Old Draft from June 15, 2012: The crocuses are long gone, turkey season is coming to a close this Saturday, and the trees are all filled with luscious green leaves. What does all this mean...for me it means so many memories, and much to be thankful for. On April 23, I received a wonderful gift. Picture it, the second Junior Hunting Day before the opening day of turkey season. David and I are out of the rack before 4 that morning, to meet our friend/guide for a fun filled morning. We went to at least half a dozen private land spots that John had to choose from. At our first spot, we heard gobblers in the roost, and once they hit the ground (at approximately 5:30 am) it sounded like they were headed in our direction. Nope, they found a hen and she took them away. That's the way it goes sometimes! So, off we go to another spot. At a few places, we would basically be running and gunning (ie, walking along an area we think there may be turkeys, give a couple hen calls with a mouth call, and wait...wait to see if there was an interested gobbler out there....if we don't hear anything, then we move on.) Yes, we got a workout on that early April 23 morning! As the morning progresses, we walked into a tree farm and were talking over where or it we're going to set up. To our surprise.....all of a sudden we hear a gobbler strutting his stuff, and looking for love. Off we go, to the edge of the woods, get situated, and start calling. Tom makes his way across the field (out of our sight), but gobbling all the while. After a couple minutes, David whispers loudly to me, "There he is, Mom! Right over there!" This was a very smart gobbler, for he always stayed just far enough out of range for David to take a shot. As the time got closer to 9:30 that morning, after all of our attempts at David getting a turkey (remember, it's Junior Hunting Day, which means that only hunters under 16, that have successfully passed the Conservation Education Firearms Safety program, and have a current turkey hunting license for the property type you are hunting on {private or state land}, so this is just for the kids, and us grown-ups just sit back and take it all in!) seemed to lessen. I could tell he was getting a bit discouraged, but our friend, John, had one more trick up his sleeve. So we started heading back to his house, and came to a farm where John had received permission to hunt. As we drove to the back of the property, he saw a gobbler running to the east. We turned the car around, and headed about 500 yards down the road, parked the car, grabbed our stuff, and quickly walked up the hill to see if Mr. Gobbler had any interest in meeting us. {WINK!} David and John each took turns using their mouth calls. To our surprise, there were 3 turkeys just behind where we had set up. Each time John or David would call, they would answer but never came in. We could tell that they were getting closer, but never close enough for us to actually see them. We figured out why quite soon. The gobbler we had seen running across the field was a dominate bird. This means that younger birds will stay away, unless they want to fight for the hen. Off in the edge of the treeline we saw Mr. Gobbler in full strut and looking for this hen that had called him all the way through the woods. Slowly he made his way toward up, came up a small hill, and puffed up making ready to fight the jake decoy. Before he got the chance, David took him out. Here are a couple pictures of the proud hunter...
Back to present day...October 11, 2012...
How am I thankful for what God sends me each day....I'm thankful that my husband turned a 4 day visit to see my Mom, Dad, siblings, cousins, and friends in Indiana to a 2 week trip. I'm thankful that my husband said "YES" to my going to San Antonio, Texas for an additional week to see our daughter, Beth, and to go to my first ever ACTS (Adoration, Community, Theology, Service) Retreat. I'm thankful that I got to see my Mom and Dad for two weeks. I'm thankful for the family that my daughter Beth has adopted as her second family. I'm thankful that Beth is in San Antonio, which I know is an answer to the many prayers that have been offered, and continue to be offered, for her. I'm thankful we were able to go the Alamo, the Riverwalk, and the Tower of Americas. (Although, I'm not so thankful for the feeling of fear when you're 750 feet off the ground and looking out at the city. Can you tell I'm not a heights person?!) I'm thankful that our washer broke down for 2 weeks so that I was able to spend some great quality time with both of my daughters. Yes, it may seem crazy saying that, but Beth was visiting us for just over a couple of weeks. Beth, Laura, and I had to make a trip to the laundromat twice during her trip. We had some great pizza, laughter, and lots of smiles! So, for all of that I'm truly thankful. I'm thankful that my husband wasn't seriously hurt on his way to work yesterday when his tire went flat. We found out that the struts were completely shot on the car, and the mechanic was amazed that the car has been driven this long without something going seriously wrong. I'm thankful for marrying the most loyal, honest, trustworthy, faithful, hard working mad in the world. I'm thankful for my beautiful children that God has blessed our marriage with. I am thankful that our bills are paid, we have a roof over our heads, clean clothes on our backs, and food to eat. Most importantly, I'm thankful for the unselfish love I receive from my children.
Thank you, God for this beautiful day....and Your many beautiful gifts! They help to make our lives more bearable. May God bless you and yours abundantly!
