Thanksgiving Blessings

My children, end of discussion. 

If I have nothing else (other than God), it is these two little miracles. 

And of course, my dear husband.

Raising a Resilient Hard Worker

For the past year and a half, Cavett has been receiving an allowance. He received 10 cents for every bed made, dishes unloaded from the dishwasher, clean clothes returned to his room and trash collected. Each week he received somewhere between 90 cents and $1.50. From this he gave about 20-30% to church and then typically saved the rest.

His goal has been to buy a Nintendo DS. We told him that if he saved half, we would buy the other half. I didn't think it would happen this fast. By Sunday he had $66.75. We decided that since he was having surgery on Tuesday (today), we would go ahead and spot him the $3.25 and get the DS. His activity is to be limited for the next two weeks.

He was as proud as he could be of his saved up wad of cash. And, I'm not afraid to admit that I am ultra-proud of him for working so hard and saving for so long, as well.

Cavett was very excited about today, even though we had explained everything that was to happen. It was still like Christmas morning to him. Lime and Strawberry Banana Jell-o was served for breakfast. After, Cavett and I went to Pediatric Surgery Center in Plano. As we walked in hand-in-hand, he said to me, "This is kind of like a date." Well, sort of. Maybe he was just in need of some good one-on-one time since school has started.

Everything at the hospital went smoothly. Cavett was calm and cool. The surgeon laughed with him and drew a smiley face on his "outie." And off they went. After waking up groggy and uncomfortable, his comment was, "That wasn't as fun as I thought it would be." We were in and out in 3 hours.

The most important thing is that I couldn't have done it by myself today (while Stephen was at work) without Nana and the prayers said for us. Nana came last night and kept Kendrick today as well as helped with all the cooking. And, I totally felt extreme peace and calm while Cavett was in surgery, even though I was alone.

By 4 o'clock today it was as if nothing had ever happened to him. Go figure. But, I am completely thankful for the ease of it all and the Master Surgeon's hands.

School Thanksgiving Activities

Kendrick was first to have his school's Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday. I went up to the school that day and volunteered cutting and peeling apples for almost 2 hours. But, it was worth it to be able to see him all dressed up in his Indian outfit giving thanks on the floor for lunch with 60 other kiddos. It wasn't really a "parent come and oogle over your kid" thing. It was just a feast.



Walking to the fest with a bubble in his mouth, and holding a little baby turkey.



There was also a pretty cool pilgrim village where they saw the Mayflower and signed the ship's log book, learned about planting and growing corn, how they built houses then and the first Thanksgiving meal.

On Friday, we enjoyed Cavett's school Thanksgiving Play.  He was dressed as a pilgrim, others were turkeys or indians.  (Of which I volunteered on Tuesday about 3 hours helping them make the Indian pillowcase vests.)  There was a story read and each time one of the characters were addressed, lines were spoken as a group.  For example the Pilgrim women said, "Mercy me!" in the sweetest voices.  Pilgrim men:  Bang! Bang!  Indian Men: Big and brave.  Turkeys: Gobble, gobble. 

Just as we were getting into the story, Cavett leaves his place on stage and goes with another little girl to the microphone on the side.  He had a SOLO that he had kept from us until this morning on the way to school when Stephen heard a hint of what might be to come, but didn't quite get the story straight before Cavett left the car.

It was awesome and I was so proud! 

Now, the chicken dance on the other hand was just plain hilarious!  If this doesn't make you laugh out loud, there is something wrong, especially the last 45 seconds or so.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Best Part of the Weekend

Not only did we enjoy great peanuty times this weekend, but there was much to be said for family time in the country as well. 

Between the nutty times we squeezed in some tractor-ing and wood splitting.  The boys absolutely loved pulling on the lever to move the wood splitter in and out.  Boys and thier power tools....   The adults did the majority of the heavy lifting.  This was especially fitting since this is one of the things I remember doing with my Dad quite often and it was his birthday.  He loved to chop, cut, split and burn wood.   If only I could get over the "don't get your clothes dirty, kids" part, but all the grease came out anyway. 

Then there was the long wait in between the spreading of the peanut butter and the laying of the top piece of bread when Stephen discovered that the Main Street boot shop, Mistletoe, is going out of business next month and they had their boots on sale and I mean big!  $10 for the boys and Stephen and I both got a pair for under $100 each--python and ostrich! 

There was the final All Saints service at church where Cavett went with Grandmama to put the rose on the alter to remember Uldene.  (We celebrated Gran last week in Shreveport, but the camera didn't make it with us.)

And of course there was great time with Uncle Austin, Aunt KK, Stanton and Grandmama.  At every chance they could get the boys wanted to be next to Uncle Austin and I couldn't agree anymore, he's a great guy!

At the end of it all we got a few great pictures to "boot."

Great American Peanut Butter Festival

We were headed to Grand Saline anyway this weekend, but when I found out that the first annual Peanut Butter Festival was being held there I was UBER-excited!  I teased with my dear friend, Adrianne about the whole deal, letting her know that it was not to be confused with the Peanut Festival in Grapeland, TX, of which she was the queen of one year. 

The mastermind behind the production was by Nutty's the local gormet peanut butter store on Main Street.  To be honest, it is a new store to Grand Saline, and I have yet to taste their peanut butter, but I've heard it is like no other.  When we got there, of course, they were sold out.  I hope to be hooked up with my own jar come Thanksgiving. 

For a girl who hates abhors crowds, this was the perfect one, only about 4,000 over the day as told by the GS police, but it didn't seem like that many. 

The headliner of the show was that they were trying to beat the world record of the World's Largest Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich.  The passed it with flying colors.  1,342 pounds.  710 pounds of bread with each slice being 8' X 11'.   129 pounds of jelly.  503 pounds of peanut butter.  Now, lest you worry about extravagant waste and starving people, it was also a fundraiser for the East Texas Food Bank. 

The best way to experience it is through pictures, so enjoy and come visit us next year!

Peanut Butter Pancakes

Buddy McNutty

Grand Saline HS Marching Band

Miss Texas

Peanut Butter Floats

4H

Pet Contest with the class traveling pet, Mr. Bumbles, entered in the "Most Unusual Pet"

Top piece of bread on the move by forklift

The Peanut Butter Queen

Mr. Bumbles--winner of the Most Unusual Pet

 Maybe this medium-large sized city girl needs to move to the country...

Beauty

It was all around us as we drove to Grand Saline Friday afternoon.  We were in between two lines of thunderstorms the entire way darting in and out of the sunshine.  As we reached Grandmama's house we were surrounded by sunsets to the east and to the west.  Glorious.  Thank you God for the reminder of your beauty.

This was the eastern view

Hunter

Yesterday I got the privilege of taking care of baby Hunter Armstrong for a few hours and be mother of 3.  Just to be straight, I'm not saying I want to have 3, but it was so fun to be with him and take in his little personality.   He is such a cutie! 

The bummer is that I didn't have the settings right on the camera and I typically look through the eyepiece now and don't check the screen.  I've lightened this one, but it stil isn't great.  We'll have to try again, Hunter.

Hallelujah!

This was my response to my last BSF question this week, even before I read the notes.  LOVE this and thanks to my previous leader for sharing with me.  This is not just a random act of culture, but a random act of witness.  Can you imagine what it is going to be like to sing this in God's physical presence?????

Grocery Stamps

Back in my childhood I remember going to the neighborhood Brookshire's grocery store and when we checked out we were dialed up "green stamps.". These stamps were then eagerly licked and placed in a booklet later to be redeemed for some houseware.

The utensils that we ate off most of my childhood were bought with green stamps and I'm sure there were other things as well.

After this evening's visit to the grocery store, I chuckled as I was given a booklet and stickers to collect and redeem for pots and pans.

Don't get me wrong, I love the idea, but I also love cheaper grocery prices instead. However, after 12 years of marriage, I could use a new sauce pot, since one was Stephen's grandmother's and one I burned carrots on and it never recovered.

Maybe Cavett and Kendrick will love sticking them in the booklet as much as I did.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

My Government

These days it's hard not to turn on the television and not hear how this side or that is driving our country into the "pit of despair" or about the threat of some terror organization or a country may be persuing nuclear arms.  Fear is rampant among us.  The question of what will happen is always somewhere in our mind.  

The thing is, it has all happened before and lessons should be already learned.   In Isaiah 7, he reminds King Ahaz that we are not to fear or dread threats from other nations and that Ahaz should put all his trust in God because God is faithful in what He promised.  In looking at Isaiah 10 we see the opposite side of the coin, in that God uses Assyria's king to accomplish his plan of discpline for the nation of Judah. 

"The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases." Proverbs 21:1

Kings, rulers, presidents are all helpful and are given by God to help us, but they are not the end all be all.  The hope for history does not lie in the power of any human to lead nations in the destruction of other nations, or in a classless society that pretends to answer the disparity between the "haves" and "have nots"; instead, the hope of all men and women in all times of history lies in the consistent purpose and plan of the one true God.  Therefore, no matter how dark any moment in history may grow, no party of history is outside of the providence and work of God.

"Israel is no stronger than its capital, Samaria,

and Samaria is no stronger than its king, Pekah son of Remaliah.
Unless your faith is firm,
I cannot make you stand firm." Is. 7:9

To put our faith in men, much less ourselves, is useless.  We cannot face any kind of foes in our own strength and expect to win.  There is someone else who is in control.  God is with us and has the ultimate plan.  We should rely on him.  I am no stronger than that which controls me.  If that is God, I'm in a good place.  If the crisis controls me, I am doomed. 

I have made my vote count today and for the rest, I will trust in God.  I will not fear. 

So, I will be confident in God's ability to perform in history all He said He would do.  And I will hold fast to the assurance that our God is with us and His purposes will prevail.  All human power and human wisdom fall before the power and wisdom of our true God and King.