The Creature Living in MY House

There is an unidentified creature taking residence in my home. He does NOT pay rent. He is not welcome. I cannot for sure even tell you what kind of parasitic monster it is (okay...so I know that might not be a word, but this is serious business!!!). I am not the only one to register a Smith-Ness monster sighting (wouldn't that make it Smyth-Ness given the nationality?), so don't even try to tell me that I am making this up! It is real. It is a problem.

It all started a few months ago. We have had a small mouse problem we've been attending to in our basement. Megan knew she'd have a bit cheaper rent, but I know she hasn't enjoyed the roommates down there. Anyhow, a few weeks ago now, Meg's Saturday morning sleep-in session was rudely interrupted by a four-legged creature that had an unfortunate meeting with the mouse trap. After a forty-five (yes, that's 45) minute altercation with the trap, Meg finally gave up on sleep, only to find that the "mouse" and trap both disappeared. Several of us have hunted both since, simply to come up scratching our heads at the fate of both.

Fast forward to last week. Nathan and I quickly tried to prepare the house for Naomi's first birthday party (which ended up really being an entire weekend of Ode to Naomi festivities....pictures to follow soon). In all our efforts, we stumbled upon a neatly crafted mouse nest (I'll spare the details of where...you just don't want to know). That small issue was taken care of.

BUT, THE REAL POINT OF THE STORY happened last night. Nathan and I returned home after a day of Nathan being sick and a late night meeting to a little couch potato action watching unfortunate events culminate into a Rockies loss, only to watch a full our assault on the house. Meg and I watched this CREATURE (definition: smaller than a bread box, bigger than a mouse, similar in size to a chipmunk, brown on top and white on bottom, the rest of the features blurred by its speed) shoot across the room from under the rocking chair to disappear into the toy corner (you know, the one where my two toddler children play with all of their toys, inserting some of them at will into their mouths....yucky eeww!).

Needless to say, I do not believe all of these mishaps to be accidental or unrelated. So, please pray for us that we can catch this sucker that is totally not invited to live here and that we can clean the house before my children contract Ricin (that's right, the incurable disease carried by small animals of the rodent variety). We are in the midst of running "Operation: Small foot" in order to rid our house of all unwanted living organisms (well, and some wanted as Megan chose to start moving out on her own...we love you and realize that it is good for you to get your own place, so you and Dustin have a place in a few weeks. But, we will miss you!). Until then, I will let you in on the details of the extermination.

Matthew 10:28, "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

John 10:10, "The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."