Late September Weekending

 Hiking

Baking 

Mentoring

 

Tea - ing

And lots and lots of teacher planning 💘

Their First Home

 

Our home is a rich world to our children - it is their first home.

And when we fill the home up INTENTIONALLY with love and affection

 

with great meals

 

with music

 

with stories that have deep and rich vocabulary that layer the pathways of their brain with great ideas.

When we give them time to explore and offer them free time to pretend and to become and to imagine we are shaping the environment in which wonder can express itself

When we give them that for their first home - they are ready walk into the future path God has planned for them.

Mentoring, Mothering, Discipling,

On Sunday morning, long before Mass I crept into Anna's room, raised her shades and whispered to her, "Come on Anna, get out of bed, throw someone on and come with me. We're going to have a special Anna, mama time." 

I ordered from a lovely cafe in town where they do curbside pick up. 

Then we drove to a nearby park where there was no one. 

It was the greatest. We talked and talked about everything on her heart. I asked questions that I had prayed about ahead of time. And I listened. 

After we ate, we walked around a bit in the park. 

Hundreds, maybe thousands of times Anna and I have have some one on one times. Not usually going somewhere, just a minute here and there where we steal away and she knows she has my undivided attention. 

When she was little mothering was often instructing, correcting, teaching, guiding. Now it is mentoring, discipling, inspiring... 

But this school year I feel inspired to do something different - something more - because it's my last year with her fully home, fully mine in a childhood way. 

I still have so much in my heart I want her to know before this year is over. 

So over and over again, as much as I can, we will steal away for just us time. 

And it is lovely. 

So what is this Mentoring - Discipling time?

• It is time to build our friendship 
• It is about having something to look forward to
• They are intentional times - they are carved out times
• It is knowing that there is a value to meeting one on one 
• It's striking up conversations
• It's understanding that I am a discipler 
• It is about passing on the love, the truths, the purposes of God 
• It is thinking about these things: How can I influence her? How can I love her? How can I pour out to her? How can I encourage her? How can I be a model of Christ to this precious daughter that God has brought into my life? 

Cherished times indeed 

Apple Picking

 Let's not talk about how we've been apple picking since Anna was just home from China and this is her last fall she's home with us... college is coming and we are trying to soak in every moment of this year. 

It was a sunny and very chilly day = perfection!

Adore this photo

Us 

Happiness is apple picking in Connecticut 

Home to Cranberry Apple Crisp

and lots of apple to eat all week long... yum!

Apple picking is one of our very favorite fall things we do. 

Mid September Weekending

First Fire of the season-ing

Cozying

Watching

Eating

Saturday ~

At home dating {with pumpkin spice tea lattes}

Sunday ~

pancake -ing

Sunlight noticing

Early morning reading

Sunday ~ 

picking

The First Day

The first day goes like this: 

A foggy morning

Homemade bread for egg sandwiches

 

A nervous smile

Until you get a happy smile

 

A little vintage touch here and there

It's a note from daddy

And early morning with daddy already in his suit. 

Another nervous smile

And a walk to school under the arbor and through the garden gate

Until we're all back together again

Back To School Blessing

We look forward to this all summer long. 

It's our Back to School Blessing. 

And it's very special to us -- like a 'rite of passage'. 

It's a fancy dinner - 

It's a beautifully decorated table - 

It's a yummy, homemade dessert -

It's stained glass stars engraved - 

And the best part is finding our our family theme, our Bible verse, our guiding principle for our year back to school. 

Scott and I start talking about the Back to School Blessing in the middle of the summer. We toss around verses that have spoken to us. We talk about struggles our family is currently going through, challenges that we're up against this year, and where our family is headed, and then we decided. 

So here is our Blessing this year: 

We served Cranberry, Chicken and Pears -- and it was amazing! 











I made frosted pumpkin cookies -- almost like little cakes 







And then there was the Hot Buttered Cider... yummmmmmm 





and always homemade bread. 




I set up the porch with all of the loveliness that makes it feel very special. 




It was nice that it was already decorated for fall. 





I love the way the stars were wrapped. 





Glowing candles in milk glass 



And the lights... ahhhh

Everything was ready. 











First we enjoyed our special meal. 





The taste of fall







Stars



Next they unwrapped their stained glass stars. 







So so pretty 



We were smiling the way Anna's star happened to match the blouse she chose that day. 





12th grade - her last star



Then we had pumpkin frosted cookies and tea

And then it was time for the girls blessing and our promise for the year. 



First Scott had us all share something this school year that was our 'mountain'.  We all had that 'something' that we thought would be a challenge. He wrote them on the back of this (which is now framed in our home) 



And we talked deep into the night about how to have the faith to move our mountains this year. 



It was a wonderful night. And I am grateful for this, another memory.