Happy Harvest

The last two Autumn's we've been blessed to enjoy "Harvest" in a new and beautiful way. Since moving to the country and having a corn field right next to us we've gotten to watch our landlord, Joe, as he's prepared the ground, planted the seed, seeing the crop come in and flourish (even waking up some mornings in July to a bag of sweet corn on our porch, the Ruth's are so kind to us) and then comes the harvest. This is what all the hard work, early mornings, praying for rain and sunshine and waiting patiently were for. There was investment and trust involved, and God was faithful. God's been reminding me again of Hebrews 12:11 "No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on , however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who are trained by it." That verse has been the topic of many conversations in our home over the last 4 years or so, as we are daily in the exercise of discipline. I grow weary so quickly and give in to doubt. But God is faithful and he has forgiven me much! He will bring the harvest in his time. I'm seeing the sprouts in Xavier's life and I'm so grateful for the gift God has given me in my son. I trust the Lord will conquer Xavier's heart and give him a deep love for his Savior, and just like his mommy he'll never be able to boast in himself, but only in the cross of Christ.

Yesterday we took our annual trip to Pumpkin Land. Each year we are joined by more family members. This year my mom and two of my sisters, Dawn and Jill, came with us. Hopefully soon we'll be able to bring my nieces and nephews to enjoy the fun as well. The highlight for the past two years has been the short (kiddie length) corn maze. Dawn, Jill, Xavier and I wait for opportunities when no other children are around and begin playing hide-and-seek-tag inside of it. The fun part is that you never really know who's "It" because you don't see the other people get tagged, so you end up paranoid of each family member you may meet with around the next corner. - Good times :-)

Then we admire all the pumpkins, gourds, Indian Corn and any animals they may have on display, but we always enjoy going in to the shop at the end, Green Valley Nursery. It's fun to see the room with Christmas decorations (yea!!! it's coming!!!), but most of our time in their is spent in the Yankee Candle room. We have to smell every candle they have and make a game of not letting Xavier see the label but asking him to guess the scent. He's quite good at it. That boy has a discerning nose! That's probably acquired from all of the practice he gets on our trips to Walmart. If I stop in the laundry or shampoo aisle we get stuck there for several minutes smelling each one. He gets very diappointed if I put the lid back on a bottle without him having a turn to smell as well. (My sisters are like that too. You should see us at Christmas, every present gets passed around and sniffed.)

During our outing Xavier was quite averse to having his picture taken and the only time I was successful in getting one was when I hid behind this cut out and he came to join me once I was found. Thanks Aunt Jill!