This Is The Day...Rejoice In It

I never want my blog to be a place where people visit and then leave feeling down. Yesterday's post is still on me like a wet, wool sweater. It is heavy. I have had wonderful responses, and I believe most of you have understood the meaning in The Face Of Trauma posts.
Some, however, have been offended by my post and feel I have exposed Charlotte in a bad way. Please understand these posts are not about Charlotte. They are about shining a light on child abuse. They are not meant to horrify and make you gasp, though the thought of any child being abused should make you gasp. I have actually shared very little detail about Charlotte. If you read the posts, they are overall information shared to give an understanding of the trauma many children suffer and then carry into adulthood. I am too sensitive to one person thinking I am myself abusive.
Today is a new day. I am taking off the heaviness and replacing it with rejoicing, for today belongs to God!

The tree in my front yard is "flaming"! What a beautiful sight it is. All of my inpatients are gone...yes, I know I referred to them as begonias...thanks Joni! We had our first HARD frost and they died overnight. It's ok, as they could not compete with the glory of that flaming tree!

I went to breakfast this morning with my Mom. What a wonderful time we had. We went shopping too. Mom needed to run into Hancock's for some more embroidery projects. She bought 2 table scarfs and a set of pillowcases. She also bought a little silk floral arrangement. They saw her coming...it was so ugly, but she says she only paid 1/2 price. Really??!! There is a great bookstore next door so I skipped Hancocks...GASP!...yes, I skipped a fabric store. Really, I was planning a special evening for the kids and I knew the coveted (by my kids) Veggie Tale movie was in there. It is called "The Wonderful Wizard of Ha's!" A play on the Wizard of Oz and the story of the Prodigal Son.

Tonight we will all watch and eat home made pizza and a special (store-bought) dessert. My time in the book store was so refreshing. A small part of the day all to myself, just to look around. They had new rocks with wonderful sayings on them. Remember, I love talking rocks...though I did not get any. I did find a wonderful bag. Yes, I know I can make them now, but this one spoke to me....

I also found this great travel mug for 1/2 off!! Yes, I have some of my mother in me! But my 1/2 off find was not ugly. It would not have been my first choice, as there were many beautiful travel mugs, but for 1/2 off, you are not quite so choosy. It says "GRACE" "For the Lord God is our Light and Protector. He gives us grace and glory." Psalm 84:11 And it fits the cup holder in my van!

Today is Wednesday, which is like our family Saturday, since Sweet Hubby is home, and we have a light home school day. Our home needed a major clean, especially the upstairs.

I put flannel sheets on my bed and on Zachary's. Charlotte already put flannels on her bed yesterday. Tuesday is "change the bedding" day and she remembered. I blew it off. Anyway, we will all be toasty warm tonight. I am feeling not quite sure about that as I go to bed freezing and wake up later very warm (putting it nicely). The ceiling fan in my bedroom is turned on and off more than once during the night. Oh, these glorious years of mid life!!!

Sweet Hubby is spending the day doing final, end of the year yard clean up. He not only pulled up the inpatients and trimmed back the hosta, but he cleaned out the garden, also. He took the pool down a while back, but you can still see evidence of it! He is mowing both the front and back yards. We plan to stay busy the rest of the afternoon so we can all relax this evening. Kyle will sit out front on the porch and pass out candy to the trick or treaters. He loves to do this and it helps that the door bell does not ring constantly. After an hour or so, we will turn off the lights outside and be done. All the little kids come and go early. After that it is older kids and I am ready to be done. We live in a large subdivision, so we get LOTS of kids coming through. My kids will be thrilled with the movie and pizza..both the regular and fruit pizza!

I will start making my preparations for Thanksgiving very soon. I have a large family dinner here. About 25 people show up. This year, I want to do it a little differently. I will share all my plans for another post. Have a blessed Oct. 31st...It belongs to the Lord!!