Fall Catch Up

 Hello, few and faithful readers:)  I was talking to a friend about a month ago and she reminded me it was time to post again as it had been about six weeks.  So now that it's been another four weeks..... I mean, I'm over being 40.  Time to move on!  So here you have a photo dump of the last two months.  Almost 2 1/2 months!  And the first bunch of them is out of order but I'm not changing them.  Too bad.

The beautiful, long lasting fall weather we had was taken much advantage of most afternoons!

Tucker really looks forward to Thursday mornings when it's story hour time:)  We go through the days of the week together multiple times each week, trying to remember when it is exactly that he gets to go again.  Next week is Thanksgiving already which means no library but we'll be in IL so hopefully he won't notice:)

Climbing trees is a favorite activity around here.  I was never a sure footed kid but my kids seem to be fairly confident so I try to just let them do their thing.

Summer had her first piano recital! It was actually scheduled about a month after she started so her teacher gave her the option to opt out.  But she really wanted to give it a try and she did great!

Danny's parents like to take all the adults out for their birthdays.  This year for mine we ended up doing an outing with the kids to Steele Farms.  It was just what the doctor ordered.

Applesauce day!

Street Fair- the ferris wheel is the only ride I can handle so I quickly volunteered to go with the kids:)

Tucker Joseph turned 4.  He wanted a yellow cake with chocolate frosting and green letters and sprinkles.  And that's just what he got.

And Tanner turned 2!  Just four day before Tucker.  He had caramel apple cake because he had no opinion on what kind of dessert he wanted.

Our nieces babysat one night and did Summer's hair in braids.  She left them in over 24 hours and had curly(ish) hair when they finally came out.  That's a pretty exciting deal for stick straight hair girls:)  Ask me how I know.

Zoo and Chuck E Cheese day.  Tanner was aaaaaaallllllllllll over the place. And he wasn't sure what to think about the ride.

The aforementioned fall days spent outside come with bees.  Bubby got stung twice in one day:(  Once on his hand and once right by his eye.  It was soooooo sad.

Harvest Call hosted a retreat for returning missionaries.  I didn't realized it was something they had done in the past, just on a smaller scale.  But they had some catching up to do after covid and there were 93 people there!  It was such a sweet time of reunion and sharing and I am so glad we were able to go.

We got there about as early as we could and enjoyed some time hiking through the woods with the kiddos before the majority showed up.  And the retreat was in IL so we were able to leave Tanner with my parents which made it way more relaxing!

The week after the retreat happened to be fall break so Danny came home with some friends and I stayed with the kids at my parents for a few days.  One chilly day they all snuggled in the kitchen which is the warmest room in the house.  They stayed like that for a long time!

Love seeing my boys be friends.

At one point when I realized I hadn't seen Tanner in awhile I went on a search for him.  I found him with a chair pushed up to the counter eating some goodies he had found.  I asked him what he was doing.  He smiled real big and said "Dats nummy cookie!"

These snowmen came in a bag of treasures someone gave us.  Summer got creative and made a snowman band.  Using scotch tape and blocks, we have the lead singer, the guitar player, and the drummer:)  Then she turned up the music on my phone, stood in front of them, and directed them for the longest time.  Looks like Tanner didn't appreciate their tunes.

Aaron and Cassie were camping at the state park for a couple nights and invited the family out for supper one night.  Twas a lovely evening!

Sawyer turned 6.  Thanks to Tucker's green letters and sprinkles, that's what he wanted too.  Easy enough.

Gator rides one evening out at grandpa and grandma's.  We hadn't ridden or driven a gator since Haiti and it was fun to do that again:)  Such a familiar feeling.  Except this time it was way more smooth!

Field trip to Wabash Historical Museum and a show at the Honeywell Center.  Fun day!

Crazy hair day for Spirit Week at school!

And mismatch day.  But she decided before she left the house that the shoes were annoying so that didn't happen.  I didn't blame her.

Sawyer was excited to wear his Bonne Fin Geckos shirt for mismatch day.  It was a fun shirt to pull out again!

The first real snow!  This picture happened first thing when it started so there's not much to show for it.  But later that afternoon they played outside for about two hours!  It helped that Danny bundled up and went out with them:)

Tanner woke up from his nap that day and looked longingly out the window while they played.  But then he got a snack so he really had no complaints.

Joab and Trinity came to town for the weekend and stopped by with their adorable, sweet little girl.  None of us were sad about holding her!

Standing on the bouncy balls instead of chairs doesn't seem like the smartest idea..... 

And finally, the week before fall break Summer's class did their pumpkin patch field trip.  She came home with a pie pumpkin, not a carving one.  She's been asking since then to make a pie with it and it finally happened.  It was tasty!

So there you have it. Our fall.  It was a good one! And with thanksgiving right around the corner, I will leave you with  Psalm 95:1-2

"Oh come, let us sing to the Lord; let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation! Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!"

So This Is 40

 I keep saying that word in my head.  Forty.  Well that's not possible, is it?  Forty.  Well yes, actually, it is.  Forty.  I am forty.  A number that seemed to be looming over my head for the longest time that I didn't really want to happen, but it did.  There was no stopping it.  It has caused me to reflect on life a lot the last couple months.  Time, change, life experiences, health, all that stuff.  A lot of times I feel like I'm kind of in a strange place.  A lot of my peers who are in the same stage of life as me, with littles at home, are 10, 12, even almost 15 years younger.  Not all of them.  I do have a few stragglers along with me who are a little more upwards in age;)  Then again there are others my age who are facing their kids' high school graduations.  But I realize that I can look around at all of them and say "these are my people."  Friendship doesn't really have an age.

The fun all started last Wednesday when I went out with a few friends for the evening.  Up until just a year or two ago, I would have turned up my nose at sushi.  I'm so glad I've been enlightened!!

The fun will actually continue into next weekend when I have the chance to go out with some more friends for the evening.  My hubby has done well!!

This weekend was pretty phenomenal as far as celebrating goes.  The kids were so excited to give me their presents!  Except Tanner who really had no clue what was going on:)

About mid morning I told Danny I was going to my cousin's house because I wanted to check out her knives.  I need new knives and she said hers are really good but I didn't want to buy them before I felt them in my hand and cut something with them.  I like knives:)  Anyway.  Danny told me I just need to stay put.  Hmmmmmmm......... right??

About 9:45 the first people showed up.  And then people kept showing up throughout the day until the middle of the afternoon to wish me happy birthday!  There was the most random assortment of people from my past that Danny had done the work of inviting after other people gave him ideas of who to invite.  For some reason I had it in my head that he wasn't really planning anything and I was feeling pretty disappointed.  I even talked to him about how I was feeling because otherwise I knew I would just sit and stew about it and it wouldn't be good for either one of us.  I don't know why I underestimated him so badly!!

It was so fun to see who in the world was going to show up next.  Some of them were no brainers but some were real surprises!  

After that all came to a close, we went out with my parents to the restaurant in town.  Then they took the kids home while we went out for ice cream and a walk in the park together.  We are laughing in this selfie because Danny had just snapped a picture while I was burping:) 😂

Sunday night was a planned (not surprise) party with a lot of my family.  While they were singing to me, I was overcome with emotion over all these people that I love so much.  And they were there that night because they love me in return.  What a gift from God I have been given in this life.

Also my cake made me cry.  My cousin is an amazingly talented decorator and I was blown away.  For anyone reading who doesn't understand the cake, it's a boiled down representation of my life.  Quite literally, my forty year journey.  And when I opened up the box, it was like that journey flashed before my eyes.  What a journey it has been.

So here's to forty.  I don't know what the next years of my life will hold.  But I know who holds them and I will gladly journey on with Him and with all the people he has put in my life.

Deuteronomy 31:8
"It is the LORD who goes before you.  He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you.  Do not fear or be dismayed." 

Settling And Starting Over

So, so much has happened in the last few months.  I look back at my pictures and feel exhausted.  Oh wait.  I am exhausted.  With or without pictures.  There has been short times of respite here and there, enough to keep us going.  But for the most part it has felt like a marathon where we are sprinting the whole way.  While I do love this weather and the fact that I don't have to wake up the kids early, I am looking forward to starting school next week and finding a routine.  It's not a matter of getting back to a routine, it's finding a new one!  

For anyone who hasn't heard, we bought a house and moved in June!  It was not an easy process to shop for a house and when we got this one, we were filled with such relief and thanks.  It kind of took us by surprise as it was not really what we were looking for, but for right now it is perfect for us.

A quick(ish) recap of the end of spring and summer.

Yay for when the weather warmed up!  I think after living in Haiti I am more of a warm weather girl than I used to be.  This is the first time in my life that I can remember where I'm not longing for cool fall days.  I will enjoy them when they come, but I'm not longing for them yet!

Summer turned 7 on May 23.  And she never got a blogpost or even a FB post about it.  That's a first for me I think.  Sorry, Summer!

But she was more than satisfied with the semblance of a party that was thrown together:)

We decided that when you turn 7 you get to go to SkyZone.  It was so fun!!

The kids built these forts by themselves with sticks and dead pine needles.  I was impressed.

We hit up the air show.  Tucker liked the planes but did not appreciate the sun in his eyes.

We swapped out Tanner for Brooklyn for the day and that was an excellent choice!

Enter the crazy two weeks of VBS.  This was the first year for any of our kids to go.  They're all hooked now:)

During the in between weekend of VBS, I spent a day in IL for High School Girl's Camp where I was, of all things, a speaker.  It was super fun and the minute I got there the memories came flooding back and I really want to go be a counselor like in the days of yore!  Also I got to see Mara so that was fun:)

We celebrated Danny's birthday, too!

Somewhere in there we closed on our house and started a little redecorating.  A little wallpaper to take care of and a LOT of painting.  We had some rock star painters come help us though and we knocked out the whole house in four days!  Also the ladder could not be up if Tanner was around.

The house even came with a fenced in yard with a playset!  The playset has this little picnic bench on it that perfectly fits all four kids when the grown ups would prefer a quiet meal occasionally:)

The second weekend of VBS was the program and also the benefit dinner for Harvest Call's dairy program in Haiti.  My dad is on the dairy board so he and my mom came out for both of those!

We spent July 4 weekend in IL and met up with Herrmann's for the day.  It was good for our souls.

Hand me down patriotic shirts in mint condition?  Yes, please!!

Then it was time for the lakes!  The first couple days we were there by ourselves with Danny's parents.  We kind of enjoyed having that time before the chaos of having everyone.  I mean, we love the chaos too but we had never been there when it was so quiet!

We went out fishing one afternoon.  It was cold and rainy.  Not great circumstances to try and convince me that it's worth it.

But actually it was kind of fun.  Albeit a little stressful with toddlers and fish hooks in close quarters.

Tucker proudly caught the only fish of that excursion.

Also in those first couple of days we went to Shipshewana to the Amish zoo.  I think it's actually called Dutch Creek Farms or something like that but it's run by an Amish family so that's what we call it.  You definitely need to go if you're in the area.

Buddies:)

A kayak ride over to Turtle Island for some swimming.

We got made fun of because we were so cold.  We don't normally keep our air conditioner up as high as some of the other prefer it!

Cute little lifegaurds.

We watched BJ the week after we got back while his family was still at the lakes.

One day Tucker came in and told me Tanner was being naughty because he was drinking BJ's water.  I came out to this.  Yep, he sure is drinking BJ's water.

Getting ready for Kindergarten!

Sawyer got a new to him bike from a new to all of us neighbor.  It didn't have training wheels but he wanted to learn how to ride without them anyway so that was fine.  One morning when there were no grown ups available he said "I'm going to go ride my bike!" And he did.  Summer gave him a couple pointers and away he went!

I loaded up all four kids and went out to IL again during the week for corn day.  Freezer corn from my dad's field is just a small step above the 3 years expired canned corn we had a never ending supply of in Haiti.  Okay it's more than a small step, actually:)

One morning I just didn't know what to have for breakfast.  So we went to the doughnut shop!  That should probably happen more often.

Just being honest, the summer has not been really easy.  There's been plenty of good things happen, so it hasn't been bad, just not easy.  After one particularly hard day I went grocery shopping by myself.  A dream come true, right?  When I walked out of Wal*Mart I was greeted by this rainbow.  I just had to say "Thanks, God!"

Last night I found myself really missing Haiti.  There's a few different things I could pinpoint as to why, but one of them I think is that 3 years ago today is when we moved down there.  And sitting on this couch I'm on, writing a blogpost about our lives here in small town, Indiana is just not what I thought I would be doing three years ago!

But I'm also looking forward to this next phase of life.  I don't know why God sent us down only to bring us back so quickly, but I love what we're doing now.  He's not finished with us yet!

Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

1 Thessalonians 5:24 "Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it."