Thanksgiving review

Our traditional Thanksgiving always starts with Gwen and Tim and the kids coming to my house on Thanksgiving day.  We watch the parade (sometimes more than one time since it is on repeat) and then always watch the dog show that follows that.  The last few years Gwen and I, along with Lia have gone to Meijer, which is the only store that is open on Thanksgiving.  They have frequently had really good sales that Gwen waits for every year on winter boots for the kids.  This year was no exception!  We never have turkey or a big dinner, but always have Lasagna that I have prepared the day before.  The kids (and dogs) love this time at Grandma's house and we have a "sleepover" so that Gwen and I can "Black Friday" shop in the early hours of the morning.  

This year we noticed that Black Friday may be coming to an end.  There were really no crowds at most of our typical shopping places.  Tim came with us for the first round and we were actually back at the house by 7:00am.  We left Tim, who had another store to visit with Zeke, and picked up Lia.  We ventured to the nearby Outlet Mall.  Lia had some very specific things she was looking for to finish out her shopping for the kids at Good Samaritan Ministries.  Lia works at their after school program for the kids who mostly come from poor households.  She was determined to help these kids have a good Christmas and through her efforts (and so many generous friends and family) she succeeded.  All in all, we had a short, but good shopping time.  We did decide NOT to go the Nike store, which had a long line OUTSIDE of the store and very long lines inside to check out.  No good deal is worth that kind of time. 

After all of our Black Friday things are wrapped up, we go to Doug and Susie's for our "real" Thanksgiving.  Doug usually smokes a turkey and this year was no different.

We always take lots of family pictures and the kids have so much fun together.  This year Jimmy found a way to get Zeke to play all of his fun imagination games that include rockets and transformers.

And there were also several rounds of  "Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese, Pizza" .  If you don't know what that is, trust me, its a new, fast paced card game that the kids just love!

We had a wonderful dinner with everyone fitting around the table.  Grace made place cards and decided where everyone should sit. 

I think that the kids were most thankful about the desert we picked this year!  Since only a few of the adults like pie and none of the kids will eat pie, we decided to have Ice Cream in Waffle bowls with all the toppings.  It was a big hit for sure!  

Here are a couple of the posed family photos from our yearly Thanksgiving.  

Our thanks on Thanksgiving are wide and deep.  All of us are thankful for this family. We are thankful for good health, that we live close enough to be together.  We are thankful for good jobs and good friends.  I can't help but come away from every event like this feeling so blessed. 

And here it is almost Christmas.  I can't wait for a repeat of this time together.  Hopefully I will blog about our Christmas much quicker than happened for Thanksgiving.  One thing is certain.  I will be just as thankful at Christmas for my family as I was at Thanksgiving!

Jesus, thank you for family and times to step back and remember just how blessed we are.  Holy  Spirit, comfort those who don't have family or friends to be with during these seasons.  Give wisdom to us all to see our friends or neighbors who might be spending the holidays along and give us creative ways to bless them.  Thank you for the good food and great fun.   Amen  

Such a "thankful" week...

This has really been a great week.  Starting off the week with a wonderful dinner at one of my favorite places, that also was Ken's favorite.  Doug and Susie and I had tried to plan this dinner out for a long time, but it's tough to arrange schedules these days!  So, in honor of Ken's birthday (which was in May) we finally got to celebrate at Uncle Bubs.  

It is not exactly close for us, but it is surely worth the drive!  If you live in the Chicago area, or ever visit, a stop at Uncle Bubs is sure to please the Barbeque lovers.  Doug and I were discussing how we found this place, and I am pretty sure it was DOUG that had eaten here and recommended it to us.  Ken and I had eaten there just before the Covid shut down and we never made it back before Ken died.  I came home with enough food for the next few days as well as a bottle of Barbeque Sauce!  

Then, this week marked the first day of school for all the grands!  

I was actually at Gwen and Tim's and experienced their start of homeschool.  Anna is in fourth grade, Zeke is in 7th grade, Ellie is a High School freshman (gasp) and Lia went to her first "in person" class at college on this day (double gasp- although she took college classes on line all last year) Lia is "technically" a Senior this year, most of her time will be spent doing college classes.  Its so amazing to watch the learning and growth happen, often outside of "books".  I love how I have gotten to walk along side of these kids and see them each move into their giftings.  

Grace's first day of First Grade was on Thursday.  I can hardly believe that she is a first grader!  She is pretty sure that she wants to be a teacher when she grows up, which is no surprise to me.  She loves learning, loves reading and loves school!  

So, here it is, actually late summer, but it FEELS like fall.  Even when the temps last week actually hit 100 degrees, fall still seems right around the corner.  That's what happens with back to school.  This weekend was one of those glorious times when the air was cool (70's) and there was a pleasant breeze.  I spent a great deal of time just sitting outside, enjoying the coolness.  When I came back inside to make myself a rather late "brunch" (it was after 10:30am) this happened....

I actually had a "double yoked" egg!  I don't remember the last time that this has happened!  While I have recently been purchasing "free range" eggs, I was still surprised.  My mom always said that a double yoke egg was a sign of goodness and a reminder to be doubly thankful whenever you had the surprise of a double yoke egg.  As I ate my eggs, there was quite a bit of reflection on all my blessings.  My family, my grandchildren, great weather, good food, a comfortable home, ability to go whenever and wherever I choose. great friends, and so much more.  II reflected on the recent blessing of adding family through my DNA discovery. I am so thankful that I am just at the beginning of a new adventure as I learn more about my paternal relatives.  Also, this week, I had the opportunity to gather with several different groups of friends and spend time in fellowship and prayer.  For sure, a week full of "double blessings".  

Today in church there was a challenge to actively be using your gifts in service to the church, your community, and the world.   There were three stirring testimonies that certainly made you consider how the Holy Spirit might be nudging you to step out of your comfort zone into a place of service.  This message, coming after a very thankful week, hit the mark.  I will be considering with much more diligence, in what ways I can be serving and I won't be nearly as likely to use that "comfort zone" as an excuse to say no!   One of the best parts of watching the grandkids begin a new school year is seeing them grow into the destiny that Jesus planned for them before they were born.  While they may think that are preparing for supply chain management, fashion design, builder or engineer, leaders, teachers or truck drivers, there is so much more ahead for them as they walk with Jesus.  Yes, they may end up doing some of those jobs, but they also may not. Whatever their professions end up to be, that master plan of Jesus will find fulfilment.  So, with a challenge excepted, I will be seeking to fulfill my own destiny through serving!   This season is a good time to consider for yourself, ways that you could move our of your comfort zone and follow that gentle nudge of the Spirit into something new.  Let me know what you decide to do!  And I will keep you up to date in future blogs.

Jesus, it is easy to think that we are not needed or we have already done enough.  Help us to understand that we all have things to share and ways that we can serve.  Holy Spirit, remind us to pray and support all the children and parents and teachers as the new school year begins.  Give us gentle reminders of ways that we can show your love to those around us.  Thank you for double blessings and weeks of thanksgiving.  Amen

So much to be thankful for......

We have a very lovely Thanksgiving this year.  Gwen and Tim and the kids spent Thanksgiving day with us.  As usual, they spent the night so Gwen and I can shop till we drop!  We all watched the Macy's parade and then the National Dog Show (which has become a yearly tradition for us!)  Both Gwen and I made several on-line purchases this year, and with the closing of ToysRUs, we only had five stores to visit on Thanksgiving evening!  We were home and in bed before 9:00pm!  This year we only had one stop on Black Friday morning, and we didn't have to leave the house until 5:45am.  We were done shopping and back home before the kids were even awake. Tim spent the entire time working on our home improvement projects.  Among other things, he finished our kitchen back splash, did some work on our baseboards and trim and painted the foyer!  Needless to say, Ken and I are very thankful for Tim's help with all updates!

We continued our Thanksgiving celebration at Doug and Susie's house for a traditional Thanksgiving meal.  Doug smoked a turkey again this year, which are always delicious.

And for a little family humor, when Doug says that he is "in the backyard smoking" it does not mean that he has taken up cigarettes!  Most likely he has some good meat in the smoker!

The cousins had a great time together.  Grace is getting old enough that all of sudden she can enter into all the fun activities of the big kids.  Susie had bought a craft kit for the kids to make foam turkeys.  Grace was right there doing her own turkey (with a little help from mom).  By the time I took this picture............

Grace was much more interested in taking the turkey apart than holding it up for a picture!  You just gotta love those almost two year olds!

Even the four legged members of our family had a good time.  Zeke made sure that both Sammy and Kylie got lots of attention.

Grandpa made sure that Chandler got his share of attention, and Grandpa got a good rest himself!
The kids had so much fun making cookies with Susie.  Even Grace was able to join in and have a hand in the cookie making

 With a little help from her cousins, Grace helped stir, roll, cut and decorate her own cookies!

Of course all of us were able to eat the cookies!  And we were thankful for them!

My favorite part of Thanksgiving was going around the table and each of us sharing one thing we were thankful for.  Lia was thankful for her family.  I was thankful for a warm house to gather together.  Anna was thankful for the world!  Doug was thankful for a job and all the provision it brings.  Susie was thankful for good food.  We all decided that Grace was thankful for mommy and daddy.  Ellie was thankful for family and friends.  Tim was thankful for his children.  Ken was thankful for Tim and his help and for all of us and for me especially.  Gwen was thankful for a fun family that gets along.  Zeke was thankful for his life.  Susie ended our thankful time, saying that we all are thankful for Jesus!  

Every year it seems like the holidays just fly by faster than the year before.  I am especially thankful this year that there are more days in November after the holiday so that I have more days to reflect and be thankful!

Yes, I am blessed.  The biggest blessing of these family gatherings is all of the love that is shared.  The wonderful and amazing thing about love is that the more you give away, the more love you have! That is the best thought to carry us into the Christmas season.  Yep, that is going to be my Advent goal.  Seeing how much love I can give away!!  Will you join me?

Jesus, thank you for your great love for us.  It is your love that allows us to love others.  Holy Spirit keep us mindful of those that might especially need more love during the weeks ahead.  Give us courage and obedient hearts to share love with those who might need it the most.  Thank you Jesus for family, friends and fun.  Mostly, again, thank you for your love.  Amen

Thanksgiving recap... now on to Christmas!

We had a busy and wonderful week over Thanksgiving!  Quite honestly, it has gotten harder and harder to make the time to sit down and write these blogs.  It is certainly not for lack of things to share.   I thought I would kick off with this adorable "thanks" turkey that Susie had for the kids to create when we celebrated together.  I love this so much.  We did the traditional sharing around the table also, of our thankfulness and it was especially easy to be thankful with Grace sitting happily with the family in her highchair!  It has been a very thankful 10 months for us. 

We celebrated in our "traditional" way this year, which is somewhat "un-traditional".  Gwen and Tim and the kids came to our house on Thanksgiving day.  However, we do not celebrate this in the traditional way.  Oh, we watch the Macy's parade followed by the kids very favorite thing - the dog show!  We have lots of snack foods out.  We do eat a meal together - but not turkey.  It is our tradition to have lasagna for lunch.  I know it sounds a bit odd, but it works for our family.  This is because during that parade and dog show the adults are seriously scanning the huge amount of sale flyers that are enclosed in the ridiculously expensive papers that were purchased early that morning.  (When I say expensive, I mean it!  I needed a twenty dollar bill to make that purchase)  Now I know that many of you have strong opinions about shopping on the holiday, how unfair it is for the workers, etc, but I want to tell you that for Gwen and I this is a very real and important part of Thanksgiving.  There were plenty of years that we got up at 3 or 4 morning to go shopping.  The worst years were when some stores opened at midnight.  There was no sleeping for us those years.  I know that it is a hot topic but just let me say that it works great for Gwen and I.  This year we left the house at 3:00pm and hit five stores.  We were home before 9:00pm.  We got plenty of sleep and then left the house around 5:00am for the second round of stores on Black Friday.  We were especially thankful this year that the weather was moderately warm and we only stood outside in lines twice - once on Thursday and once on Friday.

Gwen and Tim and the kids always spend the night at our house on Thanksgiving night.  This is a big treat for the kids, who otherwise would not have the chance to have a "sleep over" with Grandma and Grandpa. 

Our Thanksgiving tradition continues with our real "Thanksgiving" happening on Friday at Doug and Susie's house.  Doug always smokes the turkey outside and it is always yummy. This years bird was a whopping 26 lbs!  We took family pictures at their house, but since these will most likely be in my Christmas Cards this year, I decided to keep them under wraps for now.  It was a glorious day on Friday with highs in the 50's so we took the kids and the dogs to the park.  Grace got to go on the swings and the slide and even ride the bouncy horse.  After our meal was consumed and all the clean up was done, Susie made cookies with the kids.  

Grace had her first taste of my Grandmother Johnson's recipe for "Butter Butter Cookies".  Needless to say, we all enjoyed these tasty treats.  As a special bonus this year, Gwen and Tim and the kids spent Friday night with a "sleep over" at Doug and Susie's house.  Really a wonderful thanks filled few days.

I think tonight I am feeling especially grateful for my family.  Our adult children all get along.  There seems to be plenty of laughing and talking and lots of hugs.  Even the three dogs got along well.  Unfortunately, not every family has this same report.  I know of several families who experienced much less wonderful holiday times with adult children who just can not get along.  There are also families where the adult children can not get along with their parents.  My heart is heavy for these families.  For often petty and selfish reasons, they are missing sharing time with those who should be the closest to them.  I believe that my family has learned the power and strength we have when we draw together.  The loss of a precious son, grandson, nephew and cousin helped us learn this lesson.  Each of our loved ones is a treasure that could be lost at any moment.  So time together is the most important gift we give each other.  So we choose to celebrate and be thankful together!

During the next weeks, as we are approaching Christmas, my prayer is for much reconciliation and thankfulness for families that have been hurt by conflict.  The love of Jesus is so needed!  Won't you please join me in a prayer for love, peace and joy between sisters and brothers and children and parents? 

Jesus, thank you for your great love for us.  Holy Spirit, remind us all to treasure our family members - even those with whom we disagree.  Keep our hearts tender to those closest to us.  Give us an extra measure of grace and peace during stressful times.   Jesus, help us to keep love a central focus of our family.  Thank you for special times to step out of our routines and be thankful.  Amen

A Thanksgiving recap...

I just love Thanksgiving - for so many more reasons than the food (I love the food but it is the people that make my holiday so great).  What an amazing and fun couple of days I have had.  I actually created the smells of Thanksgiving on Wednesday this year when I cooked a small turkey.  Susie and Doug had asked me to make stuffing and I decided to just cook it the "old fashioned way" inside of the bird!  Just not the bird we would be eating for our Thanksgiving Feast!  So Wednesday was filled with turkey stuffing, roasting, slicing and chopping, and even boiling (when I made broth for some future Turkey Soup).  It was a bit unusual to NOT be having a big dinner after this work, but it certainly was a good choice for me.  The last few years I have not made a big dinner on Thanksgiving since Gwen and I are dedicated "Black Friday" shoppers who DO shop on Thanksgiving.  I know that many of you will now be scowling and even feel really angry that we would take away from our family time by going to stores on this special holiday.  But for us, this is a very real and important part of our Thanksgiving tradition.  We spent the entire day - until about 3:00pm - together as a family.

We watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and then the most favorite part of the TV viewing of the day - the Dog Show!  We watch this every year and just love to guess which dog will be the big winner.  The kids just love this tradition!  I know that it might seem odd to some people, but as far as I am concerned, anything that you do together and have so much fun doing, is a great tradition!  This years big winner was the Greyhound!  Not my favorite by any stretch.  The kids had hoped for the Beagle to win (the Chandler breed) but it was not to be.  Maybe next year!   During this time, Gwen and Tim and Ken and I are pouring over the newspaper ads for the best deals.  Gwen and I have developed quite a good "game plan" and know which stores to go to in an exact order.  This shopping day is really quite important for Gwen and Tim's family.  By shopping these great sales, Gwen is able to get most of the Christmas items for her family and all the extended family and friends for gift exchanges.  There are also purchases for next years birthdays.  She also purchases many generic gifts that fill their "Basement store"!  This wonderful stockpile allows the kids to go to the basement and find presents for their friends when those birthday party invites roll in!  With four kids this is really a big savings to find things at rock bottom prices instead of running out at the last minute and paying full price for those gifts.  For Gwen and I this shopping time is really a magical time.  We love the laughter and fun that we have as we follow our carefully laid out track of stores, checking items off our lists as we go.  We  know exactly which stores to shop and where the best deals are found.  We always meet some really nice people while waiting in lines and love to share stories of past years adventures.  We are really pros at this Black Friday shopping thing.  I know that right now some of you are shaking your heads and even feeling angry that we would shop on Thanksgiving.  But for us, this is a very important tradition and we would miss it terribly.  Even the kids love being at Grandma's house with daddy while we are out shopping.  It IS our tradition and we love it!   And our more "traditional" tradition is that we go to Doug and Susie's house on Black Friday and have our "actual" Thanksgiving!  This always includes a turkey, smoked by Doug!  There is always lots of laughter and fun and usually cookie baking.  This year our dinner ended with this really amazing apple pie, baked by Susie!  It was so delicious!

I was thinking about our very "Non Traditional" Traditions.  We don't have our big formal dinner on Thursday - the actual Thanksgiving Day.   We SHOP on the holiday (and on Black Friday in total truth telling!)  I don't cook the turkey.  Well, you get the idea.  But here is the thing.  I firmly believe that whatever is good and right for our family is just fine.   And if your traditions are all of those more "Traditional" Traditions, well GOOD FOR YOU!  I just don't understand why some people get so upset about choices that other people make that really don't impact them at all.  The gathering and the shopping and the laughter and the eating turkey on Friday, and being so thankful work for our family.  So it is good.  

Today as we were eating our very traditional turkey dinner, with all 10 of us around the table.  As so many of you probably did, we each expressed what we are thankful for.  The entire holiday is worth those minutes around the table, hearing just how thankful we are.  

Yes, I am very blessed.   We have jobs and homes and food and family and friends and health. We have a new baby coming soon to our family.  And we have each other.  I am so thankful for each of you that take the time to read my thoughts in these blogs. Your time is valuable and I love knowing that somehow in sharing my life with you, you are blessed.  

Many of the stories of Jesus include times of eating with his friends.  He loved to gather people around the table and just fellowship.  What a gift it is to have these times set aside to think about and remember how thankful we are!  No matter what your traditions are, I am praying that your Thanksgiving is filled with blessings!  Even if you are by yourself today, you are not alone!  Jesus has invited each one of us to HIS table and we can all be thankful there with him.  That is the biggest thanksgiving of all!

Jesus, thank you for preparing a table for us with you.  Holy Spirit help us to stay in this mode of thankfulness as we go on in our day to day activities.  Keep us mindful that what seems right and proper for us may not be what our neighbor prefers.  Give us grace to see from your perspective and steer us away from being judgmental when others do things differently than us.  Thank you Jesus for your love for us that brought you to the cross.  We are forever grateful.  Amen

Thankful overload.....

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  Gwen and Tim and the kids (and Chandler, the dog) arrived on Thanksgiving morning.  We visited and played some games and ate our festive "un-Thanksgiving" lunch.  We had lasagna instead of turkey.  We started this tradition when our "black Friday shopping" became "Thanksgiving afternoon/evening" shopping.  I did not want to be cooking/eating/cleaning up from a big meal all before 3:00pm!  Besides, we were having our family REAL Thanksgiving on Friday at Doug and Susie's house.  I know that there are lots of people who have strong opinions about shopping on Thanksgiving, but here is my thoughts about that.  This shopping experience is one of the BEST times that Gwen and I have together.  We laugh, we plan, we celebrate the small victories when we find that certain bargain, we work together to conquer the crowds.  We also meet some wonderful people and simply have so much fun.  I can't think of a better family time.  And honestly shopping now is so much better than when we had to get up at 3:30am!  We didn't get enough sleep before we shopped and dragged around for all of Friday.  Now we get home before 10:00pm on Thursday.  We get a great night's sleep and leave the house at 5:30am on Black Friday.  We shop for a few hours and get home in time for breakfast with the family.  So much better!

So after a very successful time shopping on both Thursday evening and Friday (very early) morning, we were ready to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Doug smoked a turkey, which is so good.  Susie prepared a wonderful spread including some flavorful stuffing.  We all sat around their very large dining room table - all 10 of us!  Before we ate, Gwen asked who wanted to pray.  With very little hesitation, Zeke volunteered.  Our little four year old prayed the most wonderful prayer....  I can't remember exactly what he prayed but it included thanks for the food and for the time together as a family.  It was simply the sweetest, most heartfelt prayer.  There was no doubt that he knew exactly WHO he was talking to.  I have decided that there is nothing better than a little one praying from their heart.

Yes, it is a thankful overload.  Great family time, great shopping, great food, and great prayer.  What an amazing couple of days.  Then came the Christmas set up.  Ken had seen a really interesting laser projector thingy but it was sold out by the time we went to look at it.  So we opted for this large tree instead.

We are used to having some kind of outdoor decoration, so it was fun to have something new and very festive.  It was no easy task putting this tree up, however.  All of the lights were tangled into one big mess on the inside of this tree.  It took us a good two hours to get the lights all freed up and in the correct spots. And Ken was working on a ladder since this is over 8 feet tall.  The lights twinkle very gently. We were very thankful that it looked good once it got dark!   Part of my Thankful overload!

After dinner Ken brought out two foam kits that he had purchased a few weeks ago to add holiday decor to his office.  One was a very large two story gingerbread house and the other was this nativity set. 

This went together really easily and is really quite cute.  I don't know what I think about the one wise man in the front that seems to be wearing a stocking hat....but it is festive!  And then we went to work on the gingerbread house.  Oh my.  What a task.  I was trying to imagine children doing this, since it was a kit designed for kids.  And there were no real instructions...just a series of pictures on the back of the box that showed 5 steps.  It was a trick to figure out which piece was which and then when we tried to put the first walls together, we realized we would need some glue.  So I got out the craft glue.  Well, that didn't work very well.  After lots of time and lots of effort and many, many pieces falling apart, Ken went out to the store for super glue.  The odd thing was that some of the pieces were adhesive and SO sticky that you could hardly deal with it.  But other pieces had no glue at all.  I don't know how they thought this would work since it never says on the package that you need glue.  

It took us over two hours to finish this project.  But it was nice once it was done.  Working together on these two kits was certainly part of my thankful overload.  

So, there you have it.  A recap of my Thanksgiving couple of days.  I have been reflecting on how different this year feels than last year.  Gwen and I talked about how fuzzy and foggy last year seems in our memory.  We did a lot of just going through the motions for the holidays last year.  It was very hard to be thankful in the heaviness of our grief.   We really did just cling together and pull each other along, step by step, through the days, weeks, and months.  As we were sitting at that Thanksgiving table, I was so aware of the missing highchair and felt the loss of Lucas so deeply.  But there were smiles and even laughter this year.  And that perfect prayer of a little boy.  And now we move into Advent.  A time of expectation and planning.  A time filled with hope.  There could not be any better ending to my thankfulness overload than that.  

Jesus, thank you so much for knowing exactly what we need and when we need it.  Thank you for time together and your great peace and love.  Help us all to enter into Advent with a thankful heart and spirit.  Keep our eyes trained on you and the amazing story of season.  Thank you for lights and laughter and the wonder of children.  Amen

Thankful for the OLD and the NEW!

This morning I said goodbye to my old friend.......this car!  I have been driving it since 2009 when we purchased it brand new.  It has been a wonderful car.  Ken and I have driven it on many vacations, I have driven it back and forth to Minnesota so many times I can't even count.  It was the car that I used to chauffeur the children that I nannied around to school and/or sports and other activities for over four years.  During those years, I put over 500 miles a week on this car.  So, even though it was only 6 1/2 years old, it had 129,000 miles on it!  After lots of discussion and looking ahead at our needs, we decided to BOTH get new cars that have good, long warranties.  Ken found exactly the car he was looking for.  It has a great warranty, good reviews, and we got an outstanding deal on it!

We will finally have room to transport almost anything that we would want to buy.  It will be so much more comfortable when we travel and we won't have to limit what we bring!  We drove around in this wonderful new car today and even though we were fumbling a bit with the different controls, it was so comfortable.  It is not too big and not too small..... it is just right!  

For a while I will be driving Ken's old car.  It just made more sense to trade mine in on this purchase.  It won't be very long and I will also have a new car.  Most likely before the end of the year.  Until then, I will be driving in a bit more luxury than I was used to.  Things like a back up camera and built in blue tooth for my phone! 

Yes, there are some things to be thankful for when considering getting a bit older!  Ken and I are thinking towards retirement in the years ahead and decided we did not want to worry about our cars.  Yes, there it is.....thinking about retirement.  WOW!  Just putting those words on paper is a bit overwhelming.  But it is also kind of exciting!  It just depends on your perspective.  Any change is hard and this change is especially difficult.  But I am determined to make our transition into retirement like this car upgrade. Thankful for the old and the new!  I will be thankful for the remaining working years AND I will be thankful for moving into retirement.  

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Most of us will be spending at least SOME time thinking about what we are thankful for.  Some of us will be actually talking about these things.  For some it might be difficult to feel thankful for anything.  I totally get that.  This has been a hard year for our family.  We were all reeling last year at Thanksgiving.... sort of numb from the loss of Lucas.  It was a lot of just getting through the holidays.  Going through the motions.  It was the prayers of so many that helped us navigate the waves of grief that often caught us unaware.  And it was the foundation of faith that kept us from falling over when those waves smacked us from every side.  So even in the numbness and the reeling we were thankful for the prayers and for Jesus and His constant presence with us.  

So I am heading into Thanksgiving feeling so thankful.  Thankful for the last year and all those who covered us and held us up with their prayers.  And I am thankful for Jesus.  And I am thankful for whatever is ahead!  Today I am especially thankful for a wonderful new car!

Jesus, thank you for your provision in all circumstances.  Holy Spirit, help us all to see beyond our troubles and concerns to recognize the blessings.  Jesus, transitions can be difficult so we need to see from your perspective.  Help us keep our eyes on you.   Thank you Jesus for a day to remember to be thankful for all that we have.  Thank you for family and food and health and home.  Amen

going forward....through Thanksgiving

So here it is, the evening of "Black Friday".  And what I am feeling right now is an odd mixture of tired, glad that the holiday is over, with a bit of thankfulness thrown in.  This was a very different and extremely tough holiday for our family.  It was not one of those unexpected "waves" that I've been talking about.  No, it was an EXPECTED hard event that could not be avoided or just forgotten.  As a family, we did what we have been doing..... we put one foot in front of the other and walked through Thanksgiving.  As difficult as it was for me, I really can't imagine what Susie and Doug were experiencing.  For the last few years, Gwen and Tim and the kids have been staying overnight at our house a couple of nights.   Gwen and Tim have run a 5K race early on Thanksgiving morning a couple of years now, so it has worked out that we can watch the kids while they run the race.  Gwen and I have been "Black Friday" shopping together for at least 13 years (we aren't sure exactly when my mom stopped visiting us at Thanksgiving, which is when Gwen started shopping with me).  For Gwen's family this yearly shopping trip is an important money saving event.  The purchases always include birthday gifts for each of the kids for the next year, as well as a supply of "random birthday gifts" for all of those invitations that arrive home from school for friend's birthdays.  There really are many great money saving deals on this day.  So we proceeded with our "normal" plans.  The kids really look forward to having a "sleepover" at Grandma Lyn and Grandpa's house.  And I admit it is a very special time for me also.  In spite of the bitter cold (like single digits!) Gwen and Tim ran the 5K.  And the kids and I stayed in the nice warm house and did this....

Really, is there anything better than Play Do Therapy?  We had a great time.  I even let the kids mix the colors!  Who cares when you have 8 cans of stuff that only cost $2.00?  (Thanks 5 Below).  When Gwen and Tim got home from the race, the planning began for our big shopping trip.

Don't you just love that Anna was giving her mommy and daddy some help reading the ads?  Gwen is calling out the items to put on the list, and Tim is dutifully typing them into the computer.  Yes, we are VERY organized.  We take this shopping event seriously.  I know that there is a LOT of controversy about shopping on Thanksgiving, but for Gwen and I, it is really a Godsend.  It is so much easier to leave the house at 3:30 in the afternoon, hit 5 or 6 stores and be home by 9:30pm.  That way we can easily get up at 5:30am to begin "Black Friday" shopping at the remaining 3 or 4 stores.  Let me tell you that going out at 11:30pm when the stores opened at Midnight was HARD!  And even worse was getting up at 3:30am or 4:00am  when the stores were opening in the middle of the night.  The current set up is just so much better.  Thankfully, Gwen and I made good choices on the order of the stores and we were able to purchase almost all of the items on her list.  We made the choice to stand in a line (outside, in the cold and it was snowing!) at Toys R Us for about an hour before they opened.  But this strategy allowed us to be in the first group of shoppers in the door.  We got EVERYTHING on Gwen's long list, and were checked out and in the car heading to our next stop in 15 minutes.  Yes... 15 minutes!  For the most part, people were friendly, helpful and kind. This morning, at our first stop we actually stayed in the car until the doors were open.  And we STILL got everything on our lists.  The only negative to this stop was the lack of a shopping cart!  It is really amazing how much stuff you can carry if you have to!   We were home by 9:30 this morning with our shopping complete.

To complete our "normal" Thanksgiving, we all went to Doug and Susie's house for our turkey dinner.  Usually Doug and Susie do the bulk of the cooking with Doug smoking the turkey.  This year, Doug still wanted to make the turkey (inside) but we brought the rest of the meal.  I am sure this was still quite difficult for Doug and Susie, but as I said, we are all moving forward.  It was good to sit around their table and share this wonderful meal.  I think we all needed this time together.  It was important to all of us to pray together our family mealtime grace....

"Come Lord Jesus, be our guest, and let these gifts to us be blessed, Amen"

If there was ever a time that we all needed Jesus to be there with us, it was today as we were so missing precious Lucas.  We also needed to express - out loud - that we have been given so many gifts that are a blessing to us.  Usually we talk about all that we are thankful for during this meal.  But this year it was enough that we were sitting together, in a warm house, eating good food.  I know that Jesus was sitting with us at that table.  I could feel His presence so clearly.  After we finished eating, we all went back to the family room to let our food settle a bit before desert.  Anna had been fussy all day and had not slept well at all.  Gwen discovered the reason.....her first tooth had popped through! Susie picked up Anna and to distract her, gave her a set of keys that were on the table.  Anna just relaxed in Susie's arms and laid back to look up at Doug, who was sitting next to Susie.  Within a few moments, Anna was peacefully sleeping.  Anna rarely will sleep in someone's arms.  She just doesn't do this.  I was sitting next to Susie on the couch and realized that I was holding my breath.  Only Jesus could have arranged this sequence of events.  I can't imagine who difficult this was for Susie and Doug.  But Anna is their niece, and they love her dearly. And in that moment, I felt the peace of the presence of Jesus again so clearly.  This time was a gift.  And we were so blessed.

Jesus, thank you for your presence with us that is so healing.  Thank you for helping us walk on through difficult times. Thank you for guidance and direction in all things, even shopping.  Holy Spirit, help us all to welcome Jesus into every part of our daily life.  Thank you for pouring out your blessings on us.  Please continue to comfort Susie and Doug, and help us all to know your presence
with us. Thank you for your great love.  Amen

Day 26 - Thankful for good health - Part 1

As I have been sharing about various Thanksgivings from years past, I decided I had to blog about Thanksgiving 1972.  I was 18 years old and living at home.  Ken and I were already dating and I was a college student at a local community college.  And I was working at Walgreens.  Each of these facts is important in my telling the story of Thanksgiving in 1972. 

Let me set the stage.... I was a new college student (my first semester) and I was working a lot of hours at Walgreens.  They had just started being open until Midnight and I frequently worked 3pm till Midnight.  And I was dating Ken.  Each of these things led to me not getting much sleep and being pretty stressed.  I had been feeling sick most of October and had already completed several rounds of antibiotics and was still under the weather.  I remember well when the doctor said that I needed to have some blood tests because he suspected that there was something else wrong with me.  Now let me say that I had just recently lost a cousin to Leukemia and when the doctor suggested that my symptoms might be that serious..............we were worried.  So when we received that phone call from the doctor telling me that I had Mononucleosis, we were relieved!!!  Although serious, it was not life threatening.  I remember the day of that phone call very well.  I called my boss and told him I didn't know when I would be returning to work and I called my counselor at college and gave them the same line.  The college wasn't very worried.  They assured me that I could catch up on all my work (which did not happen).  But my boss............well my Walgreens story is one for another blog.  He indicated that I might not have a job when I recovered.  I thought this was really unbelievable since he was a Pharmacist and knew about these things! After these calls were made, I gladly climbed into bed and fell asleep.  I don't remember ever feeling THAT tired!  That was on a Thursday, a week before Thanksgiving.  I have been told that I actually got up for Thanksgiving dinner, but I really don't remember it.  The first thing I really remember is on the Sunday after Thanksgiving - the 26th.  I actually stayed awake to watch a Disney special on TV!  And I finally felt like I was going to be okay.  It was truly a thankful thanksgiving for me (and my parents)!

I hadn't thought about this story for a very long time.  Today as I was thinking about it, I had such a feeling of peace and joy.  Even though, as the time, I didn't really think about the fact that Jesus was the healer and the protector for me, NOW I know that he was totally responsible for my restoration.  And I can even see the working of the Holy Spirit in the path that this illness caused me to walk.  By February of the next year, my life had taken a very different direction.  I was no longer in college and I was working a 9-5 full time secretarial job (which I had for the next 5 years). 

Yes, it was an interesting and very thankful Thanksgiving for me. 

Jesus, thank you for reminding me that you were working in my life, even when I wasn't aware of your presence.  Thank you for restoring me to good health and for providing exactly what I needed at that time.  Thank you for my mom and dad, and their provision for me during this illness. Holy Spirit thank you for helping me to walk on the path that brought me into my destiny.  Amen

***Watch for my blog tomorrow for another Thanksgiving story of restoration!*****

(My Walgreens story is really very interesting.  I promise to share that story sometime in the very near future.)

Day 25 - Thankful for Oreo Cookies.....and fun with little ones

 

So today I am thankful for Oreo Cookies and all of those smart people who come up with cute, creative ideas to turn a plain old Oreo into a turkey, in honor of Thanksgiving!

I got to help 16 little three year olds create these cute little turkeys to take home.  Ours looked a bit different.  They had a Whopper for the head that was "glued" on with frosting.  The eyes were supposed to work with frosting, but it seemed to just end up being a huge pool of frosting with two tiny eyes.  Then we used frosting pens to make the beak and waddle.  Messy, but you got the general idea.  The most important thing was that the kids were so excited to create these turkeys.  How could you not be thankful when you saw those little faces just light up when they saw their finished projects. 

 

The best part of this project was listening to the kids tell me what they were thankful for.  I asked each one to share as they were making their turkey.  I heard lots of "Mommy and Daddy" and a few said "toys".  There were a couple who didn't have anything to say (quite honestly, we have some with limited English so I don't think they really understood what I was asking).  And then there were two with special 'thankful for" things.  One little girl said "Teacher Ms. Jackie", who is the lead teacher in this classroom.  How sweet!  This girl has a special relationship to Ms. Jackie and you could tell that she really is thankful for her.  And then there was my favorite of the day.  A little boy that also has some language barrier but does speak English.  He is often seen as a bit of a trouble maker, but I have seen what a sweet boy he really is. He gives great hugs and often comes up and stands by me.  When I asked what he was thankful for, he wrinkled up his face, thoughtfully put his finger on his lip, then broke out in a huge smile and said, "YOU!"   

 

No further words are necessary today.  Yes, I am thankful for Oreos, time making Oreo turkeys, and sweet little Duvod. 

 

Jesus, thank you so much for today.  Thank you for your provision of this job for me.  You knew that this was just what I needed.  Holy Spirit, continue to speak thankfulness into all of our hearts.  Help us to see all the things in our life - big and small - that we should appreciate.  Jesus, bless all of these sweet children and their families.  Help me to continue to be thankful every day!  Amen