A Happy Thanksgiving

I know that this is coming somewhat late, but I did want to comment on what a terrific Thanksgiving we had. We had approximately 30 people at our house on Thanksgiving Day, with dinner being served at 3:00 p.m. A couple of weeks ago Jeff decided to fry the turkeys for our dinner, and I, very skeptically, agreed that he should. In my defense, I've only eaten fried turkey once, and I didn't think that it was that great, so I was a little worried about serving all of our family this "wild card" turkey. I am very traditional when it comes to my holidays and to me there is nothing better than a bird baked in the oven! But Jeff assured me that it would be great. He asked me to purchase several ingredients for the marinade, and being the food junkie that I am, I was VERY interested in the whole process. The only thing I did for him was thaw and wash the birds, since I knew that removing the giblets could be a bit of a queasy task for him. I watched in wonder as this husband of mine, who is so very multi-talented, made a homeade marinade and injected it into the turkeys and put them into the fridge to "soak" overnight. The next day he got all of his tools and ingredients ready, and fried us up some turkey! When the first turkey was brought to me proudly on a cookie sheet, I was shocked. It was black. Black, like, burnt to a crisp kind of black! All of my fears were completely validated at this point and my heart sank a bit as I tried to think how we were going to feed 30 people with the turkey that I had decided to go ahead and bake in the oven "just in case". But Jeff still seemed pretty proud of it and told me to carve it up and see how it tasted. So I did. I was surprised to see that the inside was quite juicy. I gingerly placed a black piece of skin and white turkey meat in my mouth, and was overwhelmingly amazed to find that it was not burnt at all! Rather, it was quite yummy, and I quickly popped in another piece, just to be sure. So, we were back on again and I was once again astonished at the many talents of Jeff.

As the three o'clock hour rolled around, people started arriving, and my kitchen counter was filled with an array of yummy food. Everybody grabbed a plate and found a seat and the eating commenced! It was a great success. Afterwards, my mother, bless her soul, cleaned up the whole kitchen and carved up MY turkey that hadn't even gotten done in time for dinner, and stored all the leftovers in the freezer. We had people in just about every room of the house, chatting, watching football, and a large group in the dining room playing cards. The last guests left around 10:00 p.m.!!! It was a blast! We will definitely do it again, and I will definitely let Jeff fry the turkey. Everyone thought it was great.

In the middle of the evening we paused to celebrate with Jack on the great accomplishment of his first birthday. He was a bit tired and overwhelmed at the number of people in his house. When everyone got together and sang Happy Birthday, he cried. I guess you just have to put yourself in his little baby shoes and think that maybe the prospect of thirty people all looking at you at once and singing loudly could possibly be a scary thing. But he got over it and had a great time opening up his presents. Thanks to Jeff's dad, we have pictures!

Jeff and I have so many things to be thankful for: God's love and grace to us, our marriage, our children, our health. Over all I think that this year our biggest blessing has been our family. We were so pleased and thankful to have them all here with us.

Jeff with his "Magic Turkey Fryer"

Jason called it a "Flaming Caulderon of Death"

Aunt Mona

Mom saving the day! (thanks mom!)

Aunt Jill & Uncle Gary

Not so happy 1st birthday

Now he is interested!

Fun toys!

Jack with his cousins

Mommy joins in

Cousins Blake & Rachel with Mom Beth

"The Rat Pack"
Our sincere apologies to Uncle Phil....

Happy Birthday To Our Sweet Baby

It's hard to believe it, but our little baby is now a year old! What a bundle of joy and energy! He was very happy today and went around screaming and laughing, as if he really knew this was HIS day. It was very fun to watch him open his presents, practice his walking, and eat cake! Here are a few highlights.

Happy 1st Birthday Jack Jack!!!

Happy Thoughts

The Fireplace

I'm just playing near the fireplace, mommy.

I'm just turning to see if you're looking, mommy.

I can't help it, mommy.

Mommy had to put down the camera for a few minutes.

Surrounded

Both my boys are sick. As I've already said, Jack came down with the stomach flu on Friday. He has stopped throwing up, but has moved on to other issues, including a horrible diaper rash that makes him cry everytime I change his diaper. I've already changed his diaper 10 times and it's only 1:30 p.m. Poor baby. At least he is eating a little bit.

At 1:30 a.m. Jeff woke me up because he had heartburn and couldn't find the Mylanta. We found it and went back to bed. One hour later I was awakened by Jeff jumping out of bed and running to the bathroom to throw up. That was pretty much repeated throughout the night and through most of the day. Poor baby. At least he is sleeping a little bit.

This morning I packed up Jack and ran to the store to get some orange Gatorade for daddy. We tried to only touch what was necessary so as not to spread the wealth of germs. So, I was sitting in the parking lot at McDonald's, trying to decide if I should eat something. I mean, what's the use? I'm just going to throw it up anyway, right? It's like, a mathematical certainty that I am going to get this, so maybe if I don't eat or drink anything, it will cut down on how much I throw up. Eeww. I'm getting sick to my stomach just thinking about it. Poor mommy. At least I'm not throwing up, yet.

Double Whammy

After several days of some pretty nasty sickness, Jack finally had a good day. That was yesterday, and he got in trouble several times for things that he KNOWS he's not supposed to do. Like touch the fireplace. We've been over it. And over it. But, I don't know, I think he felt so good that he was really feelin' his oats and he just couldn't stay away from it. He ran around the house yelling and screaming at the top of his lungs, just because he felt well enough to do it. Like I said, that was yesterday. Today he woke up and first thing I gave him a drink of water (we've been trying to really push the fluids). He sucked it down like he was parched. A few minutes later, he turned and looked at me, and then threw it all up. And he kept throwing up until his stomach was completely empty and he was dry heaving. It scared him and me. I thought maybe it was just a fluke. I got him (and me) all cleaned up and brought him back down stairs. He saw his sippy cup and went right for it and took another drink. This time it only took about a minute and threw that up. Thus began my initiation into child vomiting. It is amazing to me how much can come out of such a little stomach. All day Jack never went more than 5 feet away from me, and most of the time he was laying in my lap with his blankie. He perked up a little bit when Dad came home. It was such a beautiful night, Jeff took him out on the porch swing where the little guy promptly fell asleep on daddy's chest. When he woke up we realized that he had begun the "leaky poopy" phase. He is finally in bed now, but I am anxious to see what the night will bring, and have no grand illusions about getting a good night's sleep. We look forward to the time when our sweet boy is once again feeling his joyous self. We miss him and it breaks our hearts to see this sad, limp baby, who is still very sweet despite his icky smell.

Be Careful Little Ears

Jack has his first ear infection. He has been so sick this last weekend. On Friday he had a very high fever, and again on Saturday and Sunday. So this morning I took him to see the doctor, and even though he seemed to be feeling a lot better today, the doctor confirmed that he had an ear infection. Poor sweet baby. I still vividly remember the ear infection that I had this past summer, and though his is not as bad as mine was, I know how bad it can hurt.

We got him some good medicine and started it right away. He's sleeping peacefully right now, and we hope that he is able to get some good rest tonight. We love you, little peanut.

Between The Rock and A Hard Place

A friend of mine is going through a rough time. "Rough time" doesn't even begin to cover it, but it's hard to put into words exactly what she is going through. I can relate to her experience, and yet, I can't, because every situation is different and what was true for me is not necessarily true for her. One thing does NOT change, though, and that is the faithfulness of God. It is hard sometimes to see the good that God is trying to accomplish when the circumstances are so very dark, and there seems to be much cruelty and evil. And yet, we know that all things do work together for good to those who love God - not that everything turns out right in the end - but that because of the situations we face and our response to them we grow to be more like Christ. THAT is the ultimate good. But sometimes we have to go through a lot of dark days before we fully see that glorious light. Our pastor described it to me one way. He said, "don't see trials as a wall that is unsurmountable, but see them, rather, as a bridge." As we cross the bridge that is our trial the good is waiting on the other side. Don't lose focus of that. Through the pain and suffering of our innermost being there IS another side. It is just a bridge - cross it with faith in a God whom we do not see, but we love, and know that when we suffer for righteousness sake, we are in a fellowship with Christ and HIS suffering. I am praying for you.