Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

I know it's been a long time since I last posted.  In between "Blessed" and now, we've given Kyleigh solids, she's started to sit up on her own (if only briefly), and she's attempting to crawl.  And it's only been 3 weeks since my last post!  Bottom line, life has been busy and by the end of the day, the last thing I want to do is sit down and blog.  Sorry, I'm just being honest!

To be honest, I was really worried about Thanksgiving this year.  Family wasn't coming, we knew we weren't doing anything with our Wheaton friends, and the Lehmanns were out of town.  We had been planning on spending the day on our own and I was trying really hard to be okay with this.  It seemed very strange, as if it was going to be just another day.  I didn't think it made sense to make the whole fixings for 3 people to eat (I thought about writing 2 1/2 people, but we all know that Reagan eats the same as a whole person!).  Then, things changed.

Ryan's boss invited us to having dinner at his house because their family wasn't coming either.  And we were also invited to Adam and Holly's house.  Ryan thought it would be a great idea to "get out of our bubble," so we went to Josh and Christine's house.  Only after accepting the invitation did we find out that Christine's parents and brother would also be coming to town.  Oh boy!  Now we felt like we were intruding on their family Thanksgiving.  Even though Christine's family was now coming, they still wanted us to join.

We went anyway and had a great time!  I was a bit nervous because I am usually an introvert in situations like this.  However, I wanted to branch out and have a good time.  So, I chatted up a storm with Christine, her parents, and of course, their adorable twin girls.  Watching Reagan interact with the girls was a lot of fun.  He was great - didn't hit - and loved their see-saw alligator.

Dinner was also awesome.  We had a traditional Thanksgiving dinner, with the exception of one item - the turkey!  Christine made Cornish game hens instead of a turkey.  I've never eaten a Cornish game hen before, but it was great.  Unfortunately, Reagan threw a mini temper tantrum in the middle of dinner.  Ryan made the mistake of giving Reagan candied sweet potatoes as the first sampling of the dinner.  Of course, Reagan wouldn't eat anything else!  He cried until we gave him more sweet potatoes!  Oh well, what can you do?

Even though we couldn't spend Thanksgiving with our family, we still had a very nice day with Josh and Christine.  The whole day was great and we had much to be thankful for.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Blessed

I am blessed.  I have felt the Lord's blessings so much in just the past week alone.  I'll give a few examples because I never want to forget how blessed I am.

Example 1:  I was having one of those days.  It reminded me of Judith Viorst's "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day."  The kids were acting horribly, they were barely sleeping, and just being a pain in the rear!  I made a comment on Facebook, not really thinking anything of it, but about 30 minutes after my announcement of the long afternoon that would ensue, I heard the knock on the door.  I peeped through the window, thinking who could possible be here in the middle of the afternoon.  It was my dear friend, Janie, to the rescue!  She saw my comment on Facebook and showed up at my doorstep with a latte in hand for me.  She then followed with "I have a great idea.  I don't have to get the kids until 3p, so you go take a walk by yourself and I'll watch your kids."  This was more a blessing than Janie could have ever known!

Example 2: Kyleigh is getting to the age where we will begin solids very soon.  With Reagan, I really aspired to make my own baby food.  I did some weeks, but not all of the time.  I just couldn't find the time while working to make it myself.  Anyway, no excuses this time around.  I'm going to make food for Kyleigh.  I've been thinking of purchasing a Baby Bullet by Magic Bullet because the blender I used the first time around was so big and didn't really puree the way I hoped.  And, since I broke my blender during my horrible, no good, very bad day in example 1, I was definitely facing a new purchase!  That's when I received a phone call from Amanda offering to GIVE me her Baby Bullet!  She didn't even know I wanted this, and yet she's going to give it to me!  Once again, I am blessed.

Example 3:  A friend is getting married this weekend and the girls wanted to have brunch with the bride-to-be.  I initially was hesitant to say yes because brunch was at 11 and I knew I wouldn't be home before 1.  Reagan normally naps at 11 and small group was at our house that night.  Needless to say, I needed Reagan to nap.  But, I didn't want to be the inflexible mom who can't do something special just because of a nap.  So...I went!  Why is this a blessing?  On our way home from brunch, Katie offered to keep Reagan for the afternoon!  This gave me the opportunity to get my house cleaned as well as cook for small group without having to worry about my inquisitive toddler!  I was so thankful.

These are just a few examples of how the Lord is blessing me through some wonderful friends.  I am so grateful for how many people have touched my life and encouraged me with something small and simple.