Wet Boots and Pawprints!

Along with our son and his family plus other vistors, Thanksgiving blessings were coming - more quickly than you could thaw a turkey! Completing all the shopping and last minute errands I knew I still needed to clean the floors before our much anticipated guests arrived. I worked hard to spiff up the kitchen and backroom floors... even completing some final swipes by stepping on damp paper towels and dancing around. There - coats hung, boots and shoes inside the closet, dog and cat food in their proper containers, plants watered but not overflowing, box of sweet potatoes looking tidy under the two-seater, floor looking good. Now I could concentrate on welcoming our loved ones. Thank you, Lord.


We love living in rural eastern North Carolina where you could admire the changing of seasons and enjoy God's beautiful creation from the mighty roar of the ocean and breezes off the Currituck Sound to the calm and quiet when strolling through our grapevines at sunset, harvesting the last sweetness of autumn. And the men in our family enjoyed abundant opportunities to hunt for waterfowl, dove, turkey, and deer in their respective seasons... and fishing, too! These were all part of important family traditions to pass on to the next generations. And I hoped our grandson would one day enjoy the comaraderie of the hunt with proper respect for hunting laws and the providence of food supplied to us.


In the evening during a misty rain they arrived. Our strapping son toting in our sweet. sleepy grandson and our beautiful daughter-in-law holding our precious granddaughter. Luggage and baby supplies, laughter and hugs, tail wagging dogs - their dogs greeting our dogs while our two cats ran up the oak tree! Alas, within minutes the once shiny floor now showed evidence of paw prints, shoe marks, boots, but thanks be to God... it showed LIFE! Hunting supplies being laid out, dogs and cats being fed and bedded down, and boots lined up for the crack of dawn hunt the next morning. I knew that soon they'd be tramping in and out of that back room coming and going with excitement and plans. And the next day all would arrive back at the house in time for a shared Thanksgiving feast. What a blessing!


Thank you, dear Lord. Bring on the wet boots and pawprints. :)