Welcome, Welcome Autumn!

It FINALLY happened....we've been waiting in anticipation of the summer giving way to fall. It happened yesterday. The air is cool and everything has the golden glow of autumn. How I love this time of year. It is like taking a deep breath of fresh air!! It is renewing.

A friend mentioned today that she & her husband are heading to Vermont for a couple weeks to enjoy the fall foliage. Can I confess that I felt a little twinge of jealousy??

In autumn when the trees are brown The little leaves come tumbling down They do not make the slightest sound But lie so quietly on the ground Until the wind comes puffing by And blows them off towards the sky.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.
Fall poem by John Muir

The End Result

So here's the "before" picture. You can't get the full effect of what it was really like "before" because by this point, all the wallpaper has been removed. When we moved into the house 7 years ago, the top 2/3 of the wall had "frog & toad go fishing" wallpaper. The previous owners had it set up rather cute with a whole fishing theme for their little boy. Unfortunately for us, it wasn't so cute for our bigger boys who, at the time, had to share the room. Since we used pretty much every dime we had to buy and move into the house, redecorating was not a high priority. Our house was built in 1910, so you can imagine all the home improvement projects that awaited us!! In the left-hand corner of the picture, you can see a tan rectangle and above it, another tan spot on the wall. There was a little built in corner desk and shelf that, once again, would have been great for a little boy. We removed those and then set to work with spackle and sanding. A HUGE MESS!!!!!!!! Amy's boyfriend, Chris, came over and did almost all the painting for me. What a blessing!!!! The ceiling and all the trim and woodwork got a fresh coat of clean white. By this picture, the woodwork is done and also the top portion of the wall painted a nice tan.

And here's the finished product with the wallpaper and border added. Great paper I found on clearance at Lowe's. Covered all the imperfections in the wall and seems very durable. We set up his room in zones and he seems to be very pleased with it.

I'm glad its done!!!! Now onto the laundry room!!!!

**This post was written last Friday, September 18. After several failed attempts to get it posted, I gave up and decided to wait a few days and try again.**

A certain young lady (who also happens to be the baby) turned 14 last Friday! I keep thinking there's just no way that my baby girl is 14!! She has turned into such a cool young lady and a very good young lady, who is responsible and kind, and good, and funny and has been such a blessing to her mom...yep, she's been my buddy since the day she was born!!

Emily had developed a cold early last week and we also thought she was dealing with some allergies. By her birthday, she was complaining of ear pain. Poor kid. Who wants to spend their birthday at the doctor's?? I knew she had an ear infection and possibly bronchitis. What I was not expecting was a diagnosis of pneumonia. She left the office with strict instructions to basically do nothing for most of the week so that her lungs would heal. Meanwhile, we had a party planned for her Sunday evening so we kept it rather low key. I felt so sorry for her I would have bought her anything she asked for!! She went back to school yesterday and is feeling 100% better.

Where Did The Fall Go?????

Last week we were enjoying fall temps. Sunday morning we had our church service outside and it was rather chilly. Unfortunately, summer has decided to show herself one last time before giving over to Autumn. It's been humid, humid, humid here the past couple days. Yep, I'm ready for sweaters and cooler temps!!

Cliff & I are in the middle of yet another one of our home improvement projects. To be honest, I don't really enjoy this type of work because of the mess it makes...but the reward is so worth it. So, here's what we've been up to....

This is Jacob's room. We'll finish up this weekend...stay tuned!!

Abraham Faith

Genesis 22:1-9

1 Some time later, God tested Abraham’s faith. “Abraham!” God called.
“Yes,” he replied. “Here I am.”
2 “Take your son, your only son—yes, Isaac, whom you love so much—and go to the land of Moriah. Go and sacrifice him as a burnt offering on one of the mountains, which I will show you.”
3 The next morning Abraham got up early. He saddled his donkey and took two of his servants with him, along with his son, Isaac. Then he chopped wood for a fire for a burnt offering and set out for the place God had told him about. 4 On the third day of their journey, Abraham looked up and saw the place in the distance. 5 “Stay here with the donkey,” Abraham told the servants. “The boy and I will travel a little farther. We will worship there, and then we will come right back.”
6 So Abraham placed the wood for the burnt offering on Isaac’s shoulders, while he himself carried the fire and the knife. As the two of them walked on together, 7 Isaac turned to Abraham and said, “Father?”
“Yes, my son?” Abraham replied.
“We have the fire and the wood,” the boy said, “but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?”
8 “God will provide a sheep for the burnt offering, my son,” Abraham answered. And they both walked on together.
9 When they arrived at the place where God had told him to go, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood on it. Then he tied his son, Isaac, and laid him on the altar on top of the wood. 10 And Abraham picked up the knife to kill his son as a sacrifice. 11 At that moment the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!”
“Yes,” Abraham replied. “Here I am!”
12 “Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

How I need Abraham Faith. Faith that follows and obeys God...even if it call for the things that are most precious to me.

Scrapbook Page Idea

When I was a young mother, I remember moms with grown or almost grown children saying to me, "Rebecca, you need to enjoy these days because they go so fast." I believed them to an extent but there were those days when I was trying to get dinner going, feed a baby, keep an eye on an active toddler, and help others with homework that made me wonder if those days were truly going to end. Sometimes they were long, tiring, rewarding, fun, exhausting, sleepless days!!

And here I sit, just a few days from my youngest child...my baby turning 14 and I wonder where the time has gone and sometimes wishing I had a rewind button so I could go back...at least for some of the good stuff.

So I've had this idea for a scrapbook page using the lyrics to the song, "You're Gonna Miss This" by Trace Adkins.

"You're gonna miss this, you're gonna want this back. You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast. These are some good times so take a good look around. You may not know it now but you're gonna miss this."

Hopefully I haven't left you with the impression that I am not enjoying these days with my kids, I totally am!! They have turned into some really cool people that on some levels I feel like I'm just getting to know.