Nature Walks

And we're off...

Mercy greeting the neighbor's dog.

Channing greeting the neighbor's horse.

Little boy blue.

And little bitty boy blue.

It is blissfully time, once again, to venture outdoors with the children and resume our "nature walks", which is by far their favorite part of school. I absolutely LOVE the change in seasons! Fall is, no doubt, my favorite time of year. With the holidays ahead, the hot steamy summer behind, and weather that just beckons us to lay aside the books and explore the woods, trees, grass, and sky, how could I not love the Fall? In our home schooling, we buckle down for several weeks in the summer when it is just too hot to go outside, and conquer massive amounts of seatwork and intense study. Then, with quite a bit accomplished, and a break well deserved, we loosen up the cinches and enjoy the cooler weather, lunches on the porch, daily morning walks together, lighthearted conversation about holiday plans this year and new recipes to try in the kitchen. We start scheduling play days with friends, field trips with Curtis, and maybe even a vacation. Knowing the world has left their summer madness and returned to normal routines gives me all the more incentive to come out and about free of daytime traffic and crowds.
The weather has been in the upper 50's at night and mid 80's during the day. The mornings are just gorgeous with dew on the ground, fog over the pastures, and sunlight spreading across the face of the barn. Cyrus usually wakes me up, so I nurse him, change him, and come down for a bite to eat out on the porch swing before the bustle of activity begins around here. I get all excited just to wake the kids up, and get our day started, so I usually sing some stupid little made-up chorus to them to jostle them out of slumber, rub their backs a minute, and ask which one of the forty-five options for breakfast they want today. Then, we trip over each other in the kitchen for an hour, alive with conversation, while Curtis comes down ready for work, and attempts to read our daily devotions uninterrupted by Charles and Channing aggravating each other. Curtis says a prayer of blessing aloud over us, and heads off to the office, and chores begin.
After another hour of changing diapers, getting dressed, gathering the five loads of daily laundry, cleaning up the bathrooms, taking out the trash created that morning, and cleaning up the kitchen, we're finally off to see the world! Curtis Wade rides his rip-stick (more commonly known as a skateboard), Madison helps me with the babies, the girls dress up in romantic bonnets and scarves (to blow wistfully in the breeze), and the boys strap on packs in which to collect treasures to bring home.
I love this life! God is soooooo good! The kids ARE rewards, not that I've done something to be rewarded, but that His Word is true in Psa 127:3 "Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from Him."