We left the snow of Colorado to head down south to Nick’s uncle’s ranch the weekend before Christmas. We left on that Thursday night, so the girls would sleep through most of the drive. After 18 hours and some energy drinks we finally made it. The first morning we were there, I was able to get a shot at a beautiful 8 point. He ran like I missed him. Nick’s cousin was in the stand with me, and he and I searched for what seemed like an eternity. There was only a drop of blood where I shot him, a smear on a cactus, and a little more on a bush. My biggest fear hunting is wounding an animal and not getting a clean shot. Today was not that day. Somehow I found a single drop on the dirt road we came in on, looked up, saw something white in a dense thorn bush, and there he was!
The next morning Nick was able to harvest an absolutely beautiful buck. Addie heard a truck pull up and ran out of the camper yelling, “dada got deer, dada got deer!” She grabbed its antlers, started smiling, and told us to take her picture. I have never seen her more proud! We had the best time, and were blessed with the opportunity to both shoot great bucks.
This year God has been very faithful to us. Not only for our amazing hunting season, and giving us another years worth of food for our table. He has been faithful throughout everything our entire year. When I became pregnant with Audrey, my doctors were not supportive of me carrying another child. They told me I would die if I saw another pregnancy through. After a long search, I found a supportive doctor in Atlanta to see me every step of the way. It seemed like it was one thing after another with constant scans and scares between my health and Audrey’s. A month before Audrey was due my doctors thought I might be headed down the path of my previous pregnancy with Adeline, so they scheduled my induction. Both of our moms immediately packed up and flew to Georgia. That night we went to the hospital and started the induction. 4 hours and 44 minutes later, a perfectly beautiful and healthy little girl was born. I couldn’t believe I not only survived and was able to be a mother to Adeline, but now two beautiful little girls.
After her birth we sold our home, started building a new one, moved to Texas until Nick was finished with his duty in Georgia, Nick was promoted to captain, Audrey was baptized, then we moved to Colorado!
Shortly after moving into our new home, Nick was in a dirtbike accident that I did not think we would recover from. I thought it was maybe just a bad concussion until we started our drive down the mountain to get help. He went unconscious with blood coming from his mouth. He was in and out as I tried to find my way down the mountain. That was the scariest moment of my life, and that day still haunts me. But God answered every single one of my prayers. Nick pulled through, and we had an amazing support system of family and new friends that were there for every step. He was awake and answering questions once I got the hospital. He made a full recovery and I got my Nick back!
As soon as he was given the okay to drive and travel again, we were back to it. Vacations, fishing trips, going home, and hunting trips. We were given the opportunity to do so many things this year. We haven’t spent two whole weeks without going anywhere since we moved to Colorado (probably why we still have moving boxes unopened). It has been a whirlwind of a year, and an absolutely difficult but beautiful year. God answered all of my prayers throughout it. I have everything right here I could ever want, and I couldn’t be more thankful to go into the new year with my healthy and thriving family.
May God bless you, and may He give you a wonderful new year!
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