Thanksgiving Memories

Thanksgiving didn't used to be all that exciting of a holiday for me. I mean, I enjoyed it. But it wasn't necessarily the one holiday that I looked forward to with eager anticipation. But sometime after we got married, it became on of my favorites. I credit a lot of that to the years we spent celebrating in Japan with fellow foreigners who weren't literal family members, but with whom we shared a tight bond--like the folks in this picture from Thanksgiving 2004. That sounds a bit strange, right? Developing a deeper appreciation for an American holiday while living in another country. It may sound strange, but it is true.
Thanksgiving isn't a holiday in Japan, so we usually celebrated on the closest Saturday. And we always met at the church building that most of us worshiped at. Some of us would gather the day before and decorate. I remember one year going to extreme measures with Mark and Charity to make sure we could fit everyone under one table.

And the desserts were always amazing. I think that's pretty much standard for every Thanksgiving celebration--or at least it should be! We had some excellent cooks in our group of "gaigin" (foreigners). I learned quite a bit about cooking and baking from these lovely ladies. I have several recipes that were given to me by some of them that I still use today. Like Nicole's sweet potato recipe, Kari's BBQ sauce, and Rachel's "governor" pancakes. Mmm, mmm good.
After dinner, everyone stayed the rest of the day and spent time together. Some of us brought our supplies and scrapbooked the evening away.
Some watched football games that Mark would record a few days before our gathering. The rest of us didn't have the fatty cable package that he had, so he was our ticket to American sports on TV.
Some people played games.
And others just enjoyed some conversation. I can appreciate Brooke in this picture (far left). She had two little boys about the age that my two are now. I noticed that she wasn't in any of the other pictures of people relaxing after the meal. My guess is that it's because she had to stay on her toes for her little guys. I can definitely appreciate that role right now.

This year, 2009, we made some memories as well. We had our meal with our church family here in Juneau at the church building.
We also got to share the day with my parents and my brother.
After our meal, my 2 yahoos played with whatever they could find.
And tried to be a goofy as possible.

And petted the heads of our friends. Ok, yes. But I'd like to point out that Rylan's hair looked very different from his normal doo. It must have gotten wet or something, because it was all soft and curly and cascading down his face. I mean who wouldn't want to reach out and touch it. Ok, so no one else did, but that's still alright. We're all friends here!
Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving and made some wonderful memories.

More Entertainment

Entertainment

My parents are here visiting for Thanksgiving, as well as my brother. And for the last couple of nights, the kids have given us some toe tapping entertainment. Tonight it even included dressing up!
Carly (in mid-twirl in the picture above), said: "I'm a princess and Isaac is a king, but I don't know why he's not wearing any [dress-up] clothes!" These kids crack me up! I feel like I've said that before.

Such a Good Boy

I'm so thankful for a good little boy the other morning. Sister was already off to school, Daddy and Momma were busy cleaning things up in our living room/construction zone, and this little man stayed right in his Elmo chair with a snack, a drink, and a good show. It was so refreshing to have him STAY PUT for a period of time. The Lord knew just what we needed that morning.
I'm so thankful for our children.
What is something your kids have done recently that made you stop in your tracks to thank God for them?

Fun in the Snow

We got about three inches of fresh snow Saturday night. Carly could hardly wait until Sunday afternoon to get outside and build a snowman. Unfortunately, the snow was too dry for snowman building. I was a bit surprised by that. It seems the snow is always a little more wet in early winter. But I guess not this time. So instead they had a good time shoveling snow. I got one of these little snow shovels at a garage sale this summer for 50 cents! And I'm glad I took up Mike and Kathryn on their offer for the other one. I almost told them, "Oh, no we've got one." But with TWO kids, ONE is not enough. Unless of course you like to hear the sounds of sibling rivalry. So for a grand total of 50 cents they each have their own shovel. I know, I know...I need to slow down on my spending or we won't have anything left for our retirement fund!
Yes, her mother is a blogger. Can you tell? She kept changing her pose with the shovel and saying, "how about this mom?"
Another hard worker in the making. He hardly looked up from his work.
The family that shovels together stays together. And yes, I do realize that I'm obviously not shoveling. But I was documenting the shoveling.
This was right after Shawn showed Isaac how to throw a snowball at someone. And yes, Isaac was the example person.

Out of the Mouth of Babes

(Carly before bed tonight.)

Tonight on our way home from Bible class, Carly and I had this conversation in the car.
Carly: Mom, when are all of the days gonna be over?
Me: (thinking she was talking about today) Oh, pretty soon. We're headed home and then getting ready for bed and then the day will be over.
Carly: No, I mean ALL of the days? I just want to be with God and Jesus.

long pause....wow!

Me: Well we don't know exactly when. Jesus is getting things ready for us.
Carly: I just can't wait to be with God and Jesus, Mom.
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Needless to say I was a bit floored by her simple and pure desire to be with Jesus. What a great lesson my daughter taught me tonight. Or rather, a lesson that our Heavenly Father used her to teach me. I pray I will remember to think of my meeting up with Jesus in the same innocent and powerful way.

Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3

The Fire Station

Wow, it's been a weird and crazy week. I can't believe it's been 8 days since I posted last. I'm sure none of you have lost any sleep over it though, save possibly my mother. I have managed to take pictures though, so fear not. Here we go...

Carly's class got to go on a field trip to the local fire station last week. As far as field trips are concerned, it was a pretty cool one. Hence the abundance of parent driving volunteers like myself. :) Let's be honest. The field trips to the library just aren't as exciting.
This is all 17 of them practicing the stop-drop-and roll method. Carly was just one of the first ones to finish. Don't worry she wasn't having a dramatic moment about rolling around on the cement floor of the fire station "garage".Isaac enjoyed his big sister's field trip too.
Feeling how heavy the firefighter's coats are.
See kids, no need to be afraid when a firefighter comes to rescue you. Never mind that she looks and sounds like a yellow version of Darth Vader.
This girl was just LOOOOVIN' the field trip. She wanted to stay FOREVER!
Yeah for freebies that are fun to play with too.
Does this face mean she'll be a cautious teenage driver? If such a thing exits, that is.
The "cherry on top" for the kids was taking a turn spraying down the fire station driveway. Carly did a great job and was very patient waiting for her turn.

Yeah for field trips!