Hunting, a birthday and a post-placement

Well, I can't say that hunting has been something I have given much thought to....until the boys got to be a bit older. No one in my family ever hunted so I didn't know much about it. No one hunted in Tom's family either...unless you count killing those pesty groudhogs that invaded the crops every year...they were fair game. I took the boys to a hunter education course several years ago down at Anglers Paradise. I made sure to remind the boys that their mom scored higher on the exam than both of them! As interested as they were in hunting, we just never made connections for them to actually go. Our church started a new outreach this year focusing on several outdoor adventures. We allowed all three of them to go. The first meeting was target shooting. I knew they were in safe hands with this bunch of guys. They paired up the boys with a seasoned hunter for the youth day only deer days. I was out of town visiting friends in Charlotte when I got the first call from Tyler. He was 90 yards out and shot his first buck...a seven point. He was pretty psyched. Me? Well, I was just wondering how I was going to cook venicen. TJ was excited for his brother, but disappointed that he didn't get one. Dane took a shot at one, but missed. I was surprised that TJ decided to miss the Ohio State/Michigan game in order to take one more try at getting his first deer. Well, he got an eight point! He was excited, too! Me? I'm checking out recipes on the internet. Anyone wanting to come to dinner in the next year....BEWARE!!!

On another note, Tyler turned 14 today! Fourteen years ago I found myself overdue and rather uncomfortable. I settled in for what I thought was going to be another weekend of waiting. That Friday night I was enjoying a peanut butter and jelly sandwich (with a glass of milk) when I felt something start to happen. I told Tom that I thought it was time. I called the doctor and he recommended that I wait until morning. Tom decided he would just go on to bed. Within the hour I got Tom out of bed and was at the hospital. I went through six hours of labor and an emergency c-section at 6:00 a.m. to welcome....Tyler Dean Alexander! Happy Birthday, Ty!

And finally, we had our six-month post-placement with our Social Worker today. I can hardly believe that it has been six months since we got our hands on Sarah! It seems like we've had her much longer than that. She is truly a joy. She has come a long way since we first came home. I remember the first few weeks she would often look down and fiddle with her fingers as if she was so shy. Well, shy she isn't!

Photos: The one of Tyler is this years (8th grade) photo from school. I've included a picture of the boys with their catches from deer hunting on Saturday.