Fall: I Welcome You With Open Arms!

The image below makes my sweat glands quiver...

Popsicle anyone?? After suffering through the horribly oppressive summer heat that feels the need to bring a side-dish of humidity, I can't adequately convey in written word my enthusiasm for the fact that Fall weather has officially arrived in the Ohio Valley. Haul out the pumpkins, get the mums in the ground, open up the windows, build up the bonfire and crank-up the tractor for the hay rides because Fall is upon us! Yay!

Summer, I turn up my nose to you and your ridiculous heat. My sweat glands are personally thankful that your time on center stage is through. It's been real, but take a hike until 2011!


Okay, okay, enough with the drama, but seriously, it was one of the hottest summer's in recent history. But now that cooler temperatures are here, I have hit the outdoors to ready the flowerbeds for fall (which translates as pull the weeds that have taken over in my neglect due to medical microbiology over the summer and second semester nursing two weeks later.) Seriously at one point there was a weed by my front door that was nearly taller than me. And I'm 6-feet tall...it wasn't a skimpy weed!

So normally, I just skip decorating for fall because I'm too excited and ready to just decorate for Christmas, but I am taking a different approach this year. As I get older, time does indeed seem to be racing by even faster. I've thought a lot about this lately. My dad told me once, "Don't wish your life away." It was in the context of me whining about not being able to go out with friends or do the things my older brothers could do. I am quite certain it followed me saying something like, "I wish I was older so I could do that." I'm sure we've all been there. But my dad's wisdom was more than I understood at the time. I get it now. I don't want to wake up when I'm 50, 60, 70 or even Lord willing 80 years old and think to myself, "Why didn't I live more in the moment instead of always pining for the tomorrows?" Sure, it is wise to set goals and make plans (as long as one's heart stays open to God's plan even if it alters our own.) But I want every day to count. This summer was a stretch for me. I love to be outside, but I dread to be hot. And it was melt your face off hot, but I made the best of it. I think the most fun this summer was "Camp Amby." Every now and then I have the privilege of entertaining the various kiddos of my friends and family. And in addition to games indoors, I added to my kid-entertaining-arsenal a slip-n-slide, a sprinkler and some water guns. It was hot, but we stayed cool and had a watery blast in the meantime!

And so with summer behind us, fall upon us and winter ahead (insert childish squeal here!) I am planning to continue to make the most of each day. I'm working on new fall decorations and will post pics soon (I hope) of my creations. Until then, I'm posting some inspirational and "cooler" photos from the days past of my favorite seasons.

The picture below was a little gem I rediscovered when going through my photos from Alaska. I took so many pictures while I was there, I honestly forgot taking some of them! This one was on a tour of a native village set up for tourists taking the riverboat cruise on the Chena river. It has the feel of "ready for winter." Which speaks of my mood three seasons out of the year! Ha!


And I don't have high hopes for a good snowy winter like we had this past winter, but I'll keep my snowy pictures close by to remember the days of hiking in the snow with a frozen nose and joyful heart. : )

Snow? Yes please!

So for anyone who really knows me, knows that I love snow.

It's not like an "Oh Yay! It's snowing" kind of affection, it's like "how can I get my affairs in order so I can move to Alaska and surround myself with feet and feet of snow??" and "Where can I live that I can have access to groomed cross-country ski trails and tubing hills and evergreen forests that I can snowshoe thru?"

Yeah, it's bad.

But the Lord is kind to give me little snippets of time in snow country.


And this time, I got to bring my nieces along which pretty much seals the deal and makes me the coolest Aunt on US soil right now. (Sorry for all other Aunts out there reading this -- apparently I've set the bar kind of high now :-D But they are girls after my own heart -- they love the snow too!

So I've often wondered, and in my quiet time with the Lord dwelled upon snow and why I am so drawn to it, and I always come back to the simple fact of how a fresh blanket of snow makes even the most rugged and unattractive landscape overwhelmingly beautiful. Even the rusty grossness that is the yard of the construction company near my neighborhood, with it's rusted machinery and junk piles, looks amazingly peaceful and beautiful when it is laden with a thick blanket of snow.

"Come now, let us reason together," says the LORD. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. -- Isaiah 1:18

My mind always returns to this scripture. My sin will be washed white as snow. My sin, as wretched as it is, as wretched as I am, in Christ, by His sacrifice, is white as snow.

I am reminded of this as the harshness of tree bark is softened with snow -- a beautiful sight is a forest of trees with branches laden with snow.

And snow always makes me think of my Creator. What a neat way of watering the earth in the cold months.


I am thankful the Lord has given us a fun way of enjoying His creation in the winter months. Tomorrow I am planning on taking my nieces snowshoeing and cross-country skiing along some groomed trails. I am hoping to take in some beautiful views of snow laden trees and frozen lakes.

The Lord is so kind.

Ice Storm 2009..or as some have deemed it "The White Tornado"

It is hardly a secret just how much I truly LOVE snow! I always look forward to winter and the anticipation of snow. And if it doesn't come to me, I usually find a way to go to it in various destinations north of here.

I have been praying that the Lord would bless us (or me anway) with some snow. I wasn't however too keen on receiving nearly three inches of ice with the snow. But, on January 27th, a mere three days after my birthday, the ice fell. It fell all day long. And then the snow made it's debut amid the snapping and falling of tree limbs. I won't relive the full evening because I was not able to go to sleep until about 5 a.m. because the huge maple tree in my backyard that hangs over the house was losing the uppermost layer at a fast rate. Everytime I heard a loud pop - I just prayed and prayed quickly that it wouldn't hit the house, and then listen intently to hear where it would fall. Four limbs hit the house, one was so big and so loud that Madison jumped up and was so scared I had to just put my hands over her ears and repeatedly say "I'm here, it's okay, it's the tree losing limbs" so she could calm down. Both of the girls were with me since they had already called off school for the day.

Tree limbs covering the deck, ponds and littering the field.

Little did I know the full wrath of the storm. I was blessed and only lost power for about 9 hours but my mom and brother and sis-in-law were not so fortunate. Everyone then piled into my house and it was wonderful! I hate living alone, but cope fine, and absolutely love it when I have guests and when my house is full. So, needless to say, I was thrilled to have my family there and to be able to cook for them and do laundry and dishes for someone other than myself.

To avoid a mutiny, and to keep the girls entertained I took them sledding Thursday and Friday. Since Eric and Sara both had to work despite the weather, I got to spend some great quality time with the girls!


So, by Saturday morning, my mom's power came back on and then Sunday the electricity at Eric and Sara's was restored. Which meant one thing. I would be going home to an empty house again. I won't relay to you the depths of my sorrow, but this is where I truly show you how pathetic I am. When I got home, I grabbed my camera and started shooting. I could see evidence all over my house of the past week. Mr. Monkey peeking out from behind the liner to Lauren's coat, the toothpaste spits (as I call it) all over the faucet from little Lauren and her obsession with playing in the bathroom, the smoke detector still hanging open from when I used the oven and further scorched whatever it is on the bottom of the oven, and The Little House on the Prairie's The Long Winter on my nightstand that I began reading to the girls (I felt it was appropriate.) My absolute favorite was the refrigerator. After I left to go to church the girls wrote me letters thanking me for letting me stay there and that they had so much fun and they posted them all over my fridge. Lauren's note that said I was "prede" (pretty.) was an extra special touch. Oh! It just melts my heart!! I don't want to forget any of the fun we had and the memories we made.

Daisy Lou warped into recovery mode pretty quickly by going to bed early Sunday night.

I hated to see them go, but I know it couldn't have been easy on everyone being removed from their homes and operating out of a suitcase and a small house. But I'm so thankful for my family and so thankful for being snowed in with them.

Another positive note is my poor tree in the back. I have been so worried about it these past few years and really wanting to have it thinned out - it has grown to be so huge. The Lord thinned it out for me in just one ice storm! : ) I lost nearly half the tree and almost the whole top of it. I look forward to some good bonfires soon!

Wow! Just wow...

I have sooo much to write about, but unfortunately, as I am on vacation, I will wait until I'm back home to write about the things on my mind. However, I was so fortunate to go snowmobiling today on my cousin's property here in Michigan and I took the opportunity to take some pictures.

Definitely an amazing and beautiful place. And a time to have to just take in the amazing creation of God!

I hope you enjoy some beautiful and snow views from Michigan. I will post more once I'm home!