The Journey Begins

This playground is getting a lot of attention these days,

to be honest,

we have been surprised how far reaching the curiosity has been.

The foundation is in, laying out the crawl space, rec room, storage and bathroom.

the  first floor is on 

and the walls are starting to come up,
revealing rooms recognized by their windows.
It truly is quite surreal to see paper come to life,

 to see new dreams taking shape
and to anticipate the changes to come.

Our very own HGTV in real life.

Count Your Many Blessings

 This weekend was a focus and reminder of our many blessings!

 The blessing of seeing cousins together ...

 an auntie who organized a scavenger hunt ...

a beautiful fall day ...

 

joy in setting tables and preparing a meal ...

 adult children who are fun to be with

 and their children who fill our hearts with gratefulness,

laughter, sentimentality, wonder and joy.

 Their table was set with a paper table runner 

and it kept them busy the whole meal long,

mapping out their thankfuls ...

I cannot even describe the feeling of reading through this scroll.

After dinner they all went down to the basement 

to dig through the dress up trunk and create a play

about the origin of Thanksgiving.

Once they finished their practice runs

the adults were invited

and ushered into their preferred seating.
We can call it amazing, realizing that this too is a season

And that brings me to one more thankful,

the moments that define us ...

the pain and joy of life shared

the tears along with the laughter,

the stories, the history, 

the quirks, the genes, the strange and good,

the missing of the ones far away,

the hopes and dreams for each person

and being able to entrust them 

to our loving Father who made us family.

♡♡♡

The Heart of Thanksgiving

Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and all that is within me, 

bless his holy name!

2  Bless the LORD, O my soul,

and forget not all his benefits,

3  who forgives all your iniquity,

who heals all your diseases,

4  who redeems your life from the pit,

who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,

5  who satisfies you with good

so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

from Psalm 103

A New Season

It's a piece of land with beautiful trees and an amazing view ...

a place Jack is drawn to these days to watch the diggers and bobcats.

The beginning of a new dream. 

I thought I should introduce it

as it will take up a lot of our time in the next six months.