Autumn

I love Fall more than any other season that Indiana gives me. I love the color scheme and the autumn sun and the way the season feels reflective. I love the way music sounds in Fall and the way a nap on the couch in the middle of the afternoon feels better than any other time. I love wearing jackets and scarves and jeans and exploring the outside without breaking a sweat. I love hot drinks and cold mornings and everything pumpkin flavored.

In conclusion, I love Fall...

And I think this year will be my favorite Fall ever. Already the field in our back yard has turned my favorite mustard yellow color and the million trees that surround our house have their edges looking slightly colorful. And I have someone remarkable to share in the fall music feelings and the pumpkin patch picking and warm naps and leaf jumping and hot drinks and reflection. This is going to be a beautiful chapter.

Ghosts Upon the Earth

For awhile now I've been slightly discouraged with the lack of creativity and beauty in the mainstream Christian music. I love worship songs but the Christian radio-style music is often times lacking in my opinion. Adam and I have discussed this issue several times and we get discouraged that as Christians who are close and intimate with the Creator we can't drum up a little more creativity in our music and lyrics.  So recently we've been on the hunt for some good Christian music that has some depth and intrigue. Our discovery....Gungor. No it is not an infectious disease, it is a relatively new Christian band. I heard one of their songs on the radio at work and Adam looked into them a little more and we discovered we had hit the jackpot! The words are full of biblical truth, the melodies are interesting and complex, and the whole thing just speaks to the beauty of our creator God. Their new album "Ghosts Upon the Earth" comes out in just a couple days and promises to be a good listen. Here's one of the new songs...

Tell me that's not marvelous and absolutely beautiful?

Finally!

Since the moment Adam and I were married we had a running to-do list of things around the house that needed to be done or bought or fixed, etc. We finished most of the things quickly but the one thing that has been on our to-do list for almost three months was "hang the picture wall." I kept seeing it on the list and we kept attempting to do it but then we didn't have enough frames or we didn't have the proper picture hanging fixtures....it was a sad and painful process (well, sort of) but.... I'm proud to say that it is finally done! Its amazing how having pictures in your house can make it feel much more comfy. I love walking past all the pictures on my way into the kitchen or sitting at the dining room table and gazing at the beauty of hard work and patience. I think that will be the end of house to-do lists for a while too, so that's nice to know.

Think.

So I'm twenty-three and I've never had my ears pierced. I know, I know....girls in my children's church group stand with mouth gaping when I show them my bare ears, but its true. And now that I'm entering what feels like official adult life I've been contemplating the idea of getting my ears pierced. But I really couldn't think of what would force me to make the decision so I decided I would start looking for earrings that are so great they would force me to pierce my ears. Here's some that I came up with......

Aren't those simply marvelous? I still haven't made up my mind yet, so for now I'm sticking with drooling over beautiful necklaces but eventually.....who knows? 

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to Adam and Malinda's house.

No, this is not another blog about how my niece and nephew love jokes....although I did just skype Peyton on his first day of school and the whole thing turned into another giant knock-knock joke and not a whole lot about what happened at school.

But back to the chicken. Adam and I are driving back to our house, we pull into our driveway and to our surprise there is a chicken in our yard! I don't know why he was trying to get to our house, maybe he knew I was a vegetarian and was trying to thank me. Or maybe he wanted to bask in the sunlight hitting our house? Regardless, the closer we got to our garage the more confused the poor guy got and then he started running full speed the opposite direction. Have you ever seen a single chicken run full speed? Its hilarious. It's like a combination pterodactyl and determined tri-athlete. Adam and I were dying laughing. I hope he stops by again sometime.


Did I mention I live in the country?

Please tell me this picture is real life. 

Real life, for real

All of my grad school books are here. 

That means something, I think. 

It means that life and routine are about to change once more. It means a lot less lazy day leisure reading and morning bike rides with nothing to think about. But it also means learning and changing and growing and progressing and being a real life adult with lots of things to do. I think I'm ready. I have grown-up clothes, a bag that doesn't have handmade things sewn to it, and books full of new adventure. I'm ready. 

Who's There?

The last time I saw my nephew and niece I taught them the fine art of knock-knock jokes. They loved it. They acted like they had never heard a joke in their life, it was adorable! Well, I saw them today when I had lunch with my lovely sister and they are still hard at work perfecting their own knock-knock jokes. Michelle and I were just dying listening to the jokes they came up with. Like, "light who? Light bulb." and "teeth who? Teeth that you can chew with." They obviously do not quite get the point of a pun or how to cleverly use 'who' to your advantage. I loved it though. After they finished eating they said knock-knock jokes back and forth the entire time. I had a chance to put in a few of my own like the classics, "orange you glad I didn't say banana?" and "lettuce have a  party!" They didn't get the point of them but they were cracking up anyway. Their favorite is still the "boo-who/don't cry about it" joke. That one never gets old. I had such a great time with them today. I think since I've been gone I can just see in their eyes how much they adore spending time with me. Its a marvelous feeling, and of course its mutual. I loved everything about their laughs and facial expressions, their wit and talking about everything from school to football and Hello Kitty. They are extraordinary kids that are going to grow up to be extraordinary people. I just know it.