Thanksgiving 2010

Just a few pictures and words about our Thanksgiving
We spent the day with the Gonnerman family
at the home of Scott and Jacqueline in Lake Oswego

Cousins enjoyed playing together,
indoors and out
We were treated to a slide show of recent family
get togethers put to music by Scott
Ate...much
Had craft/collage time with kids
Gave testimony to particular aspects of God that
we are thankful for

The day was particularly nice for me
A true little break or retreat kind of feel
I just "let" the day happen and was blessed :)
Needed one of those
Feeling very grateful for this family I married into!

Thankful

Being thankful, giving thanks, gratefulness,

contemplating blessings given...
it's essential

I'm thankful for a merciful and gracious
God, who delights in me!

The variety of friends He's given

Children who tell me they love me
willingly and often :)

The perfect husband for me

A job that I enjoy
and really, really, great ladies to
work with

I'm also grateful for....being 44

the maturity that has been developed over
these decades,
gained understanding and perspective

Life is good.... often hard...but good :)
Happy Thanksgiving

Like french fries and salt

He completes me,
we are like peanut butter and jelly,
peas and carrots, Romeo and Juliet,
root beer and pizza, The Lone Ranger and Tonto
Snoopy and Charlie, Laurel and Hardy

(And I'm not talking about the dog)

Feeling grateful and especially blessed lately with my husband
Like "iron sharpens iron", he is good for me
Yesterday I found myself in the middle of the afternoon feeling very anxious
and concerned about a couple of different issues
my mind kept going off on rabbit trails and exaggerated & unpleasant end results
In the past I've found myself prone to call a friend first, in the midst of
the anxiety

Not yesterday.........THIS is where I chose to implement my more recent
"crisis game plan"
it's called.....wait for it.....................G G G!
How about that?
My 3 G's stand for........God, Greg and Girlfriends
This would be the priority order of "go to peeps" (Did I just refer to God as a peep?)
I chose to give it to God first, spent some time praying and reading
and found great comfort and calm :)
And then my second G came home from work
lucky for me, A and Z were in their bedrooms, enduring consequences for bickering
and bugging and being ugly to each other
So I got my second G ALL TO MYSELF...for quite a long while
I listened to his day and then he listened to me.............

I LOVE how his perspective on my "issues" brought more
comfort and calm :)
the balance in our personalities, of our views, it's a good thing
it's a God thing
So thankful for him
after talking with me, and after finishing his lovingly made
meatball sandwich and side salad.....
HE sat for 45 minutes with our children and led what I would call
maybe a quarterly, necessary discussion about the
importance of taking the high road if you feel you've been wronged,
zipping your lip, and most importantly choosing to show love
to the other instead of choosing selfishness
He did this after a 10 hour work day, and with the patience of a saint

I'm grateful for him
Happy to be the ying to his yang :)

Girls, Girls, Girls

Last week my friend Sara invited me to lunch with our other friend Sarah
She also asked Carrie, a woman who has just moved to town
and joined our Bible study to come
We met at Alonzo's downtown
(One of my favorite lunch places)

This is Sara and Sarah
One of them is sassy :) ........one of them, not so much

This is our new friend Carrie :)
Her personality is just as sweet as she looks
Not a good shot of me.......too close to the camera AND
I tend to photograph better if the camera is to my left
Do you think you have a better "side"?
(Photographically speaking!!)

Rosemary and Rachel (Sara's sweet twin girls)
got to hang out too

It was a bright little spot *\O/* in my midweek routine
Our chit chat in part, consisted of
Our Veterans Day parade, neighbors, children
and forgiveness

I'm thankful for times like this
Here's hoping you find a time for friendship in
your week ahead :)

Midlife and big kid teeth

Five years ago September, we had a family portrait taken
A was 7 and Z was 5
My plan was to make sure to get another taken in
five years and then in another five years
The 2010 version finds myself and Greg in our 40's
The kids without baby teeth and in their tween years
and introduces the newest member of the family,
Mr. Ripley

(this is a picture I took of our portrait....it's more "crisp" in person)

Glimpses

glory:
1.adoring praise or worshipful thanksgiving
2.resplendent beauty or magnificence
3.very great praise, honor, or distinction bestowed by common consent; renown

radiance:
1.sparkling luster, vivid brightness; brilliancy

contemplate His beauty, His radiance, His glory

Got Spirit??

Last week was School Spirit week

at Timber Ridge
My kids were eager participants
Day One-Pajama Day
Day Two-Twin Day
Day Five-Red&Black-Titan Day
They took part in days three and four also
Didn't get pics!
Alexa was a twin with her friend Kayli
Zach was a twin with his friend Preston
(funny thing...Preston really is a twin)

Good Neighbors in another Zipcode

Last weekend our family got to hang out with "the I fam"
in Junction City
They are loving country life these days
and great hosts that they are, invited us for homemade pizza
K had asked if I would mind taking some pictures
of their family for potential Christmas card material
I thought this was a great idea and asked
the same favor of her
The picture below was the best one but I've
decided not to use it for our card
I would love to show you the great picture that K chose
for their card but don't wanna beat her to it
(you may just get a card from them)

I gave Jon a silly hat in this photo because it seemed like

he was acting like a kid in every pic

I had brought with me a fun and yummy kid-craft

mini caramel apples
they were a hit with the kids and the adults
Using a melon ball utensil
you scoop mini apple balls from your apple
I found you can get 8-10 mini's from one piece of fruit
Then you insert a lollipop stick through
the skin portion of your mini
Dip in caramel or melted peanut butter chips
then dip in fun little sprinkles or whatever you
come up with :)

Next time we make these, I'll try to "perfect"
my mini apple shapes to be.....not so
flat on the bottom
Oh, and I had left my little white lollipop
sticks at home so we used K's colored craft
sticks as an alternative