Catch and Release

It's been fish on the brain at our house lately. With MyGirl up at camp, and BigBuddy making sandwiches, LittleBuddy and I had some time to ourselves. He opted for a day at the lake, and had the time of his life - 7 fish and a crawfish in less than two hours. SOOO glad I had my camera to remember one of the best days of his life. And, gratefully, they all got thrown back, as I'm not the one to teach my young'uns how to gut a fish. Yuck!

Spurred on by his great feat, his siblings wanted to spend our Monday holiday, when their dad had the day off, trying their luck. This time only BigBuddy caught a couple, one a beautiful trout. But, he had to go to work in a couple of hours, so there was not enough time to make lunch out of him, and he was sent back to the river.

MyGirl was in there with her brothers, learned to cast, preferred power bait, but later put her own worm on the hook. She had such a good week at camp too as a youth leader. So proud of her!

As I was sitting along the banks of the river under a tree with my camera around my neck I thought about our freedom to enjoy this hot, but beautiful setting, with the sounds of rapids around the bend, a tweeting of birds, and MyGirl calling out to the fish, "Here, fishy, fishy." LOL In those sweet moments, I felt so grateful. My children can pick their professions and their play, how they worship, and what they say. They can vote. They can someday own property and have the opportunity to raise their children with their same values because they live in America. Heroes died for their ability to do these things. Most importantly, they know who their Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are. The Founding Fathers knew how important their God was too. They didn't want us to forget. "In God We Trust." I think we all feel a certain amount of uncertainty about the future, but I am reminded that it couldn't have felt more so than in 1776. We are so blessed!

Last week I had fun with a friend. Hi Sandy! - she said she reads my blog - wow, totally shocked, as I thought my readership was a sum total of 4, so maybe its really 5 :-),and we made cards for the troops. I've still got to take the photos of them and send them in. Once I got started, I ended up making 24 altogether. I'll be posting about that soon. I'm so glad she inspired me!



Loved the blue nail polish putting the worm on her hook. Her daddy was busy with her brother and she couldn't wait. . . Go Girl!

A little trout. He baited and waited and was victorious.



He's loving life . . . seven little fishies, caught all by himself.


And the only marine life we didn't release, though he is still very much alive - a crawfish. He lives on my front porch. He's being fed dead worms, dirt, decaying plant matter, and don't even get near him when my son feeds him. The stench . . . just warning you!