Thanksgiving...

What a wonderful week it has been!  Just amazing.  We have truly been able to spend time together as a family.  And I've had some time to myself.  We laughed a lot.  A.Lot.  We've also eaten a lot.  Too much, really.  

It has been a genuine week of blessings.

There was a final Zoo trip for the year.  They played hard and soaked up every second.  We made sure to eat first lunch and then second lunch and a snack before we left.  

And please note the cow print leggings.  What you can't see is the zebra print bow at the bottom of braid.  Because we love a good theme.

That's Rhys' "Cheese!" face.

Of course, there was a grocery store visit and a ride on the merry-go-round.  Two, actually, because AK brought a dollars worth of quarters.  

The kids got to play up at the band hall with friends while I did my annual consignment shop scouting run.

The consignment shop sale was another huge success.  We are blessed to live in an area where second-hand clothes are first-hand quality.  If we didn't live near here, I might drive here just for the kids clothes.  Of course, this year I have a baby niece to shop for and OH, WAS THAT FUN.

Baby girls.  I missed their clothes.

Today was a "Friendsgiving" and by far, it was my favorite.  We opted not to invite anyone over this year.  We're further away from people now and I didn't want anyone to feel obligated to work us into their schedule.  But last Sunday, friends we normally invite invited us over to their house.  

Yay!

So we joyfully went.  The kids played so well together.  We ate lots of amazing food.  And then, the adults sat together in the living room and just "were."  Melissa and I looked through the Black Friday sales fliers.  Ryan and Chris chatted about work and football.  While actual football was on TV.  (Poor Tony Romo.)

We laughed and shared and just hung out.  

On our way home, we sang Christmas songs together.  AK loves "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" so we sang that several times.  Chris would do the echo.  You know, the "Had a very shiny nose...LIKE A LIGHT BULB."  He was all about the like-a-light-bulbs.  At the end of the song, "You'll go down in history...LIKE COLUMBUS!"  And AK says, "Or like the Blue Nosed Pumpkin!"

Apparently, she sings some song about a blue nosed-pumpkin at school.  I'd never heard of such a thing.

We laughed for miles.  She laughed with us.  And it was just fabulous.

A day of food and friends and funny little girls.  That's just the good stuff, y'all.

But, honestly, the week began with the BEST stuff.  

Several weeks ago, a dear friend from our former small group asked me to baptize her.

In our church, anyone who is a church member in good standing (in our lingo, being "All In") and has been baptized by full immersion can baptize.  

Believe me, I recognize this is not the norm.  But I also acknowledge it is an amazing privilege and honor.

Of course, when she asked me, I cried.  Big, hot tears.  And then I immediately felt crazy under-qualified.  

Before baptism, everyone takes a class.  One of the pastors goes through our church's beliefs about full-immersion water baptism and what the bible says about baptism.  Everyone tells their Jesus story (aka "testimony") to one another because before the baptism, you give that testimony to the church.  

The Sunday of the class, my friend told her Jesus story.

And y'all, her story was about gratitude.  

I cried then and every time she shared it after that.  A Jesus story about gratitude felt all kinds of right.  My feelings of being under-qualified seemed absolutely silly.  This was about Jesus and a grateful heart for who He is and what He's done.  Nothing else.

So Sunday morning was The Day.  I bought her the "Brave Girls of the Bible" children's book.  We LOVE this book.  AK loves it and I love that the women of the bible have a place for their stories to be told.  Even Jael and her tent spoke.

You go, Jael.

My friend said, "When I'm nervous, I talk a lot so hold on."

We talked non-stop for the next 90 minutes.  

That weekend, 161 people were being baptized.  So there was a large group of us walking from the meeting room to the worship center.  As we walked through the building, people lined up to clap and cheer for us.  My friend was overwhelmed.  

We all were.

Worship was amazing.  I cried.  There's a theme there.

And then we got up to stand in line.  One by one, people told their Jesus stories.  Who they were before Jesus, when He changed their life and the new person they are in Him.

I cried.

It came to our turn.  I climbed into the water and she followed.  She told her story flawlessly.  She had been worried and anxious about everything.  Jesus came and took care of those worries.  Immeasurably more so.  And now she stands as a wife and mother leading her family saying Jesus is Lord and she will follow Him.

And then she went into the water.  

We both cried.

I'm not sure I've landed from cloud nine.  

Turkey and the zoo and laughter, none of it happens without Jesus and His say so.  Last Sunday, my friend went into the water and became a new creation in Christ.  And a little bit of that just seeped right into me.  It was a refreshment to my soul.

This Thanksgiving week?  Well, it'll be one I won't forget.