This week I tagged along on a fourth-grade trip to the Maryland Historical Society.

Weekday mornings are a chaotic whirlwind of packing lunches and serving breakfast and making sure the right child has the right trumpet on the right day.

This fall has been a season of abundance. I have too many things to balance, too many competing priorities, too many problems to solve, and too many reasons not to go to sleep on time.

Even before we were married, John and I had talked about adoption. But talking about adoption is not the same as deciding to adopt. Coming to that decision can be difficult, and I feel so fortunate that John and I came to it together.

Stories help us incorporate memories and traditions into our family. They help us know who we are.

The other night our son was outside with his father, scanning the heavens, when a shooting star streaked across the sky.

Even with all the worry about the weather, we got in a beautiful night of trick-or-treating, winding our way through our Halloween-happy neighborhood.

Rain is in the forecast for Halloween night, so our neighborhood created a poll. Suddenly, I found I was allowed to vote on which night Halloween would be.

Our friend Theresa invited us to go to the Maryland Million with her, so our boys and I headed down to Laurel for a few hours at the races.

Maybe there’s a little extra wonder when we almost overlook that evolution—in nature and even in ourselves.