WayfaringStrangers

I am in a cranky and ungrateful mood right now. But I looked back at some of my old posts and enjoyed reading about God's faithfulness in Another Appliance Story and The Chest Freezer Story . It reminded me that I haven't relayed how God recently gave us some more undeserved but much-needed gifts. Our dryer broke again. I think we've been through 5 old, stinky dryers over the years we've been married. Sometimes one will last a year or so, then break and if Behn can't fix it then someone will give us or sell us another. Anyway, our dryer broke. And this time we couldn't fix it and so we just started hanging our stuff to dry (which I like to do anyway). I threw it out there on Facebook that we were looking for a used dryer, but after an hour I took the post down because I felt like I was whining or complaining. Just before I took the post down, someone from our church saw it and a few minutes later overheard her co-worker saying "I am moving and need to

It's that beautiful transition right now. The transition from sweet summertime to lovely fall. The trees are still green, but it's turning into a fading green, like a deep sigh. We see the first yellow leaves and some acorns. Graham is really  into collecting acorns and we've spent some time on tree identification through that. I am loving the earlier sunsets, which sounds weird, but it really helps with putting the kids to bed. The world is still fresh and lovely, but we are on the verge of a new season. It's still warm enough for some water play. So, we splash! The purple asters have bloomed. A lot of my perennials flopped, so I am so glad these beauties have done well. We took a walk to pick wildflowers and look at the (disgusting) pond in our neighborhood. These wildflowers are bringing me joy in an anxiety-filled week. This morning's walk took us beside a soy field. Southern Maryland in late summer. "Let me hear in the mor

Patrick's Birth Patrick Turns 1 Another year, and my littlest boy is now 2. It's funny to think  that 2 years ago I was holding a tiny baby in my arms after a crazy birth. It feels like a long time ago. Patrick is an optimistic, amiable person. He's just so easy to love and laugh with. He's a great brother to Graham: they play and wrestle and laugh and fight. They complement one another perfectly, a God-given bond. Patrick is a tractor-truck-bulldozer lover. If it has wheels, he likes it. He also loves sports, especially hockey. We gave him 2 hockey books as his gift and he asked us to read them over and over. Patrick is a good eater, and other than being an early-riser, a good sleeper. He's so active and can talk very well. He pretty much uses some complete (short) sentences and can tell us what he needs and even make jokes. Patrick is fearless and I often find him perched on high furniture. He's also tiny but fast.  And he copies everything  Graham says