Hello, Autumn, my old friend!

 It doesn't really feel like fall yet, but it is officially here...and the forecast shows a cooling trend for the rest of the week. Bring it on! I went ahead and put out my fall decorations over the weekend. I'm always happy to enter into this season!

Things have been really busy over the past month! We began by celebrating Matt's birthday on Aug.16. It was nice to have him and Sheila and Nam over to celebrate. The following week I started suffering with my annual Labor Day sinus stuff. Happens every year in late Aug/early Sept. I finally broke down on Saturday morning and went to Urgent Care to get some antibiotics and prednisone. That REALLY helped. I had a busy week the next week getting ready for Labor Day weekend. The prednisone gave me the extra "oomph" needed to get everything done! Melissa and Jared's family came and stayed with us for the whole long weekend. They were such a joy to have in our home! We loved visiting with them and everyone else who gathered over the weekend at Lake Mineral Wells State Park. We also loved having all of the visitors with us at Eastside on Sunday morning. We actually had a pretty full house! It was great!

The next weekend, Stephen's family came and spent the night. It was so good to have them here! The kids are all growing up so fast. We don't get to spend nearly enough time with them.

The following Friday, Amber brought the kids over early and left them so she could work on another sculptured cowboy boot cake. It is hard for her to do such an involved project with 2 little ones to care for. We went ahead and kept them overnight so Rick and Amber could enjoy a date night. As always, the kids were so good, and we had a lot of fun with them. Their parents came after lunch on Saturday to get them and spent the afternoon visiting. I love having them so close!

Ricky had to go out of state for work this week, so Amber and the kids came over yesterday to go to church with us and have a sleepover. They spent all day today, too. As well as enjoying our time with the kiddos, I really enjoyed getting to visit with Amber last night after everyone else went to bed. It is rare for us to have one on one time! We barely made it to bed before midnight. Thankfully the kids didn't wake up too early this morning!

Dennis' cataract surgeries both ended up being very successful, and he is really enjoying his much improved eyesight. He can see better than he's been able to for MANY years! It makes me look forward to having mine done next year. I'm hoping for as favorable results as he has had.

Dennis finished up the men's restroom at church and has started working on the women's. He got everything demo'ed and is making good progress putting up the new sheetrock. Our (very) old building isn't easy to work on...nothing is square or level, and there are holes everywhere. It should really look and function so much better when he's done remodeling it!

I wish that I had thought to take a "before" picture. The difference is remarkable!

I haven't done much handwork lately. I was so busy getting ready for company and having company that I just wasn't really in the mood to get ambitious with my crafting. I haven't touched my linen stitch (knitted) hand towel in weeks. It is so slow going and gives my old, arthritic hands a hard time. I did try out a new kind of crochet, Tunisian crochet. It took me a couple of false starts, but I finally figured it out and made a hot pad. I love how it worked up! I'd originally plan to use it for a dishcloth, but it is thicker than I like to use for that purpose (doesn't dry quickly enough, so it can sour easily). But I love the thickness and texture as a hot pad. When I got my fall decorations out, I decided to replace the stems in my crocheted pumpkins with crocheted ones (instead of the cinnamon sticks that I'd originally used). The kids like having soft toys to play with and throw, and I was worried that the sticks might hurt someone...besides the fact that they like to pull them out. So I crocheted up some stems and sewed them on. They were a hit! Crocheting also bothers my hands, but I bought some compression (fingerless) gloves to wear when working. I still have to rest my hands occasionally, but the gloves definitely do help.

Tunisian crocheted hot pad

We have a local farmer's market that is open 2 Saturdays a month "in season". It had been quite a while since I'd checked it out, so I went Saturday. I was much more impressed with it than times past when I'd gone. I got a free-range chicken, some fresh eggs, some local mushrooms and honey, and a couple of other small items. So far, I've only tried the pioppino mushrooms. I'd never even heard of them before. I put them in the boeuf Bourguignon that I cooked for supper tonight. Amber and Dennis seemed to like them. They pretty much tasted like regular mushrooms to me, just a little firmer in texture. I'd like to try out some of the other varieties that they had. I'm really looking forward to cooking the chicken and eggs that I bought. I love being able to buy fresh, local produce.

This coming Saturday is the opening of our local pumpkin patch for the season. Amber is planning to bring the kids, so we can go together. The last time we took Archer to it was 2 years ago. (Last year we took him to the one at Clark Gardens.) I'm excited to see both him and Kacey enjoying the activities they have planned! Life is so much fun with littles!

The following weekend, we plan to go to Paris to celebrate Shepherd's birthday. October starts our busy birthday season. We have Shepherd, Dennis, Mandy and Stephen in October. Then we have Archer, Nam, Kacey and Amber in November. The last 3 months of the year can get quite festive and full!

Take care, enjoy the changing colors of autumn and cooler temperatures, and remember to give thanks in everything!

 1Th 5:18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.