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!