During the month of October, Russ and I, alongside several friends, have been taking beginners ballroom dancing classes at the votech school. It had long been something we'd wanted to do, and it finally worked this year to do it. So over the course of the month, we've spent eight hours loathing and laughing, and being dizzy with an overload of information and spins. We've learned the Waltz, the Rumba, the Foxtrot, the Swing, the Tango and the Cha Cha.

The Waltz was the hardest dance for us to master as a couple. While I thought this dance experience would be the icing on our marriage cake, we learned that it was much more. It was exercise in the sense of physical exercise, as well as, exercise in learning to lead and follow one another and learning to be in harmony with one another when we were both lost in directions. If one of us got the steps, the other one didn't. And the second the latter had it, the first of us didn't. We never stepped on toes, but at times we were definite stumbling blocks for one another. It was at these moments, that I feared we would come away from this event cold to one another rather than more in tuned because of the dreamed of date experience. Even worse, was the fear that we encouraged our friends to join us and this exercise would be more harmful for their marriages than beneficial.

While I would imagine we have all had some of those moments through the course of the month, I hope we've all had some of the laughter as well. I had wanted to come out of my shell some through the dance steps, and felt energized by the movement the steps required. I couldn't hide behind anyone else. I had responsibility and I performed. As a result of performance and practice and proper placement of feet, I had a lot of fun. Favorite dances were the Cha Cha, the Foxtrot and the Tango.

Overall, ballroom dancing classes were different than I imagined. Before they started, I dreamed of wearing heals and a swirling dress the last evening of class. In my ideal world, I would be able to retain everything I learned with ease. Instead, if we don't practice soon, we (or at least I) will lose it all. We wonder if we will remember any by the first opportunity to put it to practice. Perhaps, it will be the lessons learned in our communication and daring to try new things together that will be put into practice sooner than the dance steps. It was an experience worth repeating, and like much of life, one that is harder than we anticipate before hand. But all the same, worth going through with people you love. I love you Russ. Thanks for journeying with me in all the different kinds of steps through this life!

Cracked Eggs and Conversation

Dellen and I just finished enjoying our lovely lunch together just the two of us. He started talking about God and Jesus and people's hearts. As conversation continued and I tried to give a little more detailed explanation of Jesus, somehow we start talking creation. Dellen was asking questions about who made him, etc. I shared that God created people, but then He also gave people the ability to continue to procreate/make people. I shared that God gave Mommy and Daddy each special genes, even named them an egg and sperm. And that our love joined those genes and then he grew in my belly. I shared the verse in Psalms about God knowing Dellen even when he was in my belly. Dellen was just in joy and couldn't believe it all. So happy!

....about ten minutes later, out of the blue, Dellen is processing out loud and says, "You made me...you cracked eggs and put one in your belly?"

Well, not exactly son, but glad you were listening to what I was sharing.

Sweet and Precious Gifts

Not the best pictorial representation, but....these are posted here for my memories. Dellen has for quite a while, been giving me the grass shoots (top in picture). He handed me one the other day, saying, "Mommy, here is a gift for you." I don't know how many I have received now, but it really hit me then that those little twirlies of grass remind him of me and his love for me. He'll run across the yard or wherever, to obtain one and then proudly give it to me. Just perfect. And I remembered then, that Sam always gave me the seed pod from a canna plant(bottom in picture). At the same age that Dellen is now, Sam would bring in hand fulls on several different occasions. I would display them on my kitchen window sill. I got a few this summer, but he is growing and the innocence in picking little nothings up to give to mom are less important. I cherish these moments and the memories they will give me. How special that each boy, unprompted from anything and/or anyone, had some special gift to give me whenever they saw them. I love it!

Pocket Knives and the Need for Cutting Flowers

Sam has his first pocket knife; purchased himself with his Awana Shares last Wednesday night. He earns this "fake money" by completing and saying memory Bible verses in Sparks. He has been so ecstatic! I mentioned in my last post, that the sun finally came out. So, Friday morning, with the urging on an eager pocket knife holder, we went outside to work in the front flower area. I had been needing to clean out the summer flowers to let the mums have a chance to be noticed, as well as, plant a new mum to cover a spot that had become empty. Sam cut away with his new blue knife while Dellen used some garden cutters from the garage. Everyone was happy.

We were able to enjoy the summer pinks a while longer by putting them in a vase on our kitchen table. I only do mums in fall colors, so no pinks or purples allowed there. I continue to harvest tomatoes from my unruly plants in the background. I also still have lots of cerrano peppers on the plants still....angry salsa anyone?

The Maize

The sun came out on Thursday, and finally we saw a lovely fall day. It is fall break for Sam and we've enjoyed having him around more again. We jumped at the opportunity to go through a maize maze while it was nice. Below are several pictures from that evening. This farm and business is family owned and operated. The idea of this vocation sounded dreamy to me at the time of arrival. By night fall however, the intensity of the crowds and their expectations of going through a spooky maze in the dark became a realization. I'm glad that we just got to enjoy it as visitors after all. And as a result, we enjoyed farm animals, an inflatable slide, a plastic grasshopper to jump on (the dirty white thing pictured down below), life size checker boards, two mazes (one that was very simple and we could allow the boys to take a path away from us and know it would come back around to us), and a hay ride to a field with pumpkins that we could hand pick from the vine. There was a lot more there than I had anticipated and it was a fabulous evening!

...and has anyone else besides me noticed that I am always wearing the same orange sweater? I confess that I do like it. Ironically though, it isn't my favorite fall wardrobe piece and I've probably only worn it about five times in the last two months. Ironically, it is what I am always wearing in the photos of our special events. I end this post somewhat shamed and embarrassed! :)

International Quilt Market in Houston, TX

Last weekend, I attended the International Quilt Market with Mom C. We met in Oklahoma City and flew down to Houston for a two night stay. The picture below overlooks down on only about a third of the market vendor booths. Mom was able to do her wholesale purchases for her shop http://quiltsandquiltracks.com This quilt is called Floral Wreath, c. 1870. by and unknown quilter.

Before we flew out on Monday, we walked through part of the quilt show that will be open to the public later in the week. It was like walking through an art museum. Due to our heritage, we appreciate the quality and talent of hand quilting; however, there were several machine quilted pieces that were very artistic in quality.

Here is a view from our hotel room. We were on the seventh floor which is always fun. Unfortunately, we didn't have a view of the downtown area. The skyrise buildings were in the fog everyday. Wish I had more pics to share here.

It was a fun time. Thanks Mom for having me attend with you! I was very thankful for Russ, and Ken and Lil who helped with childcare while I was gone.