The kids and I were out hiking yesterday when I heard Sawyer yell "MAMA!" but it was too late...

Gopher snake

because my foot had already committed to the step.  All I saw was tan and black coiled up and thought "Rattler!" and felt that yucky squish under my foot.  Each hand held a kid and I threw them as far as I could and jumped off of the snake's coils.  Elaina landed on her feet and ran, Sawyer landed on his back  2 feet from the snake and in all the confusion didn't know which way to roll to get away from it.  I ran back and grabbed him and sprinted out of there.  I prayed quickly that no one had been bit and checked each of our legs.  We watched the dazed and confused snake slither away.  I was relieved to see that the head wasn't the right shape for a rattler nor did he have rattle.  After a solid adrenaline rush and trying to shake it off, I thanked God that it wasn't a rattler and that if it was poisonous, God had probably helped me step on the poor guy's head because he didn't retaliate.  I realized this was one of those great teachable moments for the kids on the human relationship with serpents from Genesis 3.  I did google the snake later, and evidently gopher snakes ARE often mistaken for rattlers because of their coloring :)

"You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.  And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head and you will strike his heel."  Genesis 3:14b-15


 So there, ya nasty old beast!