An Update(finally!)

So silent. Some of you became accustomed to my regular ramblings. You are probably getting tired of checking to see if I updated my blog. Sorry.

For a long while, I prayed that God would help me be more efficient with time, to not be lazy. He answered my prayers. I exercise most weekdays, regularly volunteer at the girl's school and my house is in better order than before. My days disappear quickly before I have time to write. Not having a camera and having a computer that is on the fritz (it took five minutes to load the page where you write new posts!) also make blogging long and tedious.

Sadly, I have no pictures from Thanksgiving. We drove down to Southern Illinois and spent time with Tom's extended family. We celebrated Thanksgiving with two of Tom's uncles and their families (who I have only met once or twice). It was fascinating observing similarities in these family members I've really never spent time with. Tom and his Uncle Matt are definitely cut from the same cloth. And we laughed over how none of Tom's uncles will drink water (juice or milk or pop). They grew up in a very poor home with six kids and because it provided calories they had a milk machine and drank a lot of milk. Whenever my father-in-law comes in town I buy twice the amount of milk as usual.

Instead of shopping on Friday, we drove further down the long state of Illinois to Mt. Vernon. Tom's Grandma, who I am have met exactly twice in fifteen years of knowing him, lives there. She is a character. She likes to take in strays—dogs and people, not cats. The girls delighted in her very tame dogs (including a pit bull named Bill). Hadley enjoyed meeting Tom's cousin's daughter (is that a second cousin?) who is just 20 days older than her and oddly is named Kassidy (yes that's the correct spelling). The girls spent most of the time and writing and playing school. Grandma, who is 83, has a lively and active mind and a pretty nimble body too. She talks endlessly about God and miracles and winning the lottery (which she expects to do soon).

It was odd spending time with people I didn't really know for Thanksgiving, but I am glad we went. I love the understanding it gave me about my husband and his family and the sense of being part of something bigger that it gave my girls.

Kassy did have too much gluten on the trip and came home with painful gas and a runny nose. I want to get her tested for Celiac disease because I need to be much more diligent in limiting her gluten intake and in issues of cross contamination if she does have Celiac. Trouble is, the easy blood tests for Celiac require a person to be eating gluten (for how long I don't know). I need to do some research.

On a separate note, Hadley was doing a school assignment where she had to write two paragraphs. She needed to explain why one comic strip was realistic and why another was fantasy(yes, this is second grade). The fantasy comic was a Calvin and Hobbes where Hobbes is beating up Calvin, but in the opening frame the mother is scowling as she picks up the trail of belongings Calvin dropped when he came home from school. Hadley's first idea about why this strip was a fantasy was that no one mom would just pick up after their kid like that! Lesson learned well!

I have Kassy's school pictures from JCPenny and will post about her soon.

Wisconsin Dells

Thanksgiving 2008. We left last Tuesday night and drove to Rockford to see my parents. We had a lovely meal Wednesday afternoon with enough food to feed 15 (there were 6 of us). I liked the pheasant the best. The girls had a blast running around the house. I relished hearing Kassy patter upstairs Wednesday morning at 6:15am to find Grandma and Grandpa's room so she could start jumping on the bed. I also got pleasure from teaching my girls to swat at Grandpa's newspaper while he was trying to read it.

We left Thursday about 11 to drive to Wisconisn Dells. We managed to surprise Grandpa Chris for his 60th birthday and the girls were bouncing with excitement when they saw their cousin, Eva. All 11 of us stayed in a lovely cabin at Wilderness Resort, with a full kitchen, two bathrooms, a grill, and a washer/dryer. The resort had three indoor water parks and a four-story play place for dry kids. All of these places proved to be a ton of fun. We were so proud of Kassy for overcoming her fears and going down the big tube slides with us. It was a true victory for our fearful little girl. I think Great Grandma even enjoyed watching the chaos. Pam (my mother-in-law) and Tricia (my sister-in-law) did a great job of bringing food, snacks and even Thanksgiving dinner. What a fun trip. The drive home, with the snow, proved to be exhausting. We love Wisconsin Dells though it was odd to see hotels, condos and fancy houses surrounding a giant, grassy, ditch which used to be Lake Delton. The lake drained late last spring during the floods when a strategic dam broke. Supposedly they will start filling the lake this spring, I wonder how long that will take? Here are a few of my favorite pics from the trip, with captions underneath.

Eva on a slide. My camera's delay is a bit too long to get a great picture on the slide, especially since I was a bit nervous having it near all those splashing people.

Hadley is all smiles as she comes down.

Kassy is nervous about all the turns and about not being in control. By the end of our stay, she was all smiles, though still cautious.

Grandma Pam giving a little lap time to all the grandkids.

Kassy only liked the tube in the wave pool if she could control it at the zero entry point. Take the tube into deeper water and she would have nothing to do with it.

Aunt Tricia and Uncle Kyle brought early Christmas gifts--the Pegasus from Barbie and the Diamond Castle. As Hadley likes to say, "OOH la la."

Tom teaching his mother knee strengthening exercises.

My mom and dad with the girls.

Give Thanks

Give thanks in all circumstances. That's who I want to be. I am ashamed of how much I complain.
Give thanks. Give thanks. Give thanks. I can't find the words to express the fullness of my heart this week. I love this holiday. It's the best. It's honest, simple and unable to be penetrated by marketing. Ok, maybe the turkey farmers have successfully exploited this holiday to their advantage, and maybe the cranberry farmers too, but compared to the other holidays, this one feels pure. It's about gathering with family and friends, eating, and giving thanks. My families are not as expressive as I am. I would love to sit around the table and list things that we are thankful for. They, for the most part, feel awkward with such outward expressions of thanks. That's ok. I am thankful for them--so thankful. My life is so full of blessings. And yet, I fail almost daily to worship God in the way he deserves. Thank you Lord. My cup overflows. And when my cup feels empty, draw me out of myself and help me to give thanks. There is so much. So much.