The Day I Faced My Dread

Never underestimate the power a picture of a family simply living life together can have on another.

Because that’s where it all started for me.

You know, most all of us influence somebody by the things that we do, and the way we live, and the things we say. We influence somebody. Somebody is watching your life. — W.M. Branham

These pictures of another family made me think.  Go ahead & click, I’ll still be here.

“You don’t have to be a person of influence to be influential. In fact, the most influential people in my life are probably not even aware of the things they’ve taught me.” ― Scott Adams

Because of these pictures, my cardinal rule of NEVER be involved and make myself SCARCE when there’s an animal to be butchered went by the wayside yesterday.

Yesterday, for the first time in (cough, cough) years, I donned my apron, placed a knife in my hand and began cutting.

This abhorrence of butchering all began many moons ago when Russell & I were first married.

It all started when I had to cut up a young deer all by myself – all 40 pounds of it!   Can you imagine? Such a LARGE animal for me to have to do.  Sigh.  Life can be hard sometimes.

After that my dislike grew when we had elk to butcher and my two oldest were just little tykes. Neither Russell or I knew what we were doing much and it would take us countless hours to finish one.

So I decided it was time (TIME!, I tell you) to hang up the apron.

And there my little apron hung for years, even when Russell picked up the knife and joined the boys as they butchered their deer and elk.

But yesterday everything changed.

Some friends of ours from church introduced us a year ago to Butcher Bob.

Butcher Bob is the kind of neighbor everyone would like to have.  Helpful and kind is what he is. He has a setup next to his house for butchering animals. He even has a walk in refrigerator where we were able to hang our elk for a week before we cut them up.

We had 2 to cup up.  Yeah, I really picked a great year to get back in the business.

But you know what I found out by the end of the day? Yes, I was tired, but I found out that butchering an elk isn’t as bad as I thought it was because my kids are big enough to help now and we were working together.

Wesley, 2nd in Command

Justus, Chief Hamburger Man

So why did these pictures affect me so?

Because they were doing it as a family and I am all about doing things together as a family. It’s been a part of our family’s values since before the children were born but my vision had become blurry when it came to butchering.

Teamwork is the ability to work as a group toward a common vision, even if that vision becomes extremely blurry.  ~Author Unknown

Serenity, Head of Packaging

Audrey,Our little “willing to help anywhere” girl.

I appreciate seeing the Strites work together not just in butchering their elk but in everything else they do.  I love it and am inspired by it.

So I made sure we ate together.   I do like me some food.

Two elk cleaned, wrapped and cut in a little over 7 hours all due to teamwork.

Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success. –Henry Ford

 Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.  ~Author Unknown

 Thank you to each one who has been an inspiration to me.  All of you have been in one way or another.

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.–Albert Schweitzer

Filed under: Family Life Updates • Hunting Season

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