Our First Michigan Thanksgiving!

The kids making these adorable cookies after dinner. Nana always has the best ideas!

My beautiful Aunt Resa and equally gorgeous cousin Gail. Thank you guys for coming, it made my day.

Trying to get a family pic for our Christmas card. Didn't work out so well, with Kenzie crying and all. I have no idea what her deal was, she has definitely hit the challenging three's!

What a joy-filled Thanksgiving we had here in our new home with family and friends! Even though we really miss Roanoke, we felt so grateful to have a new home that was large enough for 17 people to join us comfortably for Thanksgiving day! We say all the time that we miss Roanoke, but love our new house. I guess you can't have your cake and eat it too! We also loved having family here. My Aunt Resa and cousins James and Gail made the 5 hour trek to be here and that meant so much to me. They have never been able to make it to a home that I have lived in since marriage, so having them here was extra special. I wish I would reflect on my life and be thankful more often during the year, but Thanksgiving is always a good time for me to be reminded of God's faithfulness and indescribable gifts. He is so good to us!

Then on Friday, Ali and I braved the crowds (Ha! Got ya!) at about 1 in the afternoon and went out shopping. That's the best time to go, crowds have dwindled and the sales are still on! We also had a Journey Church party Friday night and I had so much fun. Ever since we have moved here, we have all been working together so much to get Journey on it's feet, but we have not been good about taking time to just have fun. It seemed like everyone had a great time and really enjoyed themselves. I think it was a bit of relief, knowing that we can work together well but we can also have fun together!

Check out our awesome family photos at www.pictage.com/394264. Enjoy!

Forever True, Forever Friend

One of my very best friends of all time, Sherry Caldwell.

What happens when the two of us get together!

God has really blessed me throughout my life with great friends. I know some people go through life without ever having the closeness of a true bosom buddy, but I have been fortunate to have had several awesome friends all over the US! This last weekend, I met one of those best friends, Sherry (from Roanoke), in Columbus for a great time of catching up, shopping, and movies! It's not too often that you can find someone who will shop with you for 9 hours and watch two movies in two nights. They say that you know you are true friends when after you have been apart, you can pick up where you left off and never skip a beat. That's what happened this weekend. Sherry, you are a very special friend and I love you tons! Thanks for a memorable time.

There was also something kinda funny that happened as we were leaving our hotel Sunday morning. We saw a van from Indiana Wesleyan University, so I asked the kid in the drivers' seat which group they were with from IWU. He said, "the Chorale". I couldn't believe it! They were singing that morning at a church right down the street from our hotel! So we drove there and I ran inside and said HI to Prof. Guy and my cousin Joyce who sings in the Chorale. Of course, she was shocked to see me there, in Ohio of all places! It was great to see her though. But we decided not to stay for the service since Sherry and I had more shopping to do!

Fallin' Leaves

Today was a beautiful fall day. Just a little chill in the air but bright and sunny. Lots of leaves in our backyard so we sprung for a leaf blower. The fam was here to help us pick up some new furniture (finally got rid of that old kitchen table! woohoo!) so Jon and Ben used the leaf blower and made a huge pile for the kids to jump in. They had a blast! Even mommy and daddy had a little fun jumping in!

As I talk about getting new furniture and look around at our beautiful house, I am overwhelmed with gratefulness. Sometimes I feel so unworthy to have so many things. Jon and I have challenged eachother in reading God's Word by reading chapters together from The Message. This last week we read Matthew 5-8 and then tonight we talked about it. I was especially struck by the verses 30-33 in chapter 6. "If God gives such attention to the appearance of wildflowers-most of which are never even seen-don't you think He will attend to you, take pride in you, do His best for you? What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions." Wow! God's Word always has a way of getting my perspective right. Thank you Lord for reminding me tonight of how much YOU provide (I don't have to do it on my own) and how I need to be preoccupied with responding to your giving. Hopefully, you all have a chance to read some passages from The Message too. For someone who has read the Bible for years, it really gives some new insight to verses that you've heard the same way over and over.

Hope you all had a fun fall day as well and were able to enjoy God's creation in some way!