl wrote, we ended up getting my son tickets to LegoLand!  He loves Legos, so this was perfect!  And, of course, Levi got a real snake for his birthday (a baby Red Tail Boa) to add to our snake menagerie.

 I know that most of you reading this would not dream of having a snake as a pet.  I used to feel the same way.  In fact, I could not even look at a picture of a snake- let alone allow one to LIVE in the house!  However, 20 years ago my oldest son Joshua was absolutely in love with snakes.  He talked about them day and night - and since I was trying to teach him phonics - I started buying books about snakes to encourage him to read.

Eventually he began begging me to let him have one.

"No!  Absolutely not!  God Himself will have to come down and tell me to before I will let you have a snake in the house!"

Those were my exact words.  Joshua was undaunted.  "Well then, I'm just going to pray!"

A few days later,  I walked outside and saw a tiny snake curled up on the sidewalk.  Now previously my instinct would have been to grab a hoe and hack that creature to bits before it attacked my babies.  I know this because that is what I had done the last time I encountered one. 

But on this occasion I clearly lost my mind - because I went running into the house and said: "Josh- come look!"

He was deliriously happy and I allowed him to put the snake in a mason jar and keep it on the porch.

Then the "God came down" part happened.  You see, this was in the days before cell phones, and I was unable to talk to my husband at work.  So imagine my utter shock and surprise when that very same day he came home with an entire terrarium set-up!  Someone had brought it to work to give away, and my husband has never been one to turn down "free"!

Clearly God was on Joshua's side!

That was the beginning of our family snake love, and now not only my son, but my two youngest daughters have snakes.

And my oldest son still believes in the power of prayer!!!

Would you ever consider a snake as a pet?