Happy Thanksgiving!!

"Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.”- Psalm 95:1-2

I think this has been one of my favorite Thanksgivings!! Everything was so perfect!

All family arrived at the cottage on Wednesday night! Our cottage was packed with about 15 people!! We chowed down on pizza, prepared some of the meal for Thanksgiving, and had a lot of laughs!

Early Thursday morning Dan and I got up to begin cooking the meal. We couldn't quite figure out the turkey thing, so we woke up Russell and Angela ( Dan's parents). Russell was kind enough to take out the guts of the turkey - since this grosses my very weak stomach completely out! Then Dan took Justin (Dan's brother) and Mandy (Justin's girlfriend) out on a walk. They really wanted to see the tunnel on our favorite walking trail. So the three of them bundled up and hit the trail! I think they enjoyed it.

As the fun chaos of cooking began in full swing and all the kiddos running around, we had KLOVE blasting in the background! I had fun just singing and dancing along in my kitchen as I prepared the meal!

Closer time to eat, Davin arrived. This was cool. Davin is one of the students here, and his home is in Michigan. He was unable to go home, so we invited him over for lunch! It was fun getting to know him. He is studying to be an apologetic. I knew this would be an interesting time with the family, being my mom is Mormon, Ryan is Apostlistic and we have a student studying to be an apologetic. For those who don't know, an apologetic is someone who learns the depth of all the religions and learns how to defend our own faith. It's a very cool study. Sure enough, after we all finished eating, some company had to leave, others began napping and Dan, Davin, Mom, and Ryan began a 3 HOUR discussion of all of our different beliefs! Oh, but it was great listening to it. It is so neat to see the love of Christ in someone while they are trying to explain Biblical truth. Davin will be a great apologetic. I think God has big things in store for him!

I'm also very proud of my husband. It was so amazing to see the growth in Dan!!! He is learning so much about the Bible, how to explain the truth, and he has also learned so much about other religions. I feel God really spoke through Dan in their conversation. I knew Dan has been learning a lot, but I think until I saw it into action, I didn't realize just how much he had grown! It was incredible!

Anywho! The company was so great! We hated seeing them all leave on Thursday and Friday. But it was nice to have space again in the cottage. I have spent the whole weekend cleaning again, enjoying Dan and the kiddos, and... DECORATING for CHRISTMAS!!! I love the day after Thanksgiving!

Usually, we get up like at 3AM and shop, then have a big breakfast, then decorate for Christmas! Although this year has been the first year that we had to skip the shopping, we did still get to have our egg nog and decorate the tree and cottage! It was a blast!

enjoy the pics!

Everybody!

Dan, Me, Brandon (Dan's Brother), Zachary, Bradley (Dan's Brother), Davin, Justin (Dan's Brother), Mandy (Justin's Girlfriend), Angela (Dan's Mom), Mom, Nicholas, Ryan, Russell (Dan's Dad)

Russell cutting the ham!

Zachary, Brandon & Bradley

Love this pic!

FOOD! FOOD! & MORE FOOD!

It's Decorating Time!

What is up with his face?!?!

Each time the boys would put on an ornament, they would only put them on one branch and fill it up!!!

This is an ornament from 2003, the year we got married! I'm not sure if you can see it or not, but check out our "hook"!! It's a BREAD TIE!!! Yep, remember those first years - "You ain't got money, but you got love!"

Our Tree!