Merry Christmas!

May the Lord bless each of you this Christmas season and always!

A Deer and a Dear

Firsts are always fun, exciting, and rather breath-taking at times, and it was no different for Ray, Jr. on Friday, Dec. 5th. It was quite a full day, starting at 3:45 that morning. With much anticipation, Ray, Sr., Ray, Jr., and Sara left at 4:30 to arrive an hour later at their designated hunting spot. As with all of their trips, there had been a lot of preparation as well as hunter's talk of all the big game they could get if only something would just walk out into their crosshairs....even if it would just make itself known. That particular morning was a little different, though. About 9:30, Ray, Jr. called home sounding quite breathless and radiant with the exciting news......HE HAD SHOT HIS FIRST BUCK!!!!

After having finally realized the dream of getting a deer, they then had to come back to planet Earth and figure out what they were going to do with it to get it home. As everyone knows, when you don't carry an umbrella it rains, so when you drive the car instead of the truck you get a deer....maybe. : ) So Ray's friendly 4-pointer, strapped to the trunk of the car, waved to all the people traveling through Charlotte on I-85.

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As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day..... That night was the Christmas party for the College and Career Sunday School class. For several weeks, Christina, Keisha, Ray, Jr., Valerie, and Sara had been preparing for the gift exchange which is comprised of gag gifts and a Chinese auction. Well, once again Ray, Jr. came up with a novel idea. He was going to propose......for someone else!!! And how exactly is this done? To begin, you get a large solid Hershey's kiss and put a pretty ribbon around it with a bead ring (complete with the phrase "With this ring...") tied in the bow on top. You then slip a note in it...

Will you marry me?

Please?!!?!

Nathan

To finish it off, you place it in a nice pink gift bag with the words "This Gift Is Not A Lemon" printed all over it. Oh! to see the faces of the unsuspecting!

Warning: Watch at your own risk! This video is not professional and is taken amidst laughter with no tripod.