First off I must say, NEW FONT! Ok I have been wanting to change the font on my blog for sometime now but no success! Thank you Google Fonts for creating a plugin for WordPress to give a non-technical blogger like myself the ability to change the FONT! Success!

We were knee deep in Monday Madness and although my Monday did not flow the way I wanted it to. I am good. I was looking forward to some quality studying with the kids but Babysitter was sick. A run through my favorite thrift stores instead hours at the doctors office and a hospital visit to determine that my oldest sons thumb is broke. It is all good because we are coming down from a beautiful fall weekend that was filled with everything I wanted it to be filled with.

I had been wanting to spice up my little studio space for sometime now and so a chalkboard wall I can now put a nice big CHECK beside. I love it! As I was painting my wall on Saturday afternoon I realized how lucky I am to have a family that would give up their garage for me to have a space to grow my photography business. I know it will be the perfect space for kids and their families this winter!

We have gallons of beautiful Michigan apples that we picked last weekend and I am slowly but surely turning them into fall treats that we can enjoy throughout the winter and spring. First off is apple butter and it is still simmering in the crockpot and soon to be poured into mason jars for canning. This is one of my most favorite things to do. Brings me back to the days my parents did this throughout the summer and fall. I didn’t appreciate those days of cutting, peeling and canning as a child but I do now. Makes me feel like I really am grown up. Oh and a good apple crop is nothing without an apple krisp. My Mom makes the BEST (always double krisp on top!). I must say I could now challenge her. Mine was made Gluten Free and Dairy Free and believe me no one would be able to tell. It was fantastic

The best part of the weekend ended up being our trip to church. We spend so much time in Michigan in the summer that to be honest we have not made it to church for some time. After motivating, dressing and pushing 6 kids out there door…..and complaining all the way there it was worth it. The message was exactly what I had been searching for. “Live life with extraordinary love.” Isn’t that beautiful….it gives me goosebumps just typing it. That my friends is my definition of an exceptional life.

“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” Martin Luther King

Everything is clearer and I am thanking God today for giving me some answers. I got that one and I will hold that advice close. I will continue to do ordinary things in extraordinary ways. Just that made this day of utter chaos completely bearable. Better then bearable. I got to spend the day with 4 of my kids with very little distraction. We played games in those waiting rooms and ate lunch in the car. It was all good stuff, and there is always time tomorrow for the things I had planned. Right now I have I have 6 kids waiting for me to tuck them in but I could not end this post without the most special gift I was given today. A friend emailed about this video after seeing this on the Today show and I really can’t even click play without crying. It is amazing, beautiful and a testament to friendship, acceptance and hard work. Hats off to Verrado High School, to Katy Perry for inspiring young people, to Clayton Mueller for telling a beautiful story and Megan Squire working hard and for paving the way for my daughter and thousands of other young girls who happen to have Down Syndrome who dreaming about being a cheerleader some day! You all ROCK!