Deer Down!

When our alarm went off Saturday morning, I reluctantly got out of bed. It was raining, and I wasn't really in the mood to sit out in the cold and the rain. Luckily, Eric told me I could sit in one of our blinds. At least I'd only be cold and not wet. 

As I suited up into my camo, I remember thinking, Do the deer even come out when it's raining? I must have said it out loud because I hear Justin respond that he got his biggest deer in the rain. I still wasn't feeling very optimistic. After all, I'd been hunting quite a bit this season and have only seen one deer while I've been out. Our trail cameras say there's deer out there, but I've been starting to doubt them. 

I got settled into my blind and loaded my gun. After I put the gun in the corner of the blind, I got on my phone to try to help pass the time until I could finally get out of there. Every few minutes I would look up, and at 6:30 I was actually surprised to see two deer dashing from the fence line into the woods to the west of my blind. They were too far away to shoot, even with a gun. But, it was reassuring that the deer were moving. I was pretty alert for the next twenty minutes or so, but slowly drifted back to my phone to help pass time.

Shortly after 7, when I looked up I saw a doe heading straight for my blind. My heart began to quicken and I quickly grabbed my gun, waiting for the deer to look away so I could put it through the window. The doe was in the perfect position- turned away so I would have a clear shot. I pulled the trigger but nothing happened. Then I remembered that I have to pull the hammer down first (I hadn't shot this gun in over a year so I had forgotten about the hammer). 

So I regained my composure and pulled the hammer down. The doe walked closer. It seemed as if she was heading straight for my blind. I was sure that she had seen me, I mean, she was looking right at me. But then she turned to the side again and put her head down to graze. 

Heart racing, I tried to calm my breathing. As I let out my breath, I pulled down on the trigger and watched as she fell to the ground. The excitement I felt was unreal. I just killed my first deer. I immediately texted Eric that I got a doe. Apparently, he had texted Justin and asked if it was him that fired the shot. Ye of little faith! Eric instantly called me, and I could hear the smile beaming on his face. He told me that he thinks he was more excited than I was! 

As I waited for Eric to tell me that they were on the way to come help me with the deer, I couldn't stop shaking. I don't know if you've seen this video, but if you haven't you should watch it! 



I felt exactly like that little girl. I literally couldn't stop shaking (maybe not as much as that little girl, but I was definitely shaking). Even forty minutes later when Eric and Justin arrived to drag my deer out, I was still shaking. That experience was one of the coolest things I've ever done, and I can't wait until I can do it again!

A New Job!

Whew! It's been a while since I've posted on here, but I wanted to wait until Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month was over and then I became overwhelmed with my emerging photography business. (Shameless plug- you can check my stuff out here! If you're interested in booking a session, send me an email or a Facebook message.)

In the midst of all of that, I accepted the Speech-Language Pathologist position in the Palestine School District. I'm officially a Pioneer! It wasn't an easy decision to leave my job at Integrated Therapy Services. I miss my co-workers and my clients something fierce, but in the end, this job change was what was best for our family. 

I'm happy to say that I am loving my new job! My new co-workers have made an excellent effort to help me feel at home and to help me get accustomed to coming into the school system in the middle of the year. My schedule came together relatively quickly, and I have some great kids on my caseload. 

Look at these beautiful flowers! A client from ITS sent them to my new school my first week there. I've enjoyed looking at them every day on my desk. 

And get this guys, I HAVE A WINDOW! Now, if you're not a speech pathologist in the schools, you probably wouldn't understand my excitement. When I worked at Sparta, I was literally in a closet in the middle of the school. A tiny desk, one table with three chairs that barely fit with just enough room to get out the door, and four solid concrete walls. Now I actually have a classroom, complete with two tables, a huge desk, a whiteboard, 7 cabinets, and a glorious window. It's the little things. 

But for now, it's back to editing away on pictures from the past week's sessions. Have a great week!