Fall is Coming!

Ok, so it's hard to concentrate at work today. The first college football games of the season were on last night (congrats to Vandy on the win!) and tomorrow is the start of Auburn Football! Let's face it, Auburn should win and win big tomorrow. LA-Monroe (or ULM as they prefer to be called) will probably put up a good fight in the 1st half but we should be able to stretch the lead in the 2nd half. We usually struggle the first few series in the first game but if nothing else our depth should outlast them. I predict at least a 2 touchdown win. Maybe something like 34-17.

Meredith and I will be going to the game Saturday. We should make it to all the home games this year and plans are in the works to go to the Vandy game in Nashvegas on Oct. 4th. Cornerstone (our church) will be taking a team to New Orleans Nov. 5-9 so at least one of us will miss the homecoming game against TN-Martin on Nov. 8th. We haven't determined whether or not we'll both be able to go to NOLA, but we want to.

One quick (kind of) story and then I'll finish. Yesterday I had one of the most amazing experiences of my life while at work. As most of you know I'm a big hunter, or at least I try to be. I love deer hunting and I'm working my way into duck hunting, which I'm now obsessed with, just ask Meredith.

Well yesterday I was out supervising a crew that was spraying some kudzu. It was our last spot of the day and it was a rough, nasty one. Well, earlier in the day we had seen two spotted fawns jump up out of the kudzu and run off. If you don't know, spotted fawns will bed down and won't move sometimes even if you nearly step on them. They don't have much scent and stand a much better chance of surviving foxes and coyotes if they sit still. Anyway, on this last spot one of the guys nearly stepped on a spotted fawn. The crew is Hispanic and speaks very little English so our communication is broken at best. I knew they found something because they all started yelling but I thought it was a snake until I heard the fawn start screaming. I walked towards them and up the hill comes one of the guys carrying a spotted fawn and he hands it off to me. Before I know it I'm holding a kicking and screaming spotted fawn that's probably less than a week old! It was so cool! I didn't know what to do. I held it and petted it to try to calm it down and it eventually quit kicking but kept screaming. John, the other forester I work with, pulled up right about this time and I showed it to him. About the time we were trying to check the sex of it the thing kicked one good time and I dropped it. It popped up and took off running away into some thicker cover. It was ok but quite scared.

For a moment while I was holding the fawn it felt like the world just stopped. It looked at me and I looked at it almost as if we both said, "Why are you holding me?!" Then it went back to kicking and screaming. I have a nice little cut in the middle of my chest where it kicked me the last time but that's alright. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. They are such beautiful animals and that experience helps me appreciate them even more. I will still hunt them but I don't do it for the sake of killing. The challenge of chasing such a majestic animal and experiencing God's creation is one I hope I will always be able to enjoy. I harvest very few animals each year and I thank God each time for the bounty his creation provides.

In that fawn I saw God. I saw and held one of his wild creatures and it was incredible! God is such a wonderful maker!

A Poll

So today is a slow day at work so I decided to check out the gadgets in blogger. I thought a poll sounded like a fun thing to try out so cast your vote. What was your favorite Olympic sport to watch? I know it may be hard to narrow it down to just one but humor me. I developed the list from what we watched the most on tv.

Olympics

As the Closing Ceremonies are replayed on tv I got to thinking about the Olympics. Having lost many hours of sleep over the past couple of weeks watching the games I wonder what it is that draws us in to these games. Is it the patriotism? the ceremony and fanfare? the competition? For me I think it is all of these. I love cheering "U-S-A" and pulling for my favorite athletes. I also love watching the opening and closing ceremonies and the medal ceremonies and hearing the national anthems of the gold medalist. And I especially love watching the competition, especially with Michael Phelps going for 8 golds in a row. BUT I think my favorite part of the Olympics is seeing the world come together. I love seeing people from different countries sitting next to each other holding their respective flags, I love seeing the athletes put their arms around each other and congratulate each other, even if they are competitors. I think that this is a beautiful picture of what Heaven will be like! The whole world coming together for a common purpose. (Obviously, we will not be in competition with each other in Heaven!). I just love seeing people from every tongue, tribe, and nation together. It makes my heart smile and it makes me even more excited to see what Heaven will be like! I know that the Olympics are not perfect(can you say China?), and that people are not coming together for the common purpose of Jesus, but rarely do we get such a sweet picture of all of God's people together in one place. It is just nice to have these little reminders every now and then that this world is not our final destination!

Surviving!

(this picture is from Christmas, but seriously, every time a car drives by this is what happens!)

Okay, so I should probably not have titled this blog so dramatically, but that is how I feel! Jason is out of the country (in Argentina) and he only left yesterday but already I miss him! I have lived by myself, and have lived without him, for most of my life, so I know I CAN live by myself, I just chose not to when we got married! My last first day of school was today (just think about it for a minute)so I have been so busy that I can distract myself from the thought that my husband is 1,000's of miles away. The problem comes with the dog, Toby. I thought he would be so worn after after attending dog daycare for 12 hours today that he wouldn't notice that Jason wasn't home. Shows how much I know! He keeps giving me what we call "basset hound eyes" (those sad puppy eyes) and every time a car drives by the poor thing jumps up and runs to the front window and looks out thinking that Jason has come home. I realize that the dog whisperer would say he just wants his pack home or something, but it is sad! I am thankful that God has blessed me with such a wonderful husband who is such a strong presence in our family that he is greatly missed by both me and the dog!!! Until Saturday when he comes home Toby and I will keep ourselves busy and enjoy some extra hang out time.
On a side note, I really do not know how single parents do it, or even how my mom managed every time my dad was TDY (that is military for a business trip). I know I am not a parent, and I would never think for one minute that this was anything like raising a child alone, but just taking care of a dog and a house by myself after getting used to having someone else there is hard!!! I have so much more respect and awe for my mom (during TDY's) and all other parents out there.

Nothing Like I Planned

So this week is a crazy one. Meredith is in VA with her family and I'm just all over the place. Monday I came to work like normal but found out at 2:15PM that I would be flying from LaGrange, GA to Valdosta, GA and then driving to Madison, FL to look at a nursery operation on Tuesday morning. Things sometimes happen very quickly with my job. I got to fly on the Learjet 45 so I can't complain. Wednesday night I'm away from home and then Thursday night Meredith gets back home (thank goodness, when she's gone I'm reminded of how poorly I am at planning meals). Friday should be a "normal" day, but only time will tell.

This weekend will be fun, for me at least. Saturday is the Buckmaster's Expo in Montgomery and I'm planning on making a trip up to P'ville to Bass Pro Shops. After that it's hopefully a restful day on Sunday and then I leave to go to Argentina Monday night. I return on Saturday morning early. I wish we could take the Lear to South America! After these last few weeks football season will seem very calm!

Oh yeah, I'm still working with Toby on hold and force fetch. I feel like I'm neglecting the poor little guy because I just can't set a regular training schedule with him. He tolerates it well though. He did really well last night and is starting to understand walking hold. Hopefully I can dive off into full on force fetch after I get back from Argentina.

Welcome to the blogging world!

We have been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while...and here it is! I don't really know that our lives are that interesting to blog about but here we are! :-) I guess right now our blog will be about 1) Jason's job, 2) Meredith's school, 3) the dog, 4) our lives aside from these three things! Happy Reading!