Deer Season...

The boys have been hunting over and over again with Micah this season! They are now too big to all three fit in the blind together, so he has to take turns taking them unless someone is available to sit in a different blind with the one of them. Neither of them like to be the odd man out, so thankfully Pops comes to the rescue when he can!

Several weeks ago, Micah and Pops pulled the boys out of school early and took them out to Illinois Bend for their first hunting outing of the Fall. Then over break, the boys went almost everyday! I love watching them get all geared up, excited smiles and giddy waves as they pull out of the driveway. I always hope they can bring home 'the big one', but even when they don't, they still come home having had the very best time. 

Roen was able to get his first deer this year. He was never able to get sights on a big buck, so he took down a doe. He was right by Micah's side, skinning, gutting and prepping all the way from field to food! Today, he brought a baggie full of deer jerky for snack time at school. I have no doubt, as he is munching on his jerky, he will sit a little straighter, hold his head a little higher, with a secret sense of pride and in his little mind he will remember that that yummy piece of jerky all started with a daddy that made the extra time for him.

Micah shines in so many ways as a dad, but this has got to be one of my favorite. It is not always easy to sit in a blind with loud and impatient boys. It takes patience to teach the boys how to gut a deer, how to talk them through the gagging smell of a gut shot. It is a lot of work finding a place to hang, skin and clean a deer. It takes patience because when you are talking and teaching a child through it, it takes twice as long.

But you know what, these boys will never ever forget the time Micah puts into these hunting trips. They will never forget how to skin a deer. They will never take for granted the work that goes into processing a wild animal and there will never be a better feeling than loading up in the truck,  heading out into a crisp, fall morning with your daddy. 

I know this, because to this day, Micah has his very own set of hunting memories with his daddy, and those are memories he still talks about to this day.

In the end it all comes down to time. The gift of time is the most important gift of all, and Micah gives of it freely, lovingly and often. I may not have had a daddy here on earth, as a child, but watching Micah with the boys gives me a glimpse into exactly what having one should look like.