Year 3, November 22nd, 2018: Thanksgiving 2018

Ok. We are home, everything is put away, and we are all ready to decorate the houses for Christmas tomorrow with cousins!  But first, let's recap Thanksgiving 2018, shall we?  One word to describe the day was "smooth."  Everything went smoothly, from leaving on time on Wednesday, to the kids having time in the pool, to everybody eating a full breakfast, to all the family members arriving on time for dinner, to plenty of food to go around, to great conversations, to great games of Scrabble, to great weather, to Grandma Cook arriving, enjoying and leaving safely, and finally for everyone to get home safely.  We are very blessed.  No, Chad Monahan, there was no talk of essential oils or the Enneagram, unless you count the fact that Jared and I wisely used the 3 hr drive up yesterday and the 3 hr drive home today listening to the book that he had already listened to once and I had been trying to read the print version of.  We finished the book, too!  Now I can go back and reread parts of the book and pick out parts I want to take note of and what I need to work and maybe narrow down my number.  Monahan and posted on Twitter something like "I hope your Thanksgiving was free from talk about essentials oils and the Enneagram."  Thanks, Chad, but some of us would rather talk about that than sports.  We even commented how the Cook family craves real, authentic interaction, sometimes talking about deeper things, instead of sitting around the TV watching a parade or a football game.  There's talk about churches and people from their past.  Current life and how Grandma Cook is really doing.  Teenage boys posturing as to who has the superior job or car.  And yes, some of us used our cell phones, especially the teens, but they didn't use it to escape.  Now THAT'S a family that actually understands what a healthy family looks like.  everyone wanted to be there, no one was left, we mingled well, the teens even played Scrabble with the adults and grandparents and great grandparent.  I don't have to fear that our Thanksgiving will be ruined by some heated discussion or disagreement.  There's a deep rooted culture of Christian love there and it feels comfortable (it should be for me after almost 20 yrs, lol).

I'm very grateful for the Cook family, but always remember the Johnson family, the Howell family, and most certainly Proffitt family, who probably just spent their last Thanksgiving with their mom.  The Johnson family is scattered and so is the Howell family.  The Proffitt family were altogether at the hospital.  They ordered food from Cracker Barrel and I'm sure the day was bittersweet.  Their's moms cancer is terminal, but there's life expectancy right now.  She is in the hospital again with severe pain.  And all we can do is pray right now.  And take care of the girls, and help them find peace and joy in spending time with us doing fun things.  And that's what I plan to do.  I plan to include them in all our fun family holiday activities like gingerbread houses, seeing the Christmas lights, maybe a trip to the Children's Museum, cheap movie theater, and of course gym day and such.  We are putting together a list of activities that are a little bit out of our price range but maybe Grandma and Grandpa can do when they get back, like the regular movie theater.

Ok, that's enough of that story.  The best update though is that Grandma Cook still has alzeheimer's, but has enough memory power to play Scrabble!  Her long term memory is still intact and she is aware that her short term memory is not there.  She asks Uncle Ed if she's already told him this or that.  How sweet!  She seems to be in good shape health wise.  She uses a walker, but still uses the restroom mostly by herself, has no oxygen tank and overall just seems a bit slower than the rest of us.  She did have some seizures within the last year, so she's on medicine for that.  But otherwise, she's pretty good for being over 90 now.  Jared's Aunt Pam though was much, much slower today.  She had a heart attack a few months ago and open heart surgery.  She's been cleared by the heart doctor and the doctor told Uncle Bill that the rest of her body looks healthy and strong, just small.  Aunt Pam is a bit smaller than me in weight and my height, lol.  But you can tell that she's just slower.  She took longer to play Scrabble and longer to respond to someone talking to her.  She is in her 60's, too, so it's understandable.  Kind of sad, kind of funny quote from Pam was when Gary asked her if she had a special diet to follow and she said, "Low fat and low sugar.  Basically, anything good, I can't have."  Yup, I know how that feels.  But the hotel did have gluten free (Udi brand) blueberry muffins today and plenty of proteins I could eat! That was exciting!

And I'm sure it will come out in the photos and videos, but Abishai was wired for sound again today.  Jared and I feel like we know exactly what number on the Enneagram he is, it's too obvious.  But, we aren't supposed to label anyone but ourselves, and Jared won't tell me his yet!  I think I'll be visiting my friend Laura Dingman, who is a coach on the Enneagram, to clarify which one I am.  Anyway, back to Abishai.  He ran laps all through the old church building.  It was built in the late 1800's and feels that way.  Thankfully, Bill had the heat cranked up, so none of us were cold. But there's plenty of space to run around.  And Bill is a laid back kind of guy, so he, and really no one, never fussed about Abishai's antics.  He knew we would make sure nothing got broken, but he also didn't care if toys were run up and down the aisles between pews or even on the stage.  He was talking about the state of his old congregation and his current one and how in both places he has tried to implement the e2 elder principles and how when he left the other one, they didn't do a good job of continuing it.  He said they haven't added any "Timothy's" since he left.  A Timothy is basically a young person that is being mentored by an elder (or deacon), and hopefully will become new pastors.  Passing the baton like Gary (and Paul in the Bible) teaches.  Bill said that they don't do voting at his current church but he, the couple of deacons they have, and one elder, plus the treasurer, make the decisions, like whether or not to buy a portable baptistry and or what direction the church is going.  And if someone doesn't totally agree on what could be the decision than they throw it out and just try to come to a consensus.  Bill also said that he doesn't care if they do this or that to the building.  The building is there to help lost souls.  It's all about the souls.  Unfortunately, old, unorganized buildings aren't going to be as effective as some of the newer, fancier churches in reaching our generation and especially Benaiah's generation.  They do need some polish on church services because that's how our culture operates.  But Bill's principles are solid.  It's not about opinions or the color of the carpet.  It's about lost souls.

Anyway, it was a great day and I'm grateful to be a part of it.  And I'm glad I finished "reading" a book and played lots of phone video games so I got that out of my system before tonight.  I have some blogs to catch up on, a Lilla Rose Black Friday Weekend Sale to keep up with, maybe a little online Christmas shopping, and to work on Lilla Rose inventory and prepare for next weekend's show.  I'll do some of that while the kids are over at Grandma and Grandpa's all day, including Abishai.  Then we'll go out for dinner, all 12 of us, to celebrate birthdays and to just be together.  Can't wait for that!

Time for a big breakfast! Keturah had a waffle with lots of whipped cream and a bowl of fruit.  Abishai had the marshmallows out of marshmallow cereal, a sausage patty, juice, fruit, and something else I can't remember.  They even had gluten free items like hash browns, eggs, oatmeal, gluten free cereal, and gluten free blueberry muffins!

First time in several years I blew dry my hair!  I have no idea where my hair dryer(s) went, and haven't seen them since we moved back from Canada.  I don't use them much, if at all, so I haven't replaced them.  I still don't like using them, but it helped me not to be cold because going outside with wet hair is no fun.

The kids sang Happy Birthday to Auggie, their cousin on my side of the family.  He turned 8 this year!

Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade like we did last year!  There's Chase from Paw Patrol!  We got to watch a few singers and dance routines, including Sesame Street and Mean Girls Musical.  It was in the teens for temperature there in New York City. Brrr!!!

Yeah!  One of the airplanes from one of the shows Abishai watches on Amazon.  They are planes that transform into robots I think.

This kid is working hard at learning chords on the piano!  Maybe he takes after me just a little bit?  Although, his dad has more natural talent, just not more training, than I do.  I know what I'm buying him for Christmas!  I want him to know the theory behind what he's playing because he keeps asking what chord is what.  That's how I learned it at his age.  I did take a theory class at college because I wanted to minor in music, but then switched my majors completely and got married, etc.  There's an adult piano book series that includes a ton of theory, especially around chords, so that's what I bought him.  And if he doesn't use them, then I'll have the whole series to work through for myself and with other older students.

Playing Pokemon before the other kids arrive.  Although, they didn't spend a whole lot of time with the other kids as they had in the years' past.  Not sure why.  Everyone's getting older and is in to different things I guess.

Abishai brought a bunch of toys from the nursery over to the classroom where we were eating.  The building is over 100 years old and you can tell it's age in spots.  But Uncle Bill and the other adults didn't seem to care if the kids ran up and down the aisles or played the piano or brought out toys.  They weren't ripping hymnbook of course.  And yes, this church still has hymnals and hymn numbers on the wall.  Very old school. Again, Uncle Bill isn't into making it all about performance, he just wants to win souls.

They did play a little bit of hangman though.

Abishai was super excited when the dogs arrived!

They were discussing rubix cube strategies.

Half of the feast.

Working on the other half of the feast.  Aunt Pam pictured here likes to cook, too.

Some things were warming up in the oven.  Oh and the church has beautiful stained glass windows.

Great Grandma Mary Ellen Cook, almost 91 years old.  She won these little knick knacks at Bingo and wanted to bring them along.  They were so cute!  And how thoughtful for Uncle Ed to bring them for her!  She kept the hat on the whole time, too.  Too sweet!

Here's a series of videos of Abishai singing and preaching, etc.  Most of these songs are from the worship time during Sunday School.  Yeah!  Then he likes to boss us around, too.

Aaron married to Paula,cousin to Jared, daughter of Bill and Pam, with two sons and a daughter.  Uncle Ed is the bald one on the left and Uncle Bill is the bald one on the right.

Zion, who lives with Bill and Pam, is a year (or two?) older than Benaiah.  They keep track of each other sometimes and enjoy similar things.  I'm glad they have each other to talk to at these gatherings.

Aunt Pam, Leah, Uncle John (husband of Aunt Polli), Grandma Cook, and Aunt Polli.  Polli, Bill, Leah, and Ed are siblings.

More of the crew.  We all mingled well.  There were no football games on and barely any electronic devices.  Just real talk, real story swapping, and some church talk.

Stir crazy baby! He had a water bottle in his mouth and running around with it!

We had TWO games of Scrabble going this year!  AND, the young ones joined in!  Zion, Paula, Pam, and Zach, 3 generations. And Benaiah, Grandma Cook, Grandpa Johnson and someone else (I know I took a picture of them but can't find it!), 4 generations!

Annual Cook family picture!  Sweet!

Playing piano with big brother!

His cars were in jail in the train.

Petting the doggy!

Is the food ready yet?

"Now you sit there and you sit there, and I'll play you a song!"

Abishai insisted on sitting in the audience and told Daddy to go play a song!

I think Keturah drew this one! She's been working on her cutie faces.

I draw circles, Mom!  You draw a circle!

Two 4 way stoplights in this little town.  You don't see that too often anymore.

Gorgeous sunset where the top half of the sun was covered by the clouds which formed a straight line across the sky.  Kind of weird though, like putting a sheet of paper in front of a desk lamp from the top down. 

What a great day!  The End!