Thanksgiving

We had our first Thanksgiving as returned Arizonans today.  It was sweet!  We got to host my parents - what better reason to push to get unpacked and settled!  I was thrilled.

My mom knew I was going to make cupcakes, so she surprised me with an early Christmas gift - a cupcake tree!  I arranged the top two tiers with the 10 turkey-topped cupcakes I made for today.  Even before I served them these little guys had brought so much fun to my life, but then when I put them on this stand my family said they looked like a choir - like a living Christmas tree pageant, if you've ever seen one of those.  They're right, of course.  Just imagine them singing, and try not to smile.

Speaking of smiles, I give you here my little boy enjoying finger foods from one of the pilgrim hat style combination plate and dipping-trays I made.  This was another super fun little project.

I liked when I took the picture below that I got so many people in the shot.  Mom and I were standing in my kitchen, just on the other side of that counter with the food on it.  That's my little girl with her Indian-style hat on that she made earlier this week.  My husband was in the kitchen most of the morning, since he made the turkey and stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and heated up the gravy.

Well, below is what it's all about; what we have to be thankful for.  I am thankful that my kids got to host their grandparents for Thanksgiving, that they saw them a week or so ago, and will see them in another week or so.  It's rather magical.

Side note: my daughter is wearing an outfit that my mom gave me at a baby shower for Kyrstin four years ago.  I just discovered yesterday that it would fit her, and was thrilled!  It has a bee motif.  On the bib it says, "Bee attitudes," and it is embroidered with attitudes I want to teach Kyrstin: Bee kind, Bee patient, Bee happy, and Bee thankful.  Seemed perfect for today.

We tried to get family pics for our Christmas card - it's all happening so fast! - but the kids wouldn't sit still.  We'll try again next weekend.

I've been trying to teach Kyrstin about Thanksgiving; we have a children's storybook that, I think, fairly represents the story from both the native American and European points of view.  It states as fact that there was a group of people who did not appreciate the way they were forced to worship, and so they were looking for another place to live.  Meanwhile in BSF we have been studying Abraham, and looking at Hebrews 11, which describes Abraham and others looking for the promised land.  

"[T]hey admitted they were strangers and aliens on the earth.  People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own.  If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.  Instead, they were longing for a better country - a heavenly one.  Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them" (13c-16).

I thought a lot about the faith and endurance of those early settlers.  I know they could have returned on the Mayflower when it sailed back after that first winter, but they didn't; they worked it out  because they believed.  Deep down they must have had the conviction of things not seen, and they stood and walked by faith.  It is a courageous legacy, one that I hope that I can grow and pass on to my family.

It's all in the timing...

I continue to think about this issue of the right time.  I know that our times are in the Lord's hands.  I read something yesterday that was pretty profound about how sometimes God is just waiting to build the right character in us so that when we have arrived where we are meant to be we can remain there.  Been thinking about this a lot.

I got an e-mail this morning that linked me to a video about making a countdown caterpillar, which is helpful for teaching kids about time and waiting.  Here's the link, just in case it's something you'd like to do.  I think it's adorable.

Funky Sheep

I am trying to be more intentional about teaching my kids, and was blessed by a referral to a resource for teaching one character trait per month that gives ideas but allows for a lot of flexibility.  I just started planning in earnest for this yesterday, and started implementing it today.  Already, I am amazed by how much I have learned.

This month's trait is gentleness, and a very timely lesson, indeed.  A lot of the activities are sheep-centric, because Jesus leads us gently as the good shepherd.  Well, like I said, I just started this today, and it's been great, but I was scrambling a bit.  Thus, we made a sheep with colorful pom poms instead of the usual cotton balls.  These are sheep of a different color.

It so happens that I was talking to a friend today about a common experience we've had with children who are difficult to figure out.  It's hard to know quite what to expect or how to feel; in other words, it's not all black and white with these sheep.

I think one thing I've learned so far from this material that helps in this situation is that the Lord is my shepherd, too.  He cares for me as I care for my little flock; "He gently leads those that have young."  He understands what my kids need even when I don't, and has mercy on me when I can't figure it out.  I've been thinking a great deal about  how gently the Lord has led me, and how that is some second-hand grace I can pass along to my funky flock.