Rainy Days...

Rainy Days

The day is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
The vine still clings to the moldering wall,
But at every gust the dead leaves fall,
And the day is dark and dreary.

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary;
It rains, and the wind is never weary;
My thoughts still cling to the moldering Past,
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast
And the days are dark and dreary.

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining;
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining;
Thy fate is the common fate of all,
Into each life some rain must fall,

Some days must be dark and dreary.

-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

To Be A Pilgrim

"These all [Abel, Abraham, Sarah, Enoch etc...] died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is,

they desire a better country,

that is, a heavenly one.

Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God,

for he has prepared for them a city."

Hebrews 11

Paired with losing my life and seeing death as gain,

this "Pilgrim" mentality-if you will- is something that I've been pondering on lately.

Is "a heavenly country" what I desire?

Or am I too caught up in the cares (both good and bad) of this life?

It's so easy for me to keep my head down and wind myself up in the day to day details, the ever important "need of the moment"! This passage has been an inspiring reminder to me that this life is not all that there is, and that there is such an unimaginable city already prepared. That is part of what makes death truly a gain.

Now, don't get me wrong, I love the blessings and pleasures here! The joys of family and the fellowship of believers is such a dear and sweet thing to me!

However, I do find myself in need of reminders that this is not all there is.

There are some more thoughts I have on this, but they will have to keep for now--

at least until I can get them better organized!

Dominic's Song....

Here is a video of Dominic playing a part in " his song", well, it's hardly a song, it's more like...you better just see it.
Enjoy (we sure did)! :)

Egg, Bacon, and Spinach Pie

My sweet sister gave a beautiful seasonal cookbook a few weeks ago. It features recipes using typical seasonal fruits and veggies. And let me tell you, they ALL look delicious! And this is the recipe in particular that I have been eyeballing. I love spinach and pie so this is the perfect combination of the two. :)
It came out perfect! I used my aunt's recipe for the pastry crust instead of the recipe in the book. It was flaky and cheesy with just enough bacon to keep you shovelling it in. Perfection!

What Happened To Our Ceiling???

Any guesses?

And for those who were present (hint to John Pedersen and Dad), you are not allowed to guess :).

Sweet Times at Sweet Berry Farms

Last weekend, we were persuaded to go to Marble Falls to Sweet Berry Farms. We managed to get the Burdell family to join us on our adventure. We had a blast. We enjoyed a picnic lunch, strawberry popsicles, a maze, and pumpkin painting. Emily, Sophie, and Mia painting their pumpkins.

(Mia ended up splattered in paint)

My lil man ridin' his tractor

Nathan having his turn too. :)

Girls showing us their modelling skills

After we made it out of the maze.....
Webb and Burdell kids

We had soooooo much fun!

Fall Camping 2010

My family spent last weekend camping at Huntsville State Park. We were joined by about 120 people, most of them from church. The Webbs were able to join us this time which we were all so excited about. Here is a brief glance into our weekend. And it has to be brief because I forgot to take pictures most of the time :).

Before camping

Sleepy Peter

The girls :)

We are doing a writing class with the Naquins and in this picture we're going over our homework assignment.

Ryle, Sophia, and Mia

As you can plainly see, Dominic is having a tough time accepting the fact that he must take a nap. But he was just so cute that I had to get a picture.

On our way to hike!

Caro and Ryle

Gathered for the hike.

Amanda, Caro, Ryle, and Ashlee

Ashlee and I

If you look very closely, there is a woodpecker on the tree.

About to play games

Us and the Webbs!

Cabining

Our friends, the Hoods, invited us to a CARE's Retreat (part of Mr. Hoods work) along with the Shiflets and the Brattons. The campground was very nice and spanking brand new; it had everything from kayaks to nature walks, to game rooms! But the best of all was being able to spend time with each other. Thank you Hood family for inviting us! :)

Stony Creek Ranch!

So picturesque! That was our first morning to go kayaking.

The Blob.

I personally thought it was much more enjoyable to watch people being blobbed than to be so yourself. :)

Besides kayaks and blobs, the ranch and a very nice pool, as Nate enjoyed.

Sunday afternoon was almost entirely used up by skeet shooting. And I decided that I'm not shotgun girl, but more like a handgun or archery girl
But it was fun!

Sunday evening we were all able to squeeze in time to go kayaking.

The weather couldn't have been better, with a breeze and lovely view.
And sadly we didn't take anymore pictures, I guess that shows how much fun we had! :)