Our Thanksgiving in Pictures



It's done!

 


Fallin' off the bone good!  (not sure why this picture came out all skinny-wonky)

 



My very first turkey!  It turned out great!  Tender, moist, delicious.  :)



Can you believe I cooked all that by myself? :) 
(With a little help from Kloe.)



Instead of regular pie, we had individual, mini
pumpkin cream pies.  Mmmmm!



A little after-dinner entertainment.  :)

Me and my mama. :)

The carnage. :)

We had a small Thanksgiving, with just the four of us and my mom.  Quiet.  Slow.  Peaceful.  I cooked my very first turkey ever, and it was delicious!  (Reynolds Oven Bags are the bomb!)  We watched the parade, Charlie Brown, and a little football.  The boys shot slingshots, and Kloe won the wish-bone pull.  All in all a wonderful day!

'Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving....

I didn't make it too far on my photojournal of thankfulness. Only nine days of pictures, but definitely a whole month full of being thankful.

So, so thankful for my family.
Thankful for my beautiful children and wonderful husband.
Thankful for our home, warm beds, warm clothes, warm showers.
Thankful for plentiful food and clean water.
Thankful for our jobs, and that we've not had to go without during these hard economic times that have affected so many.

So very thankful. For so much.

In that spirit of thankfulness, our family participated this year in a tradition we learned from our friends the Mosses.....we had a Thankful Dinner. Jen calls it a Starvation Dinner, but I wasn't that brave. :)

We had black beans and rice for dinner, and nothing else. As soon as I said, "And just water to drink," Jacob suddenly started asking for all kinds of other things to drink. "Can I have milk? Juice? Can I put flavoring (i.e. propel powder) in my water?" What's so funny is that we drink water with dinner every night - but suddenly when it was part of the Thankful Dinner, Jacob couldn't stand it. :)

After dinner we watched Kit Kittredge - lighthearted entertainment, but also with a strong message about being thankful - and then a couple of YouTube videos to help us remember that we have SO MUCH to be thankful for. And....SO MUCH responsibility to help others.

We watched this video that I saw on Jen's blog....




And then this video that I saw on someone else's blog a few months ago....




Man.

At the end of the videos I asked the kids, "What do you think about that?"

Kloe's response: "I want to adopt. A lot." I don't know if that means she very much wants to adopt, or she wants to adopt a lot of kids. :)

Jacob's response: "I'm hungry. Will you get me something to eat?"

sigh.

I have to remind myself it's the Holy Spirit's job, not mine, to create compassion in him. My job is just to educate, and train, and remind.....and pray.

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In other news, early this morning -- or at least I thought it was early until I actually got up and saw what time it was :) -- I was awakened by the sound of incessant hammering.  When I couldn't take it any more, I got out of bed and stumbled into the living room where Kloe was watching cartoons.  I asked her, "Where's Jacob?"

"Outside."

Great.  Yep.  That was him making all that ruckus.  Hammering rocks in his size 5 overalls. :D  (Ok, can I just pause right here and ask why Blogger doesn't have emoticons that you can insert into your posts???)

Later I found him hammering nails into the fence, looking a little like Pa Ingalls in the same overalls.  (Why do we still have them, you ask?  Dress up, my friends, is a very important part of our lives around here.  He dressed up as no less than 4 different people today.)

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While Pa Jacob mended the fence, Kloe and I started on lunch for tomorrow. This guy went for a long swim in my sink for the biggest part of the day.

Kloe helped make the green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. She said, "It's like cooking school! Oh, I love Thanksgiving cooking school!" :)  Haha - she might not be so excited if she knew her teacher was the cooking school dropout!

Tomorrow morning we'll finish up the candied sweet potatoes (ONLY because my mom's coming over!), pumpkin pie, dump cake (mmmmm - love), stuffing, and of course the bird. It's my first time making the whole shebang myself (can you believe it? at 40?)....and you know cooking isn't exactly my forte, so wish me luck!

Just like today - what with the crack of dawn rock busting going on - I'm sure I'll be needing a bunch of this to get me through the morning.

Happy Thanksgiving all my bloggy friends - I hope you have a wonderful, blessed, THANKFUL day!

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 9

My brother from another mother, Cary.  In real life he's my cousin, but he and I (and his two other brothers) all grew up together, so they're more like my brothers than my cousins.  He calls me "sis", and my kids call him "Uncle Cary".  So thankful for the love, strength, and security he's given me all my life.  I love you, big brother.

P.S.  See that picture on the wall, just to the right of his head?  That's him - in a forest fire in Idaho (or maybe Alaska, I can't remember which).  He used to be a forest-fire fighter.  Pretty cool, huh?  He almost didn't make it out of that fire.  And I'm extra thankful to still have him in our lives.

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 8

So thankful she's still with us.  :)  Every year....every holiday....every birthday....every season....I wonder if she'll have another.

We love you, sweet Annie Girl.

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 7

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 6

They're back! I was so worried that they wouldn't come this year. There were so many fewer last year than usual, and with the mega drought we have going on, there aren't just a whole lot of places for them to hang out. I kept waiting, and hoping, and resigning myself that they weren't coming. And then....earlier this week, here they came! And we're starting to see more and more of them.


And they just make me so happy. :)

Six for Saturday

1. I know, Halloween was SO last month, but since when did that ever stop me? :)

Who's the rootin-est, tootin-est cowgirl in the wild, wild west? Could it be....























Why, no! It's Miss Kloe, wearing Jacob's too-small chaps and vest and Daddy's hat, but she was happy and so I was too. :) And Jacob was beyond-thrilled to be Obi-Wan Kenobi. I told someone that he was a storm trooper....boy, do I stand corrected! Can you see his padawan braid? (it was a braided leather bracelet I brought him from Uganda) So cute. :)



































We get to dress up twice most years since we go to the fall festivals at Jacob's school and at church. And most years, the kids go as something different for each one! For the school festival, Kloe decided not to dress up this year (too big now that's she's in middle school, I suppose), but Jacob finally got to wear his fighter-pilot costume. We actually bought it at a resale shop 2 years ago even though it was way too big, just because he loves to play dress up so much. He's had a blast with it all this time, and I'm sad that it actually fits now, because that means he won't be able to wear it much longer. This is his fighter-pilot face. Doesn't he look so serious (and handsome)? :)

2. Why, oh why, is this the scene on Kloe's bedroom floor every. single. morning? sigh. And why exactly does it matter so much? I don't know, but for some reason it does.























3. I was excited to see Dum-Dums in the half price basket at Wal*Mart the day after Halloween because the kids in Uganda LOVE them! They were marked $2.40-something per bag, so I picked up 2 for my trip next summer. When I got to the register, they rang up at 99 cents each! I was so bummed I hadn't picked up more.

4. Pumpkin Spice lattes are back! Woohoo! I'm usually not a fan of pumpkin flavor (other than pie), but I had a coupon for a free one of these last year so I tried one and loved it. After that I picked up some pumpkin-flavored coffee creamer at the store, but it was nasty. In fact, I only used it once and ended up throwing the bottle away. But YAY for pumpkin spice at Starbucks! Get 'em while they last!

5.Just received this book in the mail from PaperBackSwap, and I am LOVING it. I'm only on chapter one, but I've already got it all highlighted-up.

I love this quote from the book. It's referring to Deuteronomy 24:19, which says, "When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands.

Tom Davis says, "The Hebrew word for blessing is baruch. It implies being hunted down and pursued by the favor of the Lord.....God promises that if we take care of the needs of the fatherless, WHATEVER we put our hand to will be blessed."(emphasis added)

Incredible.

6. After this incident a little over a year and a half ago, we had a monitored alarm system installed at our house. A couple of weeks ago, the kids and I had JUST left the house when my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize, so I didn't answer it. Not 10 seconds later The Mister called me in a bit of a panic. Turns out that call I had ignored was the alarm company. Seems our alarm had been activated through a breach in the back door, and the police were en route to our house. Oh my déjà vu.

Immediately I knew what had happened. Jacob had been outside in the backyard playing, and we were leaving the house in a hurry to get somewhere. I called him in and we headed straight out the door through the garage. It was a pretty windy day (what? in West Texas?), and he didn't get the back door shut good. The wind blew it open, and wah-la - the alarm system works!

We were only a couple of blocks from the house when The Mister called me, and by the time we got back home there were already TWO police cars at our house! Wow! The officer who talked to me seemed to be none-too-happy about being called out on a false alarm, but HELLO, would you rather it had been the real thing?

Not exactly the way I'd like to have our system tested, but I'm happy to know it works the way it's supposed to!

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 5

The Nile River.  In person. :)

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 4

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 3

My dear, sweet friend Ashley,
I have no words.
You have no idea.
Thank you for sharing the true love of our Lord Jesus with me.
I just....just....well, thank you.
Love, valerie
(I canNOT get this picture (on right) to turn the right way. grrrr. It's so much lovelier if you tip your head to the right. :) )

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 2

Yesterday, I got new wires and 4 new brackets (on my wisdom teeth) for my braces.

Today, I am more thankful than I can even say for these:

What are you thankful for today?

Photojournal of Thankfulness - Day 1