"Hey...it is September right now"...

and it is a really good thing Jim didn't utter those words at midnight last night as we lay in bed awaiting sleep that was elusive (at least for me).

Those were his words of greeting as we sat watching daybreak this morning.  Me with work computer busily humming away and him still digesting his many foods-on-a-stick from yesterday's state fair extravaganza (I know, I couldn't resist including that somewhere in here!  You DID eat three types of the pig, two potato variations and two versions of frozen heaven otherwise known as ice cream...and that's only what you are telling me!  All that, AND he says he demonstrated restraint.  Oh my lands!)

Back to the regularly scheduled post: words of greeting.

September.

It is here.

Oh my lands.  Repeat with me five times, slowly, while taking a deep breath between words.

When our plane took off for China to bring Anna home, I remember the words of a hymn playing in my mind.  It was so clear, I felt like the entire plane was worshipping with us.  

Jim's announcement this morning brought a line of music to my ears.  It might even have included deep, sonorant swells of the organ.  And they sounded like this, "Bah-bah-bum".  :)

Not quite a hymn, but a demarkation of time long awaited.  September.

We expect news ANY DAY.  Any.day.  Anyday.

Emma Kate, fall is here.  Autumn has come.  We've been counting the days since January.   Deep winter when days are short and evening falls early.  Spring's arrival as days lengthen, sunlight glances off lilacs and the world awakens to bright greens and the fecund smell of life budding again.  Summer's long, bright, joyful romp of days bleeding together in a parade of sunshine.

Now it is fall.  Autumn!  And soon...

This morning, I sing of His faithfulness and goodness.  And this psalm wells from deep in my heart, with joy and longing, thanksgiving and praise, Emma Kate, of our great and good God.  

Psalm 65

For the director of music. A psalm of David. A song.

 1 Praise awaits [a] you, O God, in Zion; 

       to you our vows will be fulfilled.

 2 O you who hear prayer, 

       to you all men will come.

 3 When we were overwhelmed by sins, 

       you forgave [b] our transgressions.

 4 Blessed are those you choose 

       and bring near to live in your courts! 

       We are filled with the good things of your house, 

       of your holy temple.

 5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness, 

       O God our Savior, 

       the hope of all the ends of the earth 

       and of the farthest seas,

 6 who formed the mountains by your power, 

       having armed yourself with strength,

 7 who stilled the roaring of the seas, 

       the roaring of their waves, 

       and the turmoil of the nations.

 8 Those living far away fear your wonders; 

       where morning dawns and evening fades 

       you call forth songs of joy.

 9 You care for the land and water it; 

       you enrich it abundantly. 

       The streams of God are filled with water 

       to provide the people with grain, 

       for so you have ordained it. [c]

 10 You drench its furrows 

       and level its ridges; 

       you soften it with showers 

       and bless its crops.

 11 You crown the year with your bounty, 

       and your carts overflow with abundance.

 12 The grasslands of the desert overflow; 

       the hills are clothed with gladness.

 13 The meadows are covered with flocks 

       and the valleys are mantled with grain; 

       they shout for joy and sing.