Liz, The Mighty Hunter!

Twas the night before Thanksgiving, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The pies were all baked and set away with care,
In hopes that dinner would all go smoothly there.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of turkey and pie danced in their heads.
And Liz in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out in the hen house there arose such a clatter,
Liz sprang from her bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the door she flew like a flash,
Tore out into the darkness with a dash.

The moon on the side of the hen house
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to her wondering eyes should appear,
But a great, fat opossum in the chicken nesting box.

Liz screamed for Sam, so lively and quick,
We knew in a moment he needed his gun.
Rapidly, Sam sprang from bed,
And he shouted "I'm coming!" and loaded his gun!

The rest, the sad story of the fat, greedy opossum
Is for you to imagine, and us to celebrate.
No more dead hens in the morning,
No more missing eggs and now peace at night!

Deliberate Gratitude

I had hoped for a chance to write a post of my own for Thanksgiving Day.
After all, I have more than is imaginable to be thankful for today.
And I am grateful, so grateful for what God has given me and for what
He has chosen not to give me.

But after cooking and feasting and visiting with company and washing the dishes several times over, I guess my post will have to wait for another day to be written.

In the mean time, though, Ann Voskamp has once again so eloquently reminded us of the need to deliberately pour the oil of joy and gratitude out in our lives:
Always Enough for Joy

Thanksgiving Day at our house

Thanksgiving pies... The girls went to town with baking this year, and we had far more pies than we could eat Thanksgiving day!

















Jemima and Becca busy cooking a huge breakfast Saturday morning. Becca is our good friend from China who is currently back in the States, in school to become a Physician's Assistant so she can be of more help in China... We are so glad she chose to come and spend part of her Thanksgiving weekend with us! Jemima and Liz love to get together with her and reminisce about the three unforgettable weeks they spent at her place in China this past spring...















Adam (3), our little "adopted nephew" loved building blocks with Dad, who he affectionately calls "grampa". He ran in our front door early in the morning, while his mommy and daddy were still in bed, and called out, "Morning, everybody! Grampa, wanna build blocks with me?"















Story time for Adam(3) and Carolanne (1). We're sad that they live so far away (Nebraska) and that they're moving even farther away (Nevada). At least, we do manage to see each other a couple of times a year for a few wonderfully fun days!




















Everyone wanted to hold Thaddeus (6 months) but Mom won here as she got him to sleep!













Thaddeus with his daddy, Abe B.















The four wheelers were a major hit with the guys, who would ride them for a few hours, go buy some more gas, drive some more, and then have to share with the girls who wanted to drive them nearly as much!
The boys have had ATVs for years, but it's been a long time since they've had more than one running at a time, and running well enough not to worry about walking back!

And, Thanksgiving weekend concluded Sunday with lots of pilgrims in attendance at church....