Like being a kid again....

That's pretty much what our Thanksgiving can be summed up as. For 3 whole days I had no responsibilities, no cares in the world, got to do what I wanted to, and so forth and so on. The boys pretty much sat on their arses the entire time playing Command and Conquer on their computers they figured out how to sync together. What nerds, and what boys!!! Normally this would have bothered me to no end, but with cable and Dave and Sonya's big screen, I was perfectly content to watch food network and TLC's What Not to Wear, and paid no mind to the boys and their game. Also, one afternoon, Sonya and I ventured out to do a little bit of shopping. It was mostly window, but it was successful in that my single purchase of the day took care of my sister. Not only was I excited to find exactly what I was looking for ON SALE, but now I have one of my toughest people off my list. Her, my dad, and Nick have got to be the hardest people to shop for, but it all the more exciting when you find something you know they will like (hopefully).

Keeping true to our tradition, we ventured out one evening and took pictures that will go out in our annual Christmas letter. Both Dave and Nick love photography, so we get "free" pictures at studio quality! Thanks boys!! Here are a couple "contenders" we are trying to choose between. Which one do you like?
#1

#2

#3


Just for fun, here is a cute pic of Dave and Sonya - the best hosts ever!!


We also had fun cooking lots of awesome food. The pumpkin pie bars were alright, but the Oreo truffles were amazing!! (Yes, Jo, those are the ones.)I will definitely make those again even though they were a bit time consuming. Late at night we amused ourselves with poker, trivial pursuit 90's, hearts, and phase 10. Good times, good times. True friends are one of God's greatest gifts. People who you can be yourself around and don't run screaming in the other direction. :)

Here's hoping you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are blessed with an even better Advent and Christmas season!

Prayer Request

Unfortunately, this blog entry comes with sad news. Over the Thanksgiving holiday a close church friend's husband was in a terrible accident where 60% of his body was severely burned - 25% of his body is 3rd degree burns. He is at supposedly the best burn unit in the southeast in Augusta, GA undergoing treatment. He was supposed to have his 3rd surgery today on his L arm and R leg. He has already had his R arm, L leg, stomach, and back worked on (scraped and cleaned out). Multiple surgeries are certain to follow. They have sent off a removed portion of his unburned skin to Boston so that they can "grow" new skin for him - this will take at least 21 days to harvest. Amazing, isn't it?

The recovery process is going to take months and will be a long road for both Jen and JD. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through this difficult time that is very touch and go right now. Physical healing and spiritual prayers are both needed.

P.S. We are also trying to think of things we can do for them, so any ideas are welcome! Our high school youth group (Jennifer is an AWESOME volunteer) is going to send a care package, but I'd love to hear other suggestions.

Thankful

Sometimes life just makes it plain hard to be thankful. After the past couple of weeks I have had, I'm searching for the silver lining. So, this great month starting off with my mom calling me on the 6th to let me know that Papa is now up in heaven playing scrabble with Chandler (my younger brother who passed away in 2001). My Papa was 90 years old, had 9 children (all still living), and just celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with my Grammie this past June. He lived a long full Christian life, and I am happy that he is now home with our Savior and isn't suffering any longer. So, as far a funerals go, it wasn't bad. I ended up playing Lift High the Cross for the final song at the service (trumpet). It was hard, but it meant a lot to my Grammie, and God gave me just enough grace to get through it.

The nice thing was that I got to spend some time with my family. They are completely exhausting sometimes, but I love them all. It was wonderful to see my beautiful sister doing so much better. Even though she may not be able to see a difference, I certainly can! I just want her to be happy and enjoy the life God has blessed her with - she's always in my prayers, that's for sure.

Then, two days after I got back from the funeral ordeal, I had all of my wisdom teeth (3) pulled. Great fun that was. I am still in a mild amount of pain and still a little dizzy at times (that crazy pain medication really messed me up, but on the plus side, I felt no pain for 3 days), but I think I'm on the downhill slope at this point.

So on with the silver lining already. Yes. While in Indiana at the funeral, I knitted my sister a hat which for some reason she really seems to like. I was loving it until the decreases, but it just doesn't look right. I also knitted the falling leaf hat in knitty's fall patterns (version 2). Turned out a little big, but otherwise lovely. Darn if it's always got to be something! If I make it again, I will definitely go down from #7's to #5's dpns. It may be fine for someone. I will admit that I have an abnormally small head. It's true. I'm not lying. Anywho, I need to go yarn shopping again. I have completely depleted my yarn worth knitting supply. I'm starting to understand the concept of a "stash". Although, I am pretty particular and first like to start with a pattern and go from there. I digress.....

Thanksgiving is a mere two days away! And its all the more appealing since I have been on a liquid/soft food only diet for the past week. FOOOOOD!!!! MMMMMMMMMMM.....Nick and I are traveling over to spend the grand holiday with our wonderful friends Dave and Sonya again. We are so blessed to have such great friends. I'm about ready to head out to the grocery store to shop for the goods, and then I'm heading home to make these (pumpkin pie bars):


as well as some little delights I like to call Oreo Truffles!!! Be very very jealous. I will try to take some pics to share with you all when I get back!

Have a happy turkey day. :)

Halloween Fun at Work

So let me just tell you how BIG of a deal Halloween is in my office. People plan for weeks(months even)in advance in attempt to claim the coveted title of best team, individual, scariest, etc. It's sheer madness. I participated, but since I'm not all that "into" Halloween, I have no chance of winning anything, but that's fine with me. It becomes even harder for me to really get into it since I am not a part of a team, but rather and "individual contributor". However, I joined forces with another independent, and we were the Next Iron Chefs. It was great. I wore regular clothes, threw on my apron, and Ilia (my partner in crime) made us these rockin' hats. I must say that we looked pretty stinkin' awesome. Behold:



Is that not a great picture? Now, I must tell you how the whole thing works. It's not enough that you dress up, but you also must decorate your cube/ area to reflect your costume and theme. So, my desk became kitchen stadium:



Check out my fantastic Kenmore flat-top stove. I hand crafted it myself. :)

Among the craziness were teams that did: Candy Land, The Adams Family, Star Trek, Wild Hogs, Disney's Magic Kingdom (an entire department combined forces for this one with one team doing Monster's Inc., one toy story, one the Haunted Mansion, and one various Disney characters like Mulan, Fairy God-mothers, Cinderella, The Little Mermaid, etc.), and my favorite, the IT help desk did the "Beyond Help" Desk Mental Hospital. Then in the afternoon, all the kids (employees kids, grand kids, nieces, nephews, etc.) come and trick or treat in all of our areas. It's so fun to see all of the kiddos in their costumes. It provides a safe environment for the kids, and is nice since this is the only trick-or-treating that some get to do since their parents don't feel comfortable taking them out at night.

So there you have it.... a snippet of the crazy place I work.