I’ve been writing a 31 day series this month, and while I enjoy it, I also have to keep up with my other usual creative or inspirational writing. So here I am… writing two posts in a day!

We live hundreds of miles away, and yet I can feel the breath of the southern autumn I grew up with. Each day I awoke in a valley surrounded by hills, but I didn’t appreciate its beauty until after I had gone. But I haven’t truly left, since large chunks of my heart are in places my body isn’t.

I miss people and places, and I allow the perfume of memory to draw me in… I succumb to daydreaming of sunny days and places, of youth and innocence and dreams freshly birthed.

No matter how many years pass, or the older I become, my heart is still young in some places and thoughts and hopes. I hope it doesn’t grow old. The color of my hair will change, my eyes may see more dim, but what I truly see, that which can’t be seen with the physical eye, and what I know, which can’t be known from a book, and what I feel, which can’t be transplanted to something else– those things don’t change.

Continuing in my weekly list of thanks:

465. A beautiful October, with milder temperatures.

466. Safe traveling journeys for family visiting here.

467. A wonderful time with my parents. Thankful they could still travel and visit us. Thankful for all the help and encouragement they were (are). Thankful the kids could spend time with their grandparents.

468. Picking apples at the orchard, and then coming home and making six pies– two of which were wheat and dairy free. And then falling asleep exhausted at 9:30 pm after it all– which is really early for me!

469. Making more apple treats later in the week: hot cinnamon applesauce and dried apples in a food dehydrator.

470. Watching kids make model tabernacles from household items (cardboard, cloth, play-doh, toothpicks, sticks, tape) at a home school co-op. The kids did it– came up with models! Below are a few pictures:

471. Football and basketball in the yard– I watched the football, but did join in a few basketball games.

472. Running into an old friend who is now a registered nurse practitioner… she gave me good advice for my sinus infection and sore throat, and gave me a  box of licorice chews for my throat… thankful for the gift of running into her, and it saved me a visit to the ENT.

473. Along the same vein, another friend who is a naturopath, gave me some vitamins for the kids! I was looking for vitamins (she didn’t know that)– but just offered them to me to try! Another gift… “don’t worry about what you will eat or what you will wear….” Matthew 6:25

474. Watching  “Prince Caspian” and “Fiddler on the Roof” with my parents… love that movie…such fun. My kids have been humming the tunes from the musical since… I just love it. 🙂

475. Taking a walk in the park, crunching through leaves, walking near the river.

476. Having a few kids over, bringing their school work, doing some work together, some just having the kids sit side by side on the table, doing their own thing… such a nice and fresh change… loved it, will do it again.

477. Eating fried green tomatoes… my mom brought a recipe with her, and I had plenty of green tomatoes in my garden… the last of this season’s tomato crop. They tasted fabulous!!

478. Seeing my mom  laugh, laugh hard. Between the kids and myself, there’s plenty to make her laugh.

479. Hearing my dad’s jokes. I’m terrible at jokes, I can’t remember any. And even when I do, I just can’t make it sound as funny, ha. Guess I wasn’t meant to be a comedienne. 🙂

480. Getting better after a three week sinus infection and being unable to hear out of my left ear for two weeks… still not completely 100% back to normal, especially the ear, but it’s so much better. I can sympathize better now with those who are hearing impaired; I had to ask so many people to repeat things and the world sounded as if I were listening from underwater. Driving felt strange being unable to hear so well.

481. Worship. Music. Love. Next week, I just might be better enough to sing again. 🙂

482. Putting my faith and hope in God… waiting on Him… His word, Him = Hope.

483. Finally realizing… what I need is reading glasses to wear over my contacts to be able to read. Much better! (I’m too young for this….or so I think… apparently not….)

484. Thankful for safety on the roads these past few weeks… I’ve passed several wrecks, a couple of cars flipped over, and a car on fire. The highways have been more busy than I can recall and there is still construction all over the place. So thankful for continued safety on our trips all over town.

485. Pictures in the pumpkin patch.

486. Thankful for a God, a personal God, Jehovah, YHWH, I AM… who is Holy and above all, but also close enough, personal enough, to hear each word I say, and lets me sit on His lap… a God who remembers me, and calls me an adopted heir, a daughter of the king. No other identity means as much as this.