Gingerbread Geniuses

Inspired by our trip to the George Eastman house last week for the gingerbread house display we set out to make our own creations with our friends the Maxfields.  Mrs. Maxfield worked hard to create 7 individual salt dough houses that promptly warped.  She then made 7 individual houses out of cardboard.  She has a lot of time on her hands, I guess. 

With a tableful of candy and seven tubes of frosting we set out to destroy the family room decorate houses fit for royalty.  Then the boys decided their houses were just fine and set out to play football.  The girls were serious about using up their tubes of frosting and as many pieces of candy as possible.  It really was a lot of fun.  And it cleaned up rather quickly.   {I know some of you will have chest pains just looking at the mess!}

And Tabitha walked by her house over and over again in the evening… swiping tastes of her house, despite the fact that some of the candy was years old!  ♥

Still Sad

These disciples are busy!  We have lots to do and read.  We are on the go and hope to enjoy much of what this season has to offer.  And… I am still sad.
The sadness is odd.  It is not all encompassing.  It doesn’t direct my days.  It doesn’t linger or paralyze.
It is more of a surprise.  It comes at strange times and in unusual places.
On Black Friday Nigel, Tabitha, and I were at Kmart.  While they were both in the cart [yes, they were!] I was tooling around just exploring.
We passed by a little basket lined with white fabric and embroidered with little airplanes.  I’ve never purchased or longed for anything like it.  I instantly thought, “That would be sweet in a boy’s nursery.”  That thought was immediately replaced with, “I might have had a son!”
The tears swelled in my eyes and my breathing became ragged.  My legs wavered some as a wave of grief passed through.
My coat cuff wiped away the tears.  A few deep breaths restored my breathing.  The cart steadied my legs.  We made a left turn at steam cleaners and by the time we got to shoes I let myself be carried by the One I trust.  Yoked with our great Redeemer every burden is lighter.  He is faithful and true.  He will never leave me or forsake me.  His timing is perfect. 
And His ways are not our ways.
And I am still sad.

Thanksgiving 2011

I worked day shift on Thanksgiving.  It started out W*I*L*D but THANKfully God heard my prayer and it got much better.  I enjoyed my time with my co-workers, actually.  One of the women that was there is due to have twins in two weeks.  It was exciting to see her as we both work per diem and rarely cross paths.

I came home to a full house.  Not only our resident disciples, but my mom, & my sister were here, as well as my Aunt Betty, and my cousin David from Ontario, Canada.  They came to help us celebrate our THANKfulness.  The kids were beside themselves for days waiting for their arrival.  They were full of THANKS to see them for the first time since July.

The kids are always THANKful when Uncle Dave gets out of his wheelchair and lets them wheel it around.  They were also THANKful to receive Christmas gifts.

David went back to my mom’s house for the night.  Aunt Betty slept over.  She bunked with the girls.  They were very THANKful for the sleepover.  She watched Miracle on 34th Street with us last night.

The fun started again this morning.  None of us are serious Black Friday shoppers.  But we did go out to Walmart and Kmart today.  Only a few of the kids were interested.  We got to visit and play together all day.  They were far more happy to have a second THANKSgiving dinner with our guests [minus my sister this time] and to play games and entertain our guests after dinner.]

Gingerbread houses, good buddies, new friends

We headed for a first time trip to the George Eastman house to see the Gingerbread house displays.
We went with some of our buddies and met some of their friends there, as well.
The kids divided into two teams – boys vs. girls – and embarked on the scavenger hunt.
Competitiveness was high; careful reading of clues was low.    Fun was had by all.

People sign up to make the houses which are then auctioned off to gain donations for the museum. 
It was pretty cool.  The house/museum itself was rather impressive. 

George Eastman’s life was quite sad, though.   When we went through his massive library early in the trip I asked the kids if they could see a Bible anywhere.  We couldn’t find one.  Later when we learned he killed himself in order to die according to his own control we were dismayed.  How sad to have so much intelligence and creativity, but not to have hope.