One such archaic ritual was our fire ant contest! We would all gather around a large fire ant mound and two contestants would be selected. Then the two chosen had to put their bare hands and arms into the fire ant hill and keep them in for as long as they could endure, while all the other brothers and sisters hovered near watching intently and cheering you both on wildly! We knew to watch our rivals face closely for any sign of weakness. If we detected weakness it gave us strength to endure a few moments longer.

Whichever one pulled their arms out first lost not only the contest but also much admiration and approval!

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Well our house was not exactly company ready to put it politely, especially we girls room! Those of you who have been allowed a peek into our room on one of the frequent occasions when it was not company ready or to be more precise when it looked like the aftermath of a tornado, have not seen anything! This one was a 4 in the ranking for natural disasters! I can proudly say that it was not a 5 because we had been very diligent and bulldozed it all into one HUGE pile close to the wall. Then we carefully spread quilts and afghans over the entire mountain! So, except for that section of the room things looked great!

Now to get back to the point. We saw them drive up in the driveway and as the message was quickly relayed throughout the house our already exciting home instantly erupted into something like a disrupted fire ant hill or a bee hive in the spring! Everyone was flying around in feverish haste running into each other as we crammed stuff in closets and under beds, zooming around with brooms and dust pans up until the moment the door was opened to admit our guests!

Then as suddenly as the commotion had started it stopped, leaving behind a calm, pleasant, orderly home! We all leisurely walked in to welcome our guests and accept humbly the praises they bestowed on our lovely home!

All of us, that is, except Rebekah! She had a strange habit she called “being comfortable.” It was her custom to pick out her favorite, most comfortable shirt and her favorite, most comfortable skirt and wear them together around the house! The styles and colors usually clashed shamefully but she would not be persuaded to discontinue this practice. So she had run upstairs when the door opened to stay in our room until the company left. She sat there pleasantly relaxing, well, as pleasantly as was possible considering that we didn’t have air conditioning and she was up in the top of an old farm house in the middle of a Mississippi summer! Then suddenly a shock wave ran through her as she heard our Dad say “Why don’t I show you through the house?” Rebekah realized that her place of refuge was about to be invaded! She racked her brain for some way to escape the utter humiliation of being found in such an unseemly manner! Then her eyes fell on the huge mound in the far corner of the room. She sat there for a moment thinking through her options; but just then the footsteps and voices reached the bottom of the stairs and began coming up!

Realizing she was out of time she dove into the pile, burrowed deep into the middle and pulled the quilts back over the hole her entrance had made! She sat there quaking with fear as the voices came into the room, walked over and stopped right beside the huge pile! They stood there and talked away oblivious to the fact that buried deep within that pile sat a poor little girl miserably hot, hardly daring to breath with the sweat pouring down her face and back! Finally someone said, “wshew, I’m going downstairs! I think I felt a fan or something down there!” And they all trailed out of the room and down the stairs!

As soon as Rebekah felt sure she was once again alone she wearily dug her way out of that heat mound with her hair and clothes dripping with sweat and a firm determination fast settling in her heart to ever after wear matching clothes!

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Well, Steven was thirteen years old at the time, the oldest child and quite certain that he was far too old to be spanked! So he decided to make a clear statement that would remind everyone that he was quite a grown man now and a spanking was a threat that could no longer be used on him!

So at 9:00 Steven walked into the bathroom, picked up his toothbrush and brushed his teeth!

When he had completed this simple task he needed to go in the kitchen and put something on Mom’s desk and then he would go to bed having proven that this new rule would not work in his case! As he began to tip-toe into the kitchen he suddenly stopped short! There at the kitchen sink washing dishes was Mom!

Her back was toward him so he figured he could still slip it on her desk and then creep off to his bedroom without her even knowing! Half exultantly, half hesitantly, he started out across that kitchen floor. Before he got very far he heard with a sick feeling in his heart his mothers voice say, “Steven.”

She hadn’t even turned around. She knew it was him. Then without bothering to ask him how old he was or whether he was the oldest child or not, she spanked him.

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When Steven got to Nanny’s on the first night she met him at the door and welcomed him in! Steven, being the oldest of seven children, was naturally very organized and responsible. He wasted no time in taking his things up to his room and getting settled in!

Nanny made sure he had everything he needed then went around settling everything for the night. Finally she climbed the stairs to go to her own room and crawl in bed! When she reached the top of the stairs everything was dark and quiet. Looking around her room her eyes caught sight of something unusual about her bed! For a moment she didn’t move. There, lying on her bed, underneath her homemade quilts was a big man! Suddenly fearless Nanny rushed toward the man, grabbed the quilts and yanked them off of him! But the Man didn’t move at all and as Nanny surveyed him more closely she found that her intruder was nothing more than several rolled up rugs and pillows!

She was very relieved and knew immediately where he had come from; so creeping into Steven’s room she laughingly told him of his success!

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When everyone else got home they were very pleased that there was fresh bread made.  However, later that day we heard loud banging and cracking sounds coming from the kitchen!  Rachel went to see what was going on, and when she reached the kitchen, she noticed that Mother was breaking her bread up into little chunks!

“What are you doing?”, Rachel asked. “Umm,” Mother said, “You know, these are going to make great croutons!”

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Rachel and I ran upstairs to get our shoes on, and we decided to wear flip-flops since it was so hot!  We quickly slipped them on and ran down the stairs.

We reached the hallway at almost the same time that Daddy entered it from the livingroom. When Daddy saw us running to the door, he asked us where we were going,  we hurriedly told him that we were taking a walk to the creek!  Daddy looked down at our feet and said, “I’d really rather y’all wear sneakers.”  So we raced back upstairs, pulled on some socks and sneakers,  flew down the stairs and finally out into the yard.

The others were already out there waiting for us, so as soon as Rachel and I reached the group everybody headed toward the woods.  Timothy and I were in the lead, talking as we hurried on.  We hadn’t even gotten out of our yard when I felt something round, long, and plump under my feet!  Looking down, I saw, to my horror, a big, fat snake!  Daniel saw it and hollered, but it was too late.  I screamed and jumped back, the snake struck, and clamped his mouth over the front of my sneaker, inside which were five tensed little toes. I was scared to death! 

Then, just as quickly as it had happened, the snake droped off and slithered away.

Everyone thronged around me as I ran toward the house as fast as my legs would carry me.  When I got inside, I threw my shoes off and hastily began searching my foot for two small holes.  Daddy and Mommy rushed in and checked, too.  We didn’t find any.  Daddy went out with a hoe and looked for the snake, but it was gone. For a long time after that, we girls didn’t want to take any more walks!

I was pretty shaken up.  I was also really thankful that Daddy had told me to wear sneakers.

This is just one of the many times God has protected a member of our family through our authorities instructions.

Children obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.

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The next morning Elisabeth told the family about it.  She was still really scared- she knew it could not flush itself, and no one was admitting to getting up during the night to use the bathroom.

It kind of scared several of us, because other strange things had happened lately too!  Eventually though we got over it and didn’t really even think of it much anymore.  Sometime later Steven (of course ) confessed. He had done it to scare Elisabeth because he had an idea that she was already pretty scared about the other things that had been happening lately.

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When it was almost time to leave for the evening service, we were talking and decided that we would really like to stop by the corner store and buy some candy on our way.  We asked their parents, and they said that if we could find the money, they would take us.  We were a little discouraged at first, but Brittany said that the money wasn’t a problem – she knew where we could find some.  So we all eagerly followed her… she went upstairs to the place we always played – it was a sort of storage area.  She told us if we dug around in the boxes we would be sure to find some money – so we started digging!  Every few minutes there was a shout of triumph as one or another of us unburied a few coins.  Soon Brittany and I decided to get a purse to put it all in – we had been saying that whatever you found was yours – but Brittany and I decided that it would be better if we all shared one purse.  So we ran downstairs, got a purse, took it back upstairs, then proceeded to explain to Rachel and Shelby the wisdom of everyone putting all they found into one purse.  They were a little hesitant at first, but they finally agreed to it and poured their findings in.

When it was time to leave, Brittany and I took charge of the purse.  Their parents asked if we had found enough money, and all four of us eagerly told them that we had found plenty.  So, we stopped at the corner store.  Brittany and I jumped out and ran inside, bought several different kinds of candy, ran back out, and jumped back in the van.  They pulled out and we went on down the road to church.  Rachel and Shelby were eager to see the different kinds of candy we had bought, and we proudly showed them.  Then, before their amazed and unbelieving eyes, we halfed all of the candy!  Brittany took half and I took half!  Rachel and Shelby were in an outrage!  They were very angry, and very insistant that we give them each one fourth of the candy.  We paid no attention to them , but went on blissfully enjoying our candy. (Rachel says she thinks that when we reached the church we did give she and shelby a little bit.)

Strangely enough, Rachel and Shelby never stopped trusting us.  Our injustice and cruelty didn’t shake their faith in us or their devotion to us, and unfortunately Brittany and I didn’t repent until after enjoying several more years of their service.

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When they were home later that day, Rebekah saw Elisabeth, and got an idea!  She rushed over to her, and with a mischievous look, said the first syllable of the bad word, quickly  Elisabeth finished it. So they had together said the word they had heard on the movie that they weren’t allowed to say.   As soon as Elisabeth finished it, Rebekah said, “Awww, I’m telling- you know you’re not allowed to say that word!” And off she ran to tell Mommy!  Mommy, however, felt that Rebekah was just as much at fault, if not more so, than Elisabeth- so she spanked them both!                   

*DISCLAIMER – the word that they said was not a curse word, it was not a euphemism and it was not a slang word. It was simply a word that, in our family was considered crude and was therefore off limits.

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Rebekah quickly determined that she would get her pearl back!  She spent the rest of her day following that chicken around, digging through everything it left behind (Selah).  But poor, disgusted Rebekah never did find her pearl.

* Selah – pause and calmly think of that!

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