Happy Happy Birthday to me!!!
The 25th of January began just like any other amazing day in South Africa. My whole team and I packed in the Land Rover and headed to Mamelodi to hang out with and be the Light in the darkness to the kids that had overcome drug addiction. As we arrived we were met by about 45 children ranging from 16 to 7. All waiting to play soccer or jump rope or get pushed on the swings or draw a picture, but most of all they wanted our attention, to hold our hands, and to feel the embrace of our arms wrapped around them when we would willingly and for no reason give them hugs. I sure am going to miss those kids! PS Family they all want to visit me in America sooooo ….
Fast forward to the evening time … My team and I were standing outside enjoying a beautiful South African thunderstorm (no rain) and decided we should go sit on the steps of the patio in front of the wooden cross to watch the bats dive bomb and relax viewing some of God’s amazing creations. We joked about how God had sent the thunderstorm for a treat since it was birthday in a few hours. We danced around and laughed and said our oohs and aahs over the bright bursts of light covering the navy sky. We even for a moment had a Jurassic Park reenactment. You know when it started to drizzle and the T-Rex came out of the forestry. Shout out to Gloriel for playing the T-Rex even though she looked like a hybrid of a velociraptor and a zombie T-Rex. What a team God has put me with!!
What happens next was the icing on top of the cake. In Lyndsay’s head she asks herself, “ Oh that’s a weird noise, do bricks hiss?” She looks down and yells, “There’s a snake!!!” We all jump up screaming snake and sprint away with high knees, acting as if snakes have turbo speed and can slither 25mph. All I can do is laugh and shake my head.
So Gloriel our adventurer, who likes to push the limit is on this three tall brick wall walking closer and trying to find it with the light on her phone. Which she does. Someone asks, should we kill it or just leave it and high tail it back to our place? Well Louis gave us permission to kill any snakes that we find so of course we decide .. LETS DO IT!!!
Danielle, our quiet but fearless killer of all insects in our house, grabs a brick and walks on the wall, again only three bricks tall, and attempts to drop the brick on top of the little guy. As she goes to drop the brick, the snake lashes upward and we scatter again.
My instincts kick in and I run and grab a shovel from the pile. We have been become very familiar with the shovels at BEAM house, using them for shoveling rocks, dirt, and mixing cement. Keep in mind it is now raining and thundering and I am in a skirt and flip-flops! Gloriel, my spotter has kept the light on the snake and points it out to me. It is now crawling up the wall, probably trying to get away because it knows snake killer is in my blood. The battle begins!! First blow, I smash the little guy between the flat side of the shovel and the brick wall, it falls back to the ground. I change strategies since the fight platform changed and decide to stab the snake with the point of the shovel … second blow, third blow, fourth .. it is still wiggling but I take a second to access the situation and realize it has gone from 1 snake to 3 separate pieces of snake, I think its dead guys.
My family will be happy to know that my first question after killing the snake was, “Hey guys should we bury it?” The consensus was heck no lets leave it until the morning so Louis can figure out what to do with it and what kind it is.
So to sum it up, I had a pretty epic Pre-Birthday bash with some pretty epic people!! Just another day in the life of Katie on the World Race!! Love you guys!!
P.S. I tried to upload pics but it wouldn’t work 🙁 Ill try to add them on Facebook for y’all!!
