Copperhead bite on the finger!!!

All I can say is HALLELUYAH that this happened to my oldest child and not the younger ones (IF it had to happen at all) because he is bigger than my husband was when we got married, and also that it wasn't a rattle snake! It always hurts to see your child suffering and in pain though, especially when there isn't a lot you can do to help.

So here's what happened.....around 2:00 this afternoon, Jonathan was outside cleaning the back yard. We've only seen a couple of snakes this year, none of which were copperheads, but we know they're around. We saw a LOT of them last year, so we know to watch. Well, the cat found one, and since Jonathan has handled them successfully before (even when I've told him not to!!!), he thought he'd "save" the cat from getting bitten.....but it turned it's head around and got one fang in the tip of his middle finger. Lesson learned!

So we grabbed the activated charcoal, and he just threw some on it and made a big mess. Then we rushed to the hospital about 25 minutes away. THREE HOURS after the bite, he FINALLY got his first dose of anti-venom! They wanted to wait and observe the swelling and other symptoms to see if maybe it was a dry bite.....it was not. I totally understand why they didn't give it to him immediately, but I felt pretty silly for rushing him there! They transferred him to a room in ICU to watch him closely overnight, and so far it looks like he'll probably go home tomorrow and may not need a 2nd dose of the anti-venom. Other than the pain and other annoying symptoms, he's kind of enjoying being pampered and waited on! He said he'd never go through the pain again just to get this treatment. What's funny though is he just had his 2nd dose of MORPHINE, even though he only rated his pain as a 4 on a scale of 1-10! Haha! I'll humor him, but I think he'd agree he doesn't have a high threshold when it comes to pain. And all kidding aside, I don't think most men can handle pain well. You would have thought he was dying!

Here's a few pics of his hand. The doc said it will probably look worse in the morning, and he'll probably lose all that skin that turns black. I'm just thankful he probably won't be losing his finger!

P.S. I really believe the activated charcoal helped at least a little bit. I may never know exactly how much, but I do think it helped! I was so glad to have that on hand.

Unicorns mentioned in the bible?

Scale of the Universe

This is really incredible and gives us just a glimpse of how incredible the Creator of the universe really is! And He is MY God! :) Check out this interactive scale of the universe!

Acee the moth and Jonathan the Moth Hunter!

Jonathan found a Lunar moth yesterday and named him Acee (like the letters, A.C.). We took pictures, videos and learned all about the Actias luna from this site. Check it out! The pictures and description of the entire life cycle are amazing!

After looking on this site, we recognized the caterpillar. We saw this caterpillar just a few weeks ago only a few feet away from where we found the moth yesterday! These are not common in our area, so we're assuming it was Acee in the pupa stage! How cool! :)
first picture of Acee when we first discovered him
Some information from another site here:
The short adult life span of the Luna moth is related to their adaptive coloration. Moths and butterflies are either procryptic, with colors and markings that match the native environment and conceal the insect, or aposematic, with vibrant colors that draw attention to denote that the insect is poisonous or tastes bad. The survival strategy of the two types results in differences in longevity. The aposematics live longer than the procryptics in order to condition predators to the visual warning. The procryptics die as quickly as possible so that predators will not be able to figure out how to detect them. Saturniids are represented by both types; studies have revealed that the procryptics fly more so as to exhaust themselves and die quickly while the aposematics conserve their energy. Luna Moths are procryptic.

So Jonathan has all these different nature books and he had read this before and remembered something about them being poisonous. So he took this video and really, truly believed he was in danger!!! It was so hard not to crack up when I was watching it! It sort of reminds me of a young Crocodile Hunter......so here he is;

The Moth Hunter!


As you can see in the pictures below, they did learn that the moth was not poisonous to us!

Now Jonathan wants to be the only one to hold him. We decided to go ahead and keep it inside through the weekend since it will be so cold. We can't find Acee right now, so I think maybe he got into the attic. He's probably better off in there than outside right now! If we do find him, we'll put him back outside on Sunday after the snow storm passes!

Straight from God just for ME!!!!!

Have you ever had one of those "God moments" where you just KNOW that God is speaking to you through His beautiful creation? Maybe there is something going on in your life or something He is revealing to you and He puts something in your path (a rainbow, for example) to show you He is listening and He cares for you. Not only does He show that He cares for you, but it is one of those things where you just know He put that rainbow in the sky on that particular day just for you.

Well, I had one of those "God moments" today. This is so cool!

We are members of a local church who are some of the sweetest people I've ever met! We are truly a family. As we were studying together today after we all had our weekly dinner together, one of the things we discussed was Romans chapter 11. Myles and I, and Chrysinda and I, have been discussing this past week what exactly this means.

The entire chapter is so great, but read this passage about how the branches are grafted on. We concluded that the point of the illustration is not about salvation, but instead it is about not boasting about being God's chosen. Whether Jewish, Gentile or Messianic Jew, we are all of ONE PLANT if we are all in Christ, and we all have the same roots, Jesus the Christ, or Yeshua the Messiah (His name in Hebrew)! Galatians even tells us that we, as followers of Christ, have become offspring of Abraham and heirs of the promise!

You've got to read this first before you see the pictures! No cheating!

Now, as I was driving down the road, I passed several Redbud trees along the way. They are all so pretty with their deep purple blossoms! There were also a lot of pear trees with the white blossoms. They were all so beautiful.

Suddenly one of them in particular caught my eye. I did a double take and a triple take. Nah, it couldn't be.

I drove back by it later just to get a better look at it. I was further away this time since I was driving on the other side of the road, so I thought maybe I just couldn't see it well enough.

I wish I'd stopped and taken a closer look, but thanks to Chrysinda who lives nearby, she was able to capture some pictures for me! CHECK THIS OUT!!!!

See it? There was one branch with white blossoms on a purple blossom Redbud tree!!!!! Click on these images to enlarge. I really wish you could see it in person!

A moment in our lives

Right now we have just finished up breakfast.

Jayla isn't feeling too well, so she is laying down and watching cartoons. She ate breakfast, so I guess that's a good sign!

Jacob is building tracks and bridges with his train tracks. He has had them all over the living room this week. Myles showed him how to use the couch cushions to support a track and build a bridge from the couch to the cushions, so now he uses anything and everything he can find to support a bridge, and they go all around the room!

Jonathan is reading. He has been reading a LOT lately, mostly nature books. He just told me all about how gravity works and about mass. I didn't realize he knew so much about that stuff! LOL! He is also constantly telling me about some kind of animal, where they live, what they eat, etc.

Jack is drumming with a piece of track and standing by the heater (no worries, it is not hot to the touch!). He giggles when he first gets next to it. :) So now we have all four of them fighting over 2 heaters! (sigh) He is also drumming ON Noah's (the turtle) aquarium. He wants to get a closer look but I have it guarded so he won't touch the light. It is indeed hot! He can't reach it though. :)

So that is our little moment of our day. Next we are about to do some cleanup, but I also promised Jacob he could play computer games. If I have time later today, we may make some play-dough. That's always a big hit! I just need to find that "perfect" recipe and the icing coloring.....

Wildflowers

I love wildflowers, and so do my kids! We were driving out in the country and I just had to pull over and let them pick some.

 

 

Jayla was pulling Jacob's hand back to protect him from getting pricked on the purple flowers!

 

 

 

These sunflowers at our house are around 11-12 feet tall now! The only problem with them is that they are not out in the country (along with us, of course). Someday!