Happy Thanksgiving!

The girls at 4:45am getting ready to volunteer

I love Thanksgiving, if fact it’s my favorite holiday; good food, good company, and little stress (unless you are the one cooking the turkey). Growing up Thanksgiving was a huge ordeal where a score of family members would all cram into a little house. There was the year we got snowed in for days on end and who could forget the year dad thought it was a good idea to buy a live turkey and we ended up riding home in the cab of the truck with Jacque, our dinner sitting comfortably on our lap, enjoying the scenic drive before his impending death. It took an hour and a game of rock paper scissors for someone to muster up the courage to kill and dress the turkey with character. What we didn't realize when we picked him out a six year old boy had raised them and they were more pet than farm animal. (That was the last live turkey we ever purchased, but one day you'll have to ask Jared about the chicken we had the first time he visited my parents). But it was the most depressing turkey dinner I have ever eaten.

Jacque, the turkey...

Anyway away from the sidetrack...... Thanksgiving morning I got up at 3:30am and headed into town with the young women from our youth group to volunteer at Superfeast. We worked the 4:45-7:30am shift (early, I know!). I was really proud of them, they were all up and dressed and ready to leave by 4:15am. Superfeast is a dinner by Waste Management that serves 20,000 homeless (although this year it was a lot more families feeling the financial pinch of the economy). It is an outside dinner on the mall of Houston city hall. It is a huge operation with dozens of smokers and ovens. We set up tables, carried in food and beverages and helped put together silverware. I think we'll do it again next year, although we'll probably get there earlier, by 4:45am we were already #170 for volunteers and by 8am that had over a thousand volunteers sign in. Downtown Houston at Sunrise

We got back about 8:30, I threw in a ham to cook and we headed over to some good friends for a mid afternoon dinner. The food was amazing and we had a great afternoon, eating, visiting, and playing games.

This year we have so much to be thankful for, our family has been greatly blessed. We have two amazing, healthy children, kind family and great friends. It been a rough fall for everyone, but it was a great opportunity to reflect on how blessed we really are. We hope you all have a great Thanksgiving Day!