Thanksgiving

This year we hosted Thanksgiving at our house, which is a pretty rare occasion. I only remember hosting one other Thanksgiving back in 2009. But since we’re moving in less than a week, our relatives graciously agreed to come to us rather than have us travel to them. J My Mom’s side of the family all arrived on Wednesday afternoon in time for dinner.

 

We received a surprise package that day. Our realtor sent us a huge box of specialty popcorn! She said we deserved a medal after enduring all those showings (over 30.) It was so sweet of her!

I was having fun playing peek-a-boo with my cousin J before our spaghetti dinner. Capturing pictures of him is incredibly hard because he moves so fast!

Before prayer that night, we girls sang “In Times Like These” with Rubia on the guitar. Little J was getting so tired, the music calmed him right down. J

Thanksgiving Day dawned bright and sunny; a perfect day for the traditional football game. The little guys had fun playing outside in the morning while some of us watched the Macy’s parade.

Around 11:30 a.m. Daddy arrived home! We were all ecstatic to see him!

If I’ve been doing a good job here on the blog, most of you should be scratching your heads wondering where Dad was. Well, ever since October 8^th he has been living in Texas! He started his new job that day, and we’ve had to live 1,100+ miles apart for the past 7 weeks. He was able to visit once in mid-October, but other than that we haven’t been able to see him. He got up at 2 a.m. to catch a 6 a.m. flight to arrive back here in Michigan for Thanksgiving lunch. We’re VERY thankful that the separation is over now!

 

The table all set for lunch.

We had an ENORMOUS feast for our Thanksgiving lunch around 1:00 p.m. We ate turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes and shrimp pasta salad made by my Abuela, homemade cranberry sauce, herbed corn (recipe coming soon!), green beans, sweet potato casserole, and rolls with butter.

The kids enjoying their Thanksgiving meal.

During lunch we all wrote down things we were thankful for on construction paper leaves. Then we hung them up on our Thanksgiving cross. This has become a favorite family tradition!

For dessert we had pumpkin pie pudding with homemade whipped cream , pecan tassies, and pumpkin spice bars made by my Aunt.

We socialized around the table for a long time after finishing the meal.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Before J, my Aunt, and my Uncle left (he had to work the next day) we took a picture of all the kids. This was the best of the bunch. It’s hard to get everyone looking and smiling at the same time, especially when they’re wired up with sugar! J

Photo Credit: Mark

That evening we mostly relaxed and ate a few leftovers around dinner time. Some of the guys watched football and then the little kids watched a Christmas movie. We skyped with my other Grandpa in Pennsylvania in the evening as well. We all went to bed with full tummies and thankful hearts for all with which God has blessed us!

 

Every Perfect Gift

“Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”

 

(James 1:17)

 

We are so thankful for the priceless gift of friends and family! Your presence has enriched our lives beyond measure. You are truly a gift from God, and you are loved!

 

~ posted by Betsy ~

 

Recipe--Pumpkin Pie Bars

Last weekend, we had a reunion with our Haiti team. The day before our get-together, I had been reading the Tasty Kitchen blog and came across this recipe. I knew right away that I had to try it. I took a risk and made it for our guests even though I had never tried it before (that seems to be a tradition in our family, to test out recipes on guests.) J They turned out delicious, and everyone loved them! These bars taste like a cross between pumpkin pie and coffee cake. Even though Thanksgiving has passed, make sure you try them!

Pumpkin Pie Bars

 

1 box (18 oz. size) yellow cake mix, divided

1 whole egg, lightly beaten

½ cup butter, melted

1 cup sugar, divided

2 teaspoons cinnamon, divided

½ teaspoon ginger

¼ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup canned pumpkin

2/3 cup evaporated milk

2 eggs

¼ cup cold butter, diced

 

This recipe has three parts, a crust, a filling and a topping. Before you start anything, preheat your oven to 350°F, and grease a 13×9 pan.

 

For the crust:

Reserve 1 cup of the cake mix for the topping. Pour remaining cake mix into a bowl, then stir in the one beaten egg and the 1/2 cup of melted butter until the mixture is well combined. Press evenly into the 13×9 pan and set aside.

 

For the filling:

Combine 3/4 cup of sugar, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, the ginger, cloves, salt, pumpkin, evaporated milk and 2 eggs together. Using a whisk, stir until smooth. Pour over the crust.

 

For the topping:

Stir together the 1 cup of reserved cake mix, and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Cut in the 1/4 cup of diced butter using a pastry blender or a fork. Sprinkle evenly over the filling.

 

Bake at 350°F for 35-40 minutes, or until filling is set. Allow to cool completely, cut into 24 bars, and serve!

 

Thanksgiving Flashbacks

I have a horrible confession to make. My memories of Thanksgiving only go back to 2008. Obviously we’ve celebrated Thanksgiving every year, but I just can’t remember past that. My memories seem to be strangely tied to pictures, and past 2008 we don’t have any pictures of Thanksgiving celebrations…at least not digital ones.

 

I am going to make sure that from now on I take lots of pictures during our Thanksgiving celebrations! J I am very thankful for cameras!

 

Back in 2008, we went to my Grandparents (my Mom’s side) house in Ohio for Thanksgiving. After our visit with them, we went down to the Creation Museum in Kentucky (a place you really should visit if you ever have the chance!)

In 2009, we hosted Thanksgiving at our house for my Mom’s side of the family. Our extensive menu consisted of grilled turkey, pineapple raisin stuffing, garlic mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, cornbread, cranberry sauce, pumpkin whoopee pies, pumpkin pie, chocolate chip cookies, and chocolate pecan pie tarts.

Whenever we have Thanksgiving at our house, we do a Thanksgiving tree. Everyone writes down what they’re thankful for on a leaf, and we decorate the tree!

Apparently in 2010, we had two Thanksgivings (I didn’t remember that either.) J We had an early Thanksgiving at our house with my Mom’s side of the family.

And then we had a traditional Thanksgiving in Pennsylvania with my Dad’s parents.

Last year was also spent with our Grandparents in Pennsylvania. The weather was unusually warm, so we enjoyed a pre-Thanksgiving dinner walk to the train tracks.

This year we’re hostingThanksgiving at our house. We’re super excited about that!

 

For a glimpse into some of our family’s favorite Thanksgiving traditions, visit our Thanksgiving Favorites post.

 

*What did you do for Thanksgiving? Did you travel to be with family? Or did you get to host? Please share in the comments!*

 

Give Thanks

“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

 

 

Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Shoes, Shoes, Shoes!

One thing I love about my family is how spontaneous we are. Homeschooling gives us a lot more freedom to just up and do things that we want to do! Take Monday for example. Our “Uncle” Paul has been collecting shoes from people at our church to send to the missionaries in Haiti. The “Haiti Closet” in our church basement has been filling up quickly with donations and donated cardboard boxes. But since Uncle Paul is now at another church preparing to become the Children’s Director, he hasn’t been able to handle the donations coming from our church. He’s also just about the busiest person on the planet that I know! J

 

Because our family is preparing for Thanksgiving and having a revolving-door sort of weekend with lots of guests coming in and out, we took the week off of school. Monday morning Mom emailed Uncle Paul and asked if we could go to the church and pack up some of the shoes for him. A few hours later we got the go-ahead from him. We left five minutes later, bound for church!

 



This was the state of the closet when we got there. It was definitely full!

 

We pulled out all the donated boxes and all the bags of shoes from the room into a Sunday school room across the hall so that we’d have more room to work.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Our operation spread clear down the hallway.

Photo Credit: Roma.

We ripped open dozens of bags of shoes and organized them. Shoes that just weren’t nice enough to send, shoes without matches, and good shoes with matches.

Photo Credit: Roma.

While some people unpacked, sorted, and matched shoes, others started packing the boxes. I think the record for the number of pairs of shoes in one box was 50 pairs.

Photo Credit: Roma.

Part way through, Ben and I had to run out to Wal-Mart to buy more packing tape. We had been expecting to run out of boxes or shoes, but not tape! Once we were finished (when we used up all the boxes we had), we had packed 17 large cardboard boxes as full as we could. We still had two suitcases full of leftover good shoes to send to Haiti. We also had about 200 pairs of dress-type shoes that will be donated to a local shelter (we chose not to send them because they’re just not as practical for the mountain terrain.) And we’re still expecting another truck-load of shoes from another church!

 

We hadn’t been expecting to have quite that many boxes, so we made a quick phone call to Uncle Paul to ask what he wanted us to do with them. In the end, he came to church and helped us move all the boxes into a utility room temporarily until he can start to ship them.

 

17 boxes and 3 ½ hours of work later, we were able to pack 530 pairs of shoes!! God’s provision is incredible!

We chatted with Uncle Paul for awhile before saying goodbye. Since it was so late, our family continued its spontaneous streak by going to Taco Bell for dinner. It ended up being a rather cold experience for me. I don’t recommend dumping ice water in your lap at the beginning of the meal. Just something to keep in mind for your future comfort.J





November Nature Pictures

Ever since I started this challenge to take nature pictures every month and post them here, I was dreading November. Whenever someone says the word November, the first image that comes to my mind is the cold, bleak winter landscape. I knew it was going to take a careful eye to find beautiful pictures when most everything is dead.

 

I was pleasantly surprised that finding interesting subjects wasn’t nearly as hard as I had expected. Ecclesiastes 3:11a is so true: “He has made everything beautiful in its time.” Since most everything is in sepia tones this time of year, I had to look closer at the subject itself rather than its color.



One thing I appreciate about this time of year is the cleanness of the landscape. Everything has been trimmed and cut back, and all the leaves raked up. Everything feels ready for the cold winter just around the corner.

The sedum is finally giving up the battle for survival, but it still manages to look beautiful.

“As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord’s love is with those who fear Him, and his righteousness with their children’s children—with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey His precepts.” Psalm 103:15-18

What remains on our fire bushes.

The creek behind our house.

If you were like me and thought that there was nothing beautiful left outdoors, take a look around! You never know what you might find! J

 

One Last Haiti Team Reunion

This past Friday night we had one last Haiti team reunion! Now that we have a moving date set, and we don’t have to show the house anymore, we are spending as much time as possible with our dear friends here in Michigan. The Haiti team has truly become family to us, and we couldn’t possibly leave without one more reunion!

 

Eleven out of the sixteen people were able to make it in person, and two more were able to make it via Skype. We had a wonderful evening together filled with lots of fun, laughter, hugs, and card games.

 

We had a taco bar for dinner and enjoyed lots of fellowship over our meal.

For dessert, we ate ice cream sundaes and pumpkin pie bars (recipe coming soon!)

Photo Credit: Roma.

Mikey was very happy to make some new friends with the dog-loving members of our team. J

Photo Credit: Roma.

One of our team members brought a pumpkin he carved to show the rest of us. Didn’t he do a great job?

Photo Credit: Roma.

Aswè is our favorite Creole word, and it has become a bit of a joke among our team. J

Photo Credit: Roma.

While we were in Haiti, we played cards every night before bed. Our favorite games were Kemps and Spoons. At our other two team reunions we never had the chance to play the games again. This time we made sure to play together! This was the Kemps table.

Photo Credit: Roma.

The game got pretty intense and hilarious at times! J

Photo Credit: Roma.

A wild game of Spoons was going on at the other table. It was a LOUD evening!

Photo Credit: Roma.

Please excuse the photo-bombers in this picture. J Around 9:30 p.m. we skyped with our team leader from World Hope, Mr. A. It was good to “see” him again!

Around 10:00 p.m. we Skyped another team member who was out of town. What am I going to do with these photo-bombers? Just can’t escape ‘em! J

During the evening, one of the wheels on our dining room chairs broke into a dozen small pieces (we won’t say who did it for their sake J) Before everyone left, they all helped fix it. We were thinking of putting a caption under this photo that says “how many people does it take to fix a chair?” J

The last guests left our house around 11:00 p.m. We had such a wonderful evening together! I can’t begin to express how thankful I am for this group of people. They are truly family to me! It’s amazing how God can take 17 acquaintances on a trip like ours and turn them into the best of friends! Beni swa Letènèl!