Saturday, November 29, 2008

Thanksgiving Day

Among so many blessings I am truly thankful for this year, one of them was to host a houseful of wonderful family on this special day. It's been a tough year emotionally but God is good and He has brought us to a good place in this new home. After 10 years of living near no family of ours from either side, I am now surrounded and supported by the best in-law family a person could hope for. Thank you Banks Family for loving me these past 12 years as your own. You are a blessing!


 

The Turkey Boys! My brother-in-law, David, and his Dad, John, made the best smoked turkey you've ever had.

 

Too many cooks? Are you kidding? Who came up with that phrase? You can never have too many cooks! Mom B. and Becca peeled, I think, 640 potatoes.

 

Table One! This might be the kid table. I see no one in this picture that I would trust with anything of great responsibility.

 

And Table Two. Well, maybe this is the kid table...

Maurer Family: We missed you and we'll see you next year!!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I recently asked some friends for their opinion on the appropriate time to start decorating for Christmas. They were pretty decisive that it should be the Saturday after Thanksgiving (at 0900, meet you in the attic?). That sounded good. After all, I'm new around here and I wouldn't want to not fit in, so I've been very busy the last few days preparing for Thanksgiving.
 

 

 

 

Truth is, Joshua carried a large electoral vote on this one, and you can only watch a little one jump up and down and beg you to get those lights out so much before it becomes infectious, you know? Really ladies, I had nothing to do with it. Really.

By the way, can you tell which room I didn't do?
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Blessing Baskets

 

Our church is feeding a few thousand families for Thanksgiving this year so this morning we helped put the "baskets" (paper bags full of groceries) together. It was freezing cold - exactly 32 degrees - but it was so much fun. Josh and I doubled the bags and got them to the food assembly line while Greg helped load them onto the trucks.
 

This really was a sacrifice for Greg because he's been achy and feverish the last couple days. Yet, he was so glad to do it!

One thing that had me giggling to myself (and only to myself because no one else was laughing) was the motivational music blaring out the big speakers in the parking lot. We were rockin' to Stryper, no less, singing "To Hell With The Devil!". Do you remember them?!? I think they were the Christian answer to KISS once upon a time but I don't think anyone in this crowd was struggling with a Gene Simmons craving. Interesting choice.

You know, as these things always go, the blessing you're suppose to be to someone else always ends up blessing you. It was a cold and early Saturday morning but there's nothing else I wish we'd have done.

"....I tell you the truth, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for ME." -Matthew 25:40
Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Great Tag!

Don't you just love the 4th picture in the 4th folder of your picture files? I do! I was tagged my Ashley A. to post and tell about it, then to tag 4 more friends to do the same. So here it is:

 


Don't ask. This was not in college, in fact, it was taken just last year. Suffice it to say I have NEVER needed alcohol! I will tell you that three of my favorite people are in this picture - Amy, Ashley (the one who tagged me), and Morgan (hidden behind the banister). This picture made me laugh and then hurt. I miss y'all so much. I need entire posts to tell more about you. Hmmm...

I now tag Julie, Charissa, Kirsten and Marlita. Can't wait to see your 4ths!
Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Good News, Bad News

 

Well, for all of you that remember my car dilemma, the good news is that Greg bought a HONDA!! It was a suprise for me, a pleasant one, and that was after teasing that he had brought home a Mercedes. Not a funny joke when I call and say "I'm on my way home. What have you guys been up to?" There were tears, in fact. So, yes, I have enjoyed driving around indiscreetly and thriftfully.

Bad news: I've already wrecked it. Didn't pull it into the garage far enough and when we closed the door it perfectly sliced up the rear fender. And that's why I don't drive a Mercedes!
Posted by Picasa

Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Elizabeth Phillips

 

When people ask "Who is your hero?", this is the woman that comes to my mind every time. She personifies the consumate 'everything' that a girl aspires to be: faithful wife, loving mother/grandmother/great-grandmother, Biblical and all-other-things scholar, brilliant wit and conversationalist (NO one can say things like she can - can I get an 'Amen' from someone who knows her?), unsurpassable apple pie maker, teacher, musician, artist, world-traveler, gardener, economist, would-be politician, and best hugger ever. Those hugs are called 'whoofers' and they're warm and wonderful. I'm happy to have my middle name after her and I only hope I can be just like her when I grow up.

 

Here she is with all her greats, or 'cherubs', as she calls them.

 

And here is one of her cherubs. It blesses me that he adores her like he does. She has a legacy that is catching, for sure. It sure caught me.
Posted by Picasa

Thursday, November 6, 2008

It's November 6th, two days after the election, and you'd think I had a lot to mull over right now.  I don't.  Everything worth examining and praying over, the struggles with the consequences from one canditate vs. the next, the hopes and fears associated with them, the significance of the times as God sees it -- all of it has been belabored in my soul for months already.  Yesterday I felt like King David.  After he had his affair with Bathseba, she got pregnant, and then he had her husband killed, David's infant son was born very sick.  He spent days on his face before God, repenting, full of sorrow and begging God for mercy.  God had His way and He took that baby home.  When David was told the news, he picked himself up, cleaned up, worshiped the Lord and got something to eat.  His servants were bewildered about that but David's response was (my paraphrase) "What's done is done.  I hoped and prayed for another outcome but God is Sovereign and it's time to move on." We've all kind of been David.  We took our eyes off the Lord and had an affair with our wallets.  We may lose some things very precious to us as a result.  On our faces before the Lord is the place we ought to be if we haven't been there yet but then it's time to get up, clean up, worship God and have some sustenance.  No President saves us, no matter what party.  Our hope is in GOD alone and that never changes.  That's refreshingly good news to me.    

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Trick or Treat!

We joined up with neighbor friends Nathan and Connor for our tour around the block last night. This neighborhood is full of cute kids! I'm so glad we're still not too old for dressing up because I love that community feeling of all the families being out together. I also love the wink in the above picture. Joshua explained to me that you always see old west sheriffs winking. (?)

We had a rookie trick-or-treater with us last night, too! I'm afraid Kierstin was all for the excitement until she learned she wasn't Iron Man.

Posted by Picasa