October, where have you gone?? September, where did you go? I can't believe that we are coming up on Halloween! When you spend the better part of 2 months not doing your regular "thing" the passing of time feels strange. Although the days have zoomed by, I have also experienced moments where I didn't think the clock was ticking at all. Too weird. I went to the doctor this morning, and his report was great. I am supposed to wean myself off of my air-cast and can resume normal activity as my foot allows. My heel is healing perfectly with the new, stronger bone visible on the x-ray. I am thrilled to be coming to the end of this mis-adventure. If I never encounter anything like this, I will be a happy girl. Who knows why this was how my autumn months were to be spent. Questions that may never be answered fill my mind. I choose to take what was good from the experience and use it for the purpose of thanksgiving. If for no other reason than to be reminded of all I have to be grateful for, it was all worth it.
We had a wonderful weekend. Friday evening I had the opportunity to speak for a women's event at our church. It was a honor and such a privilege to get to do it. Minutes before I spoke, I experienced an explosion of stage fright in my little heart, but with the encouragement of my friend Lara, I did indeed get up to speak. God has used the preparation that I did for my talk in my life so many times over the past few weeks. I studied Nehemiah's life and his spiritual disciplines; so much to learn from this Old Testament hero. I'm so glad that I was able to delve into his story in a deep way. Saturday, we went to a park in Loveland and took our annual family pictures. My dad is a really great photographer and his assistant (my mom) helps make us all laugh with her crazy antics. We got some really great pictures of our family. I have a wall in my house that displays these pictures and not a day goes by that I don't smile back at the sweet faces of the ones I love most. My most precious possessions. Everyone was a good sport with the amount of pictures that we took. Well, for the most part. Dad took over 200 pictures, so I guess you can't blame SOME of us for getting cranky. (Who me?) After our photography session, Patrick and the kids headed to Longmont for their annual "without mama trip to the hotel". Patrick earns free nights at the Holiday Inn with all of his traveling, and it was time to redeem them. Daddy and the kids have special things that they do together on these trips and it was so much fun to hear them prepare for their overnight adventure. Swimming, dinner at Red Robin, movies, jumping on the beds, staying up late, hotel breakfast - these are a few of the activities they were anticipating. Saturday afternoon, my sweet Maddie said to me "Well, I guess you could come Mommy, but you can't tell us what to do.". So, I stayed home. I went to a movie, cleaned up the house, went to Target, ordered take-out, slept in, did some crafty things, and missed everyone :). After they got home Sunday afternoon. Marky and Grandma Oman made invitations to Marky's birthday party. They had a fun time doing that together. The rest of the night was spent going to church, and getting to bed a little bit earlier than usual to make up for the late night Saturday. Monday morning certainly came sooner than any of us wished today, but it was just a perfect weekend in every way, so it was all good!