Tank you fo spenning time wid me today!

Well, we've made it back from our visit to Arkansas. We had a great time! You'll be pleased to know that I did not have one single panic attack on the air crafts. (thank you...thank you). Although I did cry out to God on more than twelve occasions. Ironically, the page of my bible study book that I started reading on the first plane before take-off told of the author's fear of flying and how she had a terrible experience on an airplane once (our similarities were strangely coincidental-or not). She talked about how nervous she was when having to fly again and how when she began to panic and become afraid (during turbulence - which I totally don't get...when the wind is blowing around my car as I'm driving down the interstate, it doesn't send me bouncing too and fro. How is it that wind has "bumps" in it??...anyway) she would close her eyes and say "Dear God, please help!" She said it gave her comfort and peace and seemed to make the turbulence not so scary anymore. So I thought I'd give it a try. By George, it worked! And I should know. As I said before, I cried out (silently of course, as to not totally freak out those sitting around me) too many times to count. And each time, the turbulence seemed to pass quickly. God is good! The day we left to come back to Florida was a nasty, rainy day. Big dark clouds in the sky. Can you say TURBULENCE?? ~Dear God, please help me!!! Before we were able to board our plane to return home, we were informed that there would be a slight (hour and a half!!) delay due to a maintenance problem. "Say what?!" I think they said something like part of the wing had fallen off. Or maybe that was just what I made out of the statement "A minor piece of plastic has come loose on the wing and will not be anything major or time consuming to repair." Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. It's one thing to be nervous, go through the security check, get to our gate, take the girls to pee one last time (because I don't care that there are restrooms on the plane...I'm pretty positive that if I remove myself from my seat I will upset the entire balance of the plane and we will take a nose dive! So there are absolutely NO BATHROOM BREAKS while in flight.), then board, take off, boom...no backing out, it's done, no time to even think about what I'm fixing to do. It's another thing, however, to make me sit for an hour and a half watching the rain pour in knowing that some poor mechanic is out there freezing trying to FIX our plane so that we can take off. (Was he doing a good, efficient job or just trying to hurry and get out of that weather?) That, I almost couldn't handle. Thank God my kids were wired and bouncing off the walls in the terminal (Thank you for those Skittles, Nana!) so that I was having to corral them the entire time. Making threats that they knew I couldn't keep being that there was an audience around. So that helped to keep me busy. Finally, we could board the plane. Our seats were in the 6th row...comforting NOT hearing the engines on this flight. (We sat on top of an engine on our way up there.) Sitting in the five rows ahead of us were a group of black ladies from a church taking some kind of church affiliated trip. They were reading their Bibles and from what I could see, notes on "Religion in the world today" and some were praying because "Cuh-laud, they was nur-vis 'bout dis flyin mess!" Somehow, they were comforting to me. Then, there was our middle-aged Asian flight attendant who doubles as the in-flight comedian. We flew with the same crew the first flight and she was incredibly sweet and even let both of the girls say "Happy Thanksgiving!" over the PA once we'd landed. But this day, she was on a roll! She began with all the pre-flight announcements telling us about where we were going, the souvenirs they offered for purchase, etc...And then she begins to tell us about all the safety info. we need to know. First was the oxygen masks. She says..."In dee e-vant dat dee aiwcwaft looses pres-shuh, you will see deese funny wooking tings fall fwom dee compahtment above you head. Stop scweaming, and pull it down ovuh you mout. If you ah seated nex to a chile or someone acting like a chile, secuah dee mask on you self firs den secure dair mask fo dem." I was so grateful for the laugh at that moment. It helped to calm me down a little. Next she said "In dee e-vant dat you-uh aiwliner decide to become a cwuise linew, you will fin dee instwuctions for using you seat as a fwoatation device on dee cahd in dee seat in fwont of you. Fo dose of you who have a emotional connection to you cell pone, you MUST TURN IT OFF NOW! Take it A WAY from you ear and put it in dee OFF position!" Next came "Okay people, heeah come dee part you ahh all waiting for. Dee take off! Kis, put you hands up in dee air...heeah we go! I pwetty sure dis aiwcwaft is fastew dan any ting you have in you garage. It go zero to 60 in t minus one second!" By this time I didn't even care that we were taking off. I was crying from laughing so hard at her. If you could've just heard the accent with the sarcasm! Those were just a few comments that I could remember. She was FULL of them! At the end of the flight she came on again and said "Okay, fo dose of you having cell pone wid dwawals, you may NOW tun you pones BACK ON! Tank you fo fwying wid us on Allegian Air." And with that, we were free to get off!!! PRAISE THE LORD AND PASS THE GRAVY!

While we were there, Nathan and I hunted almost every day. I hunted with him some and also with my dad some too. We had a lot of fun even though neither of us killed anything and I missed the biggest buck of my life. Shot twice at him and still missed both times. He was too far away for me. I didn't judge the distance correctly through the scope. But even with that small disappointment, it was still so much fun. There is something about getting up and out on that deer stand before the world around you starts stirring. It's so peaceful. Then gradually as the sun rises everything comes to life and is so beautiful! I so hope that you will, at some time in your life, take the opportunity to get outside in the woods and witness the nature around you as it awakens for the day and be able to see and experience all of the amazing things that God has created for us to enjoy here on this earth. It is awesome! We were able to see a lot of deer and watch them as they ate and played together. One set of adult does came out with a baby and were eating the corn that we'd put out for them. Nathan whispered to me "That's two girlfriends out for breakfast together and one had to bring along their kid." Ha! I watched as one doe got a little too close to the other's food and that other one reared up and started kicking her on the back with both of its front hooves. It was hard not to laugh out loud. During the time spans of not seeing any deer, Nathan and I would whisper and talk about things. We also played "Would you have dated me if I looked like this?" and made funny, deformed faces at each other. I had my glasses on so I could really make him laugh! I also did a lot of text messaging to my dad and brother as they sat on their stands too. Isn't modern technology great?! Normally I would've felt like spending 5 mornings and 4 afternoons on a deer stand with no kill a colossal waste of my time. However this year I didn't feel that way. For the first time I was really able to appreciate spending that time with Nathan and with my Dad. And also getting to see all of those deer and watch them as they went about doing what they do. One afternoon a cold front was pushing its way through and the whole state was under a tornado watch and our county was under a thunderstorm warning and where were we? Of course, the faithful hunters were on the deer stand hoping that the cooler air would cause the big bucks to move and we'd finally have the chance to take one. I began to get a little concerned once the lightning started streaking to the ground all around us and the thunder got closer. So, not wanting to leave the woods, we decided to get out of the metal "tree" that we were sitting in and pull the vehicle up under our stand so that we could still shoot out the window in the event a shooter came out. Just as we'd pulled the vehicle in place, the down pour hit. Then came the marble sized hail! I said "We must be crazy...no deer is going to come out in this!" And yet I had to eat my words. Just as I was talking to Dad on the phone letting him know what we were doing and asking about the weather, a buck walks out about 100 yards from us. I dropped my cell phone to my lap and awkwardly positioned my rifle out the window. Unfortunately he was not quite big enough to harvest this year. I was just amazed that he was standing there eating corn and getting hailed on! The rain and hail were coming in my window and my one leg on that side was getting pelted. Not long after, the rain stopped and the cold wind started blowing. It started getting too dark to shoot anything so we left, not too disappointed about the day. It had been rather interesting.

Spending so much time with the grandparents, my girls were quite rotten by the end of the week! It's funny to watch them work the grandparents over. They can play on their sympathies and get them to do things they'd never even consider doing for their own children at that age! Even at just under three years old, Emma has gotten it down pat! She went into town with my Dad one afternoon. He had to go to his office for a minute and then to the parts store. She told me "Papaw wet me wide in da fwont seat with him, ha-ha-haha-ha!" Before I went berserk, Mom told me that she was strapped in to her car seat. ~but still in the front seat, no less!! I gave dad a look and said "I guess when you ARE the law, you don't have to OBEY the law?!!" He didn't pay any attention to what I'd said. ~typical! Anyway, when they left the parts store, she told my dad "Papaw, me not got no toys." "You don't have any toys, he said?" "No, me not got ANY!" She was trying her best to get him to stop off by walmart and buy her some toys. ha! He knew better...or was afraid to take her in walmart for fear she'd embarrass him if he didn't buy her what she wanted. Being the sheriff in a small town he was bound to know about every person in the store. So she came home empty handed but still feeling quite accomplished that she'd ridden in the front seat and she made sure I knew about it too!

On Saturday, we went to a family reunion. It was at a church and next to the church was a big cemetery. As Taylor and her Papaw Bill were walking in she said to him pointing to the cemetery "Look at all those people, Papaw." He said sadly "Yeah, there's a bunch." To which she knowingly and frankly replied "Yep, they're dead." Ha!

With the suggestion (or more like mandate) of Dad, we have decided for this to be an annual trip now. ~flying to AR for the Thanksgiving holidays. So I have a whole year to prepare myself for my next flight. I can most definitely say that I will probably have an entire library of self-help books by then. :) The one that will be most helpful to me though will be the one titled Dear God, Please Help!

Here is a picture of me with that deer that I missed. Turns out that the day he decided to show himself again, Dad was sitting in the right place at the right time and was able to take him. He actually let the deer walk off, back into the woods, hoping that it would come out on Nathan and I as we were hunting just a few hundred yards through the woods. When he came back out, Dad was able to get a good look at him and could count the 14 points he had and he just couldn't let him go again. I don't blame him! Nathan and I don't know HOW he let him walk by the first time. I have a good daddy! (Don't laugh at the orange jumpsuit I'm wearing. I know, it probably DID come off of one of Dad's inmates but it sure did keep me warm! Nathan said I looked like an orange teletubby! ~he was right!)