This picture was taken yesterday, just as we were getting ready to leave for church. I am now four months pregnant, which is hard to believe. Just five more to go! Last week was an extremely busy week at work. Between getting ready for progress reports and my parent meeting on Thursday, I stayed late every day. I did not exercise at all until Saturday, which was not bright on my part. My lower back hurt pretty bad, and I had headaches during the week. After my class on Saturday, though, I felt renewed. No more back pain, no more headaches, no more stress.
The three-day weekend could not have come at a more opportune time. I worked especially hard all week, and so did Wes. He had to pull overtime on Monday and did not get home until 9:30 that night. He also had some travelling to do with different site developments he's been working on, plus all of the normal church stuff.
We did not go anywhere on Friday night, and it rained most of the day on Saturday. When the rain finally did let up, we drove to Lowe's to get some landscaping materials for our yard. The rain had cooled things off dramatically, so we decided to work on our yard some when we got home. Sunday was church as usual in the morning, and then we had the evening off because of it being Labor Day weekend. We decided to do some more landscaping around the front of the house and then relaxed for the rest of the evening.
Today was an adventure. We went kayaking at the river for the majority of the day. It was an eight mile journey, and one that we'd done before. We left mid-morning, dropped off the truck at Steel Bridge so that we'd have a way to get home at the end of the trip, and then headed back to the Sherrod landing (in my car) at the Ogeechee River. It was a beautiful day - clear blue skies, only a 10% chance of rain, and a cool breeze the majority of the time. The river was a little higher today, thanks to all the rain we've been having lately, so it was also a little easier to navigate. We stopped at the same sandbar we stopped at last month for lunch and rested for about thirty minutes. With only the minnows to keep us company, we basked in the sun and enjoyed the serenity of the day.
About an hour later, though, we had a scary encounter. We were kayaking through a narrow part of the river, and there was a willow tree that had fallen in the water. The current had picked up, so I stayed a good 20 feet or so behind Wes so we wouldn't bump into each other. As we neared the tree, I heard a big splash. I asked Wes what that was, and he said it was probably just a turtle (we'd seen several already). Then all the sudden, a few exclamations escaped from Wes's mouth and he told me to turn around and paddle the other way. I asked him what was wrong, but he just kept telling me to paddle. I turned around as quickly as I could, asking him as I was going if he'd seen an alligator. He wouldn't answer though, just kept directing me the other way.
Finally, when we'd come to the eddy, he told me he'd seen a ten-foot alligator. Little did he know, there had been a sandbar on the other side of that tree, and an alligator had been basking in the sun until we arrived. When she heard us, she got scared, jumped in the water, and swam downstream. I was so terrified that I was shaking, trying to get my breathing back to normal. I asked Wes if he wanted to walk along the bank for a little while. He told me it wouldn't be fun, but I said it would be more fun than getting eaten alive by an alligator! He agreed, so that's what we did. Wes actually dragged both of our kayaks, wanting me to only carry the paddles and lifejackets. Reluctantly, we did get back in the river. We'd come too far to turn around. It is an eight-mile journey downstream, which normally takes us about three hours, and we'd already been travelling for two.
The rest of the trip went without incident, but we were both very glad to see the truck at Steel Bridge! We've been kayaking for a while now, and that is the first time we've had that type of encounter. Out of all the times Wes has been to the river, that is only the second time he's seen an alligator - and he's the one who grew up around here. We had a great time despite that incident, but that will definitely be the last time we do that while I'm pregnant. After the baby gets here, I doubt we'll do it then either.
The interesting thing is, I was praying this morning on the way to the river. I just see prayer as talking to God, and that is something that can happen anywhere, even in the car. So I've been praying in the mornings on the way to work or on the way to my exercise class or on the way to church. Anyway, I was praying this morning about our kayaking excursion, and I prayed specifically for protection from snakes and alligators. I don't know why. I'd never really thought that much about it before. I just sensed a need to do it, I guess. Now I'm so glad I did!
I'm also glad that we had such a relaxing weekend, because we are going to be wide open for the rest of the month of September. We have something to do every single weekend for the rest of the month. Signing off for now...
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