catching up

Ahh..the long winter break. Such a nice respite from the rigors of academia...or hospitalia (that's not even a word). I don't have to go back to school/work until the 8th and am enjoying the break being home and catching up on tasks around the house, some reading, and a good bit of sleep. Anna and I had a very nice holiday. We were in Murfreesboro with my mom, sister, brother and his girlfriend...turned fiancee on the 24th! (See photos below)


It was a great time to visit with family and eat some truly spectacular food of my grandmothers' - homemade fudge, country ham, biscuits, broccoli casserole, and chess pie (my favorite!). We enjoyed seeing long-time friends at church and catching up with everyone.

A few days before we began celebrating, my brother and I took a trip to Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area in northeast TN. There's 125,000 acres of wilderness, but we only enjoyed a small part of it. We ended up getting rained out the last night there and decided to come back early, but we saw some of the largest natural arches east of the Mississippi River. We also hiked to a hostel in the middle of the woods, visited a cave, observed some rock shelters used by Native Americans and met a guy who hunts deer professionally for some TV shows on ESPN. It was quite a trip and we'd like to go back some time when there's foliage on the trees. (see some sample photos below)

And now time for the really big news..........................We got a dog!

I'd been wanting a dog for some time and had looked at a puppy a few weeks ago. We ended up getting him (the pound/shelter was getting full and they were going to go through and euthanize some animals). Grady is likely a yellow lab/golden retriever mix about three months old. Last night was his first with us and he was a bit homesick for his littermates; he's adjusting to being the only dog in a big backyard, but we expect him to do fine.In case you are wondering, Anna said he's cute and that he's growing on her. Look for photos in future blogs.

In case any of you were wondering (my brother really wanted to know), the photo collages are curteous of Picasa, a Google-based photo-management program. We hope each of you had a peaceful holiday and will continue to pursue the Lord better in the coming year. All for now, Caleb