Lovin', lovin', lov-ing it!

YUM-O...Mott's Hot Spiced Cider...LOVIN' IT...

Hoodies on the front porch...

Cooler weather, cuddling in blankets on the couch...

WOO-HOO! LOVIN' it!
Fall's here!

Six More Saturdays

Sometimes, I wish we could have a week full of Saturdays! Not every week, mind you. But, wouldn't it be neat if every so often, someone said, "Well, because you've been good this week, we will celebrate by having "Saturday Week" - 7 Saturdays...all in a row! I would just be the most excited!!! I woke up this morning to 3 beautiful children playing sweetly in the living room. My husband was relaxing...it was great.

As I was dressing, the children said,
"Come in the living room, mommy and daddy. We have a surprise for you."

All of a sudden, at 9 a.m., we smelled popcorn popping in the microwave!
The children had popped us popcorn.
They had 'built' a two-tiered puppet stage out of chairs and blankets, rehearsed and planned a pupped show for us to enjoy. They even had the popcorn for us and told us where to sit! Abby was the narrator, Jonah was the pumpkin and Isaac was the frog. It is rather complicated, but the story line involved a spatula and a turkey baster. It was delightful, at the very least!

It was so nice to be able to relax and end enjoy our fall decorations...it was fun to go as a family to Hobby Lobby last week and gather items to decorate with. Our collection of decorations has grown over the years and it is exciting to pull out the old ones and add the new ones.

I enjoyed a nap in the afternoon, cooked dinner for the family while the kids watched a movie, had a surpise visit from a great friend who brought the children Blizzards from DQ - just a for-no-reason visit - it was great, listened to the UK game on the radio, and now we are having fun watching the Andy Griffith Show Marathon on TVLand...

Now...I plan to sit down, study my Sunday School lesson, prepare my heart for worship tomorrow and enjoy the rest of my weekend...
Oh...
for 6 more Saturdays in a row...

House is clean...floor is a mess!

I walked into my living room this morning and noticed that this was the way I left my books laying beside the couch last night....and to me, other than my husband and children, there's not much more in this temporal world that is more beautiful. I stayed up late last night reading. I LOVE TO READ! The children know that mommy gets so very excited when there is a new box on the porch with my name on it...and yesterday there was! Right on time. I had ordered a few new books to keep me busy until I go back to work next week and they look so great!

The ones I am diving into this weekend are:

The Cross-Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney

Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss

and

Feminine Appeal by Carolyn Mahaney

I actually already started Carolyn's book and got 1/3 of the way through it last night and it is just down-right full of good stuff! I just finished Beth Moore's Believing God (...again - and did I need that right now!)

My study in Ephesians continues to be a tremendous opportunity for growth for me. For those of you who have shown interest in how I go about my personal Bible Study methods, I would be glad to share with you one-on-one, for I am personally persuaded that nothing can impact me (and you!) more as a Christian, wife and mother as my daily time in the Word of God...studying, searching, learning, and growing. I am currently working through a Precepts course by Kay Arthur on Ephesians on my own...digging deep into the Word and letting it speak, studying the contexts, the history, the words...letting it become LIFE TO ME!
I urge all Christian women to dig into the riches of God's Word...

On a different note, I have spent two delightful days with my almost 4 year old daughter this week. We have played, conversed, played some more, visited with wonderful friends, shopped, visited some sick people, and much, much more. She told me yesterday that she wanted a

"Bi-bul like my brudders have because I'm getting bigger mom." Who could resist that? So we stopped by the local Christian Book store and looked around. Of course, this one ...

... immediately caught her attention. The nice man behind the counter told her he would put her first name on it for free and she squealed with delight. She said, "Mommy, it has diamonds on it" and I thought to myself, "Oh, honey, if you knew the treasure that you held in your hands...it is worth far more than diamonds!" She held it in her little hands in the car, singing
"Jesus loves me...the Bib-ul, it tells me soooo." [her own made up version]
She said, "Mommy, can I call my daddy and tell him all about it? It has real Bib-ul words all in it and he will be soooo excited about dat!" We called him and she told him all about it - and of course, as in his usual fashion, he did completely share in her delight! What an awesome father!

Oh, if us grown-ups would be that excited about the Bib-ul Words!

Vacating

Yes. I am. I am vacating. Right here in my own little home. Vacating from the stress and troubles of the working world. So far, it has been nothing less than divine! I woke up to my husband and children giving me good morning kisses, then rolled over and went back to sleep! At about 8:30 a.m., woke to total silence in the house...everyone was gone to work and school ...
I was home alone!
I opened the front door to take a peek out at the world and Michael had brought me back a 24 pack of Diet Pepsi and left it for me on the front porch for my vacationing pleasure. (For those of you who know me best...that is a gift!) I closed the door, came inside, and have enjoyed the silence of the day ALL DAY long.

I have a theory about silence...not actually mine...but borrowed from God. We need silence. We need stillness. Our bodies crave it. And, I have noticed that when I go too long without it, that my ears actually hurt when I do get quiet...there were so many things I could have done today, but my eardrums needed to rest. My body needed to rest. I needed to be still and know...

that He was God.

So far, I have...
... vowed not to answer the phone today...turned the ringer off;

...spent much time in study, meditation and prayer;

(Ephesians is knocking my socks off right now...love studying the Word in depth!)
...took 5 minutes to put supper in the crock pot - and it smells yummy!
...took a nap;

...drank one 12 oz. Diet Pepsi, very slowly...hehe...
...thought alot about some major things in my life, wondering, weighing decisions, praying, pros/cons, listening to God speak in the silence ...
and then I blogged.

Not bad for the first day vacating.

Now I think I will go take a shower and get ready for...
FAMILY TIME!!!! WOOHOO!
I am never home when they get home...they always beat me home. What a treat! I can't wait.
God is so good to me!

cute pizza man

Well, I definitely know Fall is in the air...today, there was a college football game on the television and another one playing on the laptop - at the SAME time...ugh! Since Michael is a student at Liberty University, he was watching the Liberty Flames play WV, while he was also watching the University of Kentucky play online. For someone who often utilizes the excuse ,"I'm a guy - we're not good at doing more than one thing at a time like you women, honey..." to justify his inability to multi-task, he seemed to be managing well today... hehe!

It has been rather comical around here today... Mike and I have both had a naggin' feeling all day that we were supposed to be somewhere, doing something, with someone. But, neither of us could recall what it could have been. We've walked around all day saying..."Saturday, September the 5th...does that ring a bell? Should we call somebody? Was it something with the family, church, friends, work?" If you were the one we were supposed to be with, we apologize! However, it never came to us...we've tried to just let it go and be in the moment of being home with the children and it's been so FUN. We've been entertained with puppet shows, Abby singing 'made-up' songs, reading stories, the children dressing up in old Halloween costumes and making up games...these are absolutely the best of days at home.

Now, Michael is gone out to town to pick up a Giovanni's pizza for us. We don't eat pizza alot, but given that it has been a great family day - and we wanted something special - it seemed like just the thing.

This week, I am scheduled to work on Monday, but I am taking a week off just for personal vacation time from Tuesday through the following Monday, returning on Tuesday. I am excited to be able to rest, read, be home early with my children, plan fun evening events, be quiet..enjoy some silence and peace...wow...can't wait...

Well, the pizza man just delivered...got to go! Isn't he just the cutest pizza man ever?

Even the kids think so...or maybe they are just hungry????