Ah Fall, so much to say about Fall.  Since last I wrote much has been going on.  I am currently working a temp job.  Tomorrow will be week three and probably the last week for this assignment.  Working a full time schedule is really difficult as you also try to homeschool and keep the home.  I can only do these hours when I know they are short term and will come to an end. 

This weekend we held an "Old School" Harvest Party for our youth.  Our landlady was gracious enough to allow us to use the barn and yard to host this event.  I was a bit concerned that it wouldn't go well, my dh says I'm a pessimist, however things went quite well.  We had 15 or so youth in attendance and our brother and sis in law came and helped run things.  We started off with guessing how many candy corns were in a quart canning jar, the prize was the jar with the candy in it.  I was surprised about the competition over that.  We then moved on the the Pumpkin Seed spittin contest.  That went well, one of the girls came in second on that.  From there we went on the the 3-legged race.  I had to go and cook the candy for the taffy pull during that, so I didn't see how that went but heard everyone yelling and having fun.  We then had the kids bob for apples, the winner, a girl, got 8 apples.  The second place person only got three.  I didn't think ahead on that activity, teens have a bit of squemishness over sticking their face in other peoples spit.  That was their phrase not mine.  But they had fun.  We moved on from there to making caramel apples.  By the time they were eating their apples the candy was ready and we had a taffy pull.  All of the kids got into that, a few had to be coaxed but had fun once they joined in.  We then had hot dogs to roast over the bonfire.  I had made homemade caramel corn and "Kitty Liter Cake".  It was a fun evening.  The weather was perfect, slight breeze but not too cool.  Cool enough that the fire was nice. 

On a less happy note.  I got a call on Friday evening as I was running errands for the party.  It was my mom and she was quite hysterical.  My 40 year old sister was found dead by her children when they returned home from school on Friday afternoon.  They don't know what the cause of death was, it was not foul play, she has not had good health for a long time, but it was not thought to be that bad.  Through this all my pain is for my mom and nieces and nephew.  I did not have a relationship with this sister.  After many years of struggle over our relationship and over my feelings toward her.  After seeking counsel  and reading the Bible and praying at length, I finally came to a peace about our "relationship".  I finally accepted that although we were blood related we were better off to wish each other well and go our own way in life.  I have kept up with how the children were doing through my mom.  They are handling this as well as young people can.  They are 22, 16 and 14 years old.  The younger two will have a hard time as their lives will once again be turned upside down.  These children have only had stablity in the last three years or so of their lives.  Please pray for the family as they go through this difficult time.  There are many details surrounding this event that have yet to unfold, I pray that God would use me in a mightly way to help my family.  Thank you in advance for your prayers.