Summer's end.....

The days are still hot and humid, and we’re trying to be patient waiting for fall to arrive. Even though our days are very busy now that school has started back, we’re still enjoying the great outdoors, despite the heat. Here’s a little glimpse of our backyard “habitat”….home to deer, turkeys, skunks, an occasional coyote, possums, lizards, toads, birds in every color of the rainbow, our sweet Gypsy and her two feline nemeses, DC and Shady, and four sweaty kids (when I can talk them into leaving the air-conditioned great indoors.)

Isaac's

little

lizard

friend

"Josh"

(not sure

why he

chose

that name)...



An afternoon visitor drops by for a snack....

Mom

and

baby at

dinner

time....

Plump pears, ready for picking....

My pear-pickin' partner.....

An abundance of apples...please come get some!

Our sweet Gypsy girl....

Sophie & her favorite playmate, Shady

DC is utterly disgusted with all this photo- journalism...

Isaac is not too sure he wants to do the zipline....

...so big sister "helps" him out.

Can you make out the look of

terror on his face?

Hammock hilarity.....

This week, it's been good for me to contemplate God’s creation just outside our door, to remind myself of all the beauty in this world. Lately, the world has seemed like a not-so-beautiful place sometimes. Funerals, visitations, hospitals, cancers, sickness and sadness have filled up a lot of our time and thoughts recently and those things have a way of wearing you down. Of course, they also help us realize how blessed we are to have a perfect home waiting for us in the future, where none of these things will trouble us. But sometimes it’s hard waiting for that! So in the meantime, it’s nice to observe the beauty and goodness that God has included in this temporary home and remember that, despite the occasional trials and troubles, this world is still a pretty fantastic “waiting room” in which to spend the long hours until the big day arrives.