Tidbits from September

I pray all of you have been safe from the destruction caused by the hurricane over the weekend. It has been so heartbreaking to see the news footage and hear the ongoing reports of more lives lost. It was a sad ending to September.

September passed so quickly, I didn’t even take many photos of daily life. I’ll need to be more intentional in October. But here goes anyway.

I did a lot of bread baking in September but still haven’t gotten back into sourdough other than just keeping my starter alive. What you see pictured in these photos is yeast bread using my milled grain. It’s my family’s favorite.

On Labor Day we stayed home, did a little work in the morning, and then ate a steak meal and watched Nacho Libre. It was a nice day to just chill as a family.

We enjoyed that meal so much we made it again for the grandparents when we had them over the following weekend.

We FaceTimed with our daughter and son-in-law while the grandparents were here and had some fun conversations and good laughs.

Another day my daughter and I took my mother-in-law out for lunch and shopping for her birthday and just had such a fun day together. We got ice-cream at a neat little place on the river.

On a peculiar note, do you see how swollen my neck and jaw line were in that photo? I was at the end of a cold and feeling fine with just a little leftover cough and a swollen and tender neck/jaw. I felt really good throughout the day with lots of energy. But by late that evening my neck was so achy and I was feeling worse with headache and full-on cold symptoms again. I went to bed early with a heating pad on my neck and the next day I stayed in bed the entire day, sleeping for hours. HOURS! I could not wake up. It was so strange! The following morning was Sunday and I felt better but still dragging and coughing so I stayed in from church. By the next day I was completely better. So weird!! I guess my cold from a couple of weeks before just relapsed and gave it one more good push in my body before it was done.

Joel and I got in some date nights which we always enjoy. There was a long season that we couldn’t do date nights, so we are feeling very blessed to be able to do that more now. On this particular night, we dropped our son off at a youth night and went Costco shopping and grabbed a coffee. It was my first PSL of the season which was such a treat since it was raining that evening. Later we had a flat tire and Joel had to change the tire in the rain. He was soaked, poor guy!

My daughter and I went out to do some fall shopping and along our way we went through a Starbucks drive thru. My girl got her usual Caramel Ribbon Crunch, and I tried the “Iced Apple Crisp Nondairy Cream Chai” which was as delightful as it sounds! It was so good that the next day I went back to get some for my parents (but asked them to make them hot). My mom had come home from an outpatient procedure and so my son and I were taking my parents a little afternoon treat. They loved it as much as I did!

My son is doing very well in school, and we can’t believe we’re on our 8th week already! This is our family’s 17th year of homeschooling, and I’m enjoying our routine and pace with this last student of mine. We’re home a lot which we both love, and which makes us more productive in getting the work done. Above was a lab experiment using candy bars to simulate plate tectonic activity.

My sister and her husband stayed the night with us when dropping off their dog for a few days. We don’t usually get much overnight company, so it was so much fun to spend an evening with them eating soup, watching a movie, laughing, and snacking. I wish I’d taken a picture of everyone but here’s one of their dog, sweet Lucy. She’s Liberty’s sister so they look so much alike.

One of the best things about September was going with my daughter and some friends to Birmingham to see The Arcadian Wild perform! If you’re not familiar with the group, their genre is a blend of bluegrass, folk, and pop and I listen to them most when I’m cooking and when I’m driving. It’s pleasant and upbeat–what I like to call “comfort music”! The show was outstanding!

My morning walks have been exhilarating and inspiring, as always. There is so much beauty early in the mornings. I love the soft opening of the day, the quiet, and feeling like I have the world to myself to enjoy with God. Every morning is different. Some mornings are foggy, gray, and mysterious. Other mornings the sky is a cobalt blue.

And then some mornings are bright and bursting with light! I will take them all.

September was great and now we’re all ready to enjoy October.