The Russell's Daily Blessings

What fun!  Sneaky little ghosts.  Look what they left on our porch!

Soon our entire block will be haunted.  We are preparing to Boo another family on our block.  Hummm….who will it be?

Boo!

The A.Court Ghost now haunts you ’til Halloween.  And was delivered by a friend who (Hopefully) was not seen!

The Spirit of the neighborhood has come to wish you well, someone , somewhere selected YOU to receive this happy spell.

You must display the ghost on your door so that all can spy, that your already haunted by this happy little guy!

Then make a bag with goodies like the one given to you.  And ring a neighbors doorbell and make them happy too!

 

While laid up today, I searched for some old-time cartoons to share with Gillian.  The good-ole days! The only original that I found was Under Dog!  It was pretty fun to watch that with her.  I forgot how cute Polly’s voice was.

Kindergarten is kool, mom!

I have to agree little one!  Gigi’s Kindergarten teacher treats her classes to a special pumpkin patch field trip each Fall.  It isn’t just any ole pumpkin patch mind you.  This pumpkin patch is grown with love, just for Sue’s classes.

Nestled in a quiet neighborhood in town, Farmer Don grows lots of pumpkins for his daugthers classes. Not only do the children get to go pick out one of these orange beauties but they also make pumpkin pies, play games, play in leaf piles and eat pumpkin pie.  It was a treat for me as well as one of the parent volunteers.  What a fun experience, the entire morning was just a perfect Fall day to remember.

 

No,  not Baskin Robbins! 

Today N, K helped me to get these sweet little favors done for a dear friend’s shower.  I have to confess it has been hanging over my head and I was beginning to think I would never get them all done.  But, now I can breathe a sigh of relief.  Thanks girls!

At the last minute it worked out for me to get to go to this years Women’s Retreat.   After the first session, I felt pretty certain that God made sure that I would be there to hear the message.  This year’s theme “Hearts on Fire, Tongues on Hold” was practical and extremely convicting.  Our speaker, was incredible;  gentle, wise, funny and precious.

The setting, beautiful Trails West is awe inspiring in itself. Top that with great lessons, fellowship – strengthening old friendships and creating new ones, quiet time and not having to cook or clean up and an awesome husband, I have to say that God has blessed me.   What a great way to end our Fall break.

I pray that all of the women who attended can keep the fire burning and continue to bring glory to God by being salt and light to those around us and to breathe words of life not words of death.

 

I can finally see the writing on the wall, literally.   My very good friend came by and helped me finish up some painting and helped me get the words up on my kitchen wall.

What do you think?

 

I am hooked and I am looking forward to trying some of our very own Decor Elements from Stampin’ Up!.

October is as you know, Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  It also happens to be the month that I go in for my Mammogram.  Although I have not yet had my appointment (next week) it has me really praying for a clean bill of health.   This of course a result of two very special friends being diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer a month ago.   Both, of these special ladies are my age and both have children my kids ages.   They are both an inspiration to everyone around them.  Their positive spirits and the peace they have within them comes only from Our Heavenly Father.  It is only through Him that anyone going through chemo and losing their hair could possibly not sink into the darkness.

Girlfriends, please take the time to examine yourself monthly.  Don’t skip your annual exams.  Do all  you can to make others awake and also do all that you can to help the cause.  There are many foundations and research projects out there.  Let’s fight this battle with a sea of PINK, prayer and awareness!

B & M, I am praying for you daily.  You are amazing women and I am so proud to be your friend.

http://cms.komen.org/komen/AboutBreastCancer/index.htm

http://www.armyofwomen.org

Even though we did enjoy our first stop today in the mountains, I think we did leave feeling like we needed something more.  With out discussion we drove to an area where Kip and I had hiked years ago (before kiddos).  We drove up and parked long side a stream.  We hiked, explored and took many pictures in the green, lush area.  It was so peaceful and this spot quickly became my new happy place.  The sound of the stream, the beauty and the company was exactly what we all expected from our day in the mountains.  We had so much fun, climbing rocks, exploring the hills, looking for stream trout and being together without interruptions, it was really difficult to pack up and head home.  I can still feel the peace and picture the beauty as I type.  I cannot wait to get back there again.  We are so blessed to live in Colorado and have so much beauty around us.

 

Tradition smadition!

For nearly five years we have had a Fall family tradition to drive into the mountains to take in the colorful views of the changing Aspens.  Each year we would journey back to the same location; a great open spot with a great big rock situated just so (as if placed there intentionally) with many colorful Aspens behind it.   The fun thing is we would see at least one other family who had the same annual tradition and we would assist each other in taking family photos perched up on the rock.

Today we drove to our location, camera’s, tripods and smiles in tow.  Would you believe, our great big rock was gone, no trace of this massive rock and in it’s place was a massive pile of asphalt.  Kip and I were extremely disappointed, but as you can see our kids, if you didn’t know any better could have been at ‘asphalt Disney’.

 

Although we did not get our Fall Family picture taken today, we did have a lot of fun.