What October Looks Like

I guess I didn't need to worry at all about what June, July, August or September looked like.  They went by in a flash!  My friend, Leigh was right - June was beautiful sunny skies... and LOTS of work.  And October, is pretty trees... and lots of work.  Oh wait! LOTS of work.  Capital letters still apply.   

We've lived back in the Eau Claire area since Father's day.  It happened so fast, I think I got whiplash.  One weekend I'm having a graduation for my oldest son, and telling everyone it might be the end of summer before we move - and two weeks later we are driving away from the only home our kids have ever known. The business of packing kept me exhausted and focused on the future for those two weeks.  But when it came to that Sunday morning when our home simply became a house again, and we drove down a tree-lined 31st Avenue with the summer sun dappling through the leaves, as only a summer Sunday morning can look...
I couldn't breath... I couldn't think future...  I could only see the kids, as they were ten years ago, running through the hallways.  Or the Father's day five years ago, where they tromped round and round the circle of rooms laughing at everything and nothing - just being goofy and happy in their own home.  So much love in that house!  (I know we took it with us - but I really hope we left some behind, too.)

Two weddings, a business trip and a semi-sorta settling in at my parent's house later, July came. July brought a new roof, some record breaking tempuratures, and a realization we live only 5 miles away from my favorite summer hangout - Big Falls!  The kids get the same swimming in the falls experience I LOVED as a teenager.

August came and went with a weekend up at the cabin with my brother's family (first ever - an awesome time was had by all), and about 8 more tons of debris being hauled away from the house (on top of the 9.62 tons we already carried out.  By hand. With shovels.  And buckets.  Big Heavy Buckets.  Did I mention it was TONS?)

By the 2nd day of September, I just KNEW we made the right choice.  Walking away from the kids new school I saw bunches of bikes parked randomly near the doorways - and nary a lock in sight! (So says the mother of 5 stolen bikes!)  The sky parted and I heard the Hallelujah chorus.  I'm sure I did.  Pep band, Show Choir, a lead in the musical, new friends coming by the house and a Winning Homecoming game.  The most fruitful September ever. 

And an Indian Summer October has the blessings of God written all over it!  How did he know that putting us where He did, and seeing that landscape every morning and evening, ablaze with color, with mist whispering across the fields, and the sky such a perfect cerulean blue, that it would melt our tension so well?  He is so good.

This is the hardest thing we have ever done.  And it's far from over.

But June's blue sunny skies, and October's pretty trees raining down their leaves in the summer-like winds... Ahhhhh.   He knows.  He knows.  He knows and has not forgotten to tend to our work-weary souls.