Misc. Thanksgiving

I was able to attend both Christopher and John's Thanksgiving parties at school this year, because they were on different days. Thanksgiving is a HUGE deal at the boys' school: the kids and the teachers dress-up as Indians or Pilgrims, and they have big parties and learn songs.

Anna was able to attend the parties with me. At Christopher's party, she helped him make a craft.

These were Christopher's friends Olivia (left) and Camryn (right).

Christopher's turkey said that we should eat a vegetable tray for Thanksgiving, because it's healthier.

John's party was a hoot. Every one of the kids had dressed-up for the party. Below are Aryan (left) and Cameron (right). Aryan is my favorite kid in the class, excluding John, of course. Aryan's parents were missionaries in India. He is such a sweet young man.

Miss Richardson even gets all dressed-up every Thanksgiving!

Miss Richardson's first grade parties always have "authentic" 1st Thanksgiving food. The kids eat cornbread, different kinds of berries, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, homemade bread, dehydrated salmon, squirrel meat, and venison. Most of the kids hated the dried salmon: they said it tasted too fishy. However, John LOVED the squirrel.

One of the highlights of our church calendar every year is our Thanksgiving dinner/annual business meeting. The Kitchen Committee makes all the turkey, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and vegetables and drinks. Individual families bring desserts. This was the room our family ate in.

Below is pictured Ralph and Becky Farmer. Becky is John's Sunday School teacher. John told Miss Becky last Sunday that, 'he's so excited to go to Heaven, he can hardly wait: he wants to go right now!"

Below are David and Sonya Coppedge. David is our Association Missionary.

John and Laurie Neal.

Debbie Jessee (left) and Stephanie Bishop (right) are pictured below: they are on the Kitchen Team.

Ken Harrell is always in charge of turkeys.

The kitchen team made 10 20-pound turkeys that day!

Thanksgiving Day

Here are some pictures of our Thanksgiving Day. Christopher and John dressed-up like a pilgrim and an Indian for Thanksgiving: they're pictured here with their Nana and their Uncle Doak.

Here we were at Thanksgiving Dinner. It was yum! My dad, my brother, and my brother's two girls were in Florida, so we didn't have as much family as we usually do. However, the food was wonderful, and those of us who were here had a wonderful time!

This is my oldest brother, Doak, with my Aunt Penny and Uncle Butch.

We were so happy that they came to visit.

In the evening, we went to Tim's family's house.

This is Anna with her "Mamaw," Tim's mom.

Tim's oldest brother, Steve, with his daughter Tessa.

Tessa and John are the same age.

Steve is very nice. He is a preacher, also.

Steve is pictured here with his wife, Tonya.

Here are the boys with Tim's dad, "Papaw."

Anna hung-out with Cousin Tessa. They look a little alike, don't you think?

What Our Family Is Thankful For This Thanksgiving....

What are we thankful for this year???

My beautiful wife (Tim).

My 3 wonderful children (Tim).

For our church (Tim).

That God sended His only Son, Jesus (John).

That Jesus died on the cross (John and Christopher).

My Mommy, my grandma, my Barbie, Christopher, John (Anna Jean).

For family (Christopher and John).

For Grandma and Grandpa (Christopher).

For Thanksgiving (John).

For Rosco the Dog and Zoe (Anna Jean).

That God allows us to go to Heaven (Christopher).

That soon Satan will die (John).

For Superfriends (Christopher).

For Playstation 2 (John).

That Daddy takes me to the church to play Wii (Christopher).

For baby dolls (Anna).

For fried fish, shrimp, and Sprite (John).

For water (Christopher).

For our smoke detectors (John).

For animals that God allows us to kill and eat (Christopher).

For Fraggle Rock (John).

For Anna (John).

For Jake Withrow, Kelsey Caner, and Kaylee Davis (Christopher).

For Grant Patterson, Cameron Zromski, Gabriel Currington (John).

For Dora the Explora (Anna).

For my wonderful husband who takes such good care of me; that after almost 13 years of marriage, we are still in love and very happy together. I'm thankful for my three amazing children, for our comfortable home and the ability I have to be a stay-at-home mom. I am thankful that during this terrible recession, God has given us more than we need and allowed us to live like we want and need to. I am also thankful that I regularly still get to see my dad and mom, and that I can (almost) cook as good as my mom does. (Kara)

Our Cabin

This was our 10th annual trip to the Smoky Mountains. Normally, we stay at a condo in Gatlinburg; however, this year we decided to be adventurous and rent a cabin. On the way to Tennessee, Christopher began moaning, "Great! Now we're going to have to stay in the mountains with no electricity!" Boy, were the kids surprised to find that our cabin had a flat screen plasma tv, a Wii, an Xbox 360, an air hockey table, a Jacuzzi tub inside, and a hot tub outside!

Tim always plans great vacations for us. I tell him often that if this preaching gig doesn't work out, he should be a travel agent.

Kara

Hiking the Smoky Mountains: Day 2

Well, on our second day in the mountains, Tim got out his handy-dandy Great Smoky Mountain trail book and found the Hen Wallow Falls Trail. It was described as an easy 2.2 mile hike to a beautiful waterfall that is "a gentle grade" and "appropriate for small children."
Whoever wrote that description should be incarcerated for life!!! As has happened to us once before, that trail description was totally inaccurate. The trail was much more than a gradual slope, and the 2.2 mile description was WAY under what it turned out to be!

Our total hike time on the Hen Wallow Falls Trail??????

(insert drum roll here.....)

4 HOURS AND 20 MINUTES!!!

My anger at the trail, at the trail book, and generally at Tim prevented me from taking many pictures. But here are a few...

The above picture is of the waterfall that ended our hike. Was it worth all the cramped calves and sore hips? No way!

This sign was at the beginning of the trail. I didn't think much about it until I was about 2 1/2 hours into the woods! Then I began to panic. Every shadow looked like a black bear!

Our kids were amazing on that trip, though. They walked and played guessing games all along the trail. When they got tired, Tim took turns carrying them. And thankfully, his backpack was full of snacks and candy and juice boxes.

Here we were at the end of the trail. We headed to the Old Mill and had a BIG dinner, complete with dessert for everyone to celebrate our adventure... or at least the end of it!

The really amazing part of that excursion, though was how God answered our prayers. When we made it to the waterfall, I was a little exhausted, but even more concerned about the kids being able to make it back as far as we had come. I prayed and asked God to give us strength and resilience to get back to the car; somehow we shaved an entire hour off our trip back to the car! Miraculous!

Hiking the Smoky Mountains: Day 1

On our first day of hiking the Great Smokys, the weather was absolutely PERFECT!

75 degrees and sunny.

Ok. So we didn't hike the entire 1972 miles to Maine on the Appalachian Trail. But we did hike one good mile up the trail and one mile back, which was not bad considering the fact that it was getting pretty close to dinner time!

Thanks to the wonders of the gorilla pod - which for this picture was strapped to a tree branch - we're able to take family pictures out in the woods. Unfortunately, not even a snazzy gadget like a gorilla pod can make a 3-year old not pout in the picture! (She wanted to stand-up on the rock for the picture, but her daddy and I thought that was a bit dangerous: it was a pretty round rock.)

All in all, our Day 1 hike couldn't have gone more smoothly. If only we had known what was in store for us the next day....

(But that's another blog.)