Tarantulas and other things

So, what have we been up to lately?
 
Well, last week Elijah found a Tarantula on the sidewalk. It was upside down but not dead. He figured it must have been sunbathing (must have needed some extra vitamin D). So he scooped it up with a stick, put it into a child sized wheel barrow, and then excitedly brought it to our apartment. Although I had forewarnings that there were tarantulas at the apartments, we had not seen any yet, and I had concluded we probably wouldn't until next summer. It was with this idea that I found Elijah's news quite alarming, especially with seven-plus little kids clamoring excitedly about trying to get a peak. They were giving me advice on what should be done to it. A blow dart, as well as incineration were some of the top suggestions.
I knew from previous research that tarantulas are not lethal or even in the rank of black widows, however, the size of one in real life had me wishing I had rubber gloves and a shield of some sort as defense; doubly so, after Emma remarked that they can throw urticating hairs at you.
"What?!" my mind panicked and my feet involuntarily took two steps back.
"Urticating what?" I asked.
"Do you know what you're talking about?" I challenged.
I wanted to believe she was making this up, but I could not rule out that she may know something I did not (shocking, I know).
"They throw what?!" I looked furtively and suspiciously at the humongous spider.
"What is this? Some kind of ninja spider?" I thought to myself.
Thinking as quickly as I could, I ordered one of my children to retrieve the butterfly enclosure (the go-to for all the kids' reptilian finds). I then carefully prodded the tarantula into it with a long stick. The whole while I was ready to jump back and run if it looked to jump at me or throw its tiny hair-darts.

With it safely secured and put up from curious gawkers, I put it on top or our counter to figure out what to do with it.

That night, I researched to try and identify what kind of tarantula it was and came to the conclusion it was probably a Texas Brown Tarantula.
I also found this Youtube video of Orry Martin who implanted the idea to hold it. Yep, I said hold it. I chickened out that night, but the next day, before releasing it to the wilds, I finally got the courage to hold it.

And of course Emma had to too. She is way braver than I am when it comes to critters.

My take on it, after the initial shock, is I found I like them considerably. They are very beneficial down here for pest control and very docile. I did get to witness this one kick some hairs when I was trying to get him out of the butterfly enclose but by no means did his speed, distance, or accuracy make it into ninja star fame. I could wax on about all the fun things I learned about them but won't, you're welcome.

Here are a few more pictures of our life down here.

 

Back in School

Studying hard

Eli's fashion non-sense

A close up.

Rain clouds

Some of the rain from Friday and Saturday.

Two redhead friends

Time to get to work. Bless you all in your own adventures.

Getting Settled

Are we settled? Yes, as far as unpacking goes, we are. Have I got my bearings in the Brownsville/Harlingen area? Nope, still working on it.

We have not made it to the beach yet as there is a stinky red tide affecting the area. Hopefully we will soon though, since two of my boys, Elijah and Jonathan, have already bought some boogie boards to hit the waves with.
 

So, how did Scott's first day and subsequent days of work go from the perspective of his wife? It went well. I can tell it will be a good challenge for him. His eyes seem to be larger now with the influx of information and to-do lists before him, but not undoable or unenjoyable. He has mentioned many areas he wants to jump in and start working on, but presently he is just trying to get a good scope of what all needs to be addressed, and what takes top priority right now. I am happy for him.

Campus life as been good. I thought it would be more difficult to adjust to but it hasn't thus far. Things are pretty different from the norm but not bad. Take for example: Today, I had a living room full of boys watching a movie on our projector. They were being so good and quiet.

Most days the kids spend the majority of their time playing outside with their new friends and the shared outdoor toys. People here watch each other's kids, and in doing so the kids seem to have a larger area to canvas and subsequently more freedom.

I must say it is really is exciting to be here. We played rugby, a really mild version of it, with missionaries going to Ireland. Today, I visited with missionaries who are leaving soon for southern Mexico, to live there, to love people and present them with the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. A couple nights ago, we sat down with a family  in their second year of training, contemplating some really hard places to take the good news. I expected to see fear in their faces but what I saw was a supernatural love for people and a determination that Christ is worth far more than their very lives. These people are so ordinarily extraordinary!

Pray for these new friends of ours. They are the salt and light going into dark places.  

On a different note, Fall doesn't exist here. It's the middle of October but my body thinks God has stopped the seasons. Do I mind? Surprisingly, no, my feet aren't cold at night.