applesauce day

These are the kind of days I will remember forever... Days when the blessing of a grandma, mother-in-law and mom come together to help with a big project that would be overwhelming for me to do myself. So thankful for their help and so thankful for the joy they brought to our home that day. I wish I could bottle up the wonderful smell of apples cooking on the stove that filled my house that day.
So thankful for how they love on my children and are eager to hold them. So thankful for their patience with them...taking time to teach them new things. Great Grandma patiently sat with Kaiya when she got home from preschool and helped her with writing her numbers. So thankful for the sweet conversations with Great Grandma about my pregnancy and the stories she shared about her pregnancies.
Baby Luca even got to help a bit.
So thankful that my freezer is full of the delicious applesauce we made that day.

summer...does it really have to end?

Summer is winding down. This little boy will start kindergarten tomorrow. I can't believe it. He's ready and excited. I will miss him during the days. He's looked at and organized his school supplies over and over. I'm glad he's so excited to go and hope it stays that way.
This is a day, a couple weeks ago, spent at Grandma's making applesauce. Feels good to have the freezer full again.We celebrated my niece, Maci, turning fifteen at the beginning of August. She's a real sweetheart. Loves the Lord and loves her family. So proud of you, Maci! Here's Kaiya getting her hair straightened by Maci...her dream come true.

And sweet little Emmi is walking already...where does the time go?

We were so privileged to have overnight guests at the beginning of August. Kevin's cousin, Randy, along with his family stayed at our place for two nights. What fun to get to know all of them a little better. So fun to watch the kids play together too. marshmallows & hot dogs around the campfire

Kaelin & Kaiya are a little over a month apart. I loved spending time with Jenn...catching up, chatting and getting to know her better...a beautiful person inside and out. She's quite savvy with saving money too and gave me some great tips. Thanks, Jenn.

Reece & Caedmon
Lunchtime

Pool timeKaiya still is talking about Reece & Kaelin...wondering when they are coming back again.

I hope sometime soon. Great memories!
Later that week, we had a little get together with the extended family in their honor. Can't miss an opportunity for a girly cousin photo. =)Corn day was last week. That was one thing hanging over my head that I'm glad is done. My mom helped me and even brought along a babysitter for my kids. Lexi kept them quite entertained.The freezer is full. Now bring on the baby! Baby is due tomorrow. I feel like I'm six weeks overdue with the minutes ticking by soooo slowly!! I have a lot of fears this time. I wish I could look into the future and know the outcome, but I can't. So I will wait and trust what the Lord has in store for our family. We won't know how things are going to go until after the first 24 hours. Thank you to all who have called, emailed & kept us in your prayers! You have been an encouragement to us. Please also pray for the Birthmother & father...for peace in their decision. We'll keep you posted.

Mondays

Here we are on a Monday morning...not my most favorite day of the week. It was hard to pull myself out of bed this morning after having four days of sleeping in a little longer. Caedmon had a Fall Break last week on Thursday and Friday and it was pure delight to see his face on Thursday morning when he realized he could stay in his pajamas a little longer and play with his toys the whole day. We didn't plan anything extraordinary on those days other than running a few errands on Thursday. Caedmon just wanted to make sure that he would get to have room time...a simple request. It felt good to have him home. A picture of the kids after errands on Thursday. I noticed the fly on Kaiya's cheek after taking the picture.

Now this morning I miss him and daddy being home with us. I'm left with remnants of the weekend...dishes in the sink, popcorn on the floor in the living room, laundry to do and rice krispies to sweep up from breakfast. It helps to think about the events of the weekend this morning and I'm thankful to God for all His blessings on our lives. The weather was amazing this weekend...even a little hot. The Fall colors are really popping out everywhere and what a joy to soak them all in as we drove around this weekend. Our worship leader on Sunday talked about how leaves have to go through many cold nights to reveal their beautiful colors. He made the comparison to people who after going through difficult times in their lives also have beautiful colors revealed.

On Saturday we spent the day at Kevin's parents house making applesauce. We had our work cut out for us with five bushel of apples to tackle. It went well and it was nice to have the guys there to help out, even though they had their own opinions on how everything should be done. The kids were in charge of washing the apples. They washed themselves along with the apples, but the apples did get washed which was the goal. They had a ball playing outside the whole day. The men were in charge of the cutting and when Grandpa pulled out his machete, I thought Grandma was going to have a heart attack. They kept Ruby and I hopping inside to keep up with the cooking and straining.

Here's a picture of Kaiya being comforted by Grandpa with ice cream after receiving her very first bee sting.

A lot of love went into making this sauce for you, Jason & Joyce!

Thanks, Ruby for all your hard work in pulling it all together! It was a fun day!

On Sunday after church, we attended a baptism of two little boys in our church. It was held at the pool of a couple that attends our church. Caedmon had a lot of questions about being "appetized" and the "bathatizing" that took place that day. We explained it to him a bit and went on with our day. During lunch out of the blue, he said "I want Jesus to be in my heart". We asked him why (thinking his reason might be just to be able to get baptized like the other boys) and he answered "because I love Jesus". We explained to him what it meant to have Jesus in his heart and Kevin prayed with him. It was a special time and I'm thankful we were all together as a family to see our son ask Jesus into his heart. This is what is making this Monday not seem so bad after all...it makes my heart cry out with joy to know that my child loves Jesus and wants Him to live in his heart!!

Jesus loves me! this I know, For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to Him belong; they are weak but He is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so.

Again, it was a beautiful day on Sunday and we had to do something outside so we took the kids on a train ride to a pumpkin patch. It was busy and we had to wait 45 minutes to ride the train, but the kids did great and we kept telling them how exciting it was going to be. It was finally our turn and we loaded the train with great anticipation. It was a beautiful ride through the woods, but when we reached the "pumpkin patch" there were no pumpkins left. It wasn't a real pumpkin patch...they hauled in pumpkins from somewhere else and basically threw them out in the middle of a field. The idea was a good one, but not planned out so well. The train ride made it worth going though. We let the kids each pick out a gourd to take home and stopped by this old truck on our way out to take some Fall family pictures.