Fall is here!

Annalee with her proud daddy!

Beautiful hat! Notice the straps - that's the only way to keep it on!

Annalee around 2 months - while still in Galena.

Our family picture taken at Cannon Beach this summer.

I love fall! I love the crispness of the early morning, with the wet grass (though I'd be happier if my shoes stayed dry!). I love the smell of fires burning bright in the fireplace, and snuggling up with loved ones in front of the roaring blaze. I love the thought of apple cider (though I try not to drink it much anymore - too much sugar!). I love the colors of all of the deciduous trees, and I don't even mind raking up the leaves - once or twice. Dear to my heart is going out to local farms and picking pumpkins and apples...maybe because I have fond memories of doing just that with family in Spokane when our oldest two were little. I love the hay rides, corn mazes, and even the fun little carnival games that some of them have.

Last time I wrote, we had just gotten back from the pumpkin patch. Well, we are finally almost finished processing those pumpkins. Phew! What work! Yesterday, I even had Rob and Josh write a few paragraphs about how we get pumpkins from the field to pumpkin pie. They did pretty good remembering, since they helped us cut up the pumpkins, scoop out the seeds, and watched us cook the pumpkins. It's a lengthy process, but I am sure looking forward to having pumpkin bread and pie from the pumpkins that we fixed ourselves. Maybe it's just the pride of accomplishment...

Tomorrow, we go to get apples. It's another field trip for the homeschool group - and I am looking forward to it.

Jeremy has another funeral to do in town tomorrow. We have had a few people pass away here in the last few weeks. It's the less desirable part of his job - as it's never fun to watch someone die. But we are praising God that the two that he has had to do funerals for have known the Lord. That helps with the grieving.

Our baby girl is now 1 year old. She turned 1 on Monday. I can't believe it - where has this past year gone? And yet, thinking about the past year since Annalee has been born is bitter sweet. It brings back fond and painful memories - which is difficult because I don't want to dwell on the painful memories, but yet that is the time when she was born, and for that it was beautiful. But the Lord is faithful, and I am thankful that He walks beside me all the way. That's especially nice to remember during the times that I don't feel Him - because I don't always feel Him near. But my feelings are nothing compared to His many promises to love me always, to never leave me, and to never give me more than He thinks I can handle. That is an especially wonderful promise!

Well, it's time to close. Steaming tea awaits - Madagascar red vanilla - one of my favorites!

Runaway Baby

I just had to share what happened with Anna today. It was our day off, and as usual, we went into town. We had a wonderful day in Trinidad...we visited the marine biology lab of HSU, took a hike by the beach, and met the homeschool group at the park in Eureka to let the kids play. Then while at Costco...we had just gotten a few items, and were back at the van. I was loading the things into the trunk, and Jeremy was correcting one of the kids inside the van. I turned to get something else out of the cart, but it wasn't there! The cart had started rolling away and was several parking spots away before I noticed it - and Anna was still sitting in the front seat - as if nothing was wrong! I yelled at Jeremy and we both took off running after the runaway baby. Thankfully, no cars were hurt in the transit, and baby is doing fine, too. She didn't even realize what was going on. Phew!

Pumpkin Patch

Beautiful sunflowers!

Our pumpkins

Rob holding his pumpkin

Zeke, Silas and Josh holding their pumpkins.

We took the kids to the pumpkin patch yesterday. We went with a local homeschool group out of Eureka. We had a good time. The rule was that the kids could take a pumpkin that they could carry to the car (not our rule, but the farm's since the pumpkins were free). I thought we did pretty good picking out pumpkins that Silas, Zeke and Micah COULD carry to the car. However, they didn't WANT to carry them to the car, so Mom got stuck carrying three pumpkins. It's a good thing they were small ones! Rob and Josh got bigger ones, and Jeremy and I got one, too (we paid for ours, though!). The field trip was fun. The tour guide talked about different animal tracks that they have on the farm - beaver, racoon, fox - and how to identify them. She also told them about how pumpkins and corn stalks grow - very interesting! There were lots of homeschool families there, and we got to meet a few. It will take a while to be able to really get to know any of them, especially since we live so far out of town. Jeremy was the only dad there. I told Jeremy we should make this whole thing into a school project. From them going and picking the pumpkins to slicing, scooping out seeds, and baking the pumpkin so it's ready for pies and breads. We even like to roast our pumpkin seeds and then mix them with olive oil and salt. I love fall! I also saw online tonight that we are in effect for a frost warning - you know what that means? Apples!!!

My Son, the Ewok

Josh and Micah dressed up as Star Wars characters.

Micah, the Ewok.

Our kids have all loved to play dress up. Rob is a little old, and doesn't dress up anymore, but the rest still do. Jeremy and I were outside last week, when Micah wandered outside. The first thing I thought of when I saw him dressed like this was that he looked like an Ewok. He is wearing a costume that our Nana made for Rob when we lived in Wishram (aka "Snake Man"), and he put on the mane that Nana made for Josh's costume from the same time (aka "Lion Man"). As you can see the pants are a little long for him, but he doesn't mind one bit! The picture above shows Micah with Josh, who is dressed up in a clone costume from Walmart that we got for the younger ones - yes, as you can see it is way too short for Josh, but he doesn't mind one bit! ;-)

We have been seeing some great things here in our church lately. We have had several new people coming, and coming pretty faithfully. I don't remember if I mentioned that we had a temporary assistant pastor. He is gone now, and we are looking to see what the Lord will do to fill that need. Jeremy has been doing videos for Sunday evening service for a couple of months now. He started out with a series by an ex-terrorist (Walid Shoebat), who is now a Christian, giving his testimony. It was fascinating. The next 3 DVDs were of him teaching a new concept about the end times religion. For those interested, I would recommend these DVDs wholeheartedly! After that series, we showed Lee Strobel's Case for Faith. We bought it at Costco, of all places. We found it very powerful. Now we're starting on a 4-disc series on strengthening your faith. We have heard from several people that they have enjoyed the videos we have been seeing, and how they have helped them in their walk with God. We also have an American Heritage series that we might show next. I know I'm looking forward to seeing them.

We are going through a bout of sickness right now. Three of the kids are coughing, complaining of headaches and being tired. I think it's just that time of year. It has been chilly here (I guess not compared to some). But we went from high 90 degree weather one day to low 70 degree weather the next. Add to that a few trips into town for Jeremy to do hospital visitation (which also meant long days, and getting to bed late). So we are laying low, and the kids and I will be staying home from church tomorrow. Oops...I hear one of the coughers now. Gotta run!