Rodents, lizards, and ants - Oh my!

Ok, so the lizards are normal for around here (we always have little ones climbing the wall - which is ok with us because they eat the mosquitos), but I thought I would let you know about our recent adventures with rodents and ants. When we got home from our travels, our house was infested with ants. Every counter was covered with them. We had secured a tenuous victory over them before we left by practicing fastidious cleanliness. However, it seems our helper was not as fastidious while we were gone because the ants definitely overran us. After several "Raid" battles, we went to the city an hour away and got some heavy duty ant poison. Today the ant infestation seems much better.

As for the rodents, it seems that our giant monitor lizard (see the post about "Monty" below for details) was waging that war on our behalf. However, we have not seen or heard from Monty since before we left in June, and it seems that the local rodents have heard the news that our home is open for business once again. Our dogs have been doing a great job of killing any of the ones that try to make the mad dash across the yard (they have killed 9 large rats in the 2 weeks since Steve has been home!). However, a few have managed to make it into our house. We noticed the evidence of a few mice and began hearing rats in the attic (where Monty used to live). So we bought some weapons to fight this war as well, and we have killed 5 rats or mice in the last 2 days! All this rodent action has us wondering if it is possible to buy a monitor lizard to put in your attic to live. A thought I would never have considered until recently. I debated, but I decided to spare you the photos of the effects of our rodent war - they wouldn't be pretty, believe me! :)

Our friends Matt and Erin and their daughter Chloe are enroute to see us! We are unbelievably excited. Mikayla and Chloe became best of friends when they were 3 years old in Sparks in AWANA at our home church in Missouri. I can't wait to see their reunion. We adults are pretty excited as well to see some of our very best friends. :) In case some of you are wondering, no, the fact that I waited to publish this post about our rodent infestation until AFTER they left the USA was NOT intentional...but it sure doesn't hurt anything! :)

Here are some pics of the Price kids and Hagen kids before we came to the Philippines. They have had one more daughter since this pic was taken.

Best Friends Forever!