I have been wanting to blog all day!  I feel like I have a new passion for it: a desire to make it more than what it is.  A desire to share my heart with you.  A desire to seek, find, and then tell of the abundant yet simplistic beauty of "everydayness".  These past 9 weeks I have been writing of Ranger School and not much else, for it was life to us.  But now that Daniel, my husband, my best friend, my love is back, life seems to have that rosy hue to it once again.  So, my heart these past few days has been:

DATE NIGHT with my husband!  Last night Tirzah had her first Friday homemade pizza night (since she is essentially eating everything we are... and she LOVES pizza!).  We put her down to sleep and then left our babysitter in charge.  Daniel was craving coffee and irish cream ice-cream from the Marble Slab and I was craving frozen yogurt from Chill.  And so what?!  It was date night and we filled both of our cravings. After, we took a stroll to Barnes and Noble.  We curled up in those oversized chairs, Daniel with issues of Sports Illustrated, Outside, and Hobby Farm (the homemade doughnuts on the cover just won him over), while I sat with issues of Better Homes and Gardens, Whole Living, and Taste of Home (Best Fall recipes).  It was wonderful!

The best part was Daniel bought me a beautiful new book:

I found it while browsing the Christian book store before Ranger School.  While in Raphine, I talked with one of Marlene's new friends who knows the author of this book.  Her praises rang for its beauty, poetry, and spiritual poignancy.  Daniel knew I had wanted to get it, and he surprised me with a copy.  I have only read about 5 pages, but I spent a large part of the morning looking at her blog: www.aholyexperience.com. Take a moment to enter her space and truly your heart will soar.  The first moments both within the pages of her book and on her blog made me breathe deeply of the goodness and provision of the Lord.  My heart, I feel, is journeying towards simplistic yet holy joy in the mundane, and I know the Lord opened the way for me last night and today with this book.



1 OCTOBER

"Beguile us in the way you know.  Release one leaf at the break of day." Robert Frost on Fall

Fall is my absolute favorite and it was the perfect fall day today.  I wasn't too hopeful that Georgia would even have a fall, but today changed my mind.  We turned off the ac last night and opened the windows to the perfect night breeze.  This morning Daniel and Tirzah made the best french toast and then after breakfast we went out to our back patio.  With blankets, leaves, rocks, and the Word, our little family spent some beautiful time together.

AN ABSOLUTE LOVE OF FALL: all things PUMPKIN!  I can't get enough of it!  Pumpkin lattes, pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin ravioli... absolutely anything with pumpkin is a new favorite of mine.  So today was Tirzah's first Pumpkin Cookie day.  She loves them just about as much as her Mama.  Here is the delicious recipe if you find yourself on a fall day just dying to be in the kitchen.  These smell heavenly and taste even better

Glazed Pumpkin Cookies

Preheat to 375 degrees

Combine:

1/2 C butter

1 1/2 C sugar

1 C pumpkin

1 egg 

1 t vanilla

Mix and combine with wet ingredients:

2 C flour

1 t baking powder

1 t baking soda

2 t cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1/2 t cloves

1/2 t salt

Drop onto cookie sheets and bake for 15-20 minutes

once cooled, dollop with the following glaze:

2 C powdered sugar

3 T milk

1 T melted butter

1 t vanilla

To finish off our beautiful fall day, we took Tirzah to feed the duckies at our favorite lake.  At first it was just the Mallard ducks.  She was fascinated by them and was held almost frozen with stares in her stroller.  Then, a crazy horned goose (we have no idea what he was) came over and towered above Tirzah and her Daddy while they were sitting!  He honked and hollered for food; Tirzah just stared at him for a few minutes and then wanted to walk closer to him.  Sweet baby girl, her feet kept wanting to walk her closer to the bird, but her mind kept telling her to stay close to Daddy!  What an adventure today was.

May you find peaceful sleep tonight and a quiet day tomorrow of sweet Sabbath rest.

PS.  Hey Caroline!!!