My wildlife adventures

Anyone that knows me very well know that I am not an avid fan of the great out of doors.  I am getting better as I get older and have made great leaps since I moved to Virginia due to the fact that my room is so quiet that it really bugs me and I like to see and hear something besides my four walls and silence.  Well, the Virginia wildlife is trying to revert me back to my old ways.  I was sitting out in front of my dorm the other night and looked down and sitting there beside me was this "thing" that looked like a cross between a snake and a worm with antenneas.  Needless to say I freaked out.  One of the reasons I don't like the outdoors is all the scary bugs, insects and snakes.  But, I was trying to overcome my fears and realize that I am like 20 times or more the size of all these things I am scared of.  Back to the story.  I tried to get a picture of the "sworm" (sworm: a combination of the word snake and worm) but it was too dark.  I just let it go and decided to prematurely end my time outside that evening.  A few evenings later I was out walking and came across another "sworm" on the sidewalk.  So I decided to call my mom who lives 1,000 miles away to see if she had any ideas.  She did.....take a picture.  It was too dark to get the true accuracy of this thing.  I was unwilling to go to bed without discovering the identity of this thing that was greatly interrupting my peace.  So mom then asked if I could put the "sworm" into something to ask someone what it was.  I remembered that I had a styrofoam cup in my room.  After leaving the "sworm" strict instructions not to disappear on me I ran into my room and got a styrofoam cup, paper bowl and spoon.  I figured I would be able to get it into the cup with at least one of those tools.  After I got outside I tried to get the "sworm" to crawl into the cup without my help.  Mind you that by now my heart is rapidly beating and my stomach is in knots.  Since the "sworm" simply would not go into the cup without my assistance I decided that I must give it to him.  I got my bowl and tried to push him in.....He stuck to the sidewalk.  I applied more force and in he went.  Off I go to ask the security guards what is in my cup that has a bowl on the top.  It isn't a very far walk to the building where security is but it seemed like 10 miles.  I kept my mom on the phone for moral support until I got to the building.  As I was walking over I barely lifted the bowl to check on the status of my prisoner......He was almost to the top of the cup.  I very quickly set the cup down on the stairs I was climbing and hit the side of the cup until the prisoner gave up his climb.  After hanging up the phone I went to the security desk and told the two officers there that I had something in the cup and that I didn't know what it was.  One of the officers took the cup and very gently lifted up the bowl and said....."Oh, that is just a slug."   Up until this point I had never seen any slug except a tiny little one.  This one was like 3-4 inches long.  After getting my heart rate to slightly decrease I was able to go to sleep knowing what it was that had me so scared.  The next night I decided to face my fears once again and brave the wild.  As I was walking along the sidewalk I saw something and thought to myself "that looks like a snake, stop it you are just being paranoid."  I was not just being paranoid.  It was a real snake.  For those of you that don't know me I'll just share a small fact with you.  I HATE snakes.  They are so awful.  But there was one laying right in front of me.  I am quite proud to say that I didn't freak out.  I sat and watched the snake for about 15 minutes and determined that it was a non-aggressive, non-rattle snake.  No, I didn't go get a cup to put this one in.  My latest fright was a couple of nights ago.  I was walking around the lake.  There is this tiny stream you have to step accross.  As I went to step across I heard this rustling and something pops up.  I just knew I had come across a snake in his lair and I was getting ready to die (I've always just known that if I ever step on a snake or a snake touches me I will die from just sheer fright).....Then I saw the rabbit hop off into the trees.  Stop, breathe in,breathe out and keep going.  After all those frights I am just a little nervous.  I am not giving up though.  I WILL conquer the fearsome wilderness.

Happy 4th!

Happy 4th to all of my readers!!  I just wanted to share this article about the 56 great men who, on July 4th, 1776 voted to adopt the Declaration of Independence.  Later on August 2nd, 1776 these same men signed this great document.  The article has some great info.  As you are enjoying a picnic and fireworks with your friends and family don't forget the sacrifices that have been made so that you can do so.  Have a great day with your friends and family:)  God bless!! 

http://usff.com/usff/sacredhonor.html

One of my readers gave me several different topics so I picked one and a favorite one at that.  This reader asked me to share about how it has been for me to be the oldest in a large family.  What I have learned from that experience.  So here goes.  I am the oldest of 7 kids.  I have 4 sisters and two brothers.  I love being a big sister.  It is an undescribable experience to those who haven't had the privilege.  What 's a little different for me (and several of you) than some is that I am the oldest.  That is a big responsibility and sad to say I have failed in many ways.  When I was younger I never realized just how much my siblings imitated what I did and my attitudes.  When I had a bad attitude it reflected in their attitudes.  The bad thing was that I was getting to where I had bad attitudes more than I had good ones.  Of course when you are spending a large portion of your life in a bad attitude, when someone makes you mad you NEVER think that it could be your problem.  You wonder why everyone has so many problems and why they aren't getting them fixed.  You sit there taking specks out of their eyes when you have a giant tree in your own.  And that giant tree is well rooted in pride.  When I finally realized my own issues it took quite some time to break old habits.  Even now I see those habits trying to creep back up.  When they do I can usually trace it back to not spending enough time in God's word and in prayer.  Let me tell you an important pieceof advice that applies if you are a big brother, or sister, the oldest, the middle, the youngest, or an only child. Making the daily habit of grounding yourself in the Word and prayer will be most important habit you ever form.  You will have a harder time starting other bad habits if you are in daily fellowship with God and if you are confessing your sins daily.  Satan has a harder time getting a foothold for an attack.  You don't have to do 5 hours of study just be faithful in small amounts of time and it will be easier for you to make it longer as time goes on.  When I finally started doing that the arguments I had with some of my siblings didn't seem to be such important things to argue about anymore.  The sad thing is that I didn't realize a lot of these things until the last couple of years.  So that means around 18 years of my being a big sister were wasted years that I could have been being a good influence.  Now I wasn't sitting on top of my siblings beating them up or anything like that but the issues of the heart I was miserably failing in.  They didn't see me modeling an attitude of joy when I was working, they didn't see me working as to the Lord not as to men and they didn't see me using my tongue as a tool not a weapon.  So if you are a big brother or sister I pray that this will help you to learn some things while you still have time.  God Bless:)

Welcome to my blog!!

Welcome!!  I am glad that you stopped by.  I created this blog for more than one reason.  First, I want to practice my writing skills which are limited at best.  So bear with my mistakes and feel free to advise me:)  Second, I wanted a place besides Facebook to share some of the things that are important to me.  If you have any suggestions for a topic feel free to comment and I'll see what I can do.  Thanks for stopping by.  God bless :)