October -- Come and Gone Already!!

There must be some hard and fast rule that, once you're over 40, the months seem to fly by like weeks! Can't imagine how fast time will seem to pass when I'm 50??

October has come, and as of tomorrow, will be gone.  

My favorite month of the year.

Autumn weather (glorious!!).

Colors everywhere.

Long walks.  Chilly mornings. The smell of pumpkin and ginger in the air.

And calm .... 

Well, usually.  

This year has been the exception.  We'll get to that.

But for now, take a look at what I get to see outside my front door .....

Pretty amazing.  God works miracles beyond what we could have ever imagined, don't you think?

Well ....

Where do I begin?

Let's start here:

About a year after moving into this house, I started wondering, "I wonder if there's any way we could build a room where this back porch is?"  Our little dining nook which adjoined the porch was crowded.  

That was when the legs under the table were all little. 

We wondered this for a few years, had plans drawn up, got bids and promptly tucked the idea away after seeing the cost and time involved.

A few more years, same scenario.

Meanwhile the legs got bigger.  And there were increasingly more of them trying to squish around the table in that little dining nook.

This year, we drew up new plans.  I knew better than to get my hopes up. 

My last words to my husband were, "I'll believe it when I see it."

As you can see .... I believe it now :-)

What was once our beloved back porch is now a 1,000 square foot "gathering room" -- a simple step down from our kitchen.  Our tiny living room is now our new dining room.  Room for long legs and lots of 'em!

Because we are us, and rarely content to just do ONE project at a time .... we added a couple of others while we are at it.  In addition to digging and adding a room onto our basement, we also decided that now was the time to put in geothermal heating and cooling.  One massive excavator + several days = an 8ft. deep hole the size of an olympic swimming pool in our field.  It was filled with coils of pipe which were then put throughout our new crawl space.  The mountains of soil are now gone and the hole is covered over.  (Thank heavens! I'm sure our neighbors were wondering what kind of gopher creates mounds of dirt 2 stories high!?).  

We'll have a lot of replanting/landscaping to do in the spring in both yard and pasture, but hopefully it will be worth it!

Now a month and a half away from estimated completion (please Lord!), every day is a new experience in managing noise :-)  It makes life interesting to homeschool amidst power tools, nail guns, and a myriad of voices yelling through it all.  But we have been very pleased with the progress and are really excited for the finished product.

And in the meantime, life has gone on.  Animals to tend.  Cookies to bake.  Play practices to attend.  Lessons and learning.  Character building.  Moments of joy.  Moments of tears and frustration.

Loads of laundry and vacuuming in waves amidst drywall dust and sand tracked in via more workboots than have ever stepped into this house before.

We've had to cut down trees (four to be exact) including Isabelle's and my favorite tree outside her window.  That space will become a private porch area that I know we will savor and cherish in the years to come .... but it doesn't make the goodbyes to old friends such as this any easier :-(

We've had momentous occasions including Isabelle choosing to get her ears pierced alongside her dear friend Sarah.  It was a girl's day out complete with shopping, lunch, and cookies after the "big event".  

Another sweet memory for our girls to share in the years to come.

And of course, there has been October fun -- including our heavily anticipated Harvest Party with our church family.  On this hay wagon are the children/young adults from our church (all the "kids").  Can you pick out Isabelle, Josiah, or Isaac??  (me neither!)

Old-fashioned games and races .....

Fun, food, fellowship ....

Pony rides, caramel apples, campfire and singing rounded out a perfect evening and a truly memorable month.  Fall is fully upon us.  I'm savoring every moment.

Harvest blessings to you -- friends and family!