Up a tree...


Jumping in leaves...


Laughing so hard it hurt...


Being buried up to your eyeballs.

Sunday afternoon, after church, after naps, we rallied the troops to go and take some leaf pictures.  It was the perfect fall day.  A day made in heaven and donated to us down here for a taste...

We went over to the edge of one of the trails in this great little city, surrounded by trees, and made a giant leaf pile.  Keyzia has been asking if we can make a giant leaf pile and then "jump in it like maniacs" ever since the first leaf turned yellow on the trees.  They had a blast.  We laughed so hard that our sides hurt.  We raked the pile up about 30 times, just so we could destroy it again.

After we got tired of the jumping, we went for a walk up the trail and down by the river.  Right smack dab in the middle of the city we found this...


A little oasis that we could call our own for the moment...  The sun was just going down, and us country folks who have been transplanted to the city could feel like we were back in the country again. 

We had had a very trying weekend up until this point.  It just amazes me how God chose that moment, that afternoon, to show me the love of my family.  The love and togetherness that we could have.  The joy we could take from it in that moment.  Sure, we have hard times, we have fights, we even can't stand to look at each other some days.  But, it was an afternoon like this, with the sun glowing beyond my husband and my son, with my daughter's small hand clutched in my own, it was then that none of it mattered.  God is faithful.  He will sustain me.  And sometimes it will be through little glimpses of heaven like this one.