Trick-Or-Treat

Just pictures...

Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

We went to the local pumpkin patch this morning. It was a beautiful, sunny morning, and we had lots of fun. The only drawback was that Tony wasn't there with us. We had planned to go as a family last Saturday, but ended up taking a rare opportunity for Tony and I to go away overnight alone (for the first time in over two years). The girls stayed with Granny and Pa. So, this morning Pa came along and we found our pumpkins. We'll be carving them later today, but that's another blog post. Ha ha!

My Son, the Homeowner

I am SO proud of my son and daughter-in-law. They are 22 years old and have just closed on their first home! There is NO WAY I could have purchased a home at that age. I hope they know how proud I am!

In Other Words

What is the fascination people seem to have with quotes? Why is it better to use another's words to state what we think or feel? Who knows...but here are a few I like. :-)

Don't worry about the people from your past, there's a reason why they didn't make it to your future. -- Author Unknown

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. -- Desmond Tutu

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted. -- Albert Einstein

Love while we're here before time passes by. -- Lyrics to a song by Kathy Mattea

Happiness does not depend on outward things, but on the way we see them. -- Leo Tolstoy

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us. -- Alexander Graham Bell

Love doesn't make the world go 'round; love is what makes the ride worthwhile. -- Franklin P. Jones

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. -- Winston Churchill

Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. -- Abraham Lincoln

Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get. -- Dale Carnegie

The art of simplicity is a puzzle of complexity. -- Doug Horton

Venison Stew for Dinner

Tony shot a deer yesterday! We've spent the entire afternoon (well mostly he has) processing it, and now I have a pot of venison stew cooking for dinner. I'm really proud of Tony! This is the second deer he's bagged -- the first being last year! I'll spare you all the pictures.

Sock Sermon

Is it wrong to expect four and five-year-old kids to put their socks in the wash right-side-out? Am I over the top? One the of the things I love about summer time is the lack of socks in my laundry basket! Now it's the beginning of "sock season" here in the Midwest, and I just finished Preaching my sock sermon. I really, really dislike turning all of those socks right-side-out when I do the laundry. Just think...3 little girls times 2 feet times 7 days equals 42 socks per week!

P.S. I will admit it's not ALL about the numbers. I also made my son turn his socks the right way when he was little, and he was an only child at the time.

Life's Choices

Lately I've been giving a lot of thought to the choices I've made in my life. One reason is because I think God is still teaching me to be comfortable with the really good choices I've made in the last six or seven years of my life.

Recently, Tony and I began talking about having someone he works with come over to our home for dinner. We have been to their home a couple of times, and they have dropped a couple of hints asking when they will be invited to ours. You see, they know we don't live in a large, beautifully-furnished house in the suburbs (like they do). Maybe they think it would be interesting to see where/how we live, or maybe they just really want to visit our home. But why am I reluctant to invite them? So let me digress...

Only a few short years ago, Tony and I lived in Florida in a beautiful house with a nice yard and a swimming pool. We both drove sports cars, we traveled, we threw parties -- you get the idea. Five years ago, we bought the 12 acres and farm house in Missouri, where we live now, as a place to visit once in a while and "someday" build a new house on when we got ready to move away from Florida(plus it had belonged to my grandparents and we didn't want it to leave the family). Well, we made some choices -- and very good ones! Three and a half years ago we decided to go ahead and leave Florida due to the economy and job market (and me wanting to be closer to family), so we sold our Florida home and probably half of our belongings and moved to Missouri. This allowed us to pay off most of our land in Missouri, which we now own outright. We have only a small mortgage payment.

Then we decided to grow our family, and that meant making a choice between building that new house we wanted or adopting -- and deciding to live on one income so that I could stay home with our daughters. And then a funny thing happened -- we adapted to living a much simpler life and are happy living without the stress of all the "stuff" we used to think we wanted/needed. We most DEFINITELY want to build that new house on our property, but it's because we need more space and another bathroom. However, we have a ways to go before we can comfortably spend money on building a house. A bank would easily loan us the money to build right now, but we've become pretty conservative with our spending these days.

So why am I reluctant to invite certain people to our home? I shouldn't be. I know that in my heart, but for some reason I still care if people judge me/us by the house we live in. And the truth is they probably wouldn't make any judgment -- it's just my own insecurity. Typing these words makes it even more crystal clear how crazy it is to feel this way. We live conservatively, and that is a very smart move anytime, but especially in a poor economy. And more importantly, living conservatively makes us HAPPY. So, what is the point of all of this? I think God is still working on me. I'm happier than I've ever been, and I love my life and my family, but maybe I still have some pride that I need to set aside. We have so much, and I'm so very thankful for that!

Baby Shower Fun

Yesterday we went to my daughter-in-law's baby shower. It's so unbelievable that I'm going to be a grandma...again! We had a great time, and baby Mason got a LOT of gifts!