On Saturday morning we went to another fall festival. This time at a church that is closer to where we live. We belong to a small group through Denton Bible and were excited to see that the church was also having their own festival. As you can see from the pictures below that, once again, Aiden was having so much fun!!

"More games where they give me candy"

Playing a little soccer.

As always, the boys found some popcorn.

Trying his hand at putt putt.

Oh, his cheesy grin :)

His first pony ride. He loved it!

Petting the animals.

Look at this little pig! Isn't it SO cute??

And of course, a bounce house. Aiden's face says it all!

We ran into some friends from bible study. This is Aiden's little friend Caroline. He really likes her :)

I came across this video about a month ago and it left me sobbing. I had debated about whether to post it or not because it is quite upsetting, but in the end decided to because this is so near and dear to my heart. I have to say that often I struggle with seeing pictures and videos of people that are starving and have absolutely nothing. It seems so unfathomable that 20% of the world's population has so much, yet 80% have next to nothing. Most of us are well aware of how the large majority of the world lives, but It is so easy to push it aside and to go about our "comfortable" lives and really not give much thought to the struggle that millions upon millions around the world face each day, just to survive. People are dying, not of complex diseases, but of hunger and thirst and sicknesses that can easily be cured with medical care. How can we turn a blind eye?

We may not be able to go to them physically, but there is still so much that we can do! I recently finished reading "The Treasure Principle" by Randy Alcorn. If you have not read it, I hightly recommend it. It isn't very long (I think I read it in an hour or two), but it is packed with truth about how we are to handle the money that God has given us. We are to be storing up our treasures in heaven and the primary way that we can do this is by giving to others!

Here is just one of the many encouraging, yet convicting, paragraphs in the book:

God has given you considerable material blessings. Have you ever asked yourself, Why has He provided so much? You don't need to wonder. Paul tells us exactly why He provides us with more money than we need:

"Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and increase the store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness. You will be made rich in everyway so that..." (2 Corinthians 9:10-11)

So that what? How will he finish this sentence? Prosperity theology would finish it, "so that we might live in wealth, showing the world how much God blesses those who love Him?" But that isn't how Paul finishes it. He says "You will be made rich in every way so that you can be generous on every occassion." (v.11) God comes right out and tells us why He gives us more money than we need. It's not so we can find more ways to spend it. It's not so we can indulge ourselves and spoil our children. It's not so we can insulate ourselves from needing God's provision. It's so we can give - generously. When God provides more, we often think, this is a blessing. Well, yes, but it would be just as scriptural to think, this is a test.

Paul said that the God who supplies seed to the sower will increase our store of seed. Why? So we can stockpile seed or eat it? No, so we can scatter it and spread it out that it might bear fruit. Abundance isn't God's provision for me to live in luxury, It's His provision for me to help others live. God entrusts me with this money not to build my kingdom on earth, but to build His kingdom in heaven"

Isn't that SO good! How I long for us a family, and a nation as a whole, to be able to do more. That is the number one reason that Carl and I want to get out of debt, house and all, so that we can give more and do more for the Kingdom of God. The past couple years have been very tight for us financially and all the bills seemed very overwhelming, but Carl and I decided early on in our marriage, that no matter how tight finances would get that we would not stop giving to the church or supporting our 2 children. That decision was certainly tested last year and many times it was very tempting to stop giving so we could pay a few bills, but, by God's grace, He continued to provide for our family's needs and then just recently provided this new job for Carl. I don't say that, in anyway, to pat ourselves on the back, but rather to share how God has continued to faithfully provide for our family and answered our prayers to be able to keep giving.

We have really enjoyed supporting 2 precious children through World Vision. They are a wonderful organization and handle their finances with great intergrity (which, sadly, is not always the case these days). In addition to being able to support a child, there are also plenty of opportunities to give to specific projects all around the world to meet the needs of the desperately poor. But, the thing we love most about World Vision is their heart to take the gospel to these people, and to share the ultimate hope that is found only in Jesus Christ.

I don't mean for this post to make anyone feel uncomfortable, I just want to remind and encourage everyone (myself included) who reads this of our responsiblity to reach out to the impoverished and to prayerfully seek how God would have us use His money to care for them. They desperately need it!

Our little guy has some pretty big feet! Not only are they long, but they are also very wide and very chubby. This has made shoe shopping such a chore. He has never really fit into regular shoes, even as a newborn. We bought him some wide "skater" shoes from Target last winter, but he busted through the sides of those very quickly. A couple months back I went to Kohls to try and find some shoes, but NOT a single pair would fit him. It was very frustrating. 

I decided to ask for opinions from other moms on Facebook and the resounding response was Stride Rite. Now, I had been in to Stride Rite before and left very promptly after seeing their price tags. No way was I paying anywhere between $40-$65 for shoes that my child would outgrow in a few months. At least so I thought, but after looking everywhere we went at the children's shoe collection and not finding anything that fit, we resigned to the fact that we are just going to have to fork out the money if we ever want our child to wear something other than Crocs.

So last Saturday night we headed out in hopes of finding shoes to get Aiden through the winter. They measured his feet and found out that he is a 9 extra wide. They didn't have a huge selection in his size because I guess it is not very common, but they HAD a selection and we were thrilled. We choose a cute brown pair so they can go with anything and so we only have to buy ONE pair. We got out paying just under $40 and we were happy!

If anybody has any other suggestions for finding extra wide shoes cheaper, we would love to hear from you :)

New shoes!

They make him look so grown up!

Aiden has become a big fan of tea. I never really encouraged it, but he started asking for a taste of mine a few months ago and now he asks for his own. Since the weather has been cooler, we have started enjoying having tea together a couple times a week. He always has Vanilla Rooibos with milk, a splash of honey or agave and, if I have done some baking, a little treat on the side. It is so fun having a little tea buddy.

This past weekend we took our annual trip to the Pumpkin Patch. We had told Aiden about it a couple days before we went and he kept talking about all the things that he wanted to see. It is so fun to be at a stage where he really is starting to comprehend and get excited about things!

The Pumpkin Patch was a little busy since the past 2 Saturdays it had been raining. We still had a great time despite the crowds and the day was so beautiful. When I asked Aiden what his favorite thing about the Pumpkin Patch was, he said "popcorn". Funny the things that kids remember :)

I took plenty of pictures (of course). Click here if you would like to see them.

Carl's birthday fell on a workday and so we just had a little celebration that evening. I made a pizza, as per request from the birthday boy, and we watched a movie together as a family. A very nice evening! 

This past weekend we went out to dinner at Red Robin to further celebrate. We all belong to their birthday club and they send you a coupon for a free burger and fries on your birthday. They also have a great gluten-free menu which is always a delight for our family.

I decorated our kitchen on Carl's birthday. We enjoyed pizza, strawberries and a lemon layer cake.

Aiden devoured the cake! He kept saying that it was his birthday all day. Silly boy :)

Dinner at Red Robin

Kiss for mommy!

Birthday boy

Finding fun wherever they go!

They never grow up, do they?

Outside looking at the fountains. It has been unusually cold for this time of year. We had to pull our jackets out that night!

Playing with the water.