I love fall!

I absolutely love fall.  There's something special about fall, Saturday mornings when there is a crisp in the air, the excitement of football and just something calming about all of it.  We had a bonfire/hayride with our Sunday School class this weekend and the girls got to enjoy some hayride time before the crowd arrived.

This is just a glimpse of a great Fall day for our family.  It doesn't get much better :)

Fall Break

My little hiker...she looks like she should be a "through-hiker" on the AT.

A bear had clawed this tree until it fell over.  I just hope no one was at the top!

We had a chance to take a mini-vacay to the mountains for Fall Break.  On the last day, Doug and M1 went backpacking into the mountains for an "overnighter" while the babies and I headed back home.  M1 has been backpacking since she was able to walk.  Unfortunately, M2 is 19 months old and still not walking, yes 19 months old and still not walking, so she wasn't able to make this hike.  We weren't going to carry her the 6 miles round-trip they were doing ;)  We stayed in our camper in a KOA the first 3 nights so we weren't "roughing it" too much.  It was a much needed vacation for all of us and the kids literally spent every waking moment outside.  Today, it's back to the real-world as Doug and M1 head back to work and school.  I guess every good vacation must soon come to an end :(

A little bit of everything...

The CCAA has sent referrals out for May 16, 17 and 18th, 2006.  They didn't send any referrals out for the month of September, or was that for September?  We're really not sure.  I guess we'll have to wait and see if anything happens in October or if the next batch arrive in November.  I'm just going to go with the thought that the CCAA did 3 days in 2 months.  Do you see how slow things are?  September marked our 4 year anniversary of waiting on our daughter in China.  Let me clarify, there is NOT a specific child in China waiting for us.  Once they get to our name on the list, they match us with a child, send us a picture/medical info., and we travel.  Some people worry that our daughter is getting older in an institution in China.  We are hoping that she hasn't even been born yet.  We already pray for the time her birth family must abandon her in China.
We just got home from our Fall Break trip to the mountains.  We took another baby with us...15 month old and it was COLD!!!  It was quite a trip but everyone had so much fun!  We did realize that our camper is too small for our family, especially after our addition from China.  We're going to make it work as long as possible because we would rather pay for our adoption, not a new camper :)
Last, I have a friend who is hurting, hurting, hurting right now.  I'm so angry about some things that have caused her this hurt, sad for things that have caused this hurt, trying to pray and just give it all to God.  It's so much easier to talk about the trust and faith than to really try to live them.  It's been a good lesson for me.  I'm learning to really take my friends to the foot of the cross and let God have it.  It's all His anyway!