Autumn at the YMCA

Autumn is my most favorite time of year. And this year's autumn has been so beautiful! The colors are more vibrant than I've ever seen!

Although we are experiencing a severe drought, the conditions are actually perfect for fall colors to be at their best. Madisyn and I did a study a couple years ago on trees in the autumn. For fall colors to be at their best, the trees need dry, cold nights. And we have been having those.

For the past few weeks when I get in my car to go home from teaching at the Y, I have parked in front of a patch of beautful trees. In fact, sometimes when I get in my car I just sit there for a few moments and soak up the beauty of God's creation.

Because I love photography and taking pictures, I decided to capture this moment in time before all the leaves were gone.

This particular autumn just reminds me of how good our God is. Even during a severe drought, He has given us these beautiful colors to enjoy. And that even goes with life itself. Even during trials, He is still good and continues to bless us time and time again. Even when we don't deserve it. Thank you Lord!

Our Newest Family Member

Madisyn has been asking for a dog for about a year. But we didn't feel she was quite ready for the added responsibility.

While training her in the area of responsibility and diligence with chores and schoolwork, we started searching for a dog over the summer. We found some that priced from $2,500 (RIDICULOUS!!!) to $600. Then finally found one in our price range and the breeder lived in the same town as my mother in law and father in law. We started seeing improvement in Madisyn with her chores and schoolwork, so felt she was ready for more responsibilty.




We were hoping to surprise her on Christmas day with her new puppy, but that wasn't going to work out. Although the breeder was willing to keep the dog for another month, she suggested we take the dog sooner rather than later so he would have a chance to get used to us and us to him. In addition to starting the house training process. Which so far he has done pretty good. The breeder did some ground work while she had him and we can tell she did a good job!








We gave the puppy to Madisyn on Saturday. She had no idea she was getting it, because we have been telling her all this time she is not getting a dog! She was so surprised! In fact, she was speechless. She couldn't say anything at all. She just stood there for a long time with this big smile on her face holding the puppy.

So far the puppy seems to be a keeper. Plus the fact he has the smallest, most adorable face you've ever seen! He's only 1 1/2 pounds right now, so he's pretty small. He looks like a ball of fur!


Madisyn is doing really well with the puppy so far. This will be our first week with doing school and having the added responsibility of the puppy.....so we'll see how she does.


We haven't found a name for the puppy yet, although we are leaning toward Corky. Corky is the name of the first dog Mike and I had. We got him a month after we were married. He became like our first child. We loved him so much! But when he was about 10 years old he contracted some kind of disease that started shutting down all his internal organs. He died within 2 days of showing signs of not feeling well. That was a very sad day in our lives.

One reason we thought of naming him Corky is in honor of our first dog and because he looks so very much like Corky did when we got him. Only this dog is a darker color of apricot.

Hopefully we'll find the right name for him soon. In the meantime, we have been enjoying him. You can't help but enjoy him cause he's so cute!!