The Snake I Prayed I'd Never See

It was a normal afternoon. Kenai was napping in his bed, Koda was in the front room playing, and I made my way to the kitchen to make a snack. I had the back door in the kitchen closed, but the door is about 5 inches from the ground, leaving a large gap. At night I usually roll up a mat to cover the gap, but during the day usually all windows and doors are open due to the extreme heat here in SL. The kitchen was fairly dark with the door closed and for some reason I didn't think to turn on the light. I was standing at the kitchen sink when I spotted my cat sneaking upon something out of the corner of my eye. It roused my attention, and I glanced over. It was a bit dark to see, and I got a little closer. I couldn't believe my eyes. All I could see was a thick, snakes body stretched from the door to behind my refrigerator (which is about 5 ft distance). I couldn't see the head or the tail and I instantly knew it was a big one. For fear of where the head was, I ran like lightning through the only other exit, into the front room. I grabbed Koda and brought him outside, screaming and yelling for the neighbors to call Cody. My phone was on top of the refrigerator and I didn't want to chance getting it. I took my eyes off of the snake long enough to grab their phone and call Cody to come home. My biggest fear was it getting into Kenai's room; and so I slowly walked towards his door to shove rugs in the bottom crack and to close my bedroom door. I had lost sight of the snake for those split seconds and I had kept my eye on making sure the snake stayed in that room and not heading to the rest of the house. The neighbors all ran over and I had one person watching the back door where it came in and another girl looking through the kitchen window. Danika (the one looking through the window), made it sound like she saw it under the window, still inside of the kitchen. 

When Cody and Babu came racing in on the bike, they went straight for the tiny kitchen. They stood back to back rounding in circles, looking in every direction, not sure what or how fast it would come at their feet. They only held a stick in hand. Between tears and praying, as I could tell they were still not spotting it, I began to get a couple neighbors to go search the side of the house in which that door led out of. My cat must have scared that snake away while I was getting the neighbors phone, because those boys began shouting as they had spotted it behind our house and heading towards the side alley. Cody and Babu bolted out of our house towards our fence. Babu ran into the alley way where the snake ended up. He had only one way to go, and that was behind him. Babu took his stick and gave that snake the biggest whack! But it didn't work; it broke in half and left him standing face to face with what we all then realized was a King Cobra. The cobra instantly became enraged and began lunging 4 feet at a time towards Babu as he could only leap backwards; in fear that the snake would bite him as he would turn to run. Our neighbors dog came just at the right time. It distracted the snake and Babu was able to back up to safety. The dog got bit, and then the snake took off into our yard again. After watching in the alley what had happened, I ran back to the house to close all doors and windows making sure my kids stayed inside and safe. Cody yelled to get the speargun. Babu made his way back to our house as I frantically searched for the speargun to give to him. Cody kept that snake in his sights inside a rocky area next to our house. Babu came out, handed to gun off to Cody, started raking through the rocks which caused the snake to make its way to the surface, thus giving Cody a perfect shot. Straight the head- BAM! All I could do was thank God that it was over. That snake was longer than Cody's body. Cody burned it and buried it. 

Well, with this being the 4th snake in 3 weeks that Cody has killed (one being a pit viper right next to Cody's head in the dark- the same snake that killed Johnson's brother); I have taken all of this as confirmation for us to go. We are moving this week and I am thrilled!  

We are so thankful that no one was hurt through any of this, and know were around each of us as we faced one of the most dangerous and deadly snakes. Thank you Jesus for your protection; He didn't answer my prayer the way I wanted it. But he never promised there wouldn't be trials and hard times, but he did promise to hold us through them. We were all able to sleep that night, and I have had a peace that can only come from HIM. I am more aware and being more cautious. 

Thanks for your consistent prayers for us! We FEEL THEM!!!!