"Dynamite and Aspirin"

I know I won't do the sermon justice, but I wanted to post what I could remember about Pastor Blake's sermon Sunday night. It was SO good! The title of his message was "Dynamite and Aspirin". The gist of the sermon was that when you are spirit-filled you receive power to overcome the circumstances life throws at you. This is the "dynamite" in your life. The second part of the message was that there is also "rest" in Christ when you are weary, burdened and filled with uncertainty about your problems. He showed through study of the greek language that the word "rest" in the bible is the same root word that the medicine "Anacin" came from. Anacin was an over-the-counter remedy back in the 30's that had aspirin and caffeine in it. He said that God said in his word in essence that when we are children of God, we have the promise of "dynamite" in our lives, but also the promise of "aspirin" in our life. Relief, rest & calm from the chaos of life. He encouraged us when we are down and discouraged to open the Word of God and "pop a promise"!
I enjoyed that message so much because I've felt with all the political "fighting" going on and the economic crisis that I've been guilty of worrying too much instead of "resting" in the promises of God's Word. It's comforting to know that when we let God, He really can be all we need Him to be in our lives...including dynamite AND aspirin!
Blessings - Mel

P.S. They have podcasts of all Pastor Blake's sermons available on the church website. I don't really know how to do the whole "podcast" thing, but if you know how to work it, it would definitely be worth your time to look that message up and listen to it. The website for the church is www.ckac.org.

Boo At The Zoo!

Dale, Mel & Gentry - "chillin' at the zoo"

sweetest kiss in the world!

just woke up from a nap on the way...not sure if he wants to be here yet!

Are you scared, momma??? That's what he kept asking me!

His "scared" face

petting the...um? guinea pigs?

Our carosel ride on the BULL!

Hey guys and gals! Man, I went for a week and didn't blog one bit and now I've got so many things I'd like to say and know I'll run out of brain power before I get everything down I want to say. So, I'll give you some "teasers" and hopefully "reminders" for me so I'll remember all I wanted to talk about. The first blog I'll attack is our "Boo at the Zoo" family night we had tonight. Then I don't want to forget to tell you about one of the most AWESOME sermons I've heard that Pastor Blake preached last night. That teaser will be the title of the sermon: "Dynamite and Aspirin". It's gonna be GOOD! And then the other thing is Dale's "health condition". Nothing life threatening, so I'll wait for another night to blog about that as well! :) Sorry, honey!

Okay, so back to "Boo at the Zoo". Dale will be leaving Wednesday morning to go down to Mississippi to meet his dad and brother for them to take their annual "man-trip" to Colorado to hunt. He'll be gone for 10 days, so he's been attached to Gentry and me at the hip for the past few days wanting to gather up some "quality time" before he heads west. So we decided to go to the St. Louis Zoo this evening for a "kid-friendly, non-scary" Halloween fun night. Now, I know it's probably not "politcally correct" these days to do the Halloween thing if you call yourself a Christian, but I guess I have enough rebel blood in me that I still like to bend the rules a bit. So...off we went!

I'm sure I always say we had fun, but we REALLY did tonight. The park was decorated so festive with lots of pumpkins, lights and AWFUL organ music! There was an animal show with an assortment of animals ranging from little rats to the biggest snake I've ever seen. Gentry was particularly interested in the armadillo and owl. Who knew you could find those at a zoo? We got to pet some...well, I think they were guinea pigs, but I couldn't tell you for sure. We saw foxes, fish, seals, geicos, turtles and penguins. We sat around a "contained" bonfire and heard a "spooky" story, rode a bull on the carosel ride (Gentry's choice) and stopped by a pirate's ship and found sunken treasures. The only thing that scared him during the entire evening was when I "perched" him on top of a railing to look at some pink flamingos. That TOTALLY freaked him out. I don't know if he thought I was going to let go of him, but he was truly petrified of the flamingos and started screaming to the top of his lungs "Let me down!!!" But I have to say, Dale and I had a big laugh over the fact that nothing in the entire park spooked him but a bunch of harmless pink flamingos! It was pretty chilly(40*), but the walking, gloves, jackets & scarves kept us toasty warm. The night ended perfectly when Gentry got a bag of candy to snack on as we left the zoo.

Our little excursion must have worn us all out, because once we got back in the vehicle, Gentry knocked out and Dale and I didn't say one word to each other the entire trip back home. That's one nice thing about the comfort of old married life...no pressure to produce conversation; just comfortable silence.

Well, Gentry is jumping up and down, grabbing my arm, and saying, "Mommie, Mommie, I wanna watch Bam-bee!(emphasis on each syllable)" So, I'm gonna run for now and get my little man settled in for his late night show!

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the pictures. Hugs to you all!

Melanie

Has It Been A Week???

Okay, so I've been a little behind the eight ball in getting something posted here this week. I have no excuses, except that I've just not felt much like talking this week. I'm a quiet kind of girl most of the time, and sometimes I just don't have much to say. This past week has been one of quiet introspection. Thinking a lot about life, but nothing interesting enough to put on paper.
Had a great day today with my family. Dale was gone hunting again, so Gentry and I met mom, Christy, & Courtney at Chevy's for a mexican lunch, then headed to mom's house to relax in the sunroom and visit. Papa was outside raking leaves, so Gentry went out there to help papa out. Actually, he was hindering more than he was helping, but papa didn't seem to mind much. Gentry ran through the piles of leaves with reckless abandon and squeals of delight.
Mom made some DELICIOUS chili for dinner and her famous no bake cookies. There was only one cookie left on the plate when I left, and I SO wanted to take it with me, but didn't want to seem like a pig! I'm telling myself, "Mel, you have this exact same recipe...you can make a batch when you get home."...but as you know, there's just nothing like mama making something and it tasting SO MUCH BETTER than anything you could cook or bake.
It was such a nice day getting to hang out with my ya-ya's. We did a lot of laughing, a lot of talking, and a good bit of oogling over my little man. Mom tells me all the time, "Mel, he just makes me laugh!" I'm glad someone else besides me thinks he's pretty neat! :)
Well, I'm gonna run for now. I'm REALLY hoping to be able to make it to church tomorrow. I didn't get to go all week last week...and BOY CAN I TELL IT! Just kidding...I do love being in the presence of God...it does wonders for me! So, I'm gonna hit the hay and talk to you all tomorrow. Thanks for spending a few minutes with me. I know your time is precious, and it means a lot that you came by! Be blessed!!

Melanie

A Perfect Fall Saturday

Oh what a perfectly beautiful day I had today! I'm worn out, but it was so worth it! Dale was gone again for the weekend hunting, and as you know, I've become a "deer hunter's widow" as of about two weeks ago. Dale has some hunting land leased about 2 hours south of here and he enjoys getting to go down there on the weekends and hunting. So...that's given me A LOT of free time on the weekends do to some exploring.

Today, Gentry and I slept in and then left the house around lunchtime and went over to St. Charles, MO for the afternoon. St. Charles is a suburb of St. Louis and is about 20 miles north of St. Louis. I had done some looking online earlier in the week and decided to take a day trip over there this weekend.

So, me and my buddy headed out on our excursion. I saw on the internet that they have a quaint, historical downtown shopping area right on the Missouri River. There is also a park on the river called "The Frontier Park" where they were having a fall festival entitled "Life is Good". So, with my handy-dandy map on my lap, off we went to have some fun...just the two of us. :) When we arrived at the park, the first thing Gentry saw was all the balloons and he got so excited. He knew this must be a place to have fun. They had a lot of inflatable play stations like the trampoline, slide & obstacle course. Gentry is always so timid at first, but after a couple of minutes of coaxing, he finally pulled his shoes off, and he was off and running and playing his little heart out. His favorite one was the inflatable slide. He loved climbing up and then tumbling down the other side. They had face painting, all sorts of games, a magician and juggler, live music and a bubble machine that Gentry thought was amazing. He was running all over the place popping those bubbles. I was trying to snap pictures, but he was too active having fun that I didn't really get any good ones of him at the park.

When we got done at the park, we walked a block over and made a loop down and around the historical downtown shops. Oh my goodness!! It was MY KIND OF SHOPPING. They had lots of ecclectic boutiques with home decor, clothing, sweets, antiques & holiday shops. Gentry wanted to touch everything he saw, especially in the Christmas shops. He thought the reindeer and snowmen were just SO COOL! He made me a little nervous because I could just see him breaking things everywhere and me coming home with LOTS of broken merchandise I really didn't want to buy! But, once he got the rule down that he had to hold mommie's hand in the stores, and just look, well, he was the best sidekick I could have asked for! The weather was just gorgeous and we took our time strolling down those old cobblestone streets. There were trolley cars and horse-drawn carriages and it just made you feel like you'd stepped back in time.

We found a candy store and stopped in and got some taffy, peanut brittle, & a popcorn trail mix. YUMMY!

After we'd shopped to our hearts were content, we headed back home, stopped by Cold Stone & got a shake for the road and then stopped by St. Louis Bread Company for a sandwich and warm bowl of broccoli cheese soup...the perfect ending to a perfect day.

I do wish my sweetie could have been with us to share our day, but I realize that before too long, Gentry will be old enough to go hunting and I won't get these mommy/son days as much. So, even though it was just the two of us today, I LOVED spending the day with my angel. I asked him when we got back to the car, "Did you have fun with mommie today?" And he put his arms around my neck and squeezed really tight and said, "Uh-huh!" I mean, it just doesn't get much better than that, my friends!

Enjoy the pictures I snapped from our day today. The name of the festival we went to in the park was titled: "Life Is Good"...and that about sums up the way I feel about life today. Hope you're enjoying these beautiful fall days as much as we are.

Love & Blessings - Mel

Just Another Ordinary Day...For The Most Part...

Good evening! Well, as you can see from the pictures, we (Gentry) had a little mishap today! And I have NO IDEA what he did! Here's the condensed version...as much as possible. I had to pick up a few things at the pharmacy and grocery, so I had jumped into the shower REALLY quick. All was fine until I ran upstairs to get dressed. Gentry has been in this phase of wanting to wash dishes and he has a favorite red mixing bowl that he carries around with him. He told me he wanted to wash it, and I told him we would as soon as mommie got some clothes on. So, up the stairs I run and had put on ONE item of clothing and I heard this CRASH and then a blood-curdling SCREAM! I go running downstairs in nothing but...well you can imagine...and scoop him up from the hallway floor and see blood everywhere in his mouth! I have NO IDEA what happened or how he could have injured himself so badly. I've questioned him about what happened and every time I ask him he just hides his face in my chest like he did something wrong.

The first thing I checked was if any teeth were missing...NOPE...THANK YOU, GOD! Then I ran back up the stairs with him and a wet washcloth, threw on some clothes and jumped in the car to go to my mom's house to get a second opinion on whether he needed stitches or not. Well, by the time I had gotten to mom's house he had quieted down and I had gotten the bleeding to stop. He kept asking me on the way over there, "Will mimi make it better?" And I kept assuring him, "Yes, mimi will make it better...she always does." So, after assessing the situation again with another set of eyes, we decided that Gentry would be fine without a visit to the ER. I think maybe I needed a trip to "mimi's" more than Gentry did! :) Anyway, he's got a FAT lip, but otherwise, no worse for the wear this evening. He looks pitiful though and my heart about breaks when I look at his little face and that BIG FAT lip! But, thankfully, the mouth is one of the fastest healing parts of the body, so hopefully he'll be good as new and ready to give his mommie another heart attack sometime soon.

I'm just thankful that he didn't really hurt or disfigure himself. I can deal with a fat lip for a few days!

Ta-Ta!

A Gentry Story

My little man is the joy and delight of my life...as if you didn't already know that. I cannot believe in less than two months he will be 3 years old!! He is SO independent and so full of energy and life. It's hard to look at him now and think of him being such a tiny, tiny little four pound helpless baby. I remember the first time I laid eyes on him and you know, there truly is such a thing as "love at first sight" because it happened with me when I looked at that angel face for the very first time.

Gentry's story is an amazing display of God's infinite love, grace and mercy manifest in such a tiny package. So many people have told us (with good intention) that Gentry is so "blessed" to have been able to have been adopted by us. And I understand their sentiment, but I always say in return, "No, we're the ones who've been blessed to be his parents. Gentry stormed into our lives quite unexpectedly and has been giving us such pleasant surprises of joy and happiness ever since. My little "Gent-man" shouldn't even be alive, but the ONE who loves him more than life thought he'd be better off with two ill prepared 30 something kids who had no idea how to parent. Then again, I guess no one's given a "test" to pass to certify them to attempt this job, huh?

So, into the parenting deal we fell almost three years ago now, and man, what a thrill of a ride it's been!

I wanted to get on paper one of his funny antics before I forget it.

Gentry has found 2 new friends. He has an imaginary, invisible cat and dog. I've asked him several times what their names were and he just simply tells me, "No, mommie...jus ki-kat and dawg." Yeah, his pop's a southerner, so he's picking up that accent even though he lives in yankee country.

Now, I know most of you mom's out there have experienced this phenomenon of these invisible, imaginary friends. I know my sister had a couple of "friends" like that when she was a kid too. But, I tell ya, when I see MY little one in his little play world, I just can't help but get a kick out of him. The other day I was washing dishes and Gentry decided he wanted to help me do the dishes. So, who am I to stop a man from helping out in the kitchen?!?! Well, we pulled the step ladder up to the sink and I pulled out a bowl for Gentry to start washing. After he scrubbed hard enough that he thought his washing was sufficient I bragged and told him what a good job he did helping mommie out. Then, I made a mistake!! I let the stopper out of the sink and down the drain went the kitty-cat! I never even knew the kitty-cat was in the sink with the bowl, but apparently the kitty-cat was getting a bath. So, down the drain went the cat along with the dishwater.

Now, those of you who know Gentry knows that he is VERY persuasive if he wants you to do something for him. So he kept telling me, "Mommie, wore(water)...back in...sink...get ki-cat." I could tell by this point that if I didn't do something quick I was going to have a "situation" on my hands. So, I put the stopper BACK into the drain and started filling the sink back up with water. Once the water had filled back up a couple of inches, Gentry cupped his two pudgy little hands together and "lifted" ki-cat up out of the water. He then looks up at me and smiles this million-dollar smile and says, "K-ku (thank you)...now I go dry her off." And off he runs to the bathroom to "dry off" the cat!!! And all was well again in the Rutland household! I just loved that "story" and had to share with you. I've been rooted off of my pillow several times because I've laid on top of dog and cat, but he still hasn't beat my mom's story of my sister's meltdown when mom left Christy's imaginary friends in the cart at the department store! I'll have to let mom tell that one. She can tell it so much better than I can, so check her blog out for that story!

Thanks for letting me share my Gent-stories! It's so much FUN getting to be his mommie!

"Lead Me On" Tour

I am unashamedly a HUGE Amy Grant fan and have been since my mom brought the "record" home (yeah, I know I'm dating myself) of the "Age to Age" project. I remember my sister, Christy, and I would sit for hours on end and listen over and over to that record and we still know every single word to every single song on that album...and all the other ones she's come out with since then. We were young teenagers when the "Lead Me On" album came out and I remember we were staying with my aunt and uncle, Duane and Nancy, for the week in Michigan when it was released. I remember them taking us to a Christian Bookstore and us buying it (a tape this time! :), and sitting in front of their stereo system and listening to the "Lead Me On" project. It wasn't really like anything that was out there at the time, but man did it ever speak to so many levels of life out there to be lived. We were young and innocent and just enjoyed the sentiment of the songs like "Faithless Heart" and "If These Walls Could Speak". Who knew twenty years later that these songs would still be so relevant and looking back we've seen our own lives lived out in so many of those lyrics.
Fast-forward twenty years and Amy is doing a reunion tour of the "Lead Me On" project. When I found out she was coming to Branson, I HAD to get tickets to go. It won't be until November, so we decided to do a girls weekend getaway in celebration of my mom's birthday and go see Amy again.
It's going to be mom, my sister, my niece and yours truly on our trip. Can I just tell you how excited we are to get away and turn back the hands of time for just one evening and reminisce with those good old songs from back in the day. So, when Amy sent the e-mail that had the "widget" she wanted us to put on our blogs to get the word out about her tour, how could I say no?! :)
So, that's why the Amy thing is on my blog. I'll keep it up until the concert and then let y'all know how it was. We're looking so forward to our girls weekend in Branson. It will be here before we know it. If you're not an Amy Grant fan, check out her stuff. She speaks to the soul through her lyrics and says in song what my heart tries to say a lot of times, but can't find the right words. Music truly is the language of the heart!

Amy Grant

Big Plans...Simple Times

What a wonderful evening this turned out to be. I love it when you have moments that you don't plan, but they just happen and you walk away from that experience saying, "Wow! I really needed that!" Tonight was just one of those nights.

I had made plans earlier in the day to take Gentry to the park to feed the ducks...yes, I know...it seems that's what I'm always doing in my spare time these days! But hey, with weather like this and the cold and snow bound to come, I'm trying to monopolize on these beautiful fall days. But, I digress! Oh I've always wanted to say that!! :) ANYWAY, my BIG PLANS for the day was to go have fun with Gentry at the park and then go and spend the afternoon with mimi (my mom) and then maybe have a nice dinner with Dale and do a little shopping. Well, the old body just wasn't up to it and after tidying up my kitchen I was so weak and lightheaded that I called mom and told her, "Well, I'll call you when I feel like I'm not going to literally pass out!" Yeah, I know, I'm such a baby! Well, by the time it was all said and done and Gentry had woke up from his nap it was 5:30 p.m.! Where did my day go?? But I refused to totally lose my day, so we all got dressed and finally made it over to mimi's around 7:30!

And man...it was just one of those visits that I really, really needed. Dale, mom and I sat around and talked mostly politics and the economy until Dad got home from work. Then we all were trying to chime in over each other and cast our "opinions" about all the craziness of what's going on in the country right now. We had our share of laughs over Gentry's little antics and then about 12:30 Christy & Courtney got in from the party they had been to. Courtney had called from the party and asked if she could spend the night with us, so we waited around until they got there.

I said all that to say this...it's been a VERY uncertain week with all the events going on in the news and sometimes this week I've just had a sense of fear and dread about even turning on the radio or TV or signing on to the internet for fear of what I might read about in the news. I felt a lot of turmoil inside and knew that wasn't of God. But there truly is something about gathering together with people of like precious faith and sharing the hope that we have if we're God's kids. I felt so uplifted and encouraged when I walked out the door of mama's house and know somehow that everything really is going to be alright.

I was SO thankful that my sister wrote what she did in her blog today. I felt that in the midst of all of this uncertainty, I was hoping that someone would remind me once again where my faith lies. THANK YOU, sis for what you wrote. It was so encouraging to me.

We finally made it back home around 2:00 a.m., but with a lighter heart and a calm I've not felt in several days. I KNOW that God is in ultimate control of all of man's affairs, but sometimes it's just nice to be reminded again.

So, my big plans today ended up being a simple evening at mama's house, but you know what?...most of the time that's all it takes to make things better!

Climbing back in the saddle!

Hey friends! Well, after being in bed since Sunday, I decided that maybe I'd had enough rest and felt strong enough to get up, get dressed, fix my hair, and take Gentry to the park to play and go to the grocery. So, after it taking over an hour to get all that done PLUS get my little man ready to go, we go out to the vehicle chasing all the chickens, turkeys & geese out from under the car...oh my, how this city girl's life has changed...and get all strapped and buckled in, turn the key in the ignition and...NOTHING!
My battery was dead in my car! Now you talk about MAD and having no one to blame it on. I guess my Expedition's just getting old and the battery needs replacing. But, man was it hard to try to explain to Gentry that we couldn't go to the park to slide. He is always SO SO excited to get to go to the park and the weather has been just magnificent to do so.
So, back into the house we went with the promise that as soon as his poppa got home from work that we would take him to the park.
But...I DID get some fall cleaning and sorting done in some dressers and closets and got rid of a bunch of stuff that had been cluttering up the place. That's always such a good feeling to get organized to some extent. But, in the midst of my organizing frenzy, my little blondie came walking up to me and put his head in my lap and said, "Mommy, you come lay down with me?" And those crystal blue eyes looking up at me, well, how could anyone resist his request? And so, he found "Lady and the Tramp" and asked to watch it. So, we're all cozied up in bed again and laughing and enjoying Lady and the Tramp (for the 100th time)!!
He's just about to give it up to sleepytown and I'll probably read some more in a David Baldacci book that I'm working on.
We'll take a trip to the park and hopefully the grocery when Dale gets in this evening. Other than that, just an ordinary evening planned. I'll write more later. Thanks for stopping by.

Warm Regards - Mel

It's Wednesday!

Hey everyone! I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful fall weather we've been blessed with. I know it may not have cooled off much in the South, but I'm sure it's at least a little bit cooler than those dog days of summer!
I've had a really rough week physically. I've spent most of my time this week resting in bed. It is during times like these that I feel that life passes me by while I sit "waiting" for a good day again. But I'velearned with my condition that it ebbs and flows and EVENTUALLY I will have better days again.
So, until those days come, I'm getting caught up on a lot of reading, thinking, thinking, and thinking some more...and resting, of course.
Dale is working at my sister's house this week building their front porch on their new house. I hope they will be able to get in it soon. They've been working on it for several months and I know it will be a relief to finally be able to move in.
And my sweet Gentry is keeping me company and taking good care of his mommie. He is such a caring little boy and is always concerned that mommie "feels better". He'll grab me by the face and put his eyes right to mine and say, "Mommie, you feel ok?" And I'll say, "Yes, mommie feels fine." And then he'll say, "Well, I'll kiss it and make it better." And so wherever he thinks mommie has a "boo-boo" he'll kiss and say, "Now, all better." And I'll assure him with certainty that THAT kiss was what really made it all better.
Oh if a kiss could really make it all better! The beautiful simplicity of youth! I cherish these times!
Hope you all are enjoying your week so far. Love to you all!

Melanie

Pictures at the Park

I will write more later...just wanted to share some photos. I do have something to say...just not in a frame of mind to do it right now.

Enjoy the pictures!

Love - Melanie

If it aint' one thing...

Oh what a week it's been!! It's all been good, but just sometimes a little inconvenient! About a week ago I started having a lot of swelling and pain in my right ankle. The inside of my ankle had a mass about the size of a golf ball on it. I'm like, "Ok, do I really need another health issue to deal with?" So, I just brushed it off and tried to ignore it HOPING it would just go away on its own. But alas, I was not that lucky. After limping around for several days and having no relief from the pain I finally decided to see a foot surgeon yesterday. He told me that I most likely had a tear of some tendon down there and severe inflammation. He said things were just starting to wear out due to my long-term steroid use. He told me I needed to have an MRI done to evaluate all that was going on.

Normally I would have been the compliant patient that I always try to be, but Dale is gone this week and I have company staying with me. It just was not the most convenient time in the world to be dealing with health issues. Well, I guess he must have seen my hesitation about having the MRI done and finally said, "Or...you can wear a compression stocking on your foot and a surgical boot for seven days, keep your ankle immobilized, and come back in a week to see if the swelling has gone down and your pain is better."

So...I opted for the glamorous, ever-fashionable surgical boot! Ah, you should see me "strut" around like a cripppled chicken in it! Now, mind you, I've never broken a bone in my life, so I'm not real familiar with how to walk around gracefully in one of these things.

When I got back to mom's house to pick Gentry up I had mom help me put it on and tried to walk around in it. Well, needless to say, we had a big chuckle out of it. I'm telling you, people that wear those things must have to go to a class to learn how to walk in them before they're let out in public. I'm telling you, I was walking across the front lawn of mom's house and I truly looked like a double-jointed, crippled, chicken strutting around a barnyard.

And those of you who know my mom can picture this...she's standing in at the front door and is watching me try to walk in this monstronsity of a shoe and she gets tickled. You know how she does...she kind of bends over like she's got a kink in her lower back and then she crosses her legs and lets out a good laugh. If you're lucky she'll start yelling, "Stop it! Oh, shoot! Now I have to go to the bathroom!" And off she'll run down the hall laughing all the way.

But hey, if life hands you lemons...that gal has learned how to make lemonade! And so, even though I was frustrated to have to wear that dumb boot all week, she made it seem like fun.

I've tried to be a good girl and stay off of it, but so far I haven't been too successful. My sister-in-law and her kids (who are staying with me this week) and Gentry and I decided to go to the park to play today after lunch. So, who am I to let a little "ankle immobilization" get in the way of a perfectly beautiful fall day? So, off we trudged to Bellevue Park to enjoy the day. I could feel my heartbeat in my ankle by the time I got back home, but OH WHAT A GOOD TIME we had.

I'm propped up in bed now with my little guy sacked out next to me from playing so hard at the park with his cousins. A little pain meds & I'll be good to go. No, really I am going to try to take it easy...well, after our trip to St. Louis Mills tomorrow...(shhh!! Don't tell my mom...she'll kill me!)

For now, I'm going to make creamy tacos for dinner and get a good front row seat to the Vice-Presidential Debate this evening and wind down with Biden and Palin going at it for a couple of hours!

I'll post pictures later on of our day at the park. Glad you stopped by to check in. Thanks as always for coming! Enjoy this beautiful weather!

Blessings ~~ Mel

Autumn came for a visit!

We spent a good part of the day today making Miss Autumn feel at home on the Rutland Farm. She took me around several shops to make sure that she was properly adorned for fall out on the farm. I hope we did her proud and what she thinks we did to the place is acceptable for her. We sure did have fun doing it! Here's what Miss Autumn chose to be adorned with at the Rutland House. Wonder what style she'll decide at your place? Enjoy the pics!

Fall Festival Pictures

Fall Festival Sunday

Gentry has discovered that he can take pictures...here he is taking one of his Uncle Ryan right before church started. Love you, bubba!

Hello, my friends! It's been another great day and I just wanted to share a bit of it with you and some pictures as well. It is always a privilege to be well enough to be able to attend church. I took church attendance so much for granted until I was unable to attend so many services due to my ill health. It truly is the rest and the refreshing that my soul and spirit longs for. I find such refuge when I can close my eyes and sing a song of praise and worship and find myself immediately translated to a place where God's presence is so near to me. I am thankful for strength and health enough today to be able to make it to church. Pastor Blake's message was so inspiring about how many more benefits there are to salvation than just eternal security. It made me thankful all over again that I know the truth and have been blessed to be a part of the family of God all of my life. My desire is to continue to share this precious way with as many people as I can so that "whosoever will" can come and drink from the river of life and live "the good life"!

And so, part of "the good life" we live included a celebration of the bountiful blessings God has bestowed on our lives this year and we celebrated with the annual church Fall Festival. The people involved with this ministry always do such a superb job of planning and executing a fun-filled day with events for kids of all ages.

Of course, my eyes were tuned most of the day to a certain little blonde haired, blue-eyed, red-faced angel who had SO MUCH FUN climbing up the slides and tumbling down the other side. He jumped in a pool of colorful balls with a bunch of girls and LOVED being the center of their attention! He used his tickets to play several games and even won a prize or two. His laugh was infectious and I had so much fun just watching him play. He climbed like a monkey up those slides and wasn't afraid to tackle anything. I know the theme of most of my blogs are him, but I just can't help it. He brings so much joy to my life and I guess waiting so long to become a mother has made me really appreciate these special moments that will all too soon slip from my hands.

But after a few hours out in the sun, we were HOT and ready to head to the house for some rest. And the sun and lupus are not the best of friends, so I had to get out of the sun before I ended up looking like a red lobster! Enjoy the pictures of our day today, and thanks again for stopping by!

Blessings - Melanie

P.S. John McCain

P.S. Oh...and how could I forget the most important event of the day!!!??? We got to have our picture taken with Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain!! Well, a life-size standup cutout of him anyway!!! :):):):):):)

A Yahoo Day!

Oh what a fun, family day we had today! I'm glad I'm cozy comfy in bed now with my feet propped up though! But the swollen feet and sore muscles were all worth it.

Today we spent the day in St. Louis. My sweetheart of a niece, Courtney, got to spend the day with us as well. I had seen that there was going to be a "Picnic in the Park" at Forest Park today and there was going to be lots of inflatables to slide & jump around in plus "characters" to meet & greet. Well, it was a good IDEA, but that was about it. We got there around 1:30 and it started at 11:00. There were SO MANY people there!! (about 50,000)! We had NO IDEA it was such a huge event and the lines to meet Bert, Ernie, Curious George, Clifford, Arthur...and some others I didn't know were over an hour. You would have thought people had come to meet the president or a famous movie star! So, how do you explain the concept of having to wait in line that long to a 2 year old? He just didn't understand that. Sooooo...we waited in line to slide down one of the inflatable slides and then decided we'd just have to wait until next year to meet all of the characters.

It was fun, but we'll know next year to get there EARLY if we want to really have fun.

After we left Forest Park Dale wanted to go to Cabela's out at St. Louis Mills. Oh and by the way...for those of you who don't know...hunting season starts next week. Yes, I will officially be a widow for the next four months! So, a Cabela's run was a "necessity" to make sure he is ready to go the first day of hunting season!

Well, Courtney and I decided we would do a little shopping of our own. Court found some cute tops for school and I...well, what does every mom do? Shops for her kids instead of herself! And man, did we find some sales! Gent is set for fall...and spring because of all the end of season sales. We found a choo-choo train and some cars for Gentry to ride in and then took a pit-stop to the Cookie Company!! Mmmm...all that shopping can sure work up an appetite!

We finished our evening at Cracker Barrel and then headed back to Mimi & Papa's house to drop Courtney off. Courtney showed mimi & papa the stuff she bought and then Gentry wouldn't be outdone. So, he wanted his poppa to go get a bag of HIS clothes so he could show off what he bought to mimi & papa.

And I have to say, they were such a gracious audience to him and he just grinned from ear to ear each time he pulled something else out from his shopping bag.

We about fell asleep coming back home, but it was such a good day to be together and spend time with each other. Gentry is sacked out next to me and I think life is just really good right now.

I'm worn out and probably should have stopped a lot sooner than I did today, but I'm just happy to be feeling well enough to be out of the house. I've had such a rough go of it lately that it makes me want to capitalize on my good days and squeeze as much fun out of them as I can.

We've got another big day tomorrow with our Fall Festival at the church. It is a huge outreach event for our community and is an all-day affair with a concert under the stars to end the day. I'm looking forward to it, so I better sign off for now or I'll never be able to get up in the morning. Enjoy the pictures of our day and thanks again for stopping by!

Mel