Who'd Have Thought?

     Emma has been telling her dad that she needs a puppy for quite some time now, and as you may know, Tim's response has consistently been, "You can get a dog when I'm dead."  In fact, in an attempt to declare our new home a pet-free zone we even re-homed our beloved cat, Lucy, before we moved.  Recently I had a discussion with Emma during which I explained to her that daddy and Heavenly Father know what's best for our family, and that a pet dog just isn't for us. I told her that she needed to respect her father and stop bugging him.  And so she did.

   Then a few weeks ago I stumbled upon a misplaced ad on Craigslist.  Imagine my surprise when I saw Baxter's picture and received a prompting.  I called Tim immediately, and told him that I couldn't believe that I was doing this, but that I really felt that we were supposed to have this dog. He was just as shocked as I was, but after seeing his picture he told me to go ahead and call.  As it turns out, Baxter's owner, Casey Evertsen, was a member of the other Branson LDS Ward, and now they were moving to Utah and had to give up their beloved pet.  Tim had met Casey's father this spring and had hoped to get to know him better, but he passed away recently in a tragic helicopter accident. When Tim learned who Baxter's family was, he quickly told me to "go get the dog."

   Emma and I picked him up the next day, and had a nice visit with the Evertsens. We all were very grateful for the prompting that brought our families together. We could not have anticipated the immediate love we felt for Baxter or how he completes our family.

Halloween Fun!

This was the first year Emma chose her own Halloween costume. Even though she has never watched a Disney princess movie, she knows them all by name...LOL, I guess it's a girl thing!  We had fun at our ward Trunk or Treat activity, and afterwards she enjoyed lots of attention from the Wal-Mart employees when we stopped by on our way home.  Her favorite part of the day was, of course, lots of treats and candy!

Can You Believe It?

This is what we pay for gas here in Marshfield.
Ya' gotta love it!

Our New Home

Tim took these pics before we closed on our new house. We live on a private gravel road, which is off of a county gravel road. And yes, we have cut the grass since this was taken! The view out of our EIK and from our covered deck is breathtaking. Our property extends back to the tree and shrub line. We have plenty of room for a big garden back there! Actually, these pictures show about half of our property. FYI, the unfinished house next door is also for sale.

What is up with my camera?!#@?

Ok, I have NO clue why my camera is stamping all of my pictures with the wrong date, but it is REALLY bugging me! Hopefully I can remedy the situation without too much effort and frustration.

Our Neighborhood

This past weekend was filled with good, clean fun and fellowship out here in the country! Saturday we attended a huge annual chili supper of about 150 of our closest neighbors at Doug and Celina's "Dry Branch Ranch." This down-to-earth gathering was filled with people of all ages enjoying a beautiful fall evening. There was a 30 foot table of food covered by a long canopy with a string of light bulbs inside, an enormous pot of chili cooking over a wood fire, and a massive bonfire encircled by hay bales to warm us in the brisk night air. Near the end of the evening, most of the guests piled onto four flatbed trailers for a hayride under the stars. It was breathtaking to see the Milky Way in the night sky, and I even saw a rare shooting star! Our caravan ride ended as fireworks welcomed us down the driveway. Sunday afternoon we headed down the road to Barb and Denny Whittaker's place for a more intimate gathering of our immediate neighbors on Fellowship Road. We enjoyed BBQ fare, roasting marshmallows around the campfire, and getting to know our wonderful new friends. We even met Emma's new babysitter, a lovely HS freshman named Jessie, who lives just around the corner from our house. She thought Emma was the cutest thing and volunteered for the job! Emma enjoyed following 9-year old Olivia around, and we all enjoyed buggy rides with Paul and Topsy.