Heart Felt...

I'm catching a few minutes of blogging while sitting down with a steaming bowl of fresh Turkey Vegetable Soup and waiting for the buns to rise. I have a list of what feels like a hundred things to do today but I will be thankful to at least stroke a few off that list, like making some yummy thanksgiving foods, cleaning the bathroom, washing the floor, sticker book time with Hanna, putting tomatoes in the freezer, and hopefully finding time to try a recipe for homemade Pumpkin Spice Latte(a recipe I'll share if it turns out). I just love cooking and baking fall comfort food...cranberry loaves, pumpkin cinnamon buns, beef stew and dumplings, chicken pot pie, pumpkin pie, pumpkin cream cheese roll..basically anything to do with pumpkin. It's delicious just writing these down and way less self indulgence if I only stick to writing about them. :)

So this first week of Blogtober I realized that blogging every day takes a lot of effort and somedays there just isn't enough energy for it. Oh well, it'll just be the the month where I try my best to keep up. It's been a good week in this household, with some milestones met. On Monday my handsome hubby turned 30. We celebrated Sunday night but he wouldn't let me call him thirty until Monday.He's gone through many changes in his twenties: marriage, babies, buying a home, job changes, new friends, new family, and more. Wonder what changes the thirties will bring? I'm so very thankful for the man that chose to love me as his life partner and be a wonderful, fun loving father to his children. There are countless blessings to having Wayne as my love and provider.

I've been thankful this week too, that I've had time to catch up on practical things around my home like cleaning up outside, canning two batches of tomatoe soup, eventually getting laundry folded and put away and actually having ambition to make good suppers each day. The harvest has been blessed and I'm excited each time I walk into my cold storage to place fresh cannning on the shelves or more frozen goods into the freezer. There will be much to carry us through the winter.

Miss Hanna was much easier to handle this week due to an effort and prayers on my part to be  more patient and seek strategies that don't have me losing my cool so quickly. There were some big challenges like an over  the top temper tantrum but she and I both came out in the end having learned a good lesson. I was very pleased that she followed through and told Phil at the grocery store that she could not have a treat that day because she hadn't been listening to mom. It's hard giving consequences but proves when obedience follows. As a mother I try to instruct daily and each day I find I'm also being taught.

And what can I say about this sweet, dimpled, lovable boy. This week he's officially nine months old. With that milestone his two top teeth cut through, he stood up in the crib for the first time, does not lay still at all when I change his diaper and is still sleeping soundly through the night. I'm just so in love with this little version of Wayne.

There are a multitude of things to be thankful for, may our hearts be open to the bounty this Thanksgiving and each day following.

"We never approach God without cause for gratitude.
Thankfulness, a duty and delight greatly prominent in the Bible, is the declarative mood of gratitude - a bright fire in the world's frigid zone,
the memory and homage of the heart, a master force in soul-building, the greatest tonic faith has. Be ye thankful."
[Robert G. Lee]

Christina