Sisters and........snakes.

 Now, I don't want you to get any bad impressions from the title.  There is really no connection between "sisters" and "snakes".  Particularly when I'm talking about my Secret Sister.  Not that any connection becomes apparent when I'm talking about my "real" sisters.  No.  I don't want to imply that ;)  So, the only thing that warrants them ending up in the same sentence is the fact that they were both a part of my week.  Let me explain......

On Tuesday evening we met at the church to do our big "secret sister reveal".  The theme for the evening was "Bag Ladies" (did I get that right?  Or was it about purses? ;)) and everything revolved around women and our penchant for big purses that hold everything we might ever need......or not.  We all had to pull something interesting out of our purses and explain why it was in there.  I had to explain away a squished, half-eaten sandwich.  The devotion challenged us to examine the "baggage" we carry around and start pruning from our lives the things that detract us from our goal of glorifying the Lord and enjoying Him forever.  We enjoyed games, coffee, food and some great fellowship with a whole bunch of fun women - all sisters within our church family.

 Above is Sue.  I was her Secret Sister this year.  Through this terrific program I had the privilege of praying for her, sending her cards of encouragement, remembering special milestones and days of remembrance in her life, and treating her to a few little gifts - like a heart shaped chocolate cheesecake for her and Dan's wedding anniversary :)

And below is Robin.  She was my Secret Sister.  She was a tremendous encouragement to me, even though I didn't know who it was that was praying for me.  How thrilling to have either Lisa or Alison (our S.S. organizers.......that reads a little sinister, doesn't it? :)) find me at church to hand me a special something from my S.S.!  Gifts, chocolate, cards that touched my heart and left me feeling so cared about.  Did I mention chocolate?  It's very uplifting to just know that within the church is a sister in Christ who has you on her prayer list and is intervening for you on a regular basis.  The Lord really used this as a great source of joy to me this year.

 And today we headed out to Narcisse........and the snake pits!  Wow - what an interesting place!  Thousands of garter snakes winter over in dens and emerge again when the warmth of spring entices them out.  We could look down on the dens and watch hundreds of the snakes slithering all over each other as they enjoyed the sunshine.  I thought it might be kinda creepy, but it wasn't - it was so neat!

 On the little hike out to the pits I had to constantly reassure Corin that it wouldn't be really scary and he wouldn't have snakes swarming all over him.  Of course, his big brothers didn't do much to alleviate his fears.... But he ended up loving it!

 Sky, our puppy, was a little taken aback by the snakes (when she noticed them).  Though most of the snakes were below in the pit, a large number were also in the grasses at the edges of the path, so we did get some closer looks at them, too.  Yvetta gave us all a laugh when, 10 minutes after we arrived at the the pit, she ran over and yelled, "Mommy, guess what?  I saw a snake!!"  She got very brave and even picked up a few of them.

 God is an awesome Creator.  Whether it's the sisters we have in our lives or the wildlife all around us, God has given us so many rich blessings to fill our lives.  Everywhere we look there is evidence of His creative genius if we're only willing to look at life through the lens of faith - not just when we're doing "God stuff", but every moment.  Our lives are so much more enriched and meaningful when we allow everything to point us back to our Heavenly Father.