Adventures on the Mountain

There are so many things on the mountain that are new to us all.  Freeman, our small white fluffy dog, loves to bark at and chase all the novel critters.  He has escaped three times to romp through the woods.  The last time, he pulled the retractable leash from my hand and raced off in pursuit of a deer.  He was remarkably fast considering he was pulling that leash behind him!  It took me hours of searching every square inch of the woods surrounding us to find him.  He had wrapped the leash around trees and brush.  He was just sitting there waiting for us to find him. 

Two nights later, Freeman dove under a bush on our night walk - just to get sprayed by a skunk.  I was, of course, right behind him to get caught in the stink cloud.  If you have never experienced eau de skunk up close and personal, I advise you to avoid it at all costs.  The distant not-so-great smell you sometimes pass on the highway only begins to hint at the true nature of the skunk defense mechanism.  I was able to get the smell off of me by a scalding shower and scrub, but Freeman was a different story.  Four baths in baking soda, peroxide and dish soap, two baths in tomato juice and two in normal dog shampoo subdued the scent.  It has only just completely gone away - 1.5 weeks later!

Thanks to great friends, we are slowly getting our house settled.  It feels like home.  Of course, there are issues with houses that have sat unoccupied for nearly a year.  There are critters in our walls (not sure what to do about that - but must do something if we hope to sleep all night while we are here), the dishwasher died, and the yard still needs a lot of work.  All that notwithstanding, it is a great house that will be a wonderful place to live. 

My classmates are trickling onto the mountain, and it is great fun to help them move in and get to know them one at a time.  Thanks be to God, there are lots of children!  The girls have found friends quickly and are frequently gone riding bikes, playing in the creek, going to the playground, or generally hanging out on campus.  The sounds of gaggles of giggling girls can be heard in the house - and that makes me happy. 

There is no doubt that God brought us to Sewanee, and is weaving us into this community of faith and support.  I have no way to  know what the next three years will bring, but I do know that this community will be our family for the next three years and beyond.