A Spontaneous Daddy Daughter Lunch Date...

Gracie and I were spending the day together doing a little Christmas shopping. So, Autumn was hanging out at work with her Daddy. I had packed her a little lunch, but he surprised her with a lunch date!

These are the pictures he sent me. Autumn with her hero and Mike with his! :)

I'm sad I didn't get any pictures of Gracie and I together. We had a great time though. We got to check out some new local shops along with several other favorites. As much as I miss the season with tiny tots at my feet, I also love this sweet time together. I am blessed to have my three most favorite people with me each day. It doesn't get any better than that!

It's Snowing! Well Sort Of...

It's the first snow of the season. At least, I think it's snowing...

You see it too, right?!?

Family Fun Day...

We had a unique opportunity to get away together as a family this past Sunday. We love worshiping with our family and friends. It's the highlight of our week. And we rarely aren't there. But, on occasion, it's nice to sneak away and find an adventure together!

We usually have an undeniable bend toward getting outside, on the trail, or at least into the country. This time we chose something outside our norm, but it ended up being a ton of fun! We decided to do some pre-Christmas window shopping. We had to check out the aquarium in the mall. I don't have pictures, but while we were there the Marine Biologist was feeding some of the fish. It was pretty cool! I had to laugh...I remember saying to Mike several years ago when I was making a decision about college: "Well, Marine Biologists just aren't needed in TN!" Who knew...

We ended the day with some delicious Mexican food. All in all, a great time!

October Glory and A Photo Shoot...

October in TN is like why people live here.

It's stunning. Usually, the weather has gone from the deep, smothering heat of summer to the cool kiss of Fall. You're met with gentle breezes and perfectly blue skies. The leaves float through the air like little golden and crimson sailboats. The days are dwindling into the onset of winter and holidays, but for a few short weeks, it's absolute perfection. My Daddy always calls it "free weather", meaning the windows are open and the bugs are dead!

So, outside of spending every spare second in the yard, starting up a good evening bonfire, and picking the perfect pumpkin, what are Octobers made for?

Why, a photo shoot of course!

Here's my attempt (with a lame camera and not a single photographer's gene in my body) to snap some fun pictures of my two sweet girls...

Gracie (12 years old)

Autumn (9 years old)

Sisters

Silliness

Ok, Mom. We're done...

Wizards, and Elves, and Parrots, Oh My....

Halloween 2014 brought a fun mix of characters our way!

Gracie was Hermione Granger this year, inspired by her time reading through the Harry Potter book series for the first time.

Autumn was Turiel, a woodland elf in the new Hobbit movie.

We have celebrated the past several years with our friends in their neighborhood. It has become such a fun tradition. This year, however, they were in the middle of a move. Staying with us in fact until they close on the new house. So, we had to find a Plan B. We've never really lived in a place where we could walk from house to house, but we always find somewhere to go and this year was no different. The girls got dressed and we headed out to a local neighborhood to trick-or-treat. The weather was unusually COLD! We all pretty much ran from house to house and laughed the whole way. Although the invitation was for our entire congregation to meet in the Hickory Wild area, we must have missed most of them because we ended up doing the rounds by ourselves. We ran into a couple of friends along the way, but no one was particularly excited to stand around. It was FREEZING! So, after an hour or so we packed up and headed to see our little niece before calling it a night.

The Living Room Sessions & A Missionary...

When you have the pleasure of being part of a body of believers that value multiplication and sending out as much a we do, you get to watch God do amazing things. One of which is praying our dear friend through the process of taking the Light to Tanzania.

We've known Katherine for a couple of years and not once in that time have we ever wondered what the Lord might be calling her to. God has written Africa on her heart and planted it deep into her soul. She has taken many short-term mission opportunities there over the past several years all while patiently waiting for her one-way trip. Although the process has been going on for quite some time, she is now in the active phase of preparing to leave for a two year immersion mission opportunity in early 2015! Amazing!

There is much to be done. She has an enormous amount of planning and packing to do. Some travel. And, most of all, a lot of fundraising. You can check out what's going on in more detail here.

So, we pray. And we cheer. And we pray. And we do whatever we can to help. Mike has some pretty amazing gifts and talents, so he's doing what he can to contribute. A couple of things on the horizon include: a local worship night and an album. Several of the folks of Community Life Church have hopped on board to make it happen!

All (as in 100%) of proceeds will go toward funding the eternal work that God has called Katherine to in Tanzania. And this is how we are each called - in some way - to international missions. We go. We pray. We give. Sometimes it's all of those things, and sometimes it's not. But it's always SOMETHING! We are simply thankful to be a part of advancing the gospel...however it looks!

Apples...

It's apple time again in TN! We had several apples to harvest this year. They seemed to ripen a bit early, but maybe that's due in part to a warm, dry summer. I attempted my first batch of apple butter. It turned out beautifully and could not be more simple!

Yay for Johnny Appleseed and yay for brilliant people who come up with easy-peasy recipes that help me feel a little more like Ma Ingalls. Enjoy apple season!!