Smoky Mountain Photos

 

Tasty Gator snack - poor turtle

One of my favorite places

Knee surgery yet again

I've survived yet another knee surgery - this one to remove a lot of thick scar tissue after last year's knee replacement. Not bad, very little pain at all! I don't have to do PT if I choose not to but I will do so as I still have pain from the nerve that was cut last year.

#hailstate

The Moorhead era started off with a bang as MSU beat Stephen F Austin, 63-6 Go Dawgs!!

Refuge camera

The Friends of Noxubee Refuge have a live camera set-up in the Rookery area. It doesn't stream 24/7 but if you subscribe, you'll get notified when it is live. It'll be interesting to watch the nesting birds in a couple months! Here is a short video of ducks feeding - they were right under the camera, thus the closeness of the images.

3 slideshows of my pictures

https://youtu.be/z4i8WHWN9kc - Noxubee Refuge

https://youtu.be/fIhJUguIW_k - #HailState

https://youtu.be/rByiJJ-nX7o - Huntsville Space and Rocket Center

The peaceful sounds of the Noxubee Refuge

https://youtu.be/me_tUmWcT1c

Gator Reflection at the Noxubee Refuge

Sunset at the Noxubee Refuge

Peace

Doesn't this just look so peaceful?? Wish I could have enjoyed it longer but alas, all sunsets last just a fraction of time.

Cruisin'

On Halloween, I'll be boarding a Carnival cruise ship to Mexico. It will be loaded with several friends and should be a lot of fun!

Need some cruise help?

Football is in the air

MSU held their spring game a couple of weeks ago and it was quite nice to be back in the stadium, watching some football...even if it wasn't a true game. I like our chances to repeat and one-up last season, especially since Dak Prescott decided not to enter the draft and come back for his senior year!

Pictures

I love photography and will shoot just about anything. This picture is from last night's walk to campus, using the camera on my iPhone - I cleaned it up a bit in snap seed an app on my iPad. I love this app as it's mobile and easy to use and has just enough features to work on pictures.

How 'bout them Dawgs???!!!

History has been made! MS State University BullDawgs are #1 in the nation!!! We are one of just 5 teams ever to defeat 3 top 10 back to back to back and the first to do so in 40 years! GO DAWGS!!! #HAILSTATE

Gator in heat

Caught a gator doing his mating ritual dance. Here's a pic of it before it started the dance.

Here's the video:
Gator

Max Lucado - Grace

When I was a kid, I learned an easy way to remember what Grace is - God's riches at Christ's expense. Very simplistic but it gets the point across somewhat. Lucado starts off talking about the grace we are familiar with in everyday life: a grace period, a fall from grace, someone who is gracious or graceful....on the list goes. He says we've settled for a wimpy grace but his book delves into the deeper question, have you been changed/strengthened/shaped by grace? One verse Lucado quotes early on is from Paul, where Paul says 'It is no longer I who lives, but Christ lives in me (Gal. 2:20)'. As Lucado states, when grace happens, Christ moves in and takes control. There is nothing we can do to be acceptable for Christ, Christ must move in and change us, fill us with grace.
What is the first bible verse to pop in your head about grace? For me, it is Eph 2:8-9 (ESV) For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. Were it not for the grace of God, no one could be saved, there are no deeds that we can do to get saved, only accept the gift of grace from God and believe fully in Him. However, we don't just receive His gift of grace but we also give the gift of grace to others. The story in the bible of the servant who owed his master a lot of money but was shown mercy and told he didn't have to pay the debt. What happened? Did he pass on his good fortune to others? No, he had one who owed him little thrown in prison until he could pay it. The master called him in and reprimanded him and had him thrown into prison until the debt could be paid. As Lucado says halfway thru his book, 'To accept grace is to accept the vow to give it'. That servant accepted grace but didn't accept the vow to pass it on.
God says, 'My grace is all sufficient for you'. Will you trust that it is? Will you accept His gift, let it change you, and pass it on to others?

I received this book as part of the BookSneeze blogger program.

Argh!!

My Dawgs are ending the regular season at 8-4 but at least we'll go to a bowl. I really thought they were the worst team in the country at last night's egg bowl vs Ole Miss. Neither side of the ball played well at all - defense was like hot butter and don't even get me started on the offense. We've controlled this state for 3 years straight but the Dawgs just didn't really seem to care for another year of dominance.

BullDawg football

Who can believe that the MSU Dawgs are 5-0?! First time since 1999! It will be a good (but late) game this week-end against the Tn Vols, who have only lost 1 game. I think this will be the first true test of my Dawgs and I hope we are able to pull it off and continue the winning streak!

Abducted by Janice Cantore

Published by Tyndale Fiction. This is book 2 of the Pacific Coast Justice Series.
Officer Carly Edwards is a new Christian and is plunged into the mystery of who kidnapped her partner, Joe's, infant son and why. Thrown into the mix of this issue is her ex-husband and police Sgt. Nick (also a new Christian) who had said he wanted to reconcile but then shows signs of pulling away. Her room-mate Andi was on duty during the kidnapping and is being suspended and she herself has pulled away from Carly, hating everything about her being a Christian. Will all work out? Will her trust in God help her survive everything and find the infant? Does she and Nick have a chance? Will Andi remain her friend?
This was a good book to read and kept my interest throughout. I plan to read the other books by Cantore. It would be a good book for someone who is not a Christian as it's suspenseful and not a 'preachy' book but does give enough good info to lead someone to ask questions. At the end of the book are discussion questions that lead you to think thru some of the issues presented in the book. For example: Think of a time you've felt distanced from someone you cared for. How did you respond to the situation? When is it right to let a relationship dwindle, and when is it appropriate to fight to maintain it? This topic is sprinkled throughout this book as Carly works thru her relationship with Nick and Andi and whether she should just give up on them or trust that God has a plan for her. I will say that she chose to trust God to work things out in His way and not how she wanted them to be.
Tyndale House Publishers gave me this book in exchange for my review, positive or not.