Eventful Fall

I am falling a bit behind on making regular posts.  Between my job and all of the kids activities, it's been a challenge to find time to sit down and write.  Oh, and there's a toddler that must be monitored at all times so that he doesn't destroy something or hurt himself!

To make up for my infrequent updates, I am going to give a giant brain dump all at once.  Brace yourself!

The weather this fall has been even more of a roller coaster than usual, which made for an interesting Halloween.  It has seriously gone from highs in the 30s to highs in the 70s at least 3 or 4 times since the beginning of October.  So, the Friday before Halloween, we went trunk or treating with short sleeves.  Then, 4 days later on Halloween, we were trying to put layers on the kids under their costumers so they wouldn't freeze.  The kids decided to do a shared theme this year.  Can you guess what it is?

Fletcher is part of the theme too, it's just hard to tell, because he wouldn't hold still for the photos.  He is a rebel pilot, if you couldn't tell :)

Between Halloween and Thanksgiving, we spent a lot of time just running between all of the kids' activities.  Barrett has hockey, Audrey has dance, both have piano, Barrett is starting basketball, Audrey's in the Christmas program at church and they're both starting up Lego League.  I don't know what we'll do once Fletcher has activities to go to as well.  I have to admit though, he is definitely dragged along to a lot of his sibling's activities, so I fully anticipate him to want to do all of them too!

In the midst of all of this, we had a couple of furry visitors for a few days.  My parent's dog Bailey and their new puppy Jimbo came to stay with us.  Barrett just loves that Jimbo will chase him around, so they found great joy in running around the back yard.  That prompted Jimbo to choose Barrett has his favorite human, which then prompted Jimbo to insist on sleeping with Barrett.  Don't worry, my parents were able to tear the two apart so Jimbo could still go home with them after their trip.

For Thanksgiving, we hosted at our house this year for the first time EVER!  Billy did a great job roasting the turkey, and we had lots of other yummy dishes that our family contributed.  It was also wonderful to be able to lounge around my own house after I had forced myself into a food coma.

After spending time at home, we made the trek to Greenville over Thanksgiving weekend.  The unusually warm temperatures meant the kids had a lot of opportunity to play outside.  It was a wonderful way for them to burn off all of the sugar they'd been consuming over the previous days.

They also got to see their cousin Macie for the first time in almost 2 months!  It is so fun to see how much she has grown up over that time.  I think she's still a little unsure about her cousin's though.

Oh, and I can't forget to add a story about Fletcher eating. As usual, Fletcher was making us laugh with is eating habits.  "Pia" as he calls it is his favorite food, so he was ecstatic when we took a break from turkey this weekend.  But, as usual, he insisted on not having his food cut up.  

As stressful as the busy-ness can be, it's also a lot of fun.  I can't imagine it any other way!

Gratitude for Generosity

The current sermon series at our church is focused on generosity, and this past week, they've been sending out daily devotional emails on the subject.  All week I've been reading them, pondering how I am using the resources God has given me, and praying that God would guide me in the ways he wants me to share those resources.  As the week neared its end, the focus of our nation turned to the many veterans who have served our country over the past 2 centuries.  This caused a shift in my focus too.  I began to ponder the generosity of those individuals who have been part of our country's armed forces.

I have several friends who are or have been part of the military.  I have seen them, for lack of a better description, put their lives on hold when they went overseas on a tour of duty.  They literally packed up their lives and put them in storage sheds until they returned a year or more later.  They put relationships on hold in many ways, postponing weddings, having family Christmas in November, and more; in some cases, relationships ended. They've moved their families all over the world. They've seen things that sometimes wake them up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.  I've heard the stories of the food they had to eat, the beds they slept on, and the outdoor showers they used to try to bathe.

It is difficult for me to imagine the hardships these people have endured, because I was never willing to give that much of myself to serve our country.  The service of these veterans is a true example of the generosity God calls us all to have.  I can't even find the words to express my gratitude.  So, while my words may be simple, please know that they are coming from a place of sincere love and gratitude.

To all of those veterans that have generously sacrificed to serve our country, I thank you.