A Visitor from California

    In November, Madison came out for a visit from California, and we celebrated her graduation.  She got her GED while in California and is officially done with her high school studies!  Her heart is so big, it encompasses the world, so where she'll go next is anybody's guess!  She's always wanted to see China, longed to help orphans in Africa, considered Bible college in Colorado Springs, and has a knack for keeping kids....go figure!  She is currently employed as a nanny, and has found that job the most satisfying of all she's done so far; plus, it beats the pay anywhere else.  

    This was her first time to stay at home since she left a year and a half ago.  We invited her to move back home in June, but she's made quite a lot of plans in California.  She's currently engaged to a young man out there, and has been very blessed by his family's support during this learning curve in her life.  Though Curtis and I have taken a firm stand against the timing of this marriage, we pray God's best for her every single day.  Everyone celebrated her time here, and we pretty much partied for a week! 

 Madison's GED!

 A new charm for her bracelet marking yet another landmark in time.

 We also celebrated two birthdays that evening.  There's seldom just one thing at a time to herald around here!  Events come in two's and three's.

Miriam is 3 years old!

...and Charles is 10.

     We've had two cold snaps so far this fall here in Dallas/Fort Worth, the second bringing with it ice like we haven't seen in decades!  I really do love Texas weather.  Mostly gorgeous with adventure sprinkled in to spice it up.  I love trying to capture the colors of the season, and the kids seldom come inside.  Doors are flung open, the baby plays on the porch, secure that she can walk in and out as she pleases, and I keep the docking station loaded with music you can hear clear down to the barn.  

    We take on projects like junk drawers, reorganizing the school cabinet, clearing out the ironing pile, the medicine cabinet, and the silverware drawer (how Lego ends up in that drawer is beyond me).  Everything seems easier when the weather is cool, and your boundaries are expanded to the great outdoors.  We clear out the old to make room for the new as Christmas approaches.  We start making lists; lists of what we want to accomplish in the coming year, lists of what we want to do for others, and lists of what we want for Christmas.  The kids work so hard all year, not only for us, but for neighbors who have paid handsomely for their helping hands on their own farms.  They love buying for each other, but Daddy and I love buying for them!  

    They go without, waiting for a better time to purchase this or that.  Though we've never really lacked for any good thing, the kids know what it is to wait.  Some things they've had to wait for seem way too necessary at the time requested, but life goes on in spite of it.  Keeping the older ones clothed is sometimes a challenge!  My girls just weren't content down here at 5'4" by me, so they keep growing.  Maggie didn't fit Madison's hand-me-downs, and Curtis Wade is consistently out of the clothes he wore six months ago.  Even the time to go shopping is scarce, but matching the time and the resources is especially hard. 

    Fall brings on the Christmas shopping and I get about five good days of outings by myself for just that explicit purpose.  When I'm out, I listen to the local stations play all of our favorite carols, I look through a thousand things sparking inspiration for each and every one of them, and I pray.  I spend my time out talking to the Lord about all of their stuff, everything relating to them, everything I want for them, the fullness of life in Christ He has offered and how much I want that for each and every one of my babies.  I find that waterproof mascara is the make-up of choice, as tears inevitably flow freely.   I will say that I've come to know more of God's love for me as I lavish love on my own children.  If only they knew how much I have planned for them, or how much I want to buy for them, or how much more I'd do for them given the chance.  If this is how I feel as an imperfect mother, how much more does God feel that way about me, and is able to do something about it!!

    We are so very loved!  God is good.  But, like being an earthly parent of grown children, He doesn't force his will on us.  He offers it for the taking, and the blessings flow with it.  God is so very good!  I love my husband.  I love my children.  I love my life.  And most of all, I love Jesus.

 All in a day.  On this morning, I got my shower and heard this guy crowing outside my bathroom window.  I opened it and took this picture of Red, our New Hampshire Red rooster.

By evening, the sun was out and the colors brilliant, at least for Texas!