Autumn Bliss {at the cemetery)

Sunday was pretty much a perfect day in my estimation ... crisp air ... but not too cold ... sun shining ... the smell of fallen leaves.  Autumn.  Bliss.  A perfect day for a family "hike" through the cemetery (the boys have been reminding us that we haven't had a picnic in the cemetery for a while so this was a compromise).  The boys brought a football that they tossed around as they "hiked", and the girls had a bag to gather chestnuts from one of the old chestnut trees.

When we were "shopping" for a plot (why can't there be a nicer word for that) while Owen was still full of life, walking through the cemetery was excruciating.  It was one of the hardest things we ever had to do.  I remember that day so vividly, a warm sunny day in May 2008.  We spent many Sundays at the cemetery in that initial year.  And, while it is still painfully obvious that a rung in our family ladder is missing here, we are thankful for the beauty that surrounds us and how we can celebrate life.

Looking at these pictures from Sunday, it caught me how others might it find it so odd that Lydia found a tombstone to sit on as she rested, that the backdrop of a game of catch and chestnut gathering is rows of grave stones, but look at the beauty. 

 

Crazy Boy - Jack may or may not have used the football as a weapon against the poor chestnut tree to get her to drop more chestnuts ... sigh ... boys ...

Hey Pinterest ... got the perfect chestnut craft for me?

 

Lydia was D.O.N.E. at this point ... that girl!

 

That's what He does, doesn't he? Makes beauty of ashes ... while the tears still fall, we are thankful.