This is something you will hear me muttering under my breath as I live in my house the next few days. There really isn't anything "exciting" about living in AZ. The year we lived in MA there was a tornado warning, a hurricane, storm outages, snow storms etc. You won't find that here. But you will occasionally find- a scorpion. It's just something you deal with and more than likely if you live in AZ for long enough you'll get stung by one. I was 19 when I was stung by one that was hiding in my jacket. That was the last time. Some neighborhoods, or houses, have more trouble than others. This house is by far the worst I've lived in. We've maybe had ten in the past three years living here. God has been so kind- no one has been stung yet! Oh but it got to close for my comfort today. The worst of ALL places. Trevor's sheets. Trevor was entering through the back end of his bed. He likes to swing on the metal bars and jump in. Well I start to pull the sheets back and he starts to swing in and lo and behold there's a live one. I grab Trevor as fast as I could and tried to keep an eye on the scorpion so I wouldn't lose it. I threw the kids in the bedroom, kept Rylee in the highchair and... called Chris, who was unable to come home. I guess my hyperventilating over the phone wasn't enough to convince him that I really wasn't up for killing it. See I've seen them, been stung by one, but NEVER had to kill one. Now Chris would've come home any other day but today was an important all day, all pastor's, team meeting. These things seem to happen to me on weds. too. Remember the turtle tragedy. Yeah that was two weds. ago. Anyways, by God's grace I called my dad and of all places he could've been he was a mile away. Daddy to the rescue!! You wanna know how he killed it? I offered him a shoe and a heavy book I had nearby just in case the scorpion tried to escape and it was up to me. He informed that those methods wouldn't have worked, good to know. So he grabs a wad of toilet paper and squeezed it until, in his words, "you hear a pop- then you know you've killed it". Right so a popping sound is what I want? I don't think so....
I am so thankful to God that no one got stung. If I hadn't pulled back the sheets I might never have seen it and would've put Trevor down who most certainly would've gotten stung at some point during his nap. Scorpions really aren't all that dangerous. I got a little nauseous from my episode at 18. But it can be dangerous to a child- especially skinny ones like mine. So as I continue to live in my house, a little on edge, I'll keep recalling all of the ways God's has been faithful and that he is Sovereign over those ugly, horrid, from the pit, eight legged venomous invertebrates!
8 comments:
oh Tara I cringed reading that! maybe I don't want to move to Arizona anymore. ;-)
I'm glad your dad could come kill it for you. I could never have "popped" one; too gross!
Ugh, shouldn't have read that before bed. I think I'll take nasty weather over popping scorpions.
wow that's amazing. i've gotten stung by them a small handful of times (okay more like three), it's not a good experience.
i must admit though they are neat creatures to study. :)
I think scorpions are kind of cool (can you tell I've never been stung), but I certainly wouldn't want to have to kill one THAT way. ughhh.
ohhhhhhh....you are right that God is sovereign over those little nasties.....and THANK THE LORD HE caused you to pull back those covers!!! WOW! But I HATE those things!!! Growing up in TX we had those and all the nasty snakes too - hate em! My Canadian husband just doesn't get it : ) b/c their snakes are those little lizard-like snakes (to us) and completely harmless......and as for any little creepy poisonous anything....they don't have em....it's too cold for them! So, not growing up around them, you just don't have the same....awareness/disgust for them! ; )
But I'm with ya! I'm SO thankful to the Lord for sparing Trevor that sting!!!!!!
SO GOOD that we have the LORD to trust in when we can't know where they are hiding or when they show face again.....if ever. With the Lord, I'm continually having to battle my flesh and fight to trust Him....but without the Lord, I'd live anxiously everyday!!!! Praise be to our GOD that HE IS GOOD and HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!
With all the new construction around us, we knew we would probably get them. But I didn't think one would be on our kitchen table. Ethan found it, of course, and then I lost it screaming for Jeff. We left that day for Thomas the Train and came home hoping our new friend "Roger" (yes, we named him) had croaked. No luck - I found him that next night. He was small, so a good whack with a shoe worked for me!
Wow, I am so thankful that God protected him! Yuk! I totally would not have been able to kill it either!:):)
I share your abhorrence of scorpions so I think you'd love to see this photo of a scorpion I killed. http://lifewiththebrackmans.blogspot.com/2007/05/im-at-war.html
The first summer we were in this home ( the year you were here) we had 9. Since then we haven't had as many (only about 6 per year) but it's always a bit scary! I did read a story online about a family in AZ that found 50 scorpions in 1 year in their house and were never stung so that gave me much comfort.
Praise God for his protection!
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