Tuesday With Teri

The other night, as I sat on the couch watching TV with my little dog Hughie asleep by my side, I heard a noise in our kitchen.   It was the sound of dog food being moved around the bowl.  Let me pause here so you can refer back the first sentence…oh, and by the way, we only have one dog! 

After stalking the ghost like movement of the culprit, I was finally able to snap a blurry photo of a not so cute mouse squeezing himself under the laundry door and helping himself to some Kibbles & Bits!  We even found quite a stash of dog food piled behind the washing machine, ick.  It was battle time!

Armed with no mess mouse traps, peanut butter and a few kibbles for bait, I set out to protect our domain.  When I woke the next day, one of the traps was tripped.  I like the new no mess traps,  they have a tab that moves positions when there is a mouse inside.  I simply plucked it up by the little handle and tossed it in the garbage outside.  I felt victorious!  I felt empowered!  I felt like a big girl who handled her crisis with grace and courage, without having to call on my hubby!….until the next night.

I continued to set out traps.  One evening, just before bed, I looked at one of the traps and noticed the tab had shifted.  “Hmmmm,” I thought, “I just put this down, maybe it just tripped accidentally.”  I held the plastic container up to the light to see if there was a critter inside, didn’t see anything…so I decided to reset it…MISTAKE!  As I pushed it down a bit, I heard the panic filled squeal of a live mouse!  I dropped it on the table and joined in the squealing!  Oooo, ick, ick,, ick….creepy, creepy ,creepy, even as I type this the goose bumps run up my arms at the memory!   I almost let the mouse out as it was in my hands….let’s just not try to imagine what would have transpired had the mouse leapt from it’s trap and into my arms!  It was bad enough as it was…. I yelled like the girl I am for the hubby who was upstairs, grabbed a hanger and snagged the trap by the corner and carried it outside.  The entire time I was emitting those embarrassing sounds we usually only make when no one sees how truly repulsed we are by something…”eewewewewewewewe, ahgahgahga, eeeeeeeeeeek, yuuuuuuuuuuuuck” combined with shuddering and convulsing dance like moves.  Yep, not my finest hour.

I am happy to report we have not seen any mouse activity these last few days.  Of course this got me thinking….this is not the first time we’ve had to “deal” with mice in our home.  Several years ago we saw evidence of their existence and actually hired professionals to handle them for us.  THEN the next year we had what one professional reptile exterminator referred to as “not quite” an infestation of snakes.  Those of you who follow the blog may recall this time in our lives as it was an issue that inspired a few posts.  Apparently our snakes, which NORMALLY stay inside the house walls(I know, yuck right) or around the perimeter of our home, were having difficulty finding dinner since we did such a good job of ridding the house of mice.  Apparently, this resulted in them actually getting in to our living areas a few times.

Sooooo, now the mice are back since we kindly got rid of their predators.   Now I wonder if I get rid of too many mice, will the snakes become more evident?    One day I am asking God to help me get rid of mice, next, I am asking God to take away the snakes; then again, for Him to rid our place of mice…so now I am thinking, maybe I was a bit hasty in my requests.  God knows what He is doing….he knows what I desire, and what the snakes and mice need for a balanced environment.

 I certainly would not think of snakes as a gift from God, nor would I think to be thankful for the inconvenience of mice, and yet they had purpose.  What a great example of how God’s ways may not be my own…sometimes I do not understand why God allows things to happen in our lives, or even why He keeps certain things from taking place as we desire….but I am humbly reminded by my mice that in ALL things He has a plan and His ways are best.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways declares the LORD.”  Isaiah 55:8

Lord, help us to trust Your ways and to understand Your thoughts that we may obediently follow you.