Thanksgiving in review...

i just want to give a glimpse into our long weekend through some random thoughts and quotes that some of you may or may not understand or appreciate: enjoy :)

1 bed that had been peed on by a dog that i laid in for 30 minutes before Joel came to bed and laid in the wet spot...we slept on kid sleeping bags and used random house blankets that were not long enough to cover us up. needless to say - i woke up cranky and cold.
1 cousin asking Joel if she wanted the baby she was carrying...
1 horrendous headache Sunday morning that handicapped me to the bed while Joel had to get up at 6:30 and go to church for 6 hours...
2 games played with Joel's family where Joel not only DIDN'T win but kind of got last place...
2 Christmas movies watched while decorating our home (Surviving Christmas - very bad! Elf - very wonderful!)
3 Thanksgivings
3 new people at the greater Draper Thanksgiving that none of us (us being Joel, Neil, Leslie, and I) knew (happens every holiday at that house!)
3 nephews running around my parents home :)
4 hours of traveling to and from MI
7 dogs in one house at one time
8ish strands of lights put up around our house
$15 Christmas tree - yay our second married Christmas!
20+ crackers with Dawn's cream cheese, chipped beef and green onion cheeseball creation on Saturday afternoon...yummy
25 days until Christmas - another crazy holiday weekend full of family and surprises!

when i started this post i didn't realize i'd make it so numerical - but then that had a nice ring to it all...one of my favorite games of this season is writing emails/poems/conversations to the tune of different Christmas carols - maybe i'll do a future post honoring that fun!

flufficating

yesterday, joel, eme, and i laid down for a little snooze after church and before we left to watch notre dame hockey at the coliseum

i'm lucky, cause i always get to be in the middle of this family 'spoon'

joel, me, eme - because of our positioning, and how crazy lazy eme is - she ended up laying on my face to rest

as i was trying to escape her curls winding up my nose and down my throat i said 'eme, quit suffocating me with your fluff!' and joel called it 'flufficating'

i seriously laughed for the next five minutes - it was so funny and so perfect!

that's what eme likes to do - accidentely flufficate you

since i'm talking about our precious little gem of a pup - i'll let you in on all the animals joel and i believe take a part in making up her heritage and ancestry:

1. dog (her genes - obviously)

2. cat (her purr)

3. lamb (her fluff)

4. lemur (her tail)

5. bunny (her hopping)

6. pig (her snorting)

we feel that this mixture is perfect in concocting a sweet cuddly companion with a sassy personality :)

made in His image

Psalm 139:13-17

You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb.
Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous - how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!

(New Living Translation)

With family and friends expecting, this passage is so fitting as we are surrounded by God's marvelous and incomprehensible creation. How peaceful and soothing to meditate on this passage (and the entire chapter) thinking about lives being formed, lives to come, and the sometimes frustrating and confusing lives we are living!

How do we appropriately thank a God this wonderful, thoughtful, and omniscient?
He delights me :)
I can rest in the peace that He already has it worked out.
He already knows what will happen.
He is already waiting and ready to comfort, console, protect, heal, and rejoice with us through what our sinful world may bless or curse us with.
His ways are perfect, meticulous, and purposeful.
Thank You.

cuisine critique

1. bacon cheeseburger soup - a hit! joel likes it - he said it doesn't necessarily taste like a bacon cheeseburger but is still yummy
2. baked potato soup - i don't even like potatoes, so i don't know why i made this - it was a huge ordeal. getting the potatoes soft, thickening the soup - haven't tried it, but will make joel try it today :)
3. spinach smoothie - yummy! had spinach, banana, strawberries, ground flax and milk. will try it with peanut butter and orange juice soon to sweeten it a little
4. deviled eggs - thank you to myself for finally making these. i love them!

food frenzy

today i am inspired to make and create.
1. bacon cheeseburger soup (my in-laws so this on t.v. so i'm going to try to make it up)
2. baked potato soup (we have potatos and don't like them much...but we love soup!)
3. spinach smoothies (credit to my friend kim)
4. deviled eggs (i've been craving these for at least 2 weeks!)

also - thanks to kim and dave for a fun friday night. they came down from goshen to spend the night with us and ran in the Oubache State Park run on saturday morning
this couple is a breath of fresh air and wonderful pair to be around - exuding Christ's love
we can't wait for another sleepover :)

lastly, on my random post...the message at life community yesterday was amazing. Satan was trying his hardest to distract the worship team and leadership from being able to be vessels to the Holy Spirit - but God won! Chad was used by God to bring a very direct and convicting message about idolatry. i ordered the dvd so we can just always have it. seriously - amazing. check it out on their facebook page - they always post the sermons.
this is just another of many additions in my life of God talking to me about storing my treasures in heaven and not on earth - to not idolize or worship anything or anyone on earth, but to concentrate on HIM.

what are you cooking in your kitchen?
how are your friend encounters uplifting you?
what has God been telling you lately?

friends and fun

joel and i got to spend part of this lovely weekend with our good friends andy and katie from toledo. they came over saturday afternoon with dublin, katie's lab and rufus, andy's german shepherd. it was a full and fun house with those two big dogs and our little eme!




we all also went to our friend michael's costume party
andy was a pirate and katie, a ninja


they're not always that scary...we love when they come to visit or we get the chance to go there!

joel and i went as jim and pam

joel was a great jim!!! (he even brought a stapler in jello!) and i was an ok pam (i did pass out jelly beans all night...)

people only figured out what i was because of my cute husband :)

today andy and katie accompanied us to church where we were met with a great message filtered through chad and then raked at my parents house for a few hours before a delicious lunch at el camino and our second game of settler's of catan of the weekend! (this time, katie was victorious! - in your face joel.)


with our hearts filled and our house emptied we are going to relax and rejuvenate this evening, together - enjoying the blessings of being husband and wife - a union we are thankful for every day.


(this was my first post with pictures...and the pictures aren't spectacular - hopefully will improve in the future!)