Our First Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was the first time Scott and I shared it with just each other. Usually, at least I make it home for Thanksgiving, but with things so tight this year, we resolved to make a special time of it together.
We took the dogs for a hike in a nearby woods, even though the sleet made it challenging. All the varieties of bright green moss, contrasting against the gray pudding rocks and small white build up of precipitation was so beautiful. After a good soaking, we came home to a warm, dry house, full of the best smell of the season: baked pumpkin.

About a month ago, when my friend Darleen came to visit me, we went to Wilson Farms, and I picked up the most beautiful pumpkin. The man told me it was called a cheese pumpkin and was good for baking. Scott found a recipe online and procurred the most vibrant glop of orange out of that unassuming, pastel gourd.

Once the sugar, eggs and spices were added, it was pretty irresistable!

I probably have enough here for three pies.

Scott went crazy over it. He had three peices and went to bed with a stomach ache!
The "rest" of the meal consisted of mashed potatoes, corn, green bean casserole, Grandma's cran-raspberry jello, a turkey breast and home-made stuffing.

After Thanksgiving dinner, we brought the tree up from the basement and listened to Karen Carpenter and Johnny Mathis' Christmas albums while we got it lit. We'll decorate later this week.

At the end of the evening, I told Scott that it wouldn't be a real holiday without a game. We got out monopoly, which hasn't seen the light of day since the month we got married. What fun! I'll let you know who wins, because the game is to be continued...

Moustaches

Scott and I went to a moustache/Italian birthday party the other day that one of his co-workers threw...everyone had to wear a moustache, so Scott shaved his beard and I grew one. We had a spaghetti feast with lots of fun-loving people.

Madelyn

My how you've grown. 10 years is too unbelieveable. I love you Madelyn. Have a wonderful birthday!

Happy 75th Grandma!

I sure thank God for these Sweethearts in my life. Grandma, you're the youngest 75 I've ever known. Say a prayer for Grandpa here. He fell off of a ladder in June and has been having a lot of headaches. Earlier this week, after a fifth cat scan, the doctor told him he needs to come in immediately to have his head drilled. Apparently, there has been blood on his brain from the accident that will not reabsorb. They drained 2 cups of fluid from his head! He is such a trooper. Pray for a swift healing. He'll be 80 in January!

An Invitation...

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and with out cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and satisfy your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; hear me that your soul may live.

Is 55:1-3

This is where I opened my Bible this morning. It is poignant on many levels for me, as Scott and I scrape pennies here in Boston and as I labor on my thesis, whose outline is due on Friday, and as I struggle to keep my body in the shape God made it. He invites us to His table but if we do not come, if our excuse is that we just bought a peice of land or a team of oxen and need to go look at them, He will comb the streets and invite the poor, the hungry, the homeless and the despised and our invitation will be extended no more. How alarming. Rest yourself at His bounty today.

Samaritan's Purse

A few years ago, I put together a shoebox with toys and clothes for a child in a disadvantaged country for a Christmas present. We want to do it again this year. Operation Christmas Child, a program of Samaritan's Purse, is collecting shoeboxes packed with goodies for kids now until November 24. You can choose your gender and age group: 2-4, 5-9 or 10-14 and drop it off at a collection center nearest you during collection week (nov. 17-24) or send it directly to Samaritan's Purse in North Carolina:

Samaritan’s Purse

Operation Christmas Child

801 Bamboo Road

Boone, NC 28607

This is a great thing to get your kids involved with. They can pick out the items from a store of things they would like or need themselves or put old toys in it of their own. If you think about the silly little things our young ones get attached to, just imagine what one new item from The United States does for a child who has no diversion from his growling stomach! Your kids will be able to connect in a small way with the life of a poor, needy or hungry child, who is otherwise just like them.