Glorious October

The weather has been AMAZING.

           I have mellowed in my older age, so I'm letting the kids play a lot outside right now.  Fresh air and running around are good for them, and soon winter will strike and we'll be indoors more.  

I used to be a bit crabby about October, I think because I disliked winter so much.  I like winter more now, and I LOVE fall with the colors and the cooler temperatures and the death of many bugs.  It has been a great week.

Rose adores being outside.  She particularly likes our trees!  She is a real life tree hugger.

           Our house really looks good.  I mean, it isn't fancy, but it is huge and in decent shape. We are very thankful for it.

             We're also thankful for good health.  Kevin and I were both shook up when a message came through our homeschooling group this week; a lady whom I didn't know (but whose parents are acquaintances) died in childbirth this week while giving birth to her 8th child.  It was one of those freaky complications that happens VERY rarely, but it broke our hearts.  I am SO sad for that family.  The baby lived and is fine, but now the father has 8 children to care for, most of whom are heartbroken.  And the baby is a newborn and needs lots of care.

       We are thankful we could send some funds to help them but that is just a drop in the bucket.  No one gets over something this tragic quickly.  Really, they'll find ultimate healing in heaven and not before, but I do hope the anguish will fade over time.  I pray right now that God will step in every day, every moment, to help them step forward in grieving, in living, in dealing with the funeral and finances and newborn care.