A change of seasons~

Where we live, in our mountain home, the seasons are changing.

 Already we have had snow dust the mountains more than once this fall.

The colors have faded and gone.

The leaves have fallen and now cover the ground.

We are back into our school routine (our very last year!),

and the holidays are around the corner.

Life moves fast!

In this stage I am somehow more aware of my 50-something age, and the need to be more intentional to create times of reflection, to build margin and space into my schedule, and focus on relationships and not just getting 'tasks' done. 

Thankfulness fills my heart as I look around and see all God has done:

In creation, in my family, and in me.

He is faithful!

And He completes the good work He begins in us.

"Life is not a sprint, it's a marathon." 

The last one~

Olivia is the last driver in the house to go through

her permit testing and driving stage.

She passed her test in June and has been adding lots of driving hours to her log.

Congrats, sis~great job!!

Green things~

This year the greenhouse garden was started a little later than normal.

I always wonder when I plant those tiny seeds if everything will come up.

It did.

Thankfully, all is well and growing!

It's very...green in there.

I have found over the past few years what grows well here in this climate

and what does not.

This year we have a little bit of everything that grows well:

lettuce, kale, spinach, arugula, endive, parsley, oregano, cilantro, chives, basil, thyme, peas, green beans, beets, carrots, onions, peppers, cucumbers, and tomato.

Lots of variety and just enough for what we need.

There won't be much extra to 'put up'~

maybe in the basil and tomato department;

but,

that's okay.

For now we are enjoying fresh & green :)

This year we put up shade cloth on the side where the 'cold crop'
vegetables are.  It helped tremendously from the heat and sun
exposure.

Also, this year, more than in the past, we've also been doing
'succession planting'.
In this bed I pulled all the arugula, when it was done, and replanted
more lettuce and kale.  We've done that in three other beds and
it's working well.
It usually gets too hot for lettuce, but with the shade cloth, this
year it is thriving even in the heat.

Green!

Spring~

Spring has been full!

(and abundantly WET)

For the last several weeks, our days have looked like this~

But when the sun does come out, we've been getting in as many walks/hikes as we can~

And now that spring is here, one of my favorite times~gardening~has begun :)

Our bees swarmed; however, they left us a present!

These three...

The girls seem happy in this unpredictable weather~brings out the worms

And, they are still laying~

And, of course, chores like making hummingbird food have increased~

Recreation~

Olivia's club volleyball team (Apex), 

has had an awesome start to their season~

winning first place so far

at their tournaments.

It's been fun to watch them play and see

their improvement!

Nothing quite like packing up for an

all-day Saturday and camping out in the

bleachers with water bottles and snacks

to watch volleyball ;)

To chop down a tree~

Waaaaay back in October,

 we stood in line

at 6:00am in the morning,

in order to get a 

Christmas tree tag.

At last~

it was time to go 'tag a tree'

We headed up Mill Creek Canyon~

And found a place off the road~

Jonathan cut it down (chainsaw in hand)~

And we (well, actually Jonathan), dragged it up to the truck~

We tagged the tree~

And tied it in~

And got a 'little' stuck~

Together~

Olivia and I were blessed to be able to attend 

a Daring Daughters conference

in Denver, Colorado this past week.

It was an AMAZING time of being together,

growing,

deepening friendships,

and being exposed to different mission opportunities.

Unforgettable!

Plus, at the end of the conference we spent an entire

evening at Samaritan's Purse Denver Distribution Center.

An awesome experience

and

a privilege to serve~
Our church, Mt. Life, does over 200 of the
shoeboxes just about every year
and
it was so neat to help and see the shoeboxes
along the way of their journey to a child :)

The first day~

Arriving at Samaritan's Purse~

Working the 'assembly line'~

It was amazing to learn that each child will only get a
'shoebox' ONE time in their life~

The day we were there, about 28,000 boxes were sent out~

Our friends that came from Mt. Life and also
attendees of the two-day conference~