The littlest one (youngest AND littlest twin) was chanting “a-banket, a-banket” from her bed half a minute ago. Now their daddy is in their room cooing and tucking them both in again, one at a time–why do the blankets need to be taken off and replaced so many times before we can go nigh-night? The sound machine tinkles merrily over the rocks in the creek, and I sit tiredly on the hall floor outside their room, waiting for the sounds of squirming and nuk-sucking (and blanket problems) to quiet again for another night.

We had a good day, Teddy and Ellie and I, back at the farm over which the Seven Stars always twinkled in the shape of a Big Dipper when I was growing up. Today we couldn’t see them for the sun shining warm… The darkness dropped as we neared home, though, and the sleepy heads in the back seat woke up from a two-hour nap to eat supper and run around and play. Now it is rather later than their normal bedtime, and mommy (who didn’t have a two-hour nap on the way home) feels like it is her bedtime too.

But it’s been a good week.

Last Friday, we traveled to Niagra Falls, NY to meet friends and spend Saturday viewing the mammoth falls. We three girls were friends as eighteen-year-olds, and somehow the last decade has flown by, and our circle has grown to include a husband by each of our sides, and several little people! We rediscovered what it is like to stay up till the wee hours of the morning, just to talk and laugh together.

We canned another batch of pizza sauce this week, and it is sitting on the basement shelves waiting to be made into twin- and Daddy-approved food like pizza, and spaghetti, and lasagna. We went to the library yesterday and left with more cardboard books like the favorite “Lama, Lama, Hoppity-Hop” and a new one that Ben pegged as one of the most pointless stories he ever read in which little goslings go stomping around together and then go for a swim. (Too bad for Daddy, the twins like it.) After the library, the twins had lunch at the park, and we played in the beautiful October sunshine and soaked up all the Vitamin D and warm vibes we could.

I have sometimes disliked autumn and the darkness it brings, the heralding of the end of summer, the beginning of cold days, leafless trees, and dark evenings. But this year, I have spent hours outside in the gentle fall sun with the twins. I have enjoyed the muted tones and the brighter tones of red, orange, and yellow that have crept into our days until the trees are ablaze all around us. A couple times this week we walked under the frosty full moon, with the babies in the stroller. In the evenings, we have snuggled into our cozy little nest-home that after three years, several children, and many experiences feels like home. I have lit candles, and warmed apples and cinnamon on the stove top, and felt so blest to have a warm and homey place to stay–especially when there are so many who do not have this.

And I have been grateful for the harvest-time. Grateful for the seasons, for the ebb and flow of activities and scenery. Perhaps I am slowly learning to treasure every season of life, to see the beauty in all of them, and to accept them as a gift from God.

And I have wondered at times, about those who have lost so much recently–homeless refugees facing death, people mired in life-changing and painful circumstances, those who lost homes in the recent storms… Can they experience these seasons as times touched by the beauty and grace of God? I pray they can–my faith is growing to reach even there…

To where I can pray for you, that if this autumn is a time of pain instead of healing, may the fall-tinted leaves be a metaphor for your life, and may there come a time when you again can revel in the beauty of this season we call fall.