Thanksgiving Food and Thoughts

I cannot believe Thanksgiving is in two days! It seems like the school year just started. Tonight I got a jump on my cooking and made Paula Dean's green bean casserole and broccoli casserole. Tomorrow I am going to try her recipe for Ritz Cracker Pie. (I am known in my family for being the "weird" cook, so I couldn't let them down; especially my brother-in-law. ) I am also making the cranberry sauce, no jiggly can stuff for this girl, and maybe a red velvet cake. I know red velvet is more of a Christmas treat but I wanted to try out a recipe to use for cake balls.

We are spending Thanksgiving with Richard's family and my mom flew to Minnesota to be with my brother and sister-in-law. It's hard to believe that my mom flew across the country all by herself because six years ago, Richard and I spent Thanksgiving at Baylor Hospital in Dallas while she recovered from major heart surgery. When she went into surgery, she was so sick that we were not even sure if she would pull through. I am so thankful God decided to let her!

Oh, side note on the green bean recipe. If you fry a couple of strips of bacon in the beginning, then saute your onions and mushrooms in the grease. It is delish! Make sure you stir in the crumbled bacon or sprinkle it on top. You can do the same with the broccoli.

'Cause we all know, everything is better with bacon!

What are you cooking?

As Promised

Here is the link to Brent's message at our church. Please take the time to listen because it is a great message.

At the beginning, he talks about taking a picture of a widow in her rocking chair in front of her new home.

Obviously, this is not a picture of the widow he is referencing but this is what he is talking about. Richard took this at the end of their work day; this is Brent and Mme. Jako. The team finished painting her house and had the honor of giving her the rocking chairs.

This is one of my favorite pictures we took in Haiti. I love it because of the expression on her face and the sweet moment that is captured between the two.

Halloween

The story of our life, LEGOS!! If we could have made a Star Wars Lego costume, that would have been the ultimate. Didn't Daddy do a good job!?!

My funny guy; he is such a comic.

I think he is imitating his pumpkin???

I decided to start a new tradition this year. We bought a "Funkin" instead of a real pumpkin. Matt drew the face and I carved it. He signed the bottom, I dated it, and wrote down his costume. We will do the same each year and end up with a nice little collection of Jack-o-lanterns. Now, if this really happens, only God knows :)

Diciple Now Wrap Up

We had a great weekend. Our church hosted Disciple Now and we were a host home for seven 10th grade boys. I was a little nervous but it turned out great! The boys were wonderful and Matt loved having them here. He tried so hard to be part of the big boys.

What made the weekend more interesting was our neighbors across the street had 20 11th grade boys at their house. Saturday morning at about 2 am, our doorbell starts ringing. Was I surprised? No. Then on Sunday morning we woke up to plastic forks, spoons, and knives sticking out of our yard. Our cat really liked that because it was like a giant scratching playground. Matt on the other hand was highly offended and ended "having a talk" with the boys. It was hilarious!

Richard had arranged with our neighbors to go over to their house about 5:30 am on Sunday to play "Reveille" on his trumpet, but he decided to sleep instead. The funny thing was that our neighbors actually woke up to let him in but he never showed up! Poor guys.

The event was great. The Jeff Johnson Band played and Brent Gambrell (the guy we went with to Haiti) spoke to the kids. I have never been to anything like this and for me, it was almost like going to a revival. Actually, I have never been to a revival either but I felt like I had been revived by the end of Sunday. Brent has been blessed with an amazing gift for public speaking and speaking the truth. When our church gets his message uploaded, I will post it here because it was heart changing.

The students were also given a group challenge. Each grade, from 6th to 12th, was given $60 and three hours to raise money for a student group home in Virgina. The entire group had a goal to bring in $3600. Instead, they raised over $10,000!!! Can you believe that?!? In 3 hours they raised that much cash! Since they raised so much money, they gave $5000 to the group home and $4500 to Brent's ministry to build a home for a widow in Haiti. I wish you could have seen Brent's reaction when he found out, it was priceless.

God is so good! It was a good reminder for me to let God be God and nothing is impossible for Him. Beth Moore reminded me of that a couple of weeks ago too. Seriously, if He can part the sea, raise the dead, and feed thousands to name a few miracles, why do I expect so little from Him at times??

Anyways, I feel a rabbit chase coming on so I better wrap it up. We had a great weekend. How was yours?