The Turkeys Came!

  My son made me this turkey this year, to go with my huge pumpkin from last year.

When you have six grandchildren under the age of 5, five of those under the age of 3, you can plan all you want, but they dictate the events of the day.   Well, lets say, even their parents dictate!

My Joshua, he is the one who encourages me like my Benjamin, brought it all about.  Don't we all need those who openingly voice their love for what you are doing or encourage you on when you want to just set down and say "NO!"?  Well my Benjamin wins that prize first and Joshua comes in second.  Weeks before Thanksgiving Joshua looked up at me and said, "Grand Mommy, how much longer before I come to your house for Thanksgiving?"  To be honest, I wasn't in the mood, I really had too much on my mental plate to desire kicking into gear for a large group for Thanksgiving.  Let me just tell you one thing!!!   That little boy's question put gas on my very little flame and made it explode.  My mind started going 90 to nothing, what could we do this year that would be memorable?

Then there is my Benjamin.  I had decided to dye my hair just a day before our adventure to celebrate all the November birthdays, our gift to the four of them.  I have posted before how much I hate worrying about my hair. I hate to schedule and have it cut, I never know what to do and I hate deciding if I should let it go totally grey or not.  I hate to dye it and leave it for a year, to giving into the dying. Which I gave into and bought a box, after 30 minutes in the grocery store trying to see which color to use....of course, I picked wrong.   So for all the Thanksgiving events, I would look like "witchy poo" in dark, almost black, hair!   Benjamin came to my mental rescue telling me it didn't look bad, it looked good!  So, my two little men keep their mother/grandmother motivated.

(three of the grandsons, Benjamin and daughter-in-law)

Our week of Thanksgiving started with taking the new 3 year olds to see animals at a drive through ranch.  Now, if you don't know by now!, this Texas girl loves her outdoors.  I have even slept on my own trampoline in order to view the star!  So I experienced my own slice of heaven, with three of my children, one daughter-in-law and four grandsons. This really is an experience we will repeat again and again.  God's creators at our finger tips!

I planned out every detail for our Thanksgiving gathering.  You all know the routine, you clean your house...so they can get it dirty, you cook and keep thinking is that enough? You plan things to do...you pray and pray! This year I moved my dining room tables into our den and den into the dining room so we all could be in the same room. They all arrived and everyone has their own agenda.   You know...different time schedules, different desires for play, want to set in different places, different food and different ways to do everything!  What joy! We are all so different and the more noise and dishes means we are alive!!!

This year I prayed before our meal, among the moving, crying, eating, because they were starving, among the events of human life!  Not something we have done before, but what God had placed on my heart.  Bill normally leads our prayer.  Each mother at the table prayed over her family and we lit a candle.

Our turkeys ran everywhere.   When they all left..which was the afternoon, naps needed to be given for those little boys, I crashed!!!   A good crash, but still crashed.  We are a family...we have many bumps and bruises and will continue to add more.  Nothing will go perfect, things will be spilled, people will be late, someone will offend someone, not on purpose, but it will happen.  But in the end...everyone returns to their own homes, the kids are exhausted and memories are made!

It is called ------------------------------ FAMILY!!!!

I pray you all experienced the same. The grace of God on all our messes and the joy of knowing He is writing our stories.  Prayers spoken among the noise of life, and a God who hears and promises His Word will not come back void, makes all gatherings special.

Blessings as we all end November to enter the season of Advent.

I  want to blog on what happened on Saturday.  The story of two very different women standing face to face, with one very important thing in common.  Stay tune!

Season of Thankfulness

I have to admit, I am just staying away from the News and other accounts of events in our nation, instead I want to focus on being Thankful.   When I started blogging I was part of  many who did thankfulness post during November.  November this year has already been historic and I have been swept up in the business of this time of year.  Before the month ends, I want to be still and thankful.


November for our family doesn't only mean Thanksgiving, it means celebration of life.  There are four birthdays in November.

Birthdays - Sarah Jane and Maverick (age 3)  Picture at Pumpkin Patch, our yearly visit.

Our daughter-in -law celebrates her birthday first.  She entered our world our son's senior year of high school.  They met again, after earlier meetings years before, at the home school prom.  From that night on they were never separate.  She came from a female dominated world into our male dominated world.   Almost fifteen years later, eleven years of marriage and three boys, I can say it has been a joy to see this young lady go from a teenager to the wife and mom she is today.

David age 3 - big brother to the twins, Elliott and Thomas, or as he calls them "THE BOYS!"

Our second round of joy is our grandsons born two days apart.  David born first to our only daughter and her husband in their first year of marriage.  Maverick born next to our son and his wife, after years of infertility.  They turn 3 this week and this Grand mommy's heart is overflowing.

I was trying to find a good picture of MY FIRST BORN, and realized this is why I don't have any...he will never let me get a good one!!!  I will remind him of this when his boys are being silly in family photos.  My FIRST Born..............and no, I am not old enough to have a son age 33!!  LOL

Not to be left out.  Our first born will celebrate his birthday on Monday, just like he did 33 years ago, entering our life on a Monday.  First born....that about says it all.  He was our first full term, here on earth child, after two miscarriages.  As all mother's know, you are forever changed.  Children (biological or adopted) change you and your world and being thankful doesn't say it all.  He is a wonderful son, husband and Dad of three of my grandsons.  He built a business beyond anything his mother could have imagined and still amazes me with his accomplishments.  Right now I am having the complete joy of working with him on some of his jobs. I get to do the fun part....pick out decor for homes.

Before our family fills in our sheets of the many blessings from this year, we celebrate the lives of these four.  The decorations are up....my heart overflows as I recall God's faithfulness.  In the middle of all the events on social media and TV, I recall the one who holds it all in His hands.  In the middle of  employment uncertainty in the new year, I recall He has never left us.  In the middle of those who protest by not standing for our anthem, I bow to a God whose shoulders our government sets, and thank Him for our Nation.

May you all be blessed this Thanksgiving as you also recall the wonder of this past year, both the joys and the tears, knowing that God still reigns.

Enemy Roars Only

Last week was a week to end all weeks.  The realization of how the enemy attacks and tries...let's say that again..tries to take us out, was swirling in our home.(I Peter 5:8)  There wasn't one area that the enemy didn't attack. His roar was loud and intimidating.  His attempted bites, hurt.  Our spirits and souls were tired.  I couldn't seem to fight for myself, but I fought for others.   My body ached.

2 Corinthians 10:4 - The weapons we fight with aren't the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.

You look up and wonder, God are you still there, are you seeing what is happening?

As our family fought this week long, furious spiritual battle, because our battle is not with flesh and blood but the principalities of the air, we looked to the one who fights our battles and has already won the victory.  How we forget that we fight from a place of victory, not defeat.

Ephesians 6:12 - For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorizes, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

As I walked with my children along a path near our home, we quoted scripture.   An old song came back to mind, "God put Satan under my feet, under my feet, under my feet. God put Satan under my feet and I will walk all over thee."  As we walked and physically put our feet down, we also walked through the promises of God.  Each step, each scripture, allowed the enemy's voice to grow weaker and weaker.

Isaiah 54:17 - no weapon that is fashioned against you shall succeed, an you shall refute every tongue that rises against you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord and their vindication from me, declares the Lord.

You have to chose to love life in the middle of these strong attacks, and yes, we all have them.  You have to chose to get out of bed, which in and of itself is warfare.  You have to chose to look for all the good and let it diminish the bad.  You have to step back out of your self-pity party and breath.

The weekend came, a family with scars, scars that God will heal with His balm. Standing meant we had entered into His victory.  We had events to attend, and our choice was to put on a happy face.  That isn't a mask, it is saying to the enemy, "in spite of all the ATTEMPTS this week, I chose to move forward with a smile.  I chose to allow the Lord to be strong where I am weak."

2 King 6:17 - And Elisha prayed, "Open his eyes, Lord, so that he may see."  Then the Lord opened the servant's eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

Our first event was the schools largest fund raiser.  I am one of the home room parents this year and had been working on gathering our baskets for the auctions.  There was one basket that made me smile, when it was being assembled.  Yes, it would be bidding for more than it was worth and yes, I could go down the street and buy what I wanted for less, but that wasn't the point. The point was fund raising for the school. The point was, one of the attacks was financial and I needed to give back instead of walk in fear. The last point was, it has become my motto with my grands and I needed to be reminded that, although bloody from battle, there is joy in the adventure!

So I put my number down for the bidding.  I WON!!!

  Life is an Adventure!!  Hills, valleys, good choices, bad choices, pain, joy, hugs, battles, words that lift and words that tear down....an adventure, called life.

Benjamin finished up his baseball season.  His whole family have attended at least one game this season. The nephews peering through the dug-out at their Uncle!  Life ..precious.

We ended the weekend with the opening of a new Drive Thru Movie. YES, we went retro.  We went with another family who is fighting their own battles.  The kids enjoyed the retro way of viewing a movie. I enjoyed being under the stars.  I enjoyed the breeze, I enjoyed the laughter of kids, the parents sharing their by-gone-days of Drive-Thru, I enjoyed being still and knowing that God is still on the throne.

My prayer for you this week is that whatever battle you are fighting, you will remember the army that is standing behind you. I prayer your eyes will be opened!!  May we walk in the victory of a battle already won!