Turning a new leaf!

Each fall is a magical time for me. It started way back when I was little...I was fascinated by the autumn hues and how the leaves would bear their colors for change. It meant Christmas was that much closer and there just seems to be an air of excitement. Here in North Carolina we are glad to say good bye to 90+ degree weather and humidity. But my real love for the fall started back 13years ago when I held my baby girl and took her first fall pictures.

We were poor, I had a cheap camera...but my precious 10 month old lit up the leaves. From then on I have taken fall pictures with the girls and now with all 4.

o.k....since this blogging thing is a journal of types...here goes my sentiment. I guess I am reminded each fall of where I have been and where we look to go in the next year. Lately I have doubted if we are even headed the right ways (that whole move thing and waiting on it patiently is at its' wits end for me) Today I loaded up the 4 kids and headed off to a park way out in the country off of old hwy 150. As I was driving back I wondered if I would see the incredible colors of fall in North Carolina again. I thought of the years of leaf pictures that got me to where I am today. I thought of how when Kailee was born we didn't have much. I didn't even have a baby shower...unless you count some unmarried college students giving me a six pack of pepsi 'cause all they could think of was how funny the no sleep thing would be for me. When Paul and I had Kailee we were so on our own. Except for my family buying us a crib and just a few outfits...that was it...we had no other support or encouragement...my family was it. And now here we are...4 kids later...a good marriage...lots of autumns under our belts and the future of kids leaving home, marriages, missions. It's like these amazing tree lined roads here in North Carolina...you can't see over the up coming hill but somehow you know you'll make it. Seeing the beauty in the simple things...like the changing of leaves...is how I have made it my whole life.

I can never go back to that adorable 10 month old sitting in a pile of leaves.(trust me-I would give a million dollars to hold these children a few more hours, change their diapers, burp them, teach them)...but I have the pictures to remind me of where we have been...and where the new leaves are turning our lives towards.

Here are a few of todays pictures. Kailee, of course, is feeling that "I am way tooooo old for this" but with some" mommy pouting" she cooperated. It still feels like Paul and I are on our own...really we are except for the love of good friends and family(So needed with all the negative that tries to creep in-I so stay away from that)...I feel lucky to be on this road with the crew I have been given and I hope to see many more autumns where the simple joy in leaves falling from trees can remind me of the journey behind and the ones to come. Enjoy!