3 hours ago
We had a wood stove at our old house, and I loved it so much. Whenever the power went out, we could stay cozy in that house with a roaring fire in the stove. I even cooked on that thing when the power was out! Having a fire going also makes the entire house instantly more cozy, and there is no better way to destroy the junk mail that you don't want to throw away because it has your name all over it.
After three years of living in this house (I can't believe we moved in three years ago now), the power amazingly hasn't gone out once. Our old house would get several outages each year, but this house didn't even lose power when we get hit by a bomb cyclone. Even though we may not need it for power outages, we are cleaning out the pipe on the stove and preparing to use it more regularly this winter.
My parents also live in the mountains, and one of the big trees on their property fell down last year. It's been sitting in the field, getting nice and dried out all this time. I asked my dad if we could have it for firewood, and he said sure, we could come chop it up once he was done haying for the year. I think it's going to be a mutually beneficial arrangement - he doesn't have to deal with the tree himself, and we get free firewood.
So a week ago, we spent an afternoon at my parent's house, in the crisp fall air, chopping up a tree and clearing out the dead branches. The aspen leaves were reaching the peak of fall color in the mountains last weekend, and they aren't just yellow this year, but orange and red too. My sister was also there with her kids, and all the cousins were running all over the property, crashing through the woods, and coming up with schemes to build boats and teepees with the branches we were cutting down.
When I was growing up, fall wasn't just about sitting inside by a cozy fire (though I clearly love that). We spent a lot of the fall outside, whether it was helping my parents pick up hay bales, going on a couple last horseback rides before the snow, cutting down trees so my dad could build spec homes over the winter, or hiking through the woods during hunting season.
As an adult I've had less practical reasons to spend time working outside in the fall, but spending a day cutting up fire wood was really refreshing. I felt like I was making the most of fall, getting outside and enjoying nature and the cool air while working with my hands on something that would benefit my family, just like we did every autumn growing up.
Anyway, I wanted to share a few pictures I snapped while we worked. It was such a gorgeous, satisfying, happy fall day.
We got a lot more firewood than this, but we have to go back and finish the tree in the next couple weeks!
In case you missed it last week, this October I am participating in Blogtober. I thought it would be interesting to give a little history about the various October blogging challenges that started years ago, but after poking around on the internet for 5 minutes (I have limited time, guys), I still couldn't find any information. Who started this blogging tradition? Was there originally a linkup? I don't know, I can't figure it out.
I did figure out that Write 31 Days (another October blogging challenge) started on The Nester blog with a personal challenge in 2008, that eventually turned into a linkup before she handed it off in 2016 to another blogger, Crystal Stine. She created a website that used to be dedicated to the challenge, but which is no longer available.
I can tell you that Blogtober and Write 31 Days (another October blogging challenge) both started around the same time in my memory. I believe it was around 2013 that I first started seeing people doing October challenges (I specifically remember Cassidy's 31 Days Of Contentment). The challenges looked fun, but I had a toddler and a baby and another one on the way, and there was no way I could participate. I finally attempted my own 31 Days Of Memory-Keeping in 2017, right as the challenges (or the blog world) was losing steam. Always late to the party, that's me.
So who is keeping Blogtober and Write 31 Days alive now? Well, just regular old blogs like this one. As I was poking around, I found quite a few bloggers that have participated in Blogtober or Write 31 Days, including many that are still participating this year. These challenges have seemed to go the way of the entire casual blogging world - greatly diminished, but not dead.
For this post I wanted to share some of the interesting posts and blogs I've found that have tips for Blogtober/Write 31 Days, as well as a roundup of some new-to-me blogs that are participating in 2021! So if you miss the blogging of yore, maybe you'll find a few new ones to read in the month of October.
Resources For A 31 Day Writing Project
Five Minute Friday is one website that has taken over the writing-every-day-in-October tradition. They give you prompts to work with each day, if you need some inspiration. They also host a linkup for people who are using their prompts that may be a fun place to find blogs to read!
I found a list of 31 Days Of Writing/Blogging prompts on this website. I might use some of these!
I found this post with a bunch of fall-themed post ideas for inspiration.
There is also apparently a hashtag for Blogtober (#blogtober21), but I wouldn't know about that.
Bloggers That Are Writing Every Day In October
Note: These are new-to-me blogs, so don't necessarily take this as an endorsement, but more as a section to explore Blogtober! These are the blogs I found participating in some sort of October writing challenge that looked interesting to me. I didn't include blogs that were following the Five Minute Friday prompts, since I enjoy seeing what people come up with on their own, but there are many more blogs you could check out on that linkup as well.
The Saxophone Player's Wife (this blog also has a prompt list for Blogtober, and a list of more participating blogs)
Hope's Notes (this blog looked interesting - it's written by someone who is blind!)
---
I could probably find more, but I'm tired of looking and hungry for lunch, so I'm going to wrap this up. Blog buddies, if you are participating in Blogtober or Write 31 Days and I missed it, comment so I can add you to my list!
One thing I love about our church is that we have a good old-fashioned Sunday school. I love to fellowship with other believers, get to know people, and hear everyone’s thoughts and insights about whatever we are studying. Most churches these days do a mid-week small group, and while I totally understand the thought behind that, we have to travel quite a way to our church and wouldn’t be able to participate in a midweek small group. A Sunday morning Sunday school is such a blessing for us.
This morning in Sunday school we were discussing Luke 9, the section about the transfiguration of Jesus. The discussion particularly turned to how Jesus only brought Peter, James, and John to the mountain with Him, and those were the only three that saw Him transfigured. He also told them afterward do not tell anyone else, so for quite a while James, John, and Peter were the only ones aside from Jesus who knew about that event.
Why did Jesus choose to only show Himself in His transfigured state to those three, and not to let the rest of the disciples know about it? Of course there is certainly an aspect that it was simply by His grace, because James, Peter, and John weren't worthy in and of themselves. Jesus calls us to Himself, and draws us, and grows us. It’s not of ourselves but only from Him that we are justified and sanctified. But we also discussed the idea that these three were the three disciples that were the closest to Jesus, from what we can tell in the gospels anyway. He chose to show them more about Himself, but from what we know about Peter and John and James, they also seemed to press in and strive to understand who He was, to follow Him single-mindedly (albeit imperfectly), and to know Him better.
Our Sunday school teacher asked us about how we can press closer in our walks with Christ and the ways that we are doing that in our lives. And one thing that came to my mind was making spending time with the Lord a habit, an same time same place, everyday habit that becomes a default. It’s wonderful when you can get those mountaintop experiences, those times when you can spend hours in the Bible, or praying, focusing your mind on the Lord. But if we are waiting to do that until we have an hour(s) long chunk of time to devote to it, it’s probably not going to happen very often.
I have noticed in my life, in the seasons when I am growing the most in the Lord, learning more about Him, and drawing closer to Him, it’s not necessarily the times when I have large chunks of time to devote to Bible study. I grow most in the times when I am just in a consistent habit of spending time with the Lord each day, even when that sometimes only 15 minutes. The Lord tells us to abide with Him, and abide in His Word, and that’s not a big-chunk-of-time, once-in-a-while practice, but a day-to-day focusing of our minds on Christ.
For me, I have been most consistent with my quiet time when I attach it to an already-existing habit of mine. Right now, that means doing my devotions before the kids get up with my regular morning coffee. Some other ideas I've considered or used have been things like:
-Reading my Bible before I pick up my book at night.
-Listening to a sermon while I fix my hair and makeup for the day.
-Reviewing Bible memorization and pondering the verses while I drive in the car.
Even making this short list has reminded me of some things I would like to turn into a regular routine again!
There have been many times in my life when I have been inconsistent in my quiet times with the Lord, and I end up feeling like I am spiritually floundering. But when I make the Lord my first priority, when I put the effort in to develop and maintain that habit of spending time in His Word - those have been the seasons where my walk with Him is the most fruitful.
When I remember that abiding can become a moment-by-moment habit, it’s a comforting thought. It feels unattainable right now to spend large chunks of time in the Bible study, but the Lord knows we have real jobs, and real children and husbands to take care of, and real homes to manage, all things that take up large portions of our day. But we can make Him our first thought in the morning, we can devote daily time to spend with Him, and we can dedicate the rest of our activities to bring Him glory when we fix our minds on Christ and abide with Him while we go about our day. That’s what I want to strive for.
And I think when we do that, when we draw closer to Him in prayer and Bible study, and seek to follow Him more every day, even when we do it imperfectly, He will reveal more and more to us in His Word. James and John and Peter were nothing special, but they did abide with Him, even with all their faults. And Jesus showed Himself to them in a unique way. That’s something He does for each of us too, when we press into Jesus and His Word.
“'I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing… By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.'”
John 15:5, 8-11 NKJV
If I'm actually going to post every day for 31 days, the weekends are going to have to be something easy. I thought I would do monthly and weekly goals each Saturday. October is one of my favorite months, but it also seems to be one of the busiest. Our family has a lot going on this month, and this will also keep me organized!
This Month:
Personal -
Write 1 letter each week.
Organize photos into albums.
Start printing 2021 photos.
Homeschool -
Have the kids write 1 letter each week.
Do a Reformation Day study with the kids.
Christmas -
Clean out the toys before Christmas.
Buy Christmas presents.
Order Christmas card photos.
Fall Fun -
Make an apple pie with the kids.
Go to a corn maze as a family.
Finish reading Jane Eyre with friends.
Household -
Create a meal plan for the month.
Decorate for fall.
Hang new photos on the wall.
Finish cutting and stacking firewood with Derek.
(Derek and my dad fixing the chainsaw when we went to cut firewood last weekend.)This Week:
Go to pumpkin patch with friends.
Go on a fall hike.
Mail letters to friends.
Start a fall nature study with the kids.
Read Liane Moriarty's new book.
A lot of my goals this month revolve around getting ready for Christmas, and printing and organizing photos.
I've been working for the last month on getting caught up on printing photos, and it's a long, slow process. I've taken literally thousands of photos every year since my kids were born, and even though I have a system now, a lot of my older photos are pretty unorganized. So it's a matter of sorting them on my computer, picking out the good ones, and then narrowing it down to about 600 photos per year so they'll fit into albums. It's harder than it sounds! Then, once the photos arrive, it takes quite a bit of time to sort them chronologically and get them into the albums. I also would like to get our family photo canvases updated for our walls - thankfully Walmart has really reasonably priced photo products, so it's just a matter of getting them ordered.
I have also been hearing from multiple sources how it would be a good idea to prepare early for Christmas this year, so my mind is already turning to December. I'll probably write more about this over the course of the month.
The rest is mostly fun stuff, to me at least - reading goals, fun things I want to do with the kids during the fall, and letter-writing, which is another personal habit I am attempting to resurrect this fall.
I've never been great at goal-setting or goal-meeting, but as I said, this month is actually pretty busy, and maybe having it all written down will help keep me focused. We'll see how it goes!
(There are rosehips all over the place this fall, and I'm trying to figure out if I can do something with them!)
The last several years, I have attempted some sort of blog writing project in October. Each year that I've done this project it has been challenging but refreshing for me. Practicing finding something to write about every day opens my eyes to the sweet moments in my day, and makes me more grateful. It somehow organizes all the things bouncing around in my brain, and focuses me before the holidays hit. And overall, I think it's just fun to get back to something I enjoy - writing for this blog - simply because I enjoy it!
My previous themes have been "Memory-Keeping" and "Small Things". This year I don't think I am going to pick a set theme, though one may emerge. My goal is just to share something every day (though I may take a break on weekends).
To make this easy on myself, I am going to start with sharing the books I read in September in shorter posts scattered throughout the month! Here is the first mini book review.
The Tyranny Of Big Tech by Joshua Hawley
Ironically, if Big Tech/cancel culture hadn't tried to shut this book down, I probably wouldn't have heard about it at all. Since this is my year with no social media, I am very interested in anything that relates to Big Tech/Big Social Media and the effects they have on people's lives.
Hawley does a deep-dive on the unethical ways that Big Tech has achieved and maintained it's monopoly on information, including the unfair practices of shutting down any legitimate competition, and the way that is infringing on the freedom of the American people in particular. I listened to this book while driving out to Kentucky for out trip last month, in between all the chattering of the kids in the back seat and driving on strange highways I probably didn't absorb as much as if I read it with my eyes, but I still learned so much.
What I found particularly disturbing was the in-depth look at the amount of information that social media is gathering on it's users, and how easily they can manipulate the behavior of social media users - including buying habits, voting, etc. It was another eye-opener for me - I was aware that being on social media made me more likely to make frivolous purchases, but seeing how intentional that is on the part of Big Tech was disturbing, and made me extra glad that I am no longer on social media. It also solidified my decision to keep my kids away from the internet as long as possible.
This book made me cheer Hawley on as he has attempts to hold Big Tech accountable for their possibly illegal monopolistic behavior, and I hope more legislators will join him in his efforts to hold Big Tech accountable. Possibly in 2022. We can hope.
A tug on my arm slows us down to a halt on the gravel road. Pretty blue eyes blink up at me, holding up a less-than-glittering rock. "Look, Mama, I found something interesting!" she declares, and drops the rock into her plastic baggy. We continue down the road.
Everyone else has gone off to soccer practice, but my middle girl wanted to stay with me so badly I couldn't say no. Her tearful pleas left only tiny streaks as evidence on her face, and now she skips along happily, eyes on the ground as we walk. Since we've been sick, this is my only exercise, a stroll the long way around to the mail box and back home again.
On these recent walks, there is one house that draws my eye as we pass. It sits close to the road, and it's neatness is always noteworthy. The grass is cut to perfection, the driveway is clean, the front steps don't appear to have a speck of dust. The blinds are always drawn, and I never see anyone in front of that house. I know someone must live there since the outside is so impeccable, but all I ever notice is how still it is, sitting there in it's tidy glory.
Clarice stops for another treasure to add to her bag, and I grin because she never quite goes for the rock that stands out the most. She sees something in the rocks that my gaze passes over.
We grab the mail, and we trudge up the hill until I see our home. No tidy glory to be found here. The driveway is covered by pine needles, and fighting them is a losing battle - pines much older than me shade out driveway, and they make their presence known. It looks messier than I'd like, but the sun warms the scattering of needles into something spicy and sweet, the smell of mountain woods.
Bikes are strewn all over the driveway, and I make a note to have the kids put them away later. Airy curtains are pulled back from our front window, and inside I can see an unruly stack of books that needs sorting. Our noisy dog whines as we open the door, and the welcome sign out front is a little crooked from all the jostling it gets each time a child runs outside.
Evidence of children playing, wild mountain nature infringing, and chores that don't quite get done - memories of games played, friendly faces waving hello, and curtains thrown wide so they can see us waving back - these are the things I notice about my own house as we return from our walk. There have certainly been times when I have wished to keep the outside of our house tidier, but even when I manage to achieve some well-manicured curb appeal, I look at our house and it's unavoidably lived-in. And I like it best that way.
The air is brisk and cool outside on this last day of summer, and I am aware that I have been absent on the blog for the last few weeks. Why don't we have a little chai tea, maybe a pastry, and catch up a bit.
The Mysterious Trip
A couple weeks ago we arrived home from the trip I mentioned here, but never explained for fear that it would be cancelled. At last I can share without worrying about plans changing - we went on a trip with our dear friends to Kentucky to see the Ark Encounter! It is a life-size reproduction of Noah's ark, and I heard that kids 10 and under can go to the Ark and Creation Museum for free this year. I have been scheming since January on how to make a trip happen.
They built it on the border of Kentucky and Ohio because a large portion of the country lives within a day's drive of the Ark, but unfortunately for us we are in the percentage of the population that lives farther away than that. Derek has limited time off this year, so I knew we couldn't take a whole week off or more to make the trek out there, but I thought maybe we could work with our long Labor Day weekend. I could drive by myself and have Derek fly out to meet us, but my parents were pretty opposed to me driving such a long distance with no one to help wrangle the kids or be there in an emergency. So Derek and I asked our friends, Scott and Danae, if they wanted to take a trip out there with us, and after much finagling of schedules, and booking and rebooking of hotels, we got it planned!
I was so nervous that we were going to catch "the cough" (ahem) before we left and have to cancel the whole trip, but it ended up going perfectly smoothly. We had such a great time, visiting the Ark on a weekday (which I'm told is a good move), and then the Creation Museum and Mammoth Cave before heading back home!
I might do a separate post with photos and such, but it was a wonderful trip full of good memories, and I'm so glad we went. I hope we can go again in a few years - I think older kids would get a different experience than young kids, and probably a ton more learning out of it!
Since We Got Back
We arrived back home, ready to jump back into our life and all the fall activities we had planned for the kids (soccer, Awana, park days) when we realized that we were starting to get sick. And lo and behold, yes, we caught IT. After a long couple weeks cooped up in the house, a cancelled friend gathering, and the kids missing two of their soccer games, we are finally nearing the end of our quarantine. I am quite thankful that our case has been extremely mild, that it happened after our trip and not before, and that no one is the worse for wear.
We've also been getting into a real school routine since getting back, and I'm quite happy with our rhythm so far. There are a few things I want to improve - like making our morning times a habit again. We've been sleeping in too late, being technically sick and all. Otherwise this has been the smoothest transition into the school year that we've had yet, and we have been getting more accomplished each day than in previous years. And that's with homeschooling four kids now! Somewhere along the way, things just started to click. Those first few years really are the most challenging, and then suddenly you start to figure homeschooling out. The day-to-day aspects, anyway.
I've been online shopping too much out of boredom - mostly trying to find some new skinny jeans. Over the last year I have found some great relaxed jeans, straight jeans, and even flare jeans (yes, they're back), but I can no longer find any skinny jeans that I like. I have high hopes for the jeans arriving in the mail this week. I'm also ordering some of these tops (because I find myself want-needing a new plaid shirt every fall). I have some first-day-of-fall plans for tomorrow, including this scavenger hunt (or this one), a fall craft, and apple slices with pumpkin fluff dip.
As far as books go, I've actually read five so far this month, but two of them aren't going to make it into the monthly round-up (classic cases of can't-recommend-it-but-have-to-know-the-ending-now). I started this book today, and will probably finish it before I go to sleep - it's about that soccer team that become trapped in a cave in Thailand a while back. The book tells the story, start to finish, with pictures, and I'm finding it pretty fascinating.
I'm actually supposed to be reading Jane Eyre before my book group discussion on Friday, but I'm procrastinating.
Speaking of procrastinating, all of our time at home has given us a chance to catch up on projects. Derek has been cleaning out the garage, and I started getting some photo albums organized. I am five years behind in printing photos, so it's been good to start to close the gap. I'm also scheming about getting some fall family photos taken, but it's hard to tell if the leaves near us are going to be good, or just turn brown.
This post started on Monday, and I'm finishing it on Tuesday morning before school - I hear dart guns in the hall, which means I probably need to go out there and wrangle the kids before we lose our momentum for the day. The sun is shining through a mist in the valley in front of our house, and it's stunning and cozy. Yesterday was a chai tea day, but now I'm going to go downstairs and get some strong coffee.
Anyway, you are now caught up on the last couple weeks in our house. How has September looked for you, friends?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
