I love pictures like these. Beautiful fall leaves falling from the trees. Today was a chilly day. I absolutely love it. I love this time of year. It is probably my favorite as far as seasons....but I do love Christmas time too. I'm hoping it will stay like this and then the leaves will be turning their wonderfully vibrant colors around here. They are a little bit already. Driving around I see colorful spots on the trees where the foliage is setting in.

The kids picked out a couple of pumpkins to set on the front porch the other day. I had to explain to them that they weren't the ones we were going to carve, they were just for decoration right now. We will soon go to the pumpkin patch and pick out about 3 or 4 large pumpkins and carve them together. It's one of our favorite things to do as a family. For now, I've gotten all my Halloween and even some Thanksgiving decorations out and have set them up around the house. The house is filled with smells from Hazelnut Cream and Pumpkin Spice candles, fresh baking bread, cookies, and yummy dinners in the crock pot. I am so blessed. Thank you Lord.

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. Ephesians 1:3

Here is a little poem that my Dad sent me. I love it. It reminds me of when I was little and my Great Mammaw would be in the kitchen cookin for her family. She was the best cook. I loved being there with all my family around spending time together....I love the simple life.


I don't think our kids know what an apron is. The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven. It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears. From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven. When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids. And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms. Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove. Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron. From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls. In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees. When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds. When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner. It will be a long time before someone invents something that will; replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes. Send this to those who would know, and love, the story about Grandma's aprons. Or it can be a good history lesson for those that have no idea how the apron played a part in our lives. REMEMBER: Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool. Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw. They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs were on that apron. I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron. But Love !!
Without Him, I am nothing, but with Him 'I can do all things through Christ which strengthened me'. Philippians 4:13.

Friendship

John 15:13

Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends."



I love this verse because it is one of many that shows how much God loved and loves us. He laid down His life for us, so that we may live.


The Lord has also given us people in this world that we are so blessed to know....and my best friend Catherine is one of those people. I am so blessed to know her. We have been friends for about 11 years, and of course with any friendship we've had our moments of ups and downs; but our friendship is one that I will cherish forever. I truely believe that God has given us one another to keep us steady and to help us get through anything life brings us. Of course we understand this kind of friendship because we have God in our lives and understand what it means to be a friend, and to be the kind of friend God wants us to be for each other and also for others. Friends are a wonderful gift from God.

Everyone can have this kind of friendship with God. All you have to do is know Him as your personal Savior. "God our Savior saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy spirit." Titus 3:5 I pray today that others will recieve this perfect and precious gift, and have a friend.....a true friend for life.

I LOVE this time of year. The leaves starting to change, the cooler nights, all we need now is cooler days. I got out my fall decor the other day and started putting some of it up. I need to get more though. Every year, I try to add to my collection of decorations for each season. I love to decorate and make my home feel as cozy as I can. My favorite thing to do is drink coffee with my yummy creamer and watch a good family movie with my hubby and kids.
This pic was taken at the pumpkin patch last year. I hope it is cooler this year than it was then. We love the pumpkin patch and go every year to pick out some big pumpkins to carve together. We always find the cutest designs. This year along with carving, the kids and I have decided we are going to paint the pumpkins and put cute faces on them too. I thought that would be a fun craft we could do together.
We are already watching "Hocus Pocus"....our favorite Halloween movie, along with "Winnie the Pooh...Boo to you Too", and "Pooh's Heffalump Halloween Movie." The kids love helping me decorate too. I love looking forward to the seasons as they come. Each one is special to me. I hope you can find something special in each one as well. God has given us beauty in each one.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

School is back and in full swing. I started back Monday and the kiddos started back today. So far so good. They were a little nervous at first...but so was I...by the time I picked them up, they were happy and had a good first day back. Hopefully everyday will go good for my babies. I want them to only have positive school experiences. I still can't wait till I homeschool. That means I will have to finish school...and I'm praying that goes smoothly as well.

One reason I love that school is back in session is because that reminds me that fall is on the way. I love the cooler weather....the nights get cooler first and then the leaves change colors and then the days get a little cooler. That means it's time to get fall stuff out. I love it. It's one of my favorite times of the year....and it's not far away.

Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him.

Psalm 37:7

Lately I've been doing a lot of baking....bread, cookies and also doing a lot of cooking in my crockpot. I love the crockpot...you just stick all your ingredients in there and at the end of the day, they're ready to eat...a hot and delicious meal. These are my sugar cookies I made from scratch. The only cookie cutter I had was a gingerbread man. The kids loved it though. Then a cute idea I saw was to add chocolate to them. So they had "muddy feet". The kids thought that was the coolest thing. I love cooking things from scratch. It reminds me of my great mammaw. She was one of the best cooks. I can still see her in her apron, in the kitchen, cooking for the whole family....whether it was Sunday lunch, Easter, Thanksgiving or Christmas. I want my kids to carry these memories with them, just like I do. They also love being in the kitchen with me helping with anything they can. I think they are great little cooks and I want them to remember these special times we had together.

Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:1-2

I know it's been a long while again...that's life. I don't have a lot of time on the computer....so I'll catch you up....

We recently went on vacation for a week....a very wet week!! It rained everyday. We were camping:) Needless to say, we spent a lot of time in the camper. Thank God we got plenty of rest and family time in!

Now that we are back I've been preparing myself for starting school. I'll be going to school for Nursing. The kids will also be starting school. I guess I'm excited and nervous at the same time. It'll be weird not being here with my kids, like I have been pretty much all summer.

Today was a busy day.....ran some errands, went grocery shopping and finally mowed the yard. It was really thick and tall. My hubby and I took turns. We are a great team! Afterwards we came in and got cleaned up and then I started supper. We had yummy spaghetti and homemade garlic toast. I say homemade because I made the bread the day before and just added butter and garlic powder and popped them in the oven. It was really good....and for dessert we had homemade ice cream. The hubby and kiddos added chocolate syrup to theirs and I added fresh peaches. It was really good. I love having wholesome meals and most of all using natural ingredients. It's very easy to make homemade ice cream. Here's how we do it....

-Add in a blender...

-Ice

-Milk

-Sugar

-Vanilla (not too much)

-Evaporated milk

-Then you blend and enjoy

I just eyeball the ingredients and my hubby is the taste tester:)

We had a very fulfilling day. I'll try not to be so long in posting again...have a great night.

Because of His great love for us, God, wo is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions-it is by grace you have been saved.

Ephesians 2:4-5