hey there everyone. i am sure you have seen the little "button" on the right side of my blog about a "mckmiracle." i have been reading/following a blog and praying for a family whose 4th child was diagnosed in-utero with supraventricular tachycardia and a "fatal" arrhythmia. they were told that their baby would probably die before it was born, or if it lived through delivery, it would die shortly after birth. they began praying and inviting everyone they could to join them in prayer. well, 3 weeks ago, little stellan joined his 2 big brothers, 1 big sister, and his parents and is alive and well and a healthy newborn baby with a healthy heart. prayers do work. it's amazing. you can check out their story on mckmama's blog.
mckmama is having a contest of sorts and is really trying to raise awareness about a great cause, too. the cause is string of pearls, which provides professional photographs for parents who receive a diagnosis of fetal death in utero or a fatal diagnosis post delivery. they provide this service free of charge and run their ministry strictly off of donations. she is working on a new project on her own of ways to help funding for string of pearls and has enlisted those of us who follow her blog to help her in her cause (with the bribe of a small prize).
i cannot help it. i have been spoiled and i cannot convert back to any other grocery store. my heart belongs to publix. jay and i drove down to traveller's rest, sc (which actually is only about a 35 minute drive) and with cooler in tow, did some shopping at publix on sunday. it was worth every penny, too. we also discovered (and were not shocked) that the gas prices in sc are much lower than here. compare theirs at $1.95/gal to our $2.18/gal. so, we have decided that a couple of times a month, i will be driving to traveller's rest to visit my beloved publix and fill up with some cheap gas. 
so last tuesday, after a monday of wind gusting up to 50 mph, we had some snow. i admit that i was sleeping during the snowfall here at our house. jay took these pictures. (i slept late b/c it was my first night going back to work for the week.) it was still very windy last tuesday, so nothing stuck on anything for long down here. however, in the higher elevations, especially in madison county, it accumulated anywhere from 3-8 inches! in october! craziness. and it has been so nice and warm almost since then. here is proof that we did, in fact, have snow on october 28th.
the wind was blowing so hard on monday night the flag was straight out.
i told you we had snow!
our backyard view has changed a bit, too, with the addition of many new homes.
the lot next to us is still empty, and we hope it stays that way for awhile.
update: we had about 50 trick-or-treaters within about an hour and a half!
(he is thrilled, obviously, with his costume. best picture i could get. he is a cat, after all!)
there was a happy bee in this rose
no, it isn't a rose... this summer the pergolas were used for growing cucumbers and zucchini.
there are many new studies that suggest that working the night shift can adversely affect the health of nurses and other individuals who work in the dark hours of the night. while working nights obviously interrupts normal sleep patterns (which genious figured that one out, right?), the lack of sleep and interruption in circadian rhythms can make us dislike our jobs, at increased risk for depression, and is a "probable carcinogen," which places it in the same category as asbestos and cigarettes. one article i viewed stated that the effects of night shift on a body were the same as smoking a pack of cigarettes per day. now, i am not sure i believe that, but they do relate the increased risk of cancer to the disruption of melatonin secretion. anyway, all of this is to say that night shift can take a toll on the body.
do you know what i realized the other day? because i work night shift, i have seen more sunrises than most. it is so difficult to get up early enough to watch a sunrise, but i am able to see them while at work or driving home. here in the mountians, they are quite beautiful. the other morning, while the moon was just past full, it was still up as the sun was rising. i could not see the sun from my back porch, but you can see it shining on the mountain, as well as the moon in the sky on its way down. i realized that if i did not work night shift, i would miss many of God's gifts and visual displays of His Creation.
3 When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? -Psalm 8: 3-4
it is that time of year again! i love fall and all of the changing colors and temperatures that accompany this season. after our camping excursion, jay and i suspected that the mountain leaves would be changing soon. so sunday evening (after i finally woke up from my long nap), we grabbed some dinner and drove up on the blue ridge parkway towards mt. pisgah. we were able to capture some beautiful pictures just before the sun went down. jay took most of these and is slowly beginning to master how to use our camera to the best of its ability. (whereas i am an "auto" sort of picture taker.) here are some of the views from sunday's trip.
today, while jay was working, the dogs and i took another drive up the parkway and got a few more pictures while the sun was still shining. the girls enjoyed the ride, with the wind in their faces, and i enjoyed the drive up and back. mostly. word has definitely gotten around that it is "leaf season" and people were out in droves... my favorites were the ones who thought the overlooks were too crowded, so they just drove slowly past the "pretty views" and the guy who went 20 mph through the tunnels. thankfully, he pulled over so others could pass. anyway... the drive was pleasant and the day was perfect for pictures.
