Hello Cuties!

I had the wonderful pleasure of taking a WHOLE DAY to go and visit my dear friend Kelly in Ohio today.  It was so nice to just drive in silence for the 2 hour trip out and back.  The morning drive was so serene as I drove through a thick fog, with the orange sunrise and the amazing rainbow of colors in the fall leaves.  It was truly breathtaking.  I wanted to stop so many times to take a picture as I passed by the peaceful farmland.  It was a great chance just to talk to God, uninterrupted, for a good part of my day.  And after all those hours, I just couldn't help but express my praise to Him for all the ways He has blessed me, for my family, my friends, even for the car I was driving to get to my friends' today.

Our neighborhood Halloween Parade was tonight.  Since Lawson was asleep and Carter's costume is still not completed, it was just the girls who participated.  They were a pretty cute pair.  Sienna's pigeon costume came out pretty well I think for me sewing it up in one night with no pattern...haha!  Reese wanted to wear a bunny costume that I wore when I was probably about her age.  My grandma Alfano sewed it for me.

Fall Photos

 It was a gorgeous fall day today...the kind of day that just beckons for our annual fall photo shoot.  The kids look forward to it every year, so much....hahaha!  Actually out of about 200 photos I think I got 3 or 4 really good ones...that's the way it goes I guess with 4 young kids as subjects.  There was a lot of yelling and even more bribery (the ice cream kind)...but in the end, we got some pretty good pictures and everyone left happy.

Fall is such a beautiful time of year.  Not only do we have the amazing colors of the leaves to enjoy, but there is a sort of peacefulness that comes with the change of the season.  The frenzy of summer seems to fade away as things slow down and ready for winter.  The leaves flutter to the ground as you drive along the road, the warm, snugly sweaters come out of the closet.  A cup of tea sounds good again at the end of a long day.

I am thankful for every season....every stage...every change.  It's the changes that make you really appreciate things as they were, but also give you reason to hope in what's to come.  It's the progression from one season to the next that makes the truly special times stand out.

Transformation...

 Well, it finally happened.  I was not willing to "do the deed" but Derrick gladly took those clippers and sheared off Lawson's gorgeous locks yesterday, transforming him instantly from my chubby adorable baby to this handsome little man.  Agh....give me my baby back!!!!  Crazy what one little haircut will do.

Carter had a friend here playing today.  They were outside on the trampoline most of the time but came inside to warm up.  He asked if they could watch TV.  Sienna heard and stopped to ask him, "Do you want to watch Peppa Pig?"

That's why...

We all desire meaning and purpose and order in our lives.  We want to know all the who's, what's, why's, when's and how's.  I can't explain why things happen the way they do, but this I do know....I am SO blessed.  My kids help me to realize this every day...whether it's observing the wonder with which they see the world, whether it's the giant bear hug Lawson gives me every morning when I lift him out of his crib, or whether it's seeing their faces light up when given a free chocolate chip cookie at the store.  If only I could approach life as a child again, being wonder-filled, appreciating the little things more and worrying about the big things less.

Sneak peak at Halloween...

 There are things that happen at times, in my life, in everyone's life, and we crave to know why.  I want to know the reason behind this trial I'm facing, this disease I'm fighting, this need I have...  but the answer isn't always quick to come.

We live in an imperfect world, marred by sin, and full of imperfect people.  But we still have a reason to hope.




A friend reminded me of the beautiful hymn, "It is Well with My Soul" this week.  I looked at it again tonight and  was just touched again by it...by the hope it offers to the burdened soul.  There may not be an answer for every question that plagues my mind...there may not be an "ah-ha moment" where it all makes sense.  For me, "the sky is my goal."

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,

When sorrows like sea billows roll;

Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,

It is well, it is well with my soul.

1. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
   Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!
2. 1. And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
      The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
      The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
      Even so, it is well with my soul.

Endurance

We have had another very busy week, with lots of fun adventures!  Friday we were able to visit the Nina and Pinta replicas that are in Pittsburgh.  The kids and I managed to squeeze in an interesting tour of the ships JUST before  a HUGE storm rolled in and dumped a ton of rain on us.  We were all completely drenched.  But it was a lot of fun and we all agreed that we would never have signed up to said across the great unknown ocean in a ship like that!  Driving in my minivan seems way less of a pain from that perspective!  Ha!

My dear college roommate made the long trip down to visit me over the whole weekend and we enjoyed a lot of great time spent together, laughing with the kids and catching up on life.  I am so blessed to have dear Liz in my life!

 We were able to go see Carter play on the U10 soccer team on Saturday, on a gorgeous warm, sunny afternoon.  He even scored 2 goals...GO CARTER!  And tonight we had another Monday night play date with the neighborhood kids...enjoying all the nice weather and longer evenings for as long as we can!

When I am "in the moment" of parenting...so many days...it is just so tempting to want to throw in the towel at times.  Kids can be so very overwhelming and exhausting, no matter how many you are trying to parent!  I've had this verse echoing through my mind today

 Hebrews 12:1-3  "...let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.

I just ran a 10K a few weeks ago and endurance and perseverance are definitely a couple of words that come to mind when I think back on trying to make my body move (quickly) for that distance!  Comparing life to a race, at least to me, seems so appropriate.  We begin as youth, with boundless energy and are naive about the long and arduous journey that lies ahead of us.  We start out quickly and with so much energy, but gradually, life starts to slow us down.   As we age we begin to realize that we need to moderate our pace if we want to make it to the finish line.  We grow more and more weary as the years slip by, but there is always the hope of reaching the finish line.  For me, this finish line has increasingly been my motivation to "run well."

 Hebrews 12 ends in verse 28 by reminding us that we are "receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken."  Again and again when I feel that my world is turning upside down, this is my hope...this is what I long for...this is what keeps me pressing on toward the goal.

Punkins

 It has been an absolutely gorgeous week here and we've been taking full advantage with lots of fun fall activities and outings.  We went back to Over the Bar for lunch on Monday, which was beautiful, as always.  Today we made our last trip to Reilly's for a hayride...so sad they are closing after this year.  The girls had fun picking MORE pumpkins...like we really needed those!


Yesterday we were reading about Henry Hudson in Carter's history book.  It was describing his quest to find a Northwest Passage to India and how he thought he might find a way to said over the North Pole to get there, rather than across the Atlantic.  I asked Carter if he thought that was a good idea and told him that it would be very difficult to said across the North Pole because all that was there was ice, ice and more ice.  He looked at me a little quizzically and said, "Yes, and Santa Clause."  Oh, um yes, of course he's there too, silly me!  Scrambling to cover up that mistake...not sure how much longer we can keep the Santa secret going but I'm not gonna be the one to blow it!

Fall Fun

 Sienna has been insanely into doing puzzles over the last couple of weeks.  I swear that it's genetic or something (and not from my genes!)  Every time she gets a chance she's working on a new puzzle and she's actually not bad at figuring them out on her own.

Another genetic quirk passed on to one of our children is a love of pretzels (again not from me!).  Lawson is obsessed with pretzels, I guess because he always sees Derrick eating them.  I was at the grocery store the other day and he saw me stop and put some in the cart and he started to SCREAM with delight.

I took the four kids and the dog for a walk earlier in the week and Sienna insisted on pushing her baby in her little stroller.  Halfway up a big hill she pooped out and climbed into the stroller for me to push her, which actually was pretty strenuous.  On the way back down the hill she climbed out again and looked over at me and said, "Mama, I have muscles than you!"  I guess she meant bigger muscles...I'm getting dissed by a 3-year-old...

Sienna was eating lasagna last night and got a big chunk of plain ricotta cheese without realizing it.  She put it in her mouth and I caught her spitting it all out.  "I don't like it, " she told me.  "I'm going to throw up now."

Carter was complaining when Derrick was trying to teach he and Reese a new card game tonight.  I told him I played cards all the time when I was a kid and Derrick said he did too.  Carter's quick reply to that was, "Well that's because you didn't have any cool toys when you were a kid."

Derrick must not have felt like he was busy enough with everything else we have going on because this week he started to work on a sport court for the kids in our backyard.  They were very eager to help him shovel the 9 tons of gravel we had delivered the other day.

Today, we enjoyed the lovely warm weather and went apple picking with the kids.  Nani and Pop Pop and Aunt Carol came along too.   We did a  little pumpkin picking hayride as well and the kids loved that, of course.