From Grandpa's camera ...

Having all of the grandchildren very far out of town is pretty difficult sometimes. It's always nice when we can see and spend time with them. We've enjoyed Jeremiah very much this week.
Jeremiah is still quite a toddler ... about four weeks into his walking ... so sometimes he looks like a "drunken sailor" when he wobbles around. He wasn't exactly sure about our grass ~ but then the moles have made a mess of our yard and it is full of hills and valleys ... everywhere!
Jeremiah wasn't overly impressed with my pretty mums ... I gave him one to hold onto, but he's more into stuff that he can actively play with, move parts, take apart, stuff like that ...
Adam and Emily stopped over yesterday with Jeremiah to show us his Halloween costume.
But he doesn't like to have the hood up on his head ...
But Grandpa Jones charmed him into this last beautiful picture ... he has the sweetest little face. They all head back to Minnesota first thing in the morning. Rumor has it, though, that they might possibly return the weekend of Thanksgiving because Emily has a family baby shower to attend ... that would be very nice! :)

With my own eyes ...

"The voice of the LORD echoes above the sea.
The God of glory thunders.
The LORD thunders over the mighty sea.
The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is full of majesty."
PSALM 29:3-4

Look at the photographer hanging off the catwalk on the Grand Haven pier! I went out there this afternoon to experience the immense and historic storm we've been under the last few days. But I didn't go anywhere NEAR the pier.
I've always wanted to see the lake with waves like this. It's one thing to click onto www.surfgrandhaven.com and see what the webcam is showing ...
It's quite another matter to walk on the beach with the winds gusting to 55 mph, the sand whipping in your face, the overwhelming pounding of the waves, the unending whistling of the wind ... it's absolutely exhilerating ... and a little scary too!
I've never seen the waves this huge. There were reports today of 14-18 ft waves out on the open waters of Lake Michigan (beyond the 5-mile shoreline waters). I really had a difficult time gauging just how big these inland waves were today ... but they were bigger than I've ever seen with my own eyes!
There was no rain out there today ... so it hardly seemed like a STORM ...
The temperature hovered around 53-57 degrees with the lake temperature holding at 59. What a gorgeous day!
The snow fences are all in place ... waiting for the inevitable ...
Look at the channel! Now and then a huge wave would slam against the boardwalk and everyone would get soaked. I stayed up on the rocks were it was dry(er).
I borrowed Mr. Jones's tripod today so that I could plant myself out of harm's way and zoom in to get close. The tripod worked very nicely. It was nice to not have to worry about blurry pictures just because I was zooming in 10x ...
I could not believe the stunts people were pulling out here today! No fear!
There were windsurfers, kayak surfers, guys in wet suits jumping off the breakwaters ...

I only stayed a few short hours. I intended to see the sunset tonight, but the wind and the blowing sand was a bit oppressive out there! I'm home now, listening to the wind banging against our house siding ... it's been quite a storm!

Beautiful Jeremiah ...

We've spent a fun few days with Jeremiah. He loves our little train table and gets to have it all to himself!
Having the train table all to oneself is a RARE thing at the Jones Junction. We told Jeremiah this several times! He loved playing with all of the "bells" and "whistles" around the tracks. As he plays, you can see his little mind trying to figure out all of the mechanics and electronics of each part of the train. He especially liked opening and shutting all of the gates and doors ...
We played all over the house. When we got "bored" we just moved to a different room!
It's a little bit cold in our basement playroom, so we put Jeremiah in his sleepers so that his feet wouldn't get cold ... he refuses to keep socks or shoes on!

And since it has been so wonderfully warm and pleasant the last few days, I took Jeremiah for a nice long walk to show him all of the neighborhood "haunts." We talked about the beautiful trees and the falling leaves and the wonder that God could make it all! Mostly, Jeremiah just listened.
Today, we are under a high wind advisory and we woke up this morning to NO POWER at about 6:15 a.m. Jeremiah woke up about an hour later and we fed him breakfast by flashlight! He didn't seem to mind one single bit. He especially likes our chocolate chip breakfast cookies!

It ended up being quite an unusual morning around here. We were scheduled to take care of children over at church this morning, received one call telling us it had been cancelled, but then 20 minutes later we got another call asking us to come. About two hours into our morning, the tornado sirens were sounding, so we had to round up all of the children and take them to the designated safe spot in the basement of the church. And then after the "all-clear" came, the mothers took their little ones home.

We brought Jeremiah home, fed him his lunch and put him down for a nap with the wind loudly howling and the house shaking! It was SO loud. Emily's mom has picked him up now and he is safely at their house for the next few days. Hopefully, we'll see Adam, Emily and Jeremiah this weekend sometime.

And speaking of the wind ... you should SEE Lake Michigan and the waves crashing over the pier out at Grand Haven! If you look on my sidebar under "These Tracks Lead to" and click on My Favorite Place, you can see what I'm talking about!

Birthday greetings for Adam ...

It's Adam's birthday today! We got the only cake Adam ever seems to enjoy (that yummy swirly cream-filled one that Arnie's makes) and had it with ice cream and just ONE candle two nights ago ... this is the only picture that I took that didn't turn out blurry and terrible (I had my camera settings wrong)!

Wishing you a wonderful 26th birthday celebration, Adam! Hope you and Emily are having a great time on your vacation. With love for you!

Our little visitor ...

It's been more than a week since I have taken any pictures at all ... ZERO! The doctor says I have had a gastrointestinal virus/infection ... in other words, the stomach flu. And that's all I want to say about that ... other than I think I am finally on the mend. :)
We have a little visitor staying with us at the Jones Junction for a few days! Jeremiah is here! Look at his happy little face!

Adam, Emily and Jeremiah arrived here yesterday, late afternoon. Adam won a trip to Las Vegas through where he works ... something about being top dog in sales last year. Anyway, this vacation has been planned for a couple of months now. Dylan and Kelly joined us for dinner and fun last night ~ so nice to spend time with everyone together!

Adam and Emily left very early this morning, so we got Jeremiah up for church without them. We weren't sure how he was going to do ~ he's never been away from his parents for any length of time ~ but he did great. Grandpa Jones took him to the nursery with him during first service, where Jeremiah played with all of the other babies just fine ~ he's very social!
We have played all day, inside and outside, and now Jeremiah is quietly tucked in for the night. He's a sweet little one! We'll have him all day tomorrow ... and then just until noon on Tuesday ~ then we have to share him with his other grandparents. Adam and Emily are due home Thursday night and will be staying in town through the weekend. They are going to bring Jeremiah by for some trick-or-treating Saturday night. We'll take some pictures and share them with you then!

Late afternoon at Roselle Park ...

I've been sick the last few days (long story), but I was pretty determined to return to Roselle Park in Ada Township and walk some of those trails ... so Mr. Jones and I did just that!
This is the weekend in West Michigan where colors would reach the pinnacle ~ actually, I think the colors peaked out a few days ago ... but still ... very beautiful.
Mr. Jones and I walked a straight pathway and veered off to the left to climb this small observation platform and enjoyed the view ~ which Mr. Jones pronounced as "B L E A K" ~ I'll admit it was rather lonely looking, but with a romantic, melancholy "Wuthering Heights" sort of loneliness ...
... but then "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" ... right?

The pathway winds around and down to the Grand River ...
... which sometimes was seen through Milkweed and long-dead wildflowers ...
But now and then, you could get a nice view ...
I was feeling too poorly to do any long hiking ... so we just took a short and very pleasant walk. It was nice to get out of the house for an hour, away from my sickness ... inhale the fresh air, and appreciate LIFE ...
I'm going to like returning to this park every now and again ... although I do not think I will walk it alone ... something a bit TOO lonely about this place!

The drive along Grand River Avenue ...

Last week when I was out at Ada Township Park, I decided to take the "scenic" route home ~ so I turned off from Fulton to Grand River Avenue and took it all the way to where the E. Beltline turns into Northland Drive ... do you know where I am talking about?
I saw such amazing color and perfectly beautiful farms and made a note in my head to come back this week when I had time and snap some pictures of the loveliness that was ... everywhere!
I don't remember another autumn so beautifully colored, do you? The brilliant golds and ambers, wine-reds, deep oranges, burnished browns ... breathtaking!
We received some much-needed rain yesterday morning; but in the mid-afternoon, I grabbed my camera and headed back to see if I could photograph and actually capture some of the awesome color ...
This farm is called "Holiday Farm" ~ don't you wish you lived there?! WOW. I drove by this stretch of road five times looking for a place to park so that I could take a little walk and take pictures. There is nowhere to park out here! I finally just drove up a very long, winding driveway and pulled over to the side of it a bit and hopped out!
I completely fell in love with this tree!
This time of year is tricky for me. I love the autumn ... but at the very same time I am loving it, I am dreading what follows! It's not that I hate winter or anything. I actually like it very much. But I don't like being cold! I love the beauty of the snow ... for a few WEEKS ... but then I am very ready for spring to come and wake everything back up from the dead and the grey! I want my flowers back! I tend to get impatient while I wait for spring ...
Do you think God has made anything that equals the beauty of a horse? Aren't they fabulous animals?!

While I was driving along Grand River, I saw a park I'd never seen before: Roselle Park. It's a beautiful place that is still kind of under construction. There are lots of wetlands and walking trails ... and there is even a great place to climb! There are two silos situated side by side, one of which has stairs (90 of them) inside that you can climb to the top to an observation platform! How fun! Except ... I climbed those 90 stairs only to find the observation deck locked ... I couldn't get outside! So I did snap the picture above through the window up there. I was so disappointed!

You can see the two silos behind this beautiful horse. The park trails are being worked on right now, but I think I've talked Mr. Jones into driving out there early tomorrow morning and walking the ones that are completed ... the colors are fast fading now, and I want to enjoy them to the fullest ... while it's still possible!
I can get very melancholy this time of year ... perhaps because there is so much sadness in the world. So many people are heartbroken and in pain. I long for the day when God makes everything right that is wrong and heals all of the brokenness in our lives.

Be patient as you wait for the Lord's return.
Consider the farmers who eagerly look for the rains
in the fall and in the spring.
They wait patiently for the precious harvest to ripen.
You, too, must be patient.
And take courage ... for the coming of the LORD is near!
JAMES 5:7-8