Witness to Thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love

A few things came together for me this morning. It started last night with the funny feeling that there would be a lot to look forward to today.  Then, I got to go for a walk this morning, and was thinking about God's great faithfulness on display in every season.  "He leads me beside quiet waters" reverberated in my mind as I walked around the lake.

Then, I remembered how that it was through those words that teh Lord led us to our neighborhood, which led me to realize that today was the anniversary of the date when we first rolled into Sahuarita, Kyrstin and I, at 2 A.M.

And I realized what I was going to do with those flat-shaped white pumpkins I'd bought at the grocery store that morning for $1, and I laughed.

I'd been reading a fictionalalized account of the Israelites crossing the Jordan river, after which they erected a monument of stones collected from the dry riverbed according to God's command.  It was to be a visual reminder for generations to come of the miracle that had allowed their nation to come into the land God had promised them.  I wanted to make a monument, but why, and how?

Thus the laugh.  I decided somehow to make the flat pumpkins into a memorial.  I'm sure there are a lot of different ways to do it.  I thought of several, but only had a few minutes to execute it, so this is what I did.

In the Biblical account, the heads of each of the tribues carry a boulder, so I decided to attach an identity to each of these tokens as well.  I simply painted our names and a simple design on each.  I can use them to tell my kids a story in the future.  Here is the story I would tell about this year.

Stefan has grown and improved so much in behavior and ability.  We are thankful every day, and we are praying and seeking remedies.  Kyrstin has become more calm and loving, and has developed a love of learning.  I painted flowers on mine that kind of also look like butterflies.  For me, the best thing has been a renewed sense of God's word being living and active in me and my family, and to have some friendships beginning to bloom in this desert.  Scott has been active in the church worship ministry.  

Those are blessings all mine, and the ten thousand beside will have to wait because it is late and I need to go to bed!  I am very glad that we are entering into a season of thankfulness so that there will be time to focus on all of God's good and precious gifts.

For today, this is my anthem, this is my song.

Just in case you're (p)interested

Ah, delay! What grief it has sometimes been to me, and yet, what a blessing in disguise! It is a delay that allows me to write this post, sitting here in front of this fire.

We are shifting our deeply-rooted lives 1000 miles west. That is a big ship to turn around. It takes a little more time than we thought.

I've been taking pics of things I think will be my last, like this cup of coffee brewed in my house. Please excuse my hair. I told my husband that I felt like packing up the coffeemaker would be the point of no return. Well, it's not sealed up yet, but I'd kinda rather not get it back out tomorrow, since I washed the carafe. That seems like boring news for the Internet.

Okay, so here's something kind of fun. Pumpkin spice bagels! Yahoo! I'm enjoying all the pumpkin ness.

I'm not on Pinterest, but it benefitted me the other day when I asked my girlfriends for advice on packing up my necklaces. An idea from Pinterest was to thread skinny ones through a straw so they didn't get tangled. So I did. If I were on Pinterest, I'd post this idea. I decided to roll up my busy necklaces in a towel, like so. It made a little necklace log that was easy to pack. TAda! I don't think this is super original, but it was a good solution.

This huge, bright truck is in my driveway. Isn't it pretty? The kids have had a great time running up and down the ramp. Here is my hubs, who essentially wore himself out yesterday and today, loading said vehicle.

So, we're to the point where the house looks like this. And we still have stuff like this in the garage. (Pic was taken during the day, FYI.). So there is just enough left to do that by taking an extra day we can enjoy this fire tonight, rest up, and then wrap up properly and without strain.

Oh yeah, one more pinteresty thing - I saw these apple nachos a site with a other fall recipe I like, and made them for the kids a few times. Nutella a d pb. They LOVE them. Who wouldn't, right? Do other families also go through a jar of Nutella per week, or is it just us, and the novelty of it?

So anyway, in case you're pinterested, we're a day behind but doing fine.