trick-or-treaters

almost Halloween

je suis fatigue

...maybe not my favorite phrase in French, but definitely the one that applies today.

In seminary I was the only one who got an answer wrong on today's scripture mastery quiz.

Mr. Dub made three trips to the Home Depot in less than three hours before work.

Our kitchen is looking more and more like a rustic hunting cabin.

There is frost on the pumpkin.

High School soccer ends TONIGHT.  I hope we will celebrate with copious amounts of SLEEP.

I was born of goodly parents.

My mom gave Dub an apple pie as an early birthday present.  I have managed to consume most of it, due in part to my affection for breakfast dessert.

There is a large bag of m&ms in my purse.  Thank goodness.

coming home

 We just barely survived Homecoming weekend.

Between the social calendars of my kids, football games, parades, birthday parties and ongoing kitchen demolition, 

the whole World Series thing is what we do to relax.

(And the obstruction call?!?... it's actually exhausting...  Go SOX!)

 We had a special visitor this weekend.

 Mr. Dub's mom flew up 

from Virginia

 to see as many grandchildren

 in as many activities as was humanly possible in two days.

She also met Angela.

She flew home today; she'll probably need the week to recover.  

behold: the TABLE

This is a return-and-report.

Remember that kitchen chair project I started back in mid September?

It is DONE.

AND... Mr. Dub climbed right on board when I said it would be nice to reclaim our nasty old table by refinishing it.

Dub sanded and refinished, and I painted.

He did a SPECTACULAR JOB.

(I wouldn't let the kids eat on it this morning)

We may be living in a half-painted kitchen with walls that have been ripped apart, but the table and chairs look fantastic.

how my life became my own again (pictorial)

fun facts

Enrique met Angela and took her for a crisp evening drive.

We will be taking her off the road for the winter.

Speaking of off-road,

 Yonder spent the weekend with his bike (and a friend)

in Southern Utah.

It was pretty GREAT.

Fall is on the table.

It's also in the air and everywhere you look.

We stopped on the way home from a soccer game yesterday to watch leaves being blown off a large tree.

We felt sad that the Fall colors will soon be gone.

-and- 

We lit the inaugural fire.

(And witnessed the traditional toasting of the buns.)

these are my people

(we miss you Yonder)

we can do hard things

Monday was Columbus Day.

We spent the afternoon together at a place we rambled through... Wyola State Park in beautiful Shutesbury, Massachusetts.

It was a beautiful discovery.

We walked to a picnic area where most of the group ended up perched in trees.

Mesquite wanted to join the fun.

She watched her siblings.

(and felt that she might be tree-climber-challenged)

She tried and tried to get up, but it was HARD.

 She got tired.

 There was lots of encouragement.

(and also some laughter)

 She finally did it. 

She got herself UP and into a tree.

 And EVERYONE was happy.

There were moments yesterday when I witnessed loved ones struggling with hard things:

Meaningful, emotional battles that no one is immune to.

It's good to grasp perspective, and know that struggles are not for naught.  (Did I say that right?)  

I appreciated being able to compare and contrast the events of the day as I found and flipped through the photos of Sweet Mesquite struggling to climb a tree.

With help from people dear to me, I am able to focus on the good that comes from hard things.  To be able to compare and contrast a seemingly trivial event like climbing a tree to more significant issues that are physically and emotionally challenging in every way is a lesson to me:

It takes desire.

It's HARD work.

It helps to know that achieving a state of HAPPY is not impossible.

It helps to know that others have been there before you.

Support is crucial.

It takes a village.

I'm grateful for mine.

I'm especially grateful to know that no matter what, we can be happy.

We can do hard things.

rambling through the town of Leverett, Massachusetts

There isn't enough time in a day to drink in all of the beauty in New England during the Fall.

UMass Band Day at Gillette

 Another UMass football game Saturday...

it's a favorite on our list of Fall activities.

We tell people that we go to watch the band, and there's a little football going on in between their performances.  On Saturday, the football team actually WON!  Their first win at home this season.  They joined the band on the field after the game to celebrate.  

Before half time, I noticed a woman on the opposite side of the stadium 

(U of Miami didn't have much of a crowd on their side... twas a bit of a commute to Massachusetts) walking back and forth with a sign. She was tireless.

I was curious.

 We never did find out what her purpose was.

 Her sign read "Mom wants IN."

There were a LOT of people on our side. 

Maybe her message reached the intended audience.

At half time, 4,000 marching band students from all of the states in New England plus one band from New York filed on the field for an incredible show.

 Rooney and Mesquite were among them.

We found our piccolo player;  our tenor sax player got lost among the thousands.

We ARE getting really good at picking out Enrique

in the UMass sea of 400.