A Barn A Baby and Daily Adventure

     I've been delighting in the beauty of life lately. The other day I was reading a good book in my dining room and I looked around at our home that we have created and just felt content. Life is good, and so very beautiful. I've been reveling lately in a feeling of joy, peace, and contentment.

We took a little adventure downtown this past weekend. Ice cream was involved and clearly Buirlen was too focused on it to smile...

There we go. 

I am so glad to have this brother of mine back in town... Buirlen appears happy with the arrangement as well.

    So I've been thinking about the comparing game lately. It's not good. I occasionally find myself comparing aspects of my life in an unhealthy way. And then I get stressed out because I don't match up and feel like I'm not doing whatever it is it as well as someone else, or that they may judge me for how I do something. And this is wrong, it leads to stress and discontent. As I was struggling with this awhile back, it occurred to me that as long as I'm living my life for Jesus and making sure that my life lines up with His word, well then it quite frankly doesn't matter if I do things one way and you do them another. Because, the ultimate goal in this life isn't this life, it's how we use our days to glorify the One who gave it to us.

This boy... He fills my life with joy and daily adventures. 

    Another little lesson I've been learning lately, came from Buirlen. He is in the stage where he generally wants me. He can be happy with Daddy and friends, but ultimately he wants me. If I hand him to Luke and walk out of the room in the evening for a moment, he doesn't care to much for it and lets us know. As I was thinking about this I realized that in his little life, he never knows what is going to happen next. He isn't old enough to fully understand what's going on around him. He never is quite sure when he's going to get put in the carseat and then when he's there, where he is going to end up.  
    Daddy is there, but he disappears to this place called work during the day and reappears in the evening. But me, I'm there for him 24/7. We pretty much spend every aspect of our days together, so when I'm suddenly not there, it's disconcerting. Now as he grows he will learn that even if we aren't constantly with him, that we will always be there, but for now life is the great unknown. All this to say, in this life we don't know what the future holds. Life is full of the unexpected and unknown, but there is someone we can look to as our constant. The One who created this life, who designed the growth of a baby and the change of the seasons is steady and unchanging. Make Him a part of your life, and the ever changing, unknown will seem less scary. He wants to be your constant.

The garden is all cleaned up and done for the summer. It's been a good run. 

Testing out the new(to us) lawn tractor. Luke is putting a snow plow on it because....  Winter, it's coming. 

This morning, I went out to the Farm to help with the new barn. The Lovely Keren Ruth and Ephraim were there as well as Abbi, Mara, and Megan. I feel like more would have gotten done if Luke was helping instead of me, but I did get a few screws put in(And that was about the extent of my help), several sheets of steel went up over all, and we all enjoyed the lovely weather. 

The Lovely Keren Ruth hard at work.

Ephraim thought the playpen was fun.

Did I take my carrier? No that would have squelched the creativity of using a bed sheet as a carrier. He liked it enough to take a nap.

 Measuring

And there you have it, life, lessons, and daily adventure.

"Personal growth is not a matter of learning new information but of unlearning old limits." 

~Alan Cohen

Life of Late

       It's a simply beautiful October Saturday. The tree outside our front door has lost most of its leaves, but there is still enough color to make the world stunning in Fall's glory. The ground is crunchy with leaves and the garden's harvest is being brought in...Tomatoes, carrots, and cabbage oh my.

Stopping by to visit Daddy at work. Future lumberjack in training. 

We spent last Saturday out at the Farm so that Luke could help his dad with the new barn. 

This guy makes my heart happy. 

Cross section of a carrot. 

Enjoying the sunshine with Uncle Jordan

This guy LOVES it outside. 

He's not crawling, but he can scootch himself. Apparently this corner is fun. 

Moments when your heart just might explode, a good kind of explosion. 

You know Ephraim has been around when you find surprises in your boots. 

 Boys in ball caps

Happy Birthday Irindee

I was making supper the other night and I was heating up some oil in a pan. I must have gotten it too hot, because when I went to add the can of beans I was planning on cooking, flames shot up and spread out under my cabinets. I went into "panic, you just burnt down your kitchen mode!" and went screaming through the house for Luke, with Buirlen strapped to my back. Moments later when we both got back to the kitchen we found that the flames had subsided to just a tiny one in the pan and that it had all looked worse that it really was(thankfully!) Anyway...

Autumn really is spectacular!

Last weekend, we headed to Duluth so that Jordan could pick up the motorcycle he was buying. Road trip!

Buirlen discovered the joy of swinging. He giggled and giggled. 

Hang on it's going to be a wild ride. 

Mom says, "Let's gently blow on this dandelion..."

Buirlen's all like, "Actually, I think I will eat it..."

"ICK!"

Checking out Uncle Jordan's new bike. It met with his approval. 

This week, my friend Katy and I decided to adventure to a town about an hour away to do some grocery shopping at Aldis. It was a lovely sort of adventure and we laughed at the fact that we must be getting old since going grocery shopping out of town was something we were quite excited about doing. 

Of course a post grocery shopping ice cream cone was in order. Ax thoroughly enjoyed his. 

And so, life and all it's many adventures, both big and small, continues on. Happy Saturday!

"Keep your face always towards the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you." ~Walt Whitman