Rebekah's mini-bridal shower

 The morning after Thanksgiving, we had a surprise mini-bridal shower with family, since they were not able to attend the other shower that we had. It was a sweet time. Her aunties and cousins made us a little brunch, complete with sweet cakes, finger foods, fruit, and veggies. She opened gifts from them too. One of her aunties had too much fun buying her Christmas ornaments and decorations for her new house. When we were done with the shower, we packed a box with the goodies and shipped it to Alabama, where they will live after their wedding. Enjoy the pictures!

After we finished preparations, we invited the bride to enter her surprise bridal shower. They put a bride headband and "bride-to-be" sash on her...

After we ate, then she opened her gifts...

A cute Christmas towel...

A little "Days until Christmas" counter...

Pretty ornaments...

more towels...

Cute napkins...

Christmas towel...

A cute tree-shaped plate!

Her new last name will start with C...

A new spatula...

Gingerbread house kit...

A sweet "Mr. & Mrs." ornament...

Wearing her "bride" tiara, bride-to-be sash in front of her bride and rings banners...

Yummy sweet cakes that were dairy AND gluten-free, yet still delicious!!

With me, her aunties and Nana...

Nana's first grandbaby is getting married!

One final shot with her cousins and sisters... love each one of these sweeties!!

Genesis 24:15-16 (Isaac and Rebekah)
Before he (the servant) had finished praying, Rebekah came out with her jar on her shoulder. She was the daughter of Bethuel son of Milkah, who was the wife of Abraham’s brother Nahor. The woman was very beautiful, a virgin; no man had ever slept with her. She went down to the spring, filled her jar, and came up again.

Genesis 25:19-20
This is the account of the family line of Abraham’s son Isaac.

Abraham became the father of Isaac, and Isaac was forty years old when he married Rebekah daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram and sister of Laban the Aramean.

Jeremiah 2:32
Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.

Thanksgiving 2021

 We headed down south for a few days again for Thanksgiving with family again this year. We had a nice time seeing my in-laws and their kids/ cousins of my kids. We loved eating well, cooking for each other, playing games and on the Nintendo, going on walks, and chatting lots. We missed one of my nieces away at college and our future son-in-law was away at school that week too.

Enjoy the pictures!

Bethany opened a few (early bday) gifts from her auntie/uncle/cousins... she needed new leggings!

Nana plays Nintendo with her grandkids...

Loving on Auntie's doggo...

Games!

Auntie A opened a new Christmas puzzle that we gave her for her bday... they finished it already!

My "big" kids sleeping so well... C even has his hood on!

We loved watching the Macy's Thanksgiving parade, and seeing the men that hosted "Blue's Clues!"

We enjoyed watching the University of Alabama's marching band since that is where our son-in-law is attending school for his Master's degree!

Walking with family...

YUM! Our Thanksgiving feast!

The "big" cousins, minus one... missed you, N!

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thanksgiving 2020

 We had a lovely Thanksgiving last week. We stayed in town this year. My parents live in our town, so we were able to be together with them (we took our temperatures every time we went to their house). My brother and his girlfriend came from Arizona, and we had a nice time meeting and getting to know her, playing games, and chatting a lot. Here are some pictures from the week...

Our son was home a lot because he was quarantined. He was exposed to someone at school. He didn't work or see his girlfriend. We enjoyed having him around a lot more!

The three kids even played a board game together! This does not happen often, and the girls were delighted. They were laughing... I had to capture the moment!

Since my daughter is dairy-free this year, I had to make her a dairy-free pumpkin pie. It was good, but not as flavorful as I hoped. I may need to try again and increase the pumpkin pie spice!

While we waited for dinner to cook, we played "Beyond Balderdash" together. We had played it at home recently, and the kids liked it! They are finally all old enough to enjoy some games that need bigger vocabulary words!

During our dinner, I was surprised that Bethany got the turkey leg! She liked it and ate most of it! She had Sprite in her wine glass.

Our dinner was really yummy! The turkey was very moist, there was no stuffing, but plenty of sides! Bethany loved the jello that Grandma made. Rebekah made the green bean casserole and it was a bigger hit than my sweet potato casserole! I'm so thankful that we were able to get together!

We played "Reverse Charades" and we had a great time... it is so funny to act out words or phrases with others! Here the group was trying to act out "magic carpet" for my brother. If you look closely, you can see the carpet turned up! 

My parents' dog, Saki was sleeping with his tongue out, and it was so cute!

Mallory loves my parents' other dog, Pookie. She is pretty snuggly sometimes!

Then after my brother and his girlfriend went back home, on Saturday we decorated our home for Christmas! It was fun, and since we got rid of some furniture, it was creative too!

What about you? How did you celebrate Thanksgiving this year?

Psalm 100

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Thanksgiving 2018

We had another wonderful Thanksgiving week with Joshua's extended family. As per tradition, we celebrated Bethany and her cousin Lydia's 10th birthday while we were together. It is fun to see them open their gifts while we are all together. We enjoyed time at a local hot springs pool, baking pies, playing lots of games, talking, laughing and going to the grocery store! It takes a lot of food to feed 14 people!

Celebrating birthdays...

 All together after the pool...

Baking pies and cookies with Nana...

Cousins happy to be together!

 Mallory learned to crochet from her aunties...

 "The guys" played poker...

 The 4 little girls made these cute paper turkeys for the dinner table...

 Pies lined up and ready to eat!

 On Friday, we got a special treat. Joshua's mom and sister have some friends who own horses and have a ranch. They gave us a carriage ride on this gorgeous day, and then let us ride the horses individually! It was cool! The kids all enjoyed it, especially Mallory, our animal lover! The horses were Suffolk draft horses, which are big! We enjoyed riding, petting and just watching them. They were gentle giants, so sweet to us.

 Mallory was the first volunteer to ride a horse...

 Caleb got a turn...

 Loved their heads and medallion...

 Joshua riding...

Mallory again with cousin Lydia...

My turn... loved this view!

Riding together... we could see mountains in the distance! It was a treat!

We always have so much to be thankful for... our warm home, great family, delicious food, cozy beds and clothes, a good job, reliable cars, the privilege to homeschool, for our gracious God and for His Son, Jesus, and SO much more!

What are you thankful for? How did you spend Thanksgiving?


Colossians 3:15

Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.

Colossians 4:2
Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.

Hebrews 12:28
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe...