Happy Fall!

My little monkey isn't so little anymore, She has mastered climbing all the way to the top and getting back down!
She is also very helpful...with the right motivation ;-)

Little cheesehead!
Amelia is so silly, this bow was in her hair for all of 15 minutes...she detests bows in her hair.

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I keep thinking back to swim team and all the practices when we had to tread water for 5, 10 or 15 minutes and how excruciating it was, how annoying and boring it was. But sure enough it got easier and easier, until one day I found myself treading water for hours while having a conversation. Funny now, looking back I can see that even then God was preparing me for this. No, I am not treading water to cool down, or pass my Lifeguarding test...but simply to keep my head above water. I am treading the waters of my mind. Faithfully I kick my legs and wave my arms and survive each day. I hate it. It is bothersome and painful. But at the days end I fall into my bed happy, content and stronger than the day before. All in all I am so very blessed. Look at my happy girls and tell my I am not. I look at these faces and I can remember the way they smelled, the noises they made, the trouble they got into and I rejoice! I know this because I was there. Of all my blessings, family, friends, my life of luxury, the greatest blessing is that I am the one raising my girls. I could not ask for more. Abigail is so grown up.