My Favorite Season is Here!

In the picture above you see the girls with their cousin Ariana (back, left side).  We were visiting at Ariana's house where also Grandmom and Granddad Short live.  The girls had spent the night so that Alpheus and I could have our home to ourselves to celebrate 12 years of married bliss! <3  Yes Alpheus and I were married in my favorite season.  I just love the trees changing colors and the cool weather that isn't freezing, but is nippy enough to wear long sleeves and enjoy hot chocolate!

Another reason that I love fall is celebrating the blessings of God in the harvest.  I love the fruits and veggies that are coming in just now. Apples are my favorite and though I don't like pumpkin as a food, I enjoy this colorful fruit as decoration.  We also enjoy studying about the Pilgrims in November and remembering their faith as they traveled to a new land.  We love chasing leaves as they fall or just walking on them.  This year we won't have as many to rake since we cut down so many trees in our yard, but we have plenty blowing over from the neighbors yard to make a pile for the girls to play.  I love having a warm fire at night and we hope to have a fire pit this fall to burn some of the bark from our trees just to enjoy marshamallows and hotdogs "on an open fire."

Another thing we love about this time of year is celebrating Reformation Day!  We have been teaching the girls the history of the church since the time of apostles.  It is so interesting to see how God kept His Word spreading to the uttermost parts of the earth and the transformation of the Holy Spirit on the lives of people from hundreds of years ago, especially to the time of Huss, Luther, Zwingli, Tyndale, Calvin, and others.  What a precious gift these men gave to us to have the Bible in our own language, to be free to all to understand and follow, instead of being kept to only a few learned men.  To think that most people for many years had no idea what the Bible actually said.  What a lesson to us to take our freedom of reading God's Word seriously!  May God reform and revive America by His Word this year.  This is what we celebrate on October 31 for on that day in 1517 Martin Luther wrote 95 Theses of objections which is seen as the official beginning of the Protestant Reformation!  Some time we plan to use this program to teach about the Reformation.  http://www.doorposts.com/details.aspx?id=46 

This year we enjoyed traveling back to Florida for a week.  The girls always looked forward to the church's fall festival and so we try to go back around that time of year!  The week was filled with so much fun and fellowship, that even though it was HOT and not at all like FALL, it was a true blessing.  I will post more pictures as I can to record the blessings of that week. 

Until then, may you have a happy fall celebration!