On Sunday we started a study called "Unlocking the 10 Keys to the Bible." This is a study for home churches to use to help folks how don't understand how the Bible all fits together---they call this study an "Aerial view" of it---anyhow, the first part of it is about the Garden, the garden of Eden.  And we got to talking about snakes, and how the serpent is such a symbol of evil. That thought went off on a trail of sorts and we just kinda got off on how a snake is really the ultimate symbol of Satan, talked about people with pet snakes, "snake handlers" who test God by tempting fate with poisonous snakes and other examples of snakes in our society.  Well, you might say--"they are such a beautiful creation!  Yes, that is so true, but God Himself said that the Devil was a most beautiful creation!  If your kids are studying reptiles, be sure to do a word study on "serpent" and see what you find out.  It is quite interesting!

So why is my title "Serpiente?" 

 My dear neighbor from Michoacan came over today with a little children's book of animals---and in her limited but workable English, told me that there was a snake in her back yard.  The photo in the book was of a coral snake and I just about flipped.  But she assured me it wasn't a red, yellow and black snake. 

 So I grabbed my field guides and headed over to her back yard. 

 Now, we live in the city, but there is a huge field just south of us at the end of the block, so we get lots of field mice, occasional skunks and once we had a huge raccoon on our deck trying to eat the bird seed out of the feeder.  But in 11 years at this address, we have only seen ONE snake, and a neighbor girl had caught it at a school yard about four blocks away.  So....

We walked into the back yard and she told me it was in the rocks surrounding a willow tree in the corner.  Yup, I could see something coiled up amongst the river rock. So I went back and got my camera, but it had moved.  I found it along the fence, between some edging and the fence between our two yards.  I took a couple of photos, it was about two feet long and about the size of a dime-or a bit bigger.  It had a pale yellowish stripe down it's back.  It didn't like me taking photos so it started zipping along the fenceline, then came back my way, then changed it's mind and found a gap in the fence......and headed right into my vegetable garden on the other side.  Sigh. 

Or should I say ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss?

Happy (shudder) Homeschooling, and I guess Dad will have to do the gardening for a little while.....

Nancy