Happy American Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving here at our house, again. It was a much smaller crowd this time, which made for a much less stressful dinner. There were only six people all together, so we had good times of playing games and eating. We had way too much food! I am used to cooking Thanksgiving dinner for 15 or more, so for only 6 we had a huge feast. But I figured that way we could all have leftovers. One of the nice things about having Thanksgiving at your own house means you can have pretty much all of the leftovers, so it was nice that we had enough for everyone to take some home. David's brother likes to have people over because he likes to do a lot of the cooking. He brought the pies: a sweet potato-pecan pie (drizzled with chocolate sauce), and a pumpkin pie. I had a tiny piece of the pecan, it was very good! I am allegedly not eating desserts right now (or trying not too)... This was an idea that started a couple of months ago with a friend (Syd) who tried to have her and her kids not eat desserts for six months, and then she would give them $200 if they made it. Well, they have since dropped out, but I started it along with them... fully knowing I would have to go through the holidays. So, I'm doing a pretty good job - only having eaten a tiny piece of apple pie at Canadian Thanksgiving and now a tiny piece (and not even all of it) of pecan/sweet potato pie at American Thanksgiving. A debate has come of it, though. Are donuts considered dessert or not? I'm basically cutting out all sweets, so I was reprimanded on the second week for having 2 bites of a donut. Most people feel donuts are breakfast foods and are not desserts. However, since I am cutting out all sweets, there are some that feel they should not be eaten. I said NO today when I walked by the donut area - every Saturday some brazen lady brings donuts. Anyway, I'm getting off topic - this is risky for me to put my idea on here because now I'll have to be even more accountable to not eating sweets!! There's already enough people around work that know and will give me a hard time if they see me eating something I shouldn't be. The girl I sit across from at work loves it because it means I have to share ... or just give it to her.

Back to Thanksgiving: the games we played were fun. David's family usually don't play many games, so I was surprised they were happy to play with us. The holidays are really the only times when they will play games, but usually it's bridge (they are a smart family!). I haven't completely got the hang of bridge yet, but I think it takes years to really master anyway. We played fun, easy games... Catch phrase, Apples to Apples, and a game called Whoonu - a super-easy, learn-people's-favorites type game. Uncle Forrest even joined in on the games!!

We at WV were fortunate to have both Thursday and Friday off but working in the call center meant we had to be there today, Saturday. Yesterday David and I were thinking about going to the early morning sales but didn't want to sacrifice sleep that much, so we went in the afternoon but still didn't get too much shopping done. I was planning on going skiing/snowboarding with some friends this afternoon, so I switched my shift and worked from 5am to 1pm. (early morning, but I love having the afternoons!) However, apparently there isn't enough snow on the mountains for night skiing, so they don't want anyone running into rocks or something on the slopes. We'll do it another time.

It's a beautiful day, I'm going to go enjoy it!

Study

i'm part of a girls bible study. we're going through 1st and 2nd timothy. we just met tonight and we met here. it was nice, i love having a house that we can use for ministry and meeting in to grow and encourage others in our faith. we studied the last chapter in timothy (chapter 6) and one of the big things that struck me in that chapter has to do with contentment. in our american culture it is really hard not to fall into the trap that "leads many into ruin and destruction." i want to be able to use what i have for God's glory and be content with what he's given me. it's good to be smart and save, but the key is to not hold things very tightly. i'd like to think if everything was taken away from me, i'd still be able to praise God. afterall, it is just stuff.

the other thing too, talking about respecting our 'masters' or leaders or employers, it's so easy to do everything properly when their eye is on you, but what is above reproach is when no one is watching and i'm still doing my job to the best of my ability and as i should be because i should be doing it as unto the Lord and not for men. these are very common thoughts, but they were good reminders for me.

Fingerprints of God

Right outside our bedroom window we can enjoy the sunrise every morning. This particular morning God had a great idea with the fog settling on the ground and the sun rising softly behind the trees. David captured this shot after taking my grandparents to the airport. I can feel God's love as I see shots like this. I am so thankful for the beauty all around us.