A Time to Regroup

Usually I post a picture FROM my kitchen window.  Yesterday afternoon I needed a break from cleaning,  so I went for a walk in the woods to enjoy the beautiful fall day.  This is a picture FROM the woods TOWARDS my kitchen window.  If you compare this picture with the header picture you are able to see where I was standing. It was a great time to regroup.

 

On my walk I saw three whitetail deer, the leaves were falling from the trees and the wind was gently blowing them around.   Thankfully, I didn't meet up with any of the bear we have been seeing!

Tomorrow afternoon will be challenging.  After school I am going to meet with a young couple in a neighboring community whose young son was killed in a tractor accident on Saturday afternoon.  This is something I have done many times since our son was killed. The couple have asked for me to meet with them to help them make it through the days ahead.  I go in to listen and to share.  This first visit will be to share their grief and help them to find the strength to make it through the next few days and weeks.  My next visit  will be to help them adjust to the daily grief.  I am always careful to let them know how it was for us.  I never tell the what they should do or should be feeling.  

One thing I don't tell them now is that the pain never goes away.  They will learn to live with it and that helps the healing.

This one has hit closer than most.  A young little boy run over by a tractor on their farm.

  Lots of memories returned that have been buried deep for both DH and myself. 

If you are a praying person, please hold this family in your prayers,

Mentors

I have had two amazing friends as quilting mentors.   Amy of Amy's Passions taught a community education class in our local school that iswhere I immediately became addicted to quilting.  Amy patiently guided me through my first quilt and is always willing to answer my questions.

My other mentor was my longtime friend, Diane.  She was also a paraeducator in my classroom for several years.  She loved quilting.  She would bring in the quilts and projects she created.  One time when showing me one of her quilts, I said I should hire her to make a quilt for me.  She looked at me and said, "Why don't you make it yourself."   She made a wallhanging and  other small quilts for our classroom. One year for my birthday she gave me a beautiful fall table quilt.

Diane lost her five year battle with cancer two weeks ago tonight.  I was honored and privileged to be asked by her family to deliver one of the two eulogies at the Celebration of Diane's Life.   The church was filled.  It was a beautiful tribute to a wonderful lady.

One of our neighbors sang, "I Can Only Imagine." 


Today was a full day of meetings at school.  All schools are required to provide RTI (Response To Intervention) for students.  We do several assessments of all students.  Those who score below the 33rd percentile on two  computerized assessments, below grade level on reading fluency,  reading benchmark is below grade level, and other informal assessment are required to participate in Tier 3 intensive interventions.  We meet in grade level teams to evaluate the students scores and determine the tier of instruction they will receive.  

To make it easier, several of us will bring  snacks to have during the sessions.  This morning I made Crock Pot Pumpkin Spice Latte.  It was DELICIOUS!

Ingredients:
       6 cups of strong coffee
       8 cups of milk
       1 cup of sugar
       1 cup of pumpkin
       2 TBSP vanilla extract
       1 tsp Pumpkin pie spice.

Combine ingredients in a crock pot.  Cook on high for 2 hours.  Enjoy.  I also added three cinnamon sticks while it cooked.  Afterwards I turned it to low for the rest of the day.  Everyone enjoyed it.


Last weekend while DH and DS-1 were combining I was invited by DIL- 1 to go to the local pumpkin patch.  We had a ride through the woods in wagon, watched a pumpkin cannon,  ate carmel apples, and selected pumpkins. 
       

Don't tell anyone--but I am going to try to spend some time sewing this weekend!  It has been too long.

Autumn

Time for some catching up with my blogging friends.

Let's see..One morning while I was getting ready for school the sunrise from my kitchen window was beautiful.

 

The rest of the day I was singing the Cat Stevens song: Morning Has Broken.

Morning has broken like the first morning

Blackbird has spoken like the first bird

Praise for the singing, praise for the morning

Praise for them springing fresh from the Word

Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from Heaven

Like the first dewfall on the first grass

Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden

Sprung in completeness where His feet pass

Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning

Born of the one light, Eden saw play

Praise with elation, praise every morning

God's recreation of the new day

Another day this was the view from my kitchen when doing  dishes.

Once again, I made an attempt at fall decorating.  All of the

"props" are things I have found around our farm in sheds or things DH has 

brought home from farm auctions for me.

With all the beauty of fall, it is still a difficult time of year.  The week when the leaves are at their ultimate brilliance is the anniversary week that our oldest son was killed in a farm accident.  He was four years old at the time.  Yes, time does heal wounds, but it is something that stays deep in your heart always.  On the anniversary the memories are there more vividly than other days and difficult to keep emotions hidden.  I am so very thankful I took this picture a few hours before he was killed. 

My birthday was one day after the funeral.  My DH has never been able to celebrate  since the accident.  The biggest way it bothered me was the fact that my sons were never taught how to celebrate a wife's special day.  Now that I have Daughters-in-Love.  They make it so we celebrate.  We were together on Saturday night for an early birthday supper. .

 

I am so very blessed.