Lil of This-n-That

We don't celebrate Halloween and we don't always carve a pumpkin, but we had one from going to the pumpkin patch so we decided to carve it last night.  I had been thinking today about how maybe trick-or-treating is more harmless than not, but God helped me to change my mind quickly.  We had to take an unexpected trip to the mall this evening to fix Sean's Mac again and there were so many people there TOTing.  And the costumes on many were spooky scary.  I know, I know.  That's what most are going for.  But I just didn't like it.  I have a vivid imagination thinking about mall shootings and what not with all those scary folk.

Beautiful flowers from my sweet friend Carly after we lost Allie

Otis

Lily

My Milo

It took maybe close to forever for the leaves to change, but it has finally started!  While the kiddos are napping and Ryan is doing school and Sean is home, I've been sneaking out to take a 20 minute walk in the afternoons and read my devotional book and pray.  It's been really nice.  I had to get in a few pix of our colors around here, too.  We are supposed to be getting a lil snow tonight/tomorrow !

This morning we took the children to IHOP for free "scary" face  pancakes.  We ended our evening with free Krispy Kreme donuts.

And totally off subject, but wanted to share that we have been working on Matthew 5.  Our goal is for the 4 of us to learn Matthew 5, 6, and 7.  So far we've got Matt 5:1-10 down.  We have a ways to go, but we are having fun trying to learn it and it is always a blessing to have God's scriptures in our hearts.  We've also decided, Lord willing, if the 4 of us can memorize all 3 chapters, we are going to go on a Disney Cruise.  Oh and we will bring Hailey and Andrew.  :)  We are hoping to go to new York after Sean graduates next December, too.  :)

OK, signing off.  Time to finish my PSL and my PS Godiva truffle.  Oh and Hallmark Christmas movies started.  :O)

Our Allie Girl

So sad.  We had to say good bye to our dog.  Sean and I got Allie when she was a puppy out in Colorado during our move from GA to CA.  We had been married for about a week or so.  We had our sweet pup for 10 years!  She is definitely missed around here and lots of things remind us of her.  I miss seeing her sleeping on her bed in the corner of our bedroom. I miss her cleaning the floors after we eat!  I miss hearing her bark and scratch at the door - both of which used to annoy me.  I miss her chasing our car as we would leave.  I miss having her on walks with us.  Just miss her. 

She started having diarrhea about a week ago.  We were preparing to take her to the vet when Thursday morning she couldn't move her back legs.  We called and got a vet appointment for a couple hours later.  As Sean was trying to get her in the car, she did actually get up, walk inside, and go to her bed upstairs.  However, when she got to the vet, they basically said we could do lab work to see if she had liver or renal failure and/or a chest x-ray to check for cancer.  None of which are things we could treat her for financially.  She was sick and really nothing we could do about it.  So, we decided to put her to sleep.  Such a hard decision, but we didn't want her to suffer.  She had just had her 10th birthday on October 9th.  

The very same day, we also found out someone had gotten into our bank account and taken all of our money!  Someone hacked into my Google account and bought $650.00 worth of jewels for some game.  We still don't have access to our bank account and we had to close my Google account for a couple of days.  We are getting refunded the money though.  

Any way, it's been a tough week in some aspects, but absolutely wonderful, too!  

God is good.  In the valleys and on the mountaintops.  Praise His name.  

Family Meet

We've been going, going, going!  Sean was on Fall Break last week and so Tursday we were at 3 Rivers for their member discount day, Friday the pumpkin patch, Saturday off to meet my mom and aunt, but I will get back to that, Sunday, church, birthday party at the bounce house, church, and yesterday Hunter's postop appointment and I had to work.  I am looking forward to the next few days of being at home and not having anything on the schedule!  Hunter's appointment went well!  he's all healed.  Him and Andrew will go for rechecks in February.  These pictures are from our lunch with my mom and Aunt Holli.  We met them about two hours from here in Smithville, TN.  My mom was in Nashville visiting my aunt.  When we first pulled up to the restaurant, it looked like a real hole in the wall kinda joint, but the food ending up being quite tasty and I would go back again if we were in the area. It was good to see our family, too!

The restaurant had a great view.  Center Point Restaurant

No time for cameras!

Gilreath Farms 2014

Since we moved here, we have been going to Oakes Farm, but this year we decided to go to Gilreath Farms because they had a deal going on Groupon.  It was their first year hosting a pumpkin patch and we thought it really was a lot of fun!  Here's some pictures from our day!

The corn maze.  It was a lil muddy and a lil hot, but fun.  Especially for the boys.  Sean was our map guide.  Good thing.  I looked at it after the fact and had no clue how to read it!

Wilbur

Baby Cows

Goat trying to eat my Canon!

Corn Box

They picked like the smallest pumpkin in the patch!

Feeding the cows!  I was kinda wondering why they weren't getting milk from their mama.

Sean even took Hailey down the slide!

It was a chilly morning, but as the temperature rose, it got warm and I took my knee high socks off.  And Andrew put them on.  And it was funny.

Ober Gatlinburg

Usually we go to the Museum of Appalachia for Fall Homecoming, but this year we decided to go to Octoberfest at Ober Gatlinburg.  We thought it would save some money, although I don't think it did.  We did enjoy ourselves though.  We also got to practice lots of patience!  We forgot how busy Gatlinburg is this time of year!  It took hours of waiting in traffic to get there, and we stood in lots of lines and saw lots of people!  

We got to ride the tram up the side of the mountain to get to Ober. I was a little scared and so was Hunter, but the rest of us were all good!

In the tram

We had lunch here and got to watch a German oompah band!  I LOVE watching these bands and doing the chicken dance!  I think the boys thought their mama had gone a little crazy!

Watching the oompah band.

View from the Ober restaurant

Sean surprised me with this super sweet card today.  The other day I felt God urging me to confess to Sean the bitter, angry, critical spirit I have developed towards him.  I don't why I have been doing this, but I told him, asked forgiveness, and got on my knees and asked God to help me.  I am trying to tell Sean whenever I start getting these harsh feelings about him so we can work on this and it will go away.  After my admittance, this is what he does!  He is wonderful!

I wanted to also share how amazing God is.  Since Hunter's surgery, He has been showing up in all these little beautiful ways from protecting me at work, to using a coworker to bring me coffee creamer, to awesome timing moments like free lunch for my family!  I am so grateful that He hasn't given up on me!  He LOVES me and YOU!  Trust in Jesus.  Give your life to Him.  You will NEVER regret it!