November

Yes, it came in like a whirlwind.  We prepared for a hurricane here in NWPA, but ended up with a windy night, rain and cloudy days.  We were so very thankful that all we had was just a little rain and wind too.

Oddly enough, I received phone calls--numerous times in fact--from my mother making sure we were alright.  Apparently in South Dakota the weather reports were not as accurate as what was actually occurring here in our neighborhood and it worried my mother and other family out there.  Why is this so strange to me that my mother would be calling us to check up on us?  She hasn't called for the longest time--2008--and now she calls.  I am hoping this in answer to prayer for reconciliation in the relationship with her.  Time will tell.

Over last weekend, we went through the house like a whirlwind trying to make sure things were cleaned up and ready since this week was going to be crazy busy.  We had Sunday morning church, then Bell Choir and Choir practice, rush home to inhale something, then we were off to piano and flute lessons.  Sunday afternoon was spent getting ready for homeschool co-op and company on Tuesday.

For some reason on Monday morning, it was so difficult to just simply get out the door to the homeschool meeting.  Fortunately we were there with one minute to spare since my daughter, HJ, had to get to her Biology lab.  Yes, I admit, there are days like that here at our house!  :)   The rest of the day went absolutely wonderful with classes and meetings and picture day and looking at how much my kids have grown picking out pictures.  We stopped off at the store and came home to the wonderful scent of a beef roast cooking and getting yummy for dinner.  We brought everything in from the Suburban, put it away and crashed on the couch to watch Netflix.  I fell asleep, exhausted.  I decided at that point that I was pretty much useless the rest of the night and felt so very thankful for the stuff in the crock pot and a clean house.

Tuesday morning began very early.  The children and I got up early to go get water at the Spring, so I stopped off to get breakfast pizza for everyone.  What an awesome idea that was!  Everyone had their fill, we went to vote, then home to tidy up, get lunch together and our company arrived.  What a sweet and wonderful time we had with our dear friends, the Posts.  We went down to Cook's Forest to show them the wonderful place we get to walk and refresh ourselves.  What a blessing!

There is a playground just behind Lisa's hubby where the little ones were playing while Lisa and I walked with the older ones to climb this wonderful hill that my kids love to climb and slide down.  Guess who enjoyed it too?  LOL

HJ and Josiah enjoyed roller blading.

Elizabeth is up above, Esther's hand is just visible by the tree, Ben and JL are sort of racing down the hill.  It's steeper than this picture shows.  They love this hill!  

Almost to the bottom.

And Elizabeth slowly and cautiously making her way to the bottom. In the winter at the bottom of this hill the park service fills an indentation in the grassy area so people can ice skate.  They also make an area for sledding.  What fun!  

We walked for a bit more and by the time we returned to the van, it was almost loaded with the kids ready to come back to the house.  

Upon arriving back at our house, my Mr. G was already starting on dinner.  You see, backtracking just a bit, we were originally going to have the Posts over the week before, but the hurricane decided to come.  Mr. G had that day off and was going to make his Chicken Jambalaya that he usually makes for me every year for my birthday, which is in September. This week, he had been mandated to work on his day off.  I told him that he didn't have to make it, but he insisted.  So he was home when we arrived and in the kitchen making dinner.  What a wonderful hubby I have!   [When we went to the Post's house in September to visit, I didn't say anything about it being my birthday then.  When I usually have my yearly birthdays, the day is very low key.  We try to plan things but for some reason each year the home owner's insurance keeps increasing which completely takes up any part of the budget we were going to do anything with.  What a wonderful birthday I had when we could go and visit and enjoy the day.  What a gift!   I don't know if you've noticed by now, but the gifts I treasure most is the gift of time with people I love and care about.  You can't wrap those things, but you can hold on to those precious memories.]  Anyway, when Lisa found out it was my birthday back in September, she planned and plotted this lovely and wonderful wall hanging to give to me.  It is so much more breathtakingly beautiful in real life than it is in the pictures.  I was so very surprised and thankful for such a precious and beautiful gift from such a wonderful friend.  When I get the rods and hanging  hardware for it, I'll post a picture of it hanging in our bedroom.  

 We had a wonderful dinner, played games, knitted (those of us ladies who knit), and enjoyed each other's company.  In fact it was hard to say good-bye.

Such wonderful sweet times of fellowship are often times hard to come by.  When we do experience them, we savor them and hold them in our hearts all the more as precious jewels.  

And so, our November has begun with a whirlwind, quite literally and it continues daily with lots of work to be done every day for the glory of our King Jesus.  I pray that your days are filled with love and laughter and lots of wonderful blissful memories.

May God Bless your days!