Ode to Fall

How do I love thee....let me count the ways.

I have ALWAYS loved Fall. It is by far my favorite season ever. And, today is officially the first day of fall and, here in Texas, it finally feels like it. The high was in the 70's today, not the 90's. It was beautiful and cool and my windows were open all day without it getting too muggy. Hurray!

I love Fall because school starts (as a former teacher, it is still such an exciting time of year), football season, cooler weather, and leaves changing (not really happening here yet, but I remember what it looks like!).

I just love Fall. Love it. Love it. Love it.

Castle / Protection

One of the only things that I have really gotten excited about lately is food storage. I have a little bit of money and have felt so strongly that I need to be prepared for my kids' sake. What good would a little money stored up be if we couldn't eat for some reason? So, I have been amassing cans and cans of food. I am doing it gradually...looking for deals, canning some myself, ordering some from the church, and ordering others from online companies. I am a little over half-way to a six-month supply (which is my goal). We have a tiny house or it would be a year's supply.

Speaking of tiny house, I am still working on where to store it all. I have many ideas/plans and it will all get stored eventually, just takes time. Right now, however, they are lined up along a wall in my bedroom. My beautiful K came up with a great analogy. She saw all those silver cans lined up and said, "Wow, Mom. It looks like a castle." Then, she added, "It is like a castle, because a castle provides protection and all this food for our family provides protection for us." Well said, K. Well said.

(What a perceptive girl, eh? I am her mom and could be biased, but I think she is pretty darn smart!)

A sweet reminder

One of my children (who asked not to be named) gave this to me back in July. It hangs on the door between my bedroom and my bathroom and it is such a sweet reminder. I love it. It makes me so happy when I am already happy and even when days are tough. Makes the difficult part of being a mom all worth it. :)

Everything Testifies of Him (Updated!)

It is amazing how everything really does testify of our Savior. Everything.

For a few weeks, I have been working on putting in a basketball "court" in our backyard. It isn't even close to full size, maybe not quite half, but I did triple the size of our patio and put in an in-ground basketball hoop. I have had lots of help. I hired concrete workers to do that part. Then, I put a portion of the hoop together. Finally, my good friends have come over TWICE to help me with finishing it....TWICE...what good friends they are!!!!

After we got it all in and finished this morning, the thought struck me with great force that no matter how hard I would've tried I could NOT put the hoop up by myself. It was absolutely physically impossible for me to do it alone. Doesn't that sound so familiar? NO matter how hard I try, I cannot return to my Heavenly Father by myself. It is impossible to do alone. That's why we have a Savior.

The second thought that also struck me with such force is that it felt so good to turn over the project to T. I let him carry the burden (literally with the weight, and figuratively with reading/following the instructions to put it together). I knew it would get done right and it was such a load of worry off of me. Again, sound familiar? How many times is it such a relief to turn the burden over to Jesus Christ? We know He will do it right. We know he will carry the burden.

Amazing...all things typify of Him.

PS....I have before, during, and after pictures that I will add to this post, but I have a VERY important football game to go watch (GO COUGARS!). I will post them later. Promise.


Update (09/07/09): Pictures are here and the Cougars WON! :) Game worth watching!