Tim's First Deer!

Tim recently decided he wanted to start hunting- partly for fun and partly for the free meat we'd hopefully get.  He's long awaited shotgun season and Friday was his very first day of hunting.  He got up at 4am and hit the deer stand early, with his brother-in-law Doug in a blind a hundred yards away.  Late in the afternoon this big antlered beauty strolled right up to Tim's deer stand and one slug to the spine took him down.  

I was hanging out in Tim's dad's house with Papa Joe and the kiddos and heard the shot; I hoped it was Tim.  A couple of minutes later Doug came in the house and asked for the 4-wheeler keys, reporting that Tim had gotten something!  I jumped off the couch and slipped on my shoes.  Let me pause here for a second to adequately set this disaster-of-a-day up.  I had gotten my hair cut earlier in the day and, ladies, you know that your hair always looks best when your stylist uses all of her whiz-bang spritzers and straightener.  I treasure having a decent hair do for the 12 hours that follow any hair appointment.  And, I was wearing my white Merrell shoes my mom got me for my birthday as well as my favorite purple puffy vest.  Okay, so I dash out of the house wanting to get to Tim quickly.  I had no idea where his stand was, and his dad's property is vast and heavily wooded.  After 10 minutes of Marco-Polo style husband finding, I caught a glimpse of his orange vest and started running toward him.  I also heard Doug on the four-wheeler, but then the engine quit and I saw Doug on foot, too.  We both finally reached Tim and saw that he didn't get just any deer, he got a magnificent 10-point buck with a beautiful symmetrical rack!

Tim and Doug dragged the deer into the close-by field and I asked Tim if he was going to field dress it.  He said, "Umm, I don't know how to do that!" Thankfully, Doug is an Anatomy & Physiology professor at the local JuCo and knew exactly what to do.  As Doug skillfully navigated the process, he asked me to go get the 4-wheeler.  So I started running (knowing it was pretty far away from us) and here is where the disaster began.  I had to run through a recently disced field that was terribly wet and the mud began building up on my shoes, eventually to the point that I had several pounds of mud caked on my feet.  It was like my feet morphed into cinder blocks in seconds!  

Upon reaching the stupid dad-gum four-wheeler, I realized it wouldn't start.  I called Tim and he suggested using the pull cord.  After nearly tearing my rotator cuff it became clear that the pull cord wasn't up for being pulled.  I called Joe and, like a genius, he suggested I get it out of gear.  Turns out, when you take a four-wheeler out of gear, it suddenly becomes very easy to start.  I pulled up to the deer and Doug had gone back to the house to clean up.  That left Tim and me to hoist the deer onto the back rack.  Yeah.  That wasn't happening.  We waited for Doug to come back and the two of them worked together to get it lifted up.  

Ergo, problem #2: the deer was much longer than the rack was wide, so Tim had to hold the head up as I drove, running along side the four-wheeler.  The field was so rough that I had to keep the four-wheeler going fairly fast or it would stop in the deep ruts.  Poor Tim was struggling to keep up with me while holding to really heavy deer head, and I couldn't help but giggle as he continuously got tripped up in the mud, his cover-alls, his boots, etc.  We were at the bottom of a steep hill and I knew we'd never make it. So, I convinced him to sit backwards behind me and hold the deer, but that meant I had to stand and drive at the same time.  I was doing the best I could, but dern it, I got us stuck in the mud.  I got off and told Tim I'd hold the head if he would get us un-stuck.  He was rocking the four-wheeler back and forth and I was holding up as much weight as I could to alleviate the pressure on the back axle and VOILE! it shot out of there like a jack rabbit out of a fox hole.  But remember, I was holding the deer head and we were in mud.  My shoes were long ruined, but I was still hoping to make it out of this whole ordeal alive.  I yelled to Tim not to stop and to keep going as fast as he needed to so we didn't get stuck again, but I just couldn't keep up.  Mud was flinging everywhere, I had blood on my vest, jeans, shoes, hair, everything!  

And then something really unfortunate happened.  The buck's legs got caught in one of the tires and the deer flopped right off the back of the rack and into the mud.  Tim hopped off and the look on his face said I wasn't the only one wondering how on earth we were going to get the deer back up on the rack.  I mentally told myself that my 4 months of CrossFitting had prepared me for this very moment.  I closed my eyes, imagined my coaches were there reminding me to squat deep and explode the hips, engage the core, and take a huge breath right before lifting.  Tim yelled "ONE-TWO-THREE!" and we lifted.  Nothing.  We didn't life anything because that heavy carcass just stayed right there.  I wanted to collapse in the mud and call for a CIA-helicopter extraction.  Tim said that wasn't an option and to put my big girl panties on and get 'er done.  The second try was successful, but I knew I couldn't keep running and holding the stupid deer head that I was sure had doubled in weight in the last 5 seconds.  Tim reached around and held an antler and I carried both sets of legs and he dragged me through the muddy field and we eventually reached his Dad's driveway.

Papa Joe was out there with his camera and the cousins were jumping up and down cheering as they heard the roar of the four-wheeler.  The sight of the house was like a tall glass of cool water in the middle of a scorching desert sun for me.  I have no idea where it was coming from, but I'm sure I heard the Chariots of Fire theme song.  When we reached the shed, I collapsed.  Coughing, gagging, wheezing, I peed a little bit on my pants, and gasped for air praying Jesus wouldn't let me die like this in front of my kids.

Look at him.  He's all like, "Oh yea!  Everyone look at me here with my clean clothes and my happy face!  I feel great because I didn't just get dragged through 14 miles of rough wet soggy terrain or have an asthma attack and ruin my new hair do with deer blood!" 

Eli thought it was pretty awesome.  He wanted to roast the whole thing on a open fire and have a feast right there. Emmanuel petted the deer and ate a piece of grass she pulled out of it's hooves.  Tim led the kids and I in a prayer of thanksgiving for God's provision of the deer.

It turned out to be a great weekend.  Jesus answered my prayer and didn't let me die while the kids watched on in horror.  We took the deer out to my parents' farm and my dad and little brother, Flip, joined in the fun.  My dad showed me how to skin it and we all worked together to cut the meat off.  Saturday my grandparents came over and we set up a processing pack-line and ground up/packaged/froze 50 pounds of venison for the winter!

It brought back a lot of memories of my childhood when my parents, brothers, and myself would work together to process deer every winter.  God is always good to provide us with all that we need and much of what we want!

To all the hunters out there, I hope your weekend was as fruitful as ours, but I hope your venture was not nearly as difficult!  Remember to always praise our God for his goodness!

In Christ,

Gwenny<><

PS- I'll be getting Tim the book "Field Dressing Deer for Dummies" for Christmas and he'll be getting me some good boots.

Our Komen Discussion on Facebook

Today I tweeted, "Super disappointed that #Komen bowed down to it's bully. #PlannedMURDER"

I still stand behind my original statement that I am disappointed that Komen reversed a desicion that was based on company policy because Planned Parenthood and its supporters backlashed. In a world where media, teachers, and parents are constantly fighting bullying and empowering individuals to stand and do what is right, a humongous coporation backpeddled because they were bullied. However, in retrospect, I realize that my hashtag at the end was harsh and did not promote the love that God calls me to always live out.

Don't for a second think that I'm siding with Planned Parenthood. I will never support them, recommend any of their services to any person I know (even the free breast/PAP exams, etc). I will never give a single dime of my money to Komen and have not in the past because I knew they supported Planned Parenthood. While I am fully aware that Komen's money to PP is used only for the exams and screenings, I cannot in good concious allow the money God has blessed me with to be used by an organization who also offer abortions, which according to the PP website is "a safe and legal way to end a pregnancy."

I beg to differ. Abortion might be legal (which makes me ashamed of our current ethical status of our government), but it is NOT safe. How can a procedure that ENDS A LIFE be safe? Really, I don't get it. Most supporters of abortion use the argument that it's a woman's choice, and that the pregnancy is unwanted. Again, I disagree. That baby IS wanted! That beating heart, dreaming mind, blinking eyes, kicking legs are all wanted! Perhaps not by the woman carrying the baby, but by many, many people and by the God of this universe! God says in His Word that He knows us even before we were born and that he intricately knit us together in our mothers' wombs!

I recently joined a group of adoptive moms in my area and it has been such a blessing and an enlightening expereice! These women talk about the relationships they have with their children's birth mothers and what a blessing it is for the children, the adoptive parents, and the birth parents! When women and men choose to let a child LIVE and make the difficult decision to share that child with another family, it blesses everyone involved! I've read many accounts of women who have had an abortion and regretted it for the rest of their lives. It affects them emotionally, physically, and wrecks lives (visit http://www.gargaro.com/regrets.html to read some of these devastating stories). I will never understand or agree that abortion is okay in any circumstance.

Now, to address the comments that ensued once my tweet hit Facebook. One of my friends who is not a Christian posted that PP does save lives by detecting cancer in women. I agree with her that it is a great thing to catch cancer early and properly treat it; I think every person would agree with her on that!

And to my Christian friends, thank you for standing up for the truth that we live by. We all know, down to the core of who we are, that aborting a "fertilized egg" is ending a human life, killing a future crayon eater, cutting off a live that would bring so much joy and love to a family! But let us be careful to share the knowledge of truth in love. Remember that we were once bound for the same eternal destination that those who haven't chosen Christ are! It is only through love, forgiveness, and grace that I have been set free, so it is my responsibility as spelled out in God's Word to share the good news of Christ, His truth, and His love to the world.

I'm not telling you to be quiet about God's word, not at all! BE LOUD about God's truth, but do it in such a way that we don't turn people off! We will never convince someone that choosing Christ is the best life possible if we are pushing them away with rudeness. Please don't think I'm coming down on anyone, I'm not. I need this lesson more than any of you. To be quite honest, I didn't feel a twinge of pain when that abortion doctor was killed a year or so ago. But God did. God loved that man and wanted him to repent of his life of carreer-sin.

I guess this is post is just to thank you all for sharing your diverse perspectives. I appreciate the healthy and thought provoking discussion. But remember, Christ followers, we are held to a higher standard. We cannot expect orange trees to produce apples; those who don't know He who is Truth to live by that truth. Let's keep loving them until they want what we have- and that's the Truth that sets us FREE!!

Thank you, friends! I really do appreciate what each of you contributed to our conversation!

A Lesson from a Daytime Show, er I mean the Old Testament

So along with millions of other Americans, I'm reading through the Bible using a 365 Day Planner (download YouVersion for all you smart phone users, it's a great resource!). I'm still in Genesis and I've read the whole book a zillion times, but tonight God showed me some big stuff that I had not seen before!

Most of you probably know this story, but let's recap really quickly. Abram and Sarai wanted children REALLY badly. They tried for decades, but couldn't have children. Abram had a discussion with God in which God revealed that He would build a great nation of peoples through Abram's offspring. Sarai got impatient and sent her servant Hagar to have sex with Abram and thus we have Ishmael. Abram mistakenly believed God would build the great nation through Ishmael, but God clearly stated that Abram and Sarai would have a child of their own (unrelated note: could you imagine that conversation? "Uh, no, Abram. It was not part of my plan for you to go and sin to fulfill My plan through your wife's scheming ways of adultery..."). God called out to Abram, reminded him that God is God and He is Almighty, and because it was such a significant moment, God changed Abram's name to Abraham and Sarai's name to Sarah. One year later Sarah gave birth to their son Isaac, through whom the great nation would be built. Hagar and Ishmael continued to be a part of the family (twisted and disfunctional as it was...but hey, everyone has their quirks!) until at a great feast celebrating Isaac, Sarah found Ishmael teasing Isaac, so she (Sarah) demanded that Abraham kick them out of the family. With hesitance (because Ishmael was his son), Abraham gave them food and water and sent them away, removing Ishmael from any future inheritance. (Check this story out in full in Genesis 16, 17, & 21)

Now, I can't help but feel sorry for Hagar and especially for Ishmael! She was forced to have sex with her master's husband, carried his child, and then was hated by Sarah because Hagar conceived so easily when Sarah could not. And poor Ishmael, he was born into this soap opera! BUT, here's what God showed me tonight in my study time: Sometimes we are born into less than desirable circumstances, but our decisions can make or break us despite those circumstances!

Take another look. Why did Hagar and Ishmael get excommunicated? Because Ishmael was mistreating his little brother! Not because he was the bastard child of the mistress, but because of something he chose to do!

Now, think about how this applies to us. Some people are born into really unfavorable circumstances. Alcoholism. Poverty. Generations of failed marriage. Drug addiction. Lack of education. Slavery to sin. GOD OFFERS HOPE! He is freedom FROM sin so that we don't have to play the cards that life sometimes deals! We just need to choose Christ with our hearts, confess Him as Lord with our lips, and we are FREE! (See Romans 10:9-10)

Friend, what have you allowed to be your fate? Don't let statistics tell you what you will be! Break free from that mold and be who God wants you to be!

Celebrating,

Gwenny