Proof Positive Prayer Works

While our house was still being built, and while I was huge pregnant with Clay, we were wandering around on the property and came across a fairly large rattlesnake. Trust me when I tell you you have never seen someone carrying so much extra weight move that quickly. For two weeks, snakes filled my dreams, and I would wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, crying and terrified. (I think I mentioned I was pregnant, which might be sufficient explanation for the sweating and crying, and maybe even the weird dreams). I began trying to convince Jeff we shouldn't move in, but he wouldn't be swayed. So, I began doing what every paranoid mother does when she's worried about something: combing the Internet for solutions and getting more freaked out. The reviews for all the rattlesnake-be-gone products were mostly terrible. And the only real natural predator was the roadrunner. So, I decided I would just buy myself a roadrunner. I mean, I had heard of people buying swans and geese and chickens online, so how different could roadrunners be?! But a web search brought up sites with huge red banners, stating the illegality of purchasing or catching roadrunners. I admit, I wondered if it would be worse for my children to be killed by rattlesnakes or to grow up with only occasional visits with their mother in prison. Ultimately, I decided to let go of my dream of owning a roadrunner (or rather a pair of roadrunners, because, in my research, I learned they mate for life), but I would look longingly at any I saw running around on some other lucky landowner's property. Instead, I decided to just ask the Lord to watch and protect my children even when I wasn't able to, and He confirmed in my heart that He was more than capable of doing that. And, just like that, the nightmares ended. I have almost stepped on two different rattlesnakes since we saw that first one and have gone into small degrees of cardiac arrest, but I have not forgotten the Lord's ability to watch and to protect. And, today, perhaps to reward me for not going criminal, He brought this friend to our yard:

I don't mind telling you I raised my hands to heaven and did a happy dance in my kitchen! I hope he (or she) and his (or her) mate will be very happy here and will feel free to kill any and all snakes for as long as they are able. I'm not usually much for birds, but I think this one is the most beautiful one I've ever seen!