Of Snake Bites and Adoration

Last week was a long week, to say the least.  Andy and I were both exhausted by the end of it.  So, we enjoyed a quiet dinner at the Mexican restaurant, then came home to watch a movie we had been wanting to see.  As you can imagine, our peaceful little evening didn’t last long. 

Out in the yard, one of the dogs yelped, and then both of them started barking incessantly.  I stuck my head out of the door, and it was quickly apparent that there was something on or under the back porch.  Thankfully, it was still light to see that much. 

Andy headed to get a rifle, thinking it might be a possum or something.  As it turned out, it was not a possum, or anything of the sort.  It was a lovely little copperhead, coiled up on our back porch.  The dogs were barking at it, but holding their ground.  Little Elsa, our fearless cat (who, by the way, is a very small little cat), was up right next to it batting it.  Apparently she wanted to show the dogs how it was done. 

Andy was afraid of hitting the dogs or the cat, so he went in got his old BB gun instead.  Thankfully, once he got out there, the dogs and cat decided to let him take care of it.  And so, take care of it he did. :)

Only thing was, it was soon obvious that all was not right with my little beagle, Sam.  She was acting very drowsy and lethargic, and Andy discovered fang marks right on her nose.  Poor girl, she probably didn’t know what hit her.

By now it was nine o’clock, and we had no idea what to do.  We tried to get a hold of someone who could get a hold of the vet, but to no avail.  Andy called an emergency vet clinic in Little Rock, who told him to bring the dog in quickly. 

“Um, ma’am, I really can’t do that.”


“Why not, Sir?”


“My wife is nine-months pregnant and Little Rock is over two hours away.”


In the back of my mind was the thought that I could quite easily go into labor right then, and here was poor little Sam with her snout swelling by the minute. 

My man is a persistent one, though, and he finally found out that he should squirt children’s Benadryl down her throat.  Since we had none, he drove into town to get some.  Then, when we finally did get a hold of the vet, Andy took Sam over to see him at 10 pm.

Thankfully, Sam is doing fine now.  You can’t even tell where she got bit, although she’s definitely a little slower than normal.  The funniest thing has happened, though.  She suddenly adores Andy. 


Now, don’t get me wrong, she always liked him before, but she was never really his dog.  Suddenly, when she sees him her tail starts wagging like crazy and she comes running up eager for a pat on the head.  Apparently he is now her hero.

It got me thinking about how much we are like little Sam.  Our heavenly Father has the ability all along to take care of us and do wondrous things for us, but rarely do we recognize and adore Him until He really does.  Yet, how many times is He working and we just don’t see it?  How many times are we missing out on His goodness and majesty, or forgetting to remember the wondrous things He’s done for us?

May it not take a snake bite on my nose for me to learn to love and worship Him as He deserves.