Holiday Start-Up

We don't usually like to start thinking about Christmas until Thanksgiving has passed, but because of our schedules, our options were either to start decorating in late November, or in mid December. And because the kids are into it, we opted for the earlier start.

Some housekeeping items:

Gas has even gotten lower than this!

I had some breakfast time with the kids at Giant Eagle on my day off. We played I SPY from the upper level of the grocery story. Lots to see!

The Old Trail School autumn program was a week ago, and Lincoln participated in the K-2 show. They broke up into small groups and performed Carnival Of The Animals, and it was really cute.

I've been logging some miles lately. The FitBit has done its job of keeping me on task and focused on fitness, and it's pushed me off my previous beaten path into some pretty beautiful areas of the national park less than 10 minutes from the house. (The photos are all from my iPhone.)

In conclusion, I'd like to point out just how interesting it is this year that all of a sudden, we're not, according to Big Media, to view the Pilgrims as evil white men who came to America to commit genocide and spread disease, but rather to take a lesson from both them and the native Americans as the first example of accepting refugees on these shores. There is a certain segment of America that never misses an opportunity to politicize what ought to be an innocuous national holiday, even if today's narrative contradicts their narrative of the past. Clearly I've given a glimpse into my own views on this matter here, but I'll leave it simply with this:

There are so many blessings that we enjoy that I cannot list them all here. Suffice it to say, though, that on this day (and every day), Jenn and I are thankful for each other, our family, the ability to work in areas that bring us enjoyment, and the ability to enjoy fun times as a result of the blessings of our work. We're thankful for a good church home, as well as for friendships, new and old. We wish you a happy Thanksgiving.

(Now bring on Christmas!)

Thanksgiving & Snow

With the recent snow blast and Thanksgiving being a bit closer to Christmas this year, the kids have had a crash course on winter recently, and they're loving it.
Jenn has been the super volunteer in Lincoln's Kindergarten room, most recently getting set up for the Thanksgiving Dinner last week.
And speaking of Thanksgiving, Lincoln was a part of his school's Thanksgiving concert.

Thanksgiving

When I consider the concept of Thanksgiving this year my mind jumps to how far Henry has come in six months, and in an odd way it seems to dwarf anything that I could possibly hold up as a point of Thanksgiving and blessing in my own life. Consider the millions of orphans around the world, and consider that around 40% of Chinese babies die in the orphanage, and cosider that every 2.2 seconds an orphan ages out of the system with no where to go, and consider that around 9 in 10 end up in drug, sex or human traficking. This is what Henry has escaped.

More important to our personal situations than statistics, though, is that his life situation is really representative of mine and ours. Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, what have we got? Some temporary possessions and relationships, sure, but without someone to rescue us out of certain death and despair, we're lost. The beauty is this: Jesus has come, and we all have something for which to be thankful.

Often when I'm praying with the kids, I thank the LORD for our warm house and good food and warm clothes. It's my effort to train them how to pray and to name tangible things that they can recognize. However, to simply focus on these things on a day dedicated for Thanksgiving misses the point, I believe. When giving thanks, don't ignore the big picture. Kind of like missing the forest for the trees.

Ella tried to fingerprint the lens

The following photo is special when my family considers how many individuals from across at least four generations have sat in this very high chair.We're continuing to enjoy Grandpa Dave and Auntie Haley. They went out early this morning for some Black Friday experience, and this evening Jenn and Haley took off for some girl-time shopping. Fun family times, we're having. After putting the twins to bed, Lincoln enjoyed a movie night with the guys, as we finished watching another round of Cars 2. It's been a fun evening of good, non-crying playtime, conversation, movies and rest. Sounds good for a Thanksgiving weekend.

Big Day @ Preschool

Yesterday was Lincoln's turn to be Student of the Day. There are lots of little, fun things that add up to the Student of the Day getting lots of fun attention.And it just so happened that yesterday was also Lincoln's Thanksgiving program. They did a little presentation remembering the Pilgrims and the Indians. Grandpa Dave was Lincoln's guest at the dinner that followed.Lydia and Henry enjoyed watching their brother on the state, too.

Thanksgiving, Take 2

Thanksgiving came and went. We had a very low-key dinner at Grandma Paulette & Grandpa Doug's house with Grandma Gates and Aunt MarySue. After dinner we played Scattergories and Lincoln was in charge of the timer and letter ball.Last evening we had a second Thanksgiving Dinner with our good friends, Josh & Maria Tollefson. They drove in from Johnstown, PA, for the weekend and we had a great evening, especially after the kids went to bed!

Jenn is off at work this morning and Lincoln, Lydia and I are playing with things around the kitchen while I finish straightening up from lots of cooking and food prep.It's also been wall-to-wall Christmas music. While we'll never be as Christmas-Crazed as our friends Zach & Kristen (this is two mentions in one week!), we're doing our best to build anticipation with Lincoln. Wait until he sees his Advent calendar next week!

Thanksgiving 2011

Happy Thanksgiving! We have so much for which to be thankful. Particularly, when Jenn and I think about what Henry is doing today, it's awfully humbling to think about our circumstances. This is the first Thanksgiving where Lincoln can start to understand just what Thanksgiving means. This has been a neat series of conversations with him.

Certainly a portion of our thoughts are with Auntie Em & Uncle Jeremy. They went to New York City for their anniversary trip to take in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Hopefully they'll see more balloons than OWS-Loonies.Yesterday was an odd Wednesday in that Jenn worked (she was off on Monday). Also, Kristen worked at CFVC, which is unusual. The reason why I lead with this is because the Myers have been into Christmas 2011 for some time now, and she had it set to Christmas music in the treatment room. I've been purposely avoiding all the Christmas stuff until after Thanksgiving because I don't want to be sick of it all by the time mid-December rolls around. But I started getting into the songs, and along the same lines, I was really getting into the Christmas spirit. This, combined with Lincoln's coming excitement about the season, is going to make for a fun Christmas.

And now Jenn's preparing some Thanksgiving Dinner food in the kitchen and listening to Christmas music. I glad I didn't hear Christmas music in the treatment room in October!Last evening I met up with my high school buddies at Fischer's. In attendance was Speas, Flaker, Jeff, Lyle, Bob & Bish. Blasts from the past, I tell you. It was good to catch up a little bit. Life has definitely pulled us in different directions, but our friendship is still there. We recalled some funny memories, and that made for a good time.