Fall "Break"

Imagine, if you will, the cartoon violin music you hear setting a peaceful nature scene when a Bugs Bunny cartoon opens. That is the music I hear when I think about the beginning of our Fall Break.

We went camping with some of our friends at Defeated Creek in Carthage, TN and let me just start by saying, this is one of the most beautiful places you will ever visit. Also, before some of you freak out at the thought of me camping, let me put your mind at ease by telling you that we were in Kurt’s brother’s beautiful camper, complete with a fully functioning bathroom and electricity.

We had a great time as a family. We have gotten so busy that it was wonderful to pull away from everything for a few days and just enjoy one another and God’s creation. We hiked for several miles. Jackson loved every second of it. Cameron was quite a trooper considering the steepness of our climb. Kurt practically had to drag him straight up for a ½ mile. Imagine our trip down. Can you believe I only fell once? And Jackson, by the way, gets really silly when those endorphins kick in and boy did they kick in. This is when he gets what I like to call . . . diarrhea of the mouth. (and he also gets really loud!) We were seriously disturbing the peace!!



Afterwards, we rode bikes for miles. They have the most wonderful bike trails at Defeated Creek. At one point on the trail, we traveled over a precious little bridge and around a sharp curve to see the most beautiful gold and orange Sugar Maple sitting on the edge of a very still, blue lake. I am not exaggerating when I tell you it brought tears to my eyes and my heart was so full of amazement at the beauty of God’s creation there are not adequate words to describe it.




The boys swam in the lake and played for about an hour.



At this point I was ready for a nap and this is the point where we put the BREAK in Fall BREAK. Jackson had begged all day to go to the outdoor basketball court and shoot. Meanwhile, the little guys were playing on the playground directly behind us, when Cameron’s friend Dylan came over and very calmly said, “Cameron is crying and he thinks he broke his arm.” I took off in a dead run for the slide and I didn’t even need .5 seconds to see that we had trouble. I, being the calm and rational first responder that I am, immediately screamed frantically for Kurt as I was beginning to feel sick. As Cameron laid helplessly in the dirt and sand, I was unable to help him because he couldn’t be moved. His elbow was dislocated and was already blue and swollen and I was terrified that even touching him would cause him incredible pain. Thankfully, I married a rational man who is calm in emergencies. To make a long story short, we spent the rest of the evening in the ER taking care of Cameron. I won’t even tell you how agonizing it was to hear him scream when they “replaced” the dislocation.

In any event, his is doing better and loving all the attention his is getting for his injury. During the ER visit, I promised him any number of things he has been wanting such as a new Webkinz and all the Mt. Dew he could drink and he is holding me to it.

So. . .that is the story of our Fall “BREAK”. I will never hear that phrase the same way again. And for the record, we truly did have a wonderful time up to that point.

Bev

Death in Them Thar Hills

I love a good mystery, and Kurt would probably tell you that I always get it right because at some point in the process I guess every person in the story. When we used to watch Law and Order I would have at least 15 theories on who did it and why. Kurt would usually say (with love in his heart, of course) “would you just shut up and watch the show.”

Well, this weekend, we got to put our sleuthing skills and our really bad acting skills to good use. Our Sunday School class had a murder mystery party. It was set in the Wild West and was titled “Death in them Thar Hills.” The picture is of all of our friends who played a role and were murder suspects. None of us knew who was guilty so we all got to investigate the murder as well. I should be honest. At one point, I was truly beginning to think I may have been the killer. And. . . I would love to tell you who was, but we are going to be doing this for another group at church and we have been sworn to secrecy.

So I will leave you with these questions. Who would have wanted to kill Dusty Jones and why? How did they kill him? Did I kill him? (now would be a good time to imagine some diabolical music in the background) What a great time! If you are looking for something fun to do with a group I highly recommend a visit to www.mysteries-on-the-net.com.

Hope this finds you doing well!
Bev