Easter Overload Part 2

Thanks to everyone who prayed for the Williams family yesterday! The service was truly wonderful and uplifting! The funeral took place on one of the three state parks that Steve was the director of and it was a packed house if I've ever seen one... There wasn't an empty seat in the lodge and they opened all the windows and set up chairs and speakers outside and there were STILL people left standing everywhere they could find an empty space. What a testament to this wonderful man's life! The weather could not have been more perfect - sunny with a breeze! The family had asked different people that Steve had been close with to speak and what started as a sad, quiet occasion quickly escalated to a happy, joyful celebration! Story after story was told that left everyone in the room laughing hysterically. It was truly a wonderful day...

Please continue to pray for his family as they adjust to their new normal... They have a lot of big decisions to make and things to get lined out, pray that the Lord shows them exactly what to do and that the process is as painless as possible. Continue to pray for their strength and comfort. Thank you for helping make a difference in this difficult time.

Now, back to Easter weekend!

Friday the minute we got off work we hit the road to my beautiful home town! We rolled in just in time to watch The Passion of Christ with my parent's church. The movie depicts the story of Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and being resurrected... It is terribly difficult to watch as they beat, bloody, and break the body of my Savior, but that is exactly what the Easter holiday is about - God sacrificing his son for each one of us. Brandon and I agreed that watching this movie would become an Easter tradition for our family.


We ended up spending the night at the Ranch on Friday so that dad and Brandon could do some turkey hunting earrrrrly Saturday morning. They didn't see a thing but they still had fun!

These are just a few random pictures from around the Ranch - above is my MASSIVE yellow lab, Duncan. He typically weighs between 100-120 pounds and he is the sweetest, most cuddly big ol' teddy bear you've ever seen. (I'll tell you about this weekend's Marley moment in a second.) Also, are you seeing how insanely green everything was?! That picture hasn't been edited a single bit... Spring has sprung in Eastern Oklahoma and it's b-e-a-u-tiful!

This is the tree Brandon carved our initials into after proposing LAST Easter! (I will eventually get to the proposal in Meeting My Match, promise.) It's finally starting to brown and we liked the new color changes. This tree means so very much to me! I was so thankful to get to spend Easter at the Ranch with my family. I haven't been able to go home since Christmas and it felt like forever!

This would be Duncan in time out... Sweet Duncan loves when we go fishing, the problem is that nobody loves taking Duncan fishing because, well, you can't catch a single fish when he's around. However, I made the mistake of talking Brandon into taking him.

See the problem is that when you cast your plug out into the pond, Duncan thinks you are playing fetch so he runs full speed, throws his massive body in the water (usually this is not done gracefully... think tsunami like waves and splashing everywhere), and chases after your plug until you reel it entirely back in and he's back on the bank shaking water all over you and waiting for your next cast. My father insists that if we let him catch the plug (with a hook in it) one time, we wouldn't have this problem anymore but none of us have the heart to teach him this lesson the hard way. He's just too stinkin' cute, even when you are mad at him.


So Brandon is dying to go fishing, he's been talking about it non-stop for weeks and I insist we take Duncan. The agreement was that Duncan could go but I was in charge of keeping him out of the water. I let the tail bed down and grab his collar while he jumps out. I tell him to sit and stay, which he does even though his eyes are darting all over the pond and his giant tell is wagging excessively... He wants to go sooooo bad, but he minds me. Brandon is putting the lure on his pole and I ask him if he'll go ahead and put mine on as well and that's when we make Mistake #1 - Brandon says "Okay" which happens to be the word we use when Duncan no longer has to stay. He bolts into the pond, Brandon just glares at me, I start using my best "scary dog owner voice" and insisting that Duncan get out of the water immediately, which goes over... not at all. Finally I resort to waving a stick and throwing it away from the pond. He bounds out of the water after the stick. Success!


I entertain Duncan with fetch while Brandon does a little fishing. He hollers up to me that he caught one on the second cast! I tell him good work, just make sure not to... Mistake #2 - Brandon throws the fish back in the water, to Duncan this is like the ultimate fetch! He bolts back into the water, splashing everywhere as he rapidly runs back and forth in the shallow part of the water trying to find the fish. Brandon. Is. Furious. I'm pretty sure actual steam was coming out of his ears. I do what every sane person would do, I start screaming at the dog (because clearly that worked so well five minutes earlier). "DUNCAN!! GET! IN! THE! TRUCK!" over and over and over. I think Duncan sensed B's anger as well because miraculously he ran towards the truck and I'm chasing him and then we commit Mistake #3. When we finished putting the lures on the fishing poles, we left the back door of my dad's truck open so we'd have easy access to the tackle box. Stupid. Duncan is running full speed, I'm chasing him and screaming like a wild banshee, Brandon's head is about to blow and I see Duncan's eyes dart towards the open truck door as he runs by and you know where this is going. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO (think slow motion)!"


All hundred and some odd pounds Duncan, soaking wet from head to tail, sees the window (in this case door) of opportunity and he takes it! He jumps straight into the back seat and he's just running back and forth across it when I get there, still screaming. When I reach in to grab him, he of course jumps into the front passenger seat and proceeds to sit, like he owns the place. I run around to the other side, so of course he just climbs right over to the drivers seat... the passenger's seat literally has standing water. FINALLY, he realizes this is getting him in more trouble by the second and so he ducks his tail and climbs out of dad's seat. He is promptly taken to time out in the back of the truck and isn't released for quite some time... So he pouted profusely.

I attempted to take him back up to the ranch house but the drivers seat was so wet that I couldn't sit in it... Luckily dad pulled up just in time and Duncan was transported to time out in the back of Zac's truck. We went on to breakfast, leaving dad's truck by the pond with every door open, hoping it would dry.


I'll be back with more Easter fun tomorrow! Thanks again for praying for our friends!

Be Blessed!
Raegan