Halloween morning

Here's the munchkins with their jack o' lanterns. The youngest is still a bit small for a pumpkin.

I tried and tried to get pictures of them playing on their 'slide', but their constant motion defeated me. I finally just took a video.

And this is BEFORE the Halloween candy. I think whatever they get tonight will go in the fridge and be carefully rationed ...

I also made some candy apples, but I let the caramel burn early on in the cooking process, so they came out kind of speckled and ugly, although they tasted good. Also, burning the caramel so demoralized me that I didn't cook it all the way to firm ball stage, so they were also kind of goopy.

I ran out of sticks for apples, so I had about two cups of leftover caramel. I didn't know what to do with it, until my husband asked me to make it into Chex candy. So I recooked it (over very low heat!) until it actually reached firm ball temperature, then mixed it with the cereal.

The trouble being, it's so sticky and stiff that it takes a while to gnaw through the candy. But it sure tastes good.

Three is company

I was folding laundry on the bed, and I had tucked Claire into the corner of Alex's bed, where she could sit up. She thought it was great fun, and so did the other two.

Today we went costume-shopping. He wanted to be a pirate.

She wanted to be a cat, but there were no cat costumes to be found. So I fell back on the ol' tiger ears and tail. I'll draw a nose and whiskers on her with makeup.

Aside from carving pumpkins, we're set for Halloween!

God's providence, again

Last summer was a hard, hard summer. No job, no money, little food, little hope. Relatives paid our rent and helped with necessities. I took art commissions and we paid bills with the small amount I made.

Then, right in the middle of it, I got pregnant. We reeled. But we chose to believe that another baby was a blessing, even though we couldn't see it from the circumstances we were in.

There's this little book called Be Fruitful and Multiply, and it's filled with all kinds of encouraging Bible verses that talk about how God blesses the womb first, then he provides material blessings so the family can feed and clothe this additional child. I clung to those verses.

Our financial situation improved a little as my husband went back to school on the GI Bill from his time in the military. At least we could pay the rent and buy food again.

Then Claire was born.

And now, six months later, God has seen fit to give us a bigger car.

(Not the same exact one, just the same model and color.)

A relative died and left it to us, so it's completely paid for and almost as good as new. We rode around in it yesterday, and I was completely astounded at God's grace to us. I took him at his word, never expecting a new car. And for some reason He saw fit to give us a new car. (Admittedly, we had completely filled the other one and rode around like a can of sardines.)

This means that my husband can get a job now, and he and I both have the wheels to go places. I'm hoping that a job will come next. It's been so long. God said that He will provide, though, and I'm still hanging on to that.

Playground visit

On Wednesday the kids and I walked out to the playground. It was the first time since I had Claire, because it was both cool enough, and I was strong enough to walk that far.

Claire even got to ride in the baby swing. She thought it was awesome, especially when pushed by her big sister.

I loved Holly's look in this picture. We took a picnic lunch and had a nice time eating it. Ryan met us at the park later and drove us home.

This scrub jay flew to the roof of the picnic shade over us, and proceeded to try to crack open a nut. It sounded like somebody knocking on the roof.

The support role

Last night I was struggling to extract refried beans from a can, and cut myself pretty badly. Somehow I managed to cut the middle knuckle of my ring finger.

I discovered something interesting about my ring finger. I always thought it was just a kind of wimpy finger, since it's not all that dextrous on its own.I thought it was just there to take up space, to make a nice hand of five.

As it turns out, the strength of all my fingers is in my ring finger. Since I have to favor that finger, the rest of my fingers have almost no grasping or lifting strength. I can barely even use that hand.

It made me ponder. Our culture looks down on the submissive, stay-at-home wife as something of a useless wimp. She remains in the background while her husband goes out and does business with the world. He's the thumb and the forefingers.

But the wife is the support role, and to be the support role, she has to be the strong one. It takes an incredible amount of strength to pull for all the other fingers and take no applause or attention. And when that supporting finger is disabled, the strength goes out of all the others.

Isn't it interesting that the non-glamorous supporting finger is the one that gets to wear the ring of gold? Its very back-seatness becomes its position of honor.

Glorious rain!

Today we got our first rain of the season. Rain! Glorious rain!

About maybe an inch, if we're lucky. Probably half an inch. But it was enough for the kids to get thoroughly soaked in. Claire was not allowed outside, although she'd like to be.

She's to the stage where she scoots around and bites everything. I think we have a few teeth on the way.

October at last!

Hooray it's finally October! Maybe it will drop below 90 and we can wear long pants!

Of course, that hasn't stopped the munchkins from wearing long pants for weeks prior to this.