Awesome October

Back in June, when we were still getting deluged with rain, I told myself it would all be okay if we ended up with a real stretch of summer.  And I swore to myself that I would enjoy every minute of the sunshine for as long as it chose to last - with absolutely no guilt if it extended into autumn.

Well, that's what we got.  Day after glorious day of brilliant autumn weather.  Today it is all supposed to change though.  By one, we are supposed to be getting wet...unfortunate timing in that today is a no school day and we plan on being at the pumpkin patch with the Schilling kids.  I think we will survive though, I am an Oregonian after all!

Here's some of the snippets of day by day experiences in which I've been especially grateful for the weather.

This was taken a couple of weeks ago with sweet Alysha.  Over the summer we began meeting and she was going through a lot of sorrow over heartbreak.  Now, her joy for life is absolutely contagious - it's quite a treat to be in her presence.

This gal is named Tammy.  Her son is Brayden's age.  Such a wise and Godly woman.  It's been great to infuse some of my days with gals my age as well as those of the younger set....something about wanting to strangle your kids while hugging them is not a conversation I can so easily have with college students.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!  Clear and cool Wednesday football night = bundled up Whitley.  She was my own little heat generator sitting on my lap throughout the game.  LOVE that girl!!!!

And, these next pictures all came from a walk I took with Sydney yesterday.  Feeling like the "end was near" of these kinds of experiences, I tried to take in everything I LOVE about autumn and October.....the colors, the harvest decor, the Halloween fun being displayed throughout the neighborhoods.  These are the pictures I will look at longingly on the bleaker times of the year wishing I could go back....