Beautiful, Random Friday is Back!

Ok, so again my pictures are completely out of control!!

I put them in certain order, 

but blogger has missed them up =0)

So here we go.....

The beautiful Arielle came over and made supper for us this week.

She made Chicken Tortilla Soup

and Apple Pie.

It was the most delicious meal.

My man said this was the BEST apple pie he's ever had!!!!!

This was the boys after pie.

HAHAHAHAHA

This pic CRACKS.ME.UP.

=)

Arielle's dad owns a farm.

He is a produce farmer

 and as you can imagine

it has been a very rough year.

Well in September, 

he threw some bean seed out.

He went out yesterday to check it,

and picked 8 BUSHEL of beans!!!

So Miss Arielle and I got a bushel of beans,

14 Quarts canned,

well almost canned.

We had to go get a pressure cooker.

It holds 7 quarts at a time,

so I am currently this moment

listening to that beautiful pressure cooker.

Yes dear pressure cooker

we shall become very good friends =)

So here is my Mr. Winslow and Sir Cuteness snappin' beans.

Yep, it was a family act,

we all got involved.  

Chase isn't in the pic, but he was indeed

snappin' beans right along with us

from the comfort of the recliner =)

Our fridge runneth over =)

Sir Cuteness and I had library day on Wednesday,

and here he is putting on a puppet show for me.

Have you ever?

I mean seriously!!

He looks SO big here to me!!!

Goodness.

Beautiful.

Garden.

Goodness.

And new pressure cooker =)

The delicious Chicken Tortilla Soup Arielle made.....

Ok so I realize this disgusting picture is tucked in between soup and pie,

silly blogger,

but it has been part of my week.

So here we go.....

Back in August my Mr. Winslow took me camping for my birthday,

yes in the same place we had to be rescued from last fall,

but this time it was such a beautiful experience,

except for this toe.

Again with this toe.

I lost my nail four months after our adventure last fall,

and then when we went in August my toe nail turned black again.

What in the world?

Well 3 nights ago I took my sock off using my foot, 

(Does anyone else do that?)

And caught my toe nail and pulled it up.

Oh boy.

So my Mr. Winslow got up and indeed I had pulled it completely up on one side,

but the other side was stuck,

I mean COMPLETELY stuck.

It bled and was crazy and hmpff.....

So on Wednesday,

I headed to Urgent Care to have it taken off.

OUCH.

And because of the knees situation with components and all,

I now am on anti-biotics to prevent any kind of infection,

and I have to go see a podiatrist.

Oh brother.

Well now, that about wraps it up,

I am also scrappin up a storm, 

and hope to get a post up soon on my scrap blog,

but you can go check it out to see some of my work,

there is a pretty current post up there.

I'd love you to check that out right 

HERE.dawnsscrapbookcottage.blogspot.com

So maybe I have put enough space in between pics =)

And without further ado,

PIE.

P.I.E.

I hope y'all have a beautifully Blessed day ~~

Fall Fun Campbell's Maze Daze Style

I love fall!!

I mean LOVE LOVE LOVE FALL!!!

My dear friend Arielle's family owns a farm.

Like a real life produce farm.

They don't raise cattle or other animals,

they grow food.

It is a tough business to be in,

but they do it with grace and beauty,

but it is a difficult business for sure, 

and this season has been especially hard with the drought,

and then with it raining nearly every weekend

this fall season here,

it has been difficult on their Fall business,

but yesterday was a beautiful day here

and we headed out to 

Campbell's Maze Daze.

Their farm is so beautiful,

and they work so hard to put this event on every year.

It is there money maker,

so I was so happy to see SO many people out there yesterday.

They are such generous people.

They hosted us yesterday,

gave us free admission,

let Sir Cuteness roam freely 

and pick out a pumpkin,

and just took amazing care of us,

all because we love Miss Arielle so.

I'm telling ya,

A-M-A-Z-I-N-G PEOPLE!!

So sit back and enjoy this heavily loaded post of pictures =)

They are of course mixed up because I downloaded them from my phone,

but let's not sweat the small stuff!

*****

So here is PaPa and Sir Cuteness in the corn maze.

Because of the drought,

the corn just didn't grow very tall.

But it was still a wonderful maze and one of Sir Cuteness's 

favorite parts.

Yes that is a coffin,

and no we didn't get in it.

Why a coffin in a kid's corn maze?

Well usually they have two mazes,

a kids maze 

and a haunted maze for the evening brave ones =)

but this year, 

they only had one maze,

so it did double duty =)

Sir Cuteness didn't mind.

Sir Cuteness jumped in the Dragon Jump.....

Rode the Barrel Train.....

Had fun with daddy in the maze.....

Rode horses.....

(Another favorite part =)

Got us lost in the maze.....

This cracked me up,

the barrel train started and this mom that you see there had to go running after the train,

because her little girl (about 2-3) start crying and climbing out while it was moving.

Mama went running after it and walked beside it the whole way.

That's a good mommy right there =)

He went on a hayride with PaPa.....

Fed Luigi the pig.....

Another favorite part.....

yep we had LOTS of favorite parts =)

Side note:  is this not the cutest pig you have ever seen?

He had the biggest belly.

There was corn everywhere of course,

and this pig just ate and ate and ate!

So funny.

So fat little piggy =)

I mean seriously!!

And fed rabbits.....

And posed with PaPa.....

Kinda =)

Painted a big ole pumpkin.....

Look at these precious fingers!!

Watched a magic show =)

He was really funny too.

Enjoyed the beautiful Ozarks.....

Played with Grandma in the big Corn Maze TV =)

I love this boy so!!!!!

And took corn from PaPa's hand to feed Luigi.

It was a beautiful day!!!

A Big Thank You goes out to 

Campbell's Maze Daze 

for making Sir Cutenesses entire Fall!!!

I hope you are getting out in the beautiful sunshine and enjoying the fall where you are!

Have a Blessed and Beautiful day ~~ 

She Believes and EVERYTHING Changes.....

Let me start by saying,

I AM SO HAPPY TO BE BACK BLOGGING!!!

The best way to describe my blogging absence

is by saying I felt it was a 

season of silence.

I never felt that I should stop my blog,

although I did consider that on some other blogs,

but not with this one.  

And I'm thankful.

I really felt like it was a season,

and I had NO idea when I might start

blogging again, 

I just felt I would know.

And yes indeed,

I have the go ahead in my heart to start blogging again

and I couldn't be happier about it!!

I've missed y'all.

So with that being said,

let's continue shall we?

*****

A few years ago this was our motto at our ladies conference at church:
"She Believes and Everything Changes".

I had NO idea how much this saying would come to mean to me,
or how I would come to need,

or how God would use it in my life in the years to come.

You see for the last 3 1/2 + years I have been in a trial.

Yep that is a long time to be in a trial,

but what God has done in me,
continues to do in me,

and now is choosing to do through me

because of the deep, abiding lessons I have been learning 

and are still learning,

is humbling.

He went into those deep places,

those deep recesses,

those places we keep hidden deep,

yep He went there.

I know right?

But it has been AMAZING!

Amazingly hard.

Amazingly difficult.

Amazingly joyful.

Amazingly Amazing!

We are not out of this trial,

nor does it appear at this time we are anywhere close to being out of it,

but the peace that I live in now is surprising to me.

Why?

How?

Because I chose to start Believing what God was telling me.

Because I started to Believe BEFORE I could see ANY results.

Yep Faith.

God has been showing up in my heart

time and time and time again 

reminding me that He is who He says He is

and will do what He says He will do,

but all this was after a very difficult 

wilderness wandering on my behalf.

The place that I am writing this from at this point,

is a much different place than I would have written from

even 6 months ago.

I am thankful.

I am hopeful.  

Biblically hopeful.

Biblical hope is with an expectation.
not a wanting.
an expecting.
I LOVE that!!

I am EXPECTING God to do what ONLY HE can do.
I can't fix it,
I can only trust.

I love Him so!!

From Crushed to Blessed.....

Yesterday I went somewhere I had not been in years.

I found myself in a town I lived in as a 19 year old young bride.

So hopeful.

So happy.

So young.

One of my friends lives in this town

and yesterday I found myself there.

On the way back from her house,

I had a little time.

So I did something I had not done in years.

I went to my first husband's grave. 

I know what you must be thinking,

"She doesn't go every year?"

No.  

I don't.

It has always been so hard.

Crushing really.

Hard.

And this time.....

The feelings came rushing in,

even after all these years.

26 years in fact since David passed away, 

and those feelings came flooding back in.....

quickly.

Sadness.

Pain.

Loss.

It came in quickly.

It was hard.

I wasn't sure what to think,

I mean it has been 26 years.

I stayed for quite a while.

Since I had been there, David's sister Kathy

and his dad Wayne had also been laid to rest by him.

As I tried to take it all in without letting the feelings over take me

as they had so many times before,

My eyes went to his tomb stone.

*****

The night before David died we were talking about tombstones.

You see my 18 year old sister had just died 3 months prior in a tragic motorcycle accident,

(she was just 5 weeks from graduating high school.

It was so devastating.)

So I had gone that day with my mom and family to pick out her tombstone.

I remember it being such a sad, hard day, 

and that night I was sharing with David about the experience.

and he was trying to help.

Before I realized it,

he was telling me about what he wanted on his tombstone.

How he wanted deer by a stream and evergreen trees.

When I realized what he was saying,

I told him that I appreciated him trying to help me,

but I just couldn't talk about what he would want on his tombstone right now.

it was just to hard.

To which he said,

"you never know, 

I may die tomorrow."

I will never forget it.  

It hit me hard.

I was upset with him.

We changed the subject,

and the next day I watched him drive away for the last time.

Neither one of us realized it, but we would not meet again this side of heaven.

I got a call at work a few hours later that he'd been in an accident at work.

When I got to the hospital,

he was gone.

He had been electrocuted.

devasted.

completely.

utterly.

devasted.

I was a 19 year old bride

who was having to bury her husband.

We had been married 7 months and 24 days.

Several weeks later when I went to have his tombstone made,

I knew exactly what it was to look like.

I didn't have to wonder.

I walked in and sitting in the showroom was a tombstone

with deer grazing by a stream amongst the evergreens.

I was taken aback.

I nearly collapsed.

There it was.

I didn't have to have it made after all.

All I had to do was have it engraved.

It was overwhelming.

I was away from the LORD at the time,

but it was one of those moments in my life

that I KNEW God was with me.

He was taking care of me.

*****

As I stood at David's grave yesterday,

that memory came rushing back.

God in His love and mercy was taking care of me,

even when I was out there,

REALLY out there!  

As I looked down at his tombstone I thought,

"This was my husband."

It was hard.

I left and as I drove I spoke with the LORD (my covenant keeping God),

about my experience.

Why had all those feelings rushed in there like that?

What had just happened?

It has been 26 + years.

David died on July 8, 1986,

and yet here it is 26 years later and my heart still feels such

profound sadness.

profound.

And I have an amazing life.

Jesus is faithful.

I am a well-loved woman!

Jesus is faithful.

In that moment,

God in His grace,

let me know why I felt this way.

David was the first man I ever loved.

The first man that ever loved me.

He was the first person who really knew me.

He was my husband.  

My friend.

My love.

It was okay to miss him.

to love him.

to be sad sometimes.

even 26 years later.

It was okay.

God was showing me,

He knows me.

He sees me.

He REALLY sees me.

He understands.

He loves me.

It was a peaceful place.

A place of hope for me.

A place of healing.

All these years later.

The love of my Savior to care so much for me

to help me deal with these things

all these years later.

I love Him so.

Yes indeed,

From Crushed to Blessed!!!

Praise You Jesus!!