We are home from a fun vacation.  We took time to trek through the New England states in our camper with friends from WA state (another homeschooling boy only family)
We had a great time both exploring the mountains and beaches, as well as learning history.
Leaving home for a bit really makes one appreciate home!  Coming home, we were greeted with very excited pets and God's artwork with the fall colors. AMAZING!!  The colors in our woods behind the hay field are breath taking, not only do I think so, but a lady stopped by and asked if they could use our field and woods as the backdrop for their family photo.

Fall is upon us, so there is much clean up and get ready for winter work to be done.  I really enjoy this work.  We all do, the weather is cool, but bearable and perfect for working outside.  Lil brother planted a pumpkin patch, and now has a little pumpkin stand in front - I do hope somebody buys pumpkins!  I might put some money in there just because I can ;-)

I have been thinking....I have 'dropped out' of several things this year.  I am not helping with the girls Sunday School, we are not a part of a small group.....and I love it!  I love the freedom I have to invite people over on a whim, to enjoy time with my family, to clean up the house (I really do not function well ad mist clutter and chaos) Several well meaning people have made comments to me about this, and I felt guilty, but I am thankful God gave me this overwhelming sense of calm and peace.  I do have time to be.......just be......and love on my family.  When I think about how busy we as a society have gotten, I do wonder how that is good for us?  Are we taking time to enjoy simple?  Are we taking time to see God in the everyday?  Do we have time to enjoy life?  I really do  not think God wants us to be over wound clocks, I can't find that in scripture, "stay too busy to enjoy simple things in life, always be in a hurry, your kids should be in sports each season in addition to music, scouts, etc"  hmmmm, no, His word says to rest, Be Still, Rest in Him.  I take that to mean clearning the clutter of life, not by any means to be lazy ;-) we do need to work, but not be clutter with life stuffs.

My boys are in from mucking so that means I get to hear some of the antics of the goats, or boys???
Take time to be still, look at your calendar is it clutter with stuff you think you should be doing or have you allowed some space to just enjoy time with those you love most?

I will post some of our colors later

Update

Well, I failed at my first attempt to blog.  Seems that life gets in the way of writing and sharing!
For those who do not know, we have change lifestyles in the last two years.  We transferred one last time, with the military, into retirement.  The last transfer moved us to a hobby farm and fixer upper home.  WOW!! Talk about culture shock!  We went from city and base folks to country folks with one cross country trip.  We feel God has called us to live here in hickville, but it has not been easy at all times.  Our first summer we worked tirelessly to get the house livable while we lived in our camper behind the house.  My husband got to help the neighbor pull a dead calf (not so cute!) within 2 weeks of living here.  By the time our household goods arrived, we had lived in the camper for 6 months - the house was HUGE!!  We slept a few nights together in the living room ;-)
Before arriving to our homestead, we traveled the northern part of our wonderful country.  Did you know Yellowstone has HUGE crows?  Ok, we learned they were actually ravens - still 2 years later we giggle about that!
America really is an amazing country, and we are thankful to be able to travel and live here.

I will update with more fun stories of our transition as city hicks.