Surely

... and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. ~ Psalm 23:6

Sometimes in this life we all need a sign, a reminder. That seasons bring with them different experiences, different emotions, different lessons. Yet what a promise we can have that no matter the season, no matter what we must weather, goodness will be there. And it will bring along mercy as its companion. Not just maybe. Surely.

The last three days were full of signs like the one above, full of following moments. In the sunshine and the pumpkins, the friends and the laughter, the sweetness of our little girl taking the hand of her sister on a hayride through the fields. Times like these are especially profound just after a season that is determined to weather you for the worse, but goodness and mercy get in the way. Another reason we welcomed fall this past weekend with big grins and open arms.

It all started with a dear friend surprising us by flying in for the weekend!
Then a baby shower celebrating a new life to come (see you soon, Baby Brody!) and the passing on of my maternity clothes celebrating less of a need for oversized elastic pants.
Followed by a trip to the pumpkin patch! I wait all year for this!
Filling up the tank...
Disgusted as these best buds seem to be at even pretend costs of fuel in the barnyard,
Nothing could put a damper on this good time! :)

(And just for a point of reference, this was Hope almost a year ago on the same tractor! What?! And now she has a sister?!)
Speaking of sister, those hands... those little, bitty hands.
The surprise herself, Auntie Brooke!
The joy of great friendships.
(I just can't help myself... another point of reference... can you believe how she's grown?! Is it just us? What?!)

Yes... those little, bitty hands.

We did. We surely did.

*****

PS-- To make things even better, though bittersweet, we spent a next to last time with some of our first friends in this area just before they go off to follow their new calling. You may remember Natasha winning from the previous post; for inquiring minds, she took home a sackful of oatmeal raisin cookies as her prize. The fact these even made it past my security screener (a.k.a. Joe Martins) is proof that we do, indeed, enjoy a good care package. Be on the look-out; maybe we can do it again sometime!