Thanksgiving Day and More

As Americans living overseas Thanksgiving is such a fun time to be with other Americans and to give thanks for all that God has done over the past year. Even though Laura Cate had a high fever and Alan had a migraine, we had a wonderful day enjoying God's goodness with friends. Alan and I cooked our first turkey!  We were a little anxious, but it wasn’t that hard and we think it turned out well ?! One couple and their parents visiting decided not to come since she the couple is pregnant and due Sunday.  We missed them, but did not want them to get sick. One other family still came and we were so thankful to be able to spend time with them and for their friendship…they have been here single and went back to the States and got married six years ago and just returned…we are thrilled they are back!

 

Our table before the chaos!

Alan carving the turkey!

 

Our best family photo for the day –I don’t think Laura Cate ate anything except maybe bread (she is going through a picky phase…actually maybe it isn’t a phase) and Cameron mostly ate sweet potato casserole and turkey. Alan and I enjoyed the leftovers!

 

Alan and Cameron with their second annual Pumpkin Pie they made together…so yummy!

The kids actually all played well together…they love trains, even Laura Cate.

I made a "Thanksgiving Tree", thanks to the idea of a friend of a friend and her blog :).  It has been a highlight of our November as each night (well, I procrastinated and actually didn't finish the project until November 19th) we all write one thing we are thankful for on a leaf and stick it on the tree right before the kids go to bed.  Cameron always makes sure we don't forget to stick the leaves on the tree.  I made the tree so that we can use it year after year and collect our leaves of thankfulness.  I hope this stirs in us a heart of thankfulness everyday, not just at Thanksgiving.  Here is our tree (maybe next year we will start earlier and it will be more full :) )

  

I have been meditating on Psalm 100 a lot recently and we have a CD from a group called  Seeds Family Worship (http://www.seedsfamilyworship.net) and it is amazing! They put the Word of God straight to music, so I have found Cameron singing and memorizing Psalm 100 all week.  It was perfect timing to think about these verses "Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise.  Be thankful to Him and bless His name. For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, and His truth endures to all generations" Psalm 100:4-5. 

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Cameron's Birthday!

I always get so overwhelmed celebrating our childrens' birthdays...overwhelmed by God's grace and mercy for giving us these precious gifts and His faithfulness in the past year.  So, I love to celebrate birthdays and this year was so much thinking about what Cameron enjoys...there are so many things, but this year more than any other he has gotten into LEGOs, so we had a LEGO party, but complete with a LEGO toss (I reminded the kids not to do it at home :) ).  We had so much fun and Alan and I enjoyed making the cake together again as well...thankfully it as not an all-nighter! I can't believe I have a 5 year old...he is such a joy and I love learning more about him and being with him every day.  We are so blessed to be Cameron's parents.

We actually celebrated a little before his birthday because I went to a mom's conference over his birthday weekend that only happens every two years.  It was a tough choice to be gone, but I think it was ok. So, we had a birthday party on Sunday, then Alan went out of town until Wednesday, so we celebrated on Thursday as a family, and I left Friday and then Alan and Cameron celebrated again on Saturday...Cameron was a little confused when I called and sang Happy Birthday to him on Saturday. He said, "Mommy, why are you singing again?"  I think he had a GREAT birthday week!

I can't believe his is 5! Great job blowing out the candles of his chocolate poundcake LEGO cake. When we first brought out his cake he wasn't quite sure what it was :) Supposed to be stacked LEGOs...

Here he is with his new headlamp getting into his new sleeping bag...I think he was VERY excited!

I love this picture how Cameron is allowing Laura Cate to help him get into his new sleeping bag

We went downtown and played outside a little bit and then took a train on our city's first subway line and to his Cameron's favorite restaurant

Here we are on the train!

Poor Cameron

I have not posted in a very long time...and a lot has happened this fall. I will write more soon and give some updates.  The most recent news is that we were riding bikes home from dinner Friday night and Cameron was sitting on the back of Alan's bike on a little seat (like all kids do here) and he got his fee entangled in Alan's wheel...it was quite awful, although I was ahead of them with Laura Cate and didn't actually see it happen.  A friend who has a car took us to see a doctor and nothing is broken, just one ankle scraped up really bad. He can walk, but it hurts a little and because of swelling we want him to stay off of it, so we have to carry him around the house. I will take him to the doctor Monday morning to get an x ray and make sure everything is OK.  He has been so brave and such a trooper.  

We are emotionally and physically exhausted. Please pray for Cameron to be able to rest his feet (extremely hard for an active little boy) and for endurance for me as Alan had to go out of town for some meetings and will not be back until Saturday. 

 

Father’s Day

I had great plans for Alan for Father’s Day, but none of it quite worked out…my last egg broke as I was making brownies, I couldn’t find any bread for breakfast this morning, I couldn’t find the “perfect” gift for Alan, but the Lord was so gracious to remind me of His great love for us as our perfect, gracious Heavenly Father.  At our International Fellowship this morning, we sang a song called “The Goodness of God”.   This is something that I have been praying about for our kids, that they would know and claim, “You are good and what you do is good. Teach me your statutes,” Psalm 119:68.  Today I was reminded that He is good, all the time.  During the day the Lord encouraged me and was good to us with things that could not be bought, or even made to encourage and show our love and respect to Alan.  This evening Cameron said, “Happy Father’s Night!”  and at dinner he prayed and thanked God for some sweet things about Alan.  During dinner, Laura Cate also looked at Alan and said for the first time, “I love you!” in her baby babble.  These were the best Father’s Day gifts I think we could have given.  It turned out to be a precious, priceless day.  Praise God for His goodness!

Here are the lyrics to the song “The Goodness of God”

My God is a giver, an overflowing river
Pouring His lavish love on us
Season after season we give him every reason
To stop, but he never does
Chorus:
oh-oh-oh, the goodness of God
Is flooding my heart with peace
Oh-oh-oh, the goodness of God
Is bringing me to my knees
Verse Two
My God is a Father, who ransoms sons and daughters
Pouring His costly love on us
Greatest treasure given, so we can be forgiven
His Son crushed to make us whole
Repeat Chorus
Bridge
We say... We believe You are good
We believe You are good, You are good.
We believe You are good
We believe You are good, You are good.

Silly Girl

Laura Cate makes us laugh so much, even though she is only 15 months old.  Here are some pictures we thought you might enjoy.  Cameron can make her laugh too!  She was playing with one of Cameron’s hats. 

   

One thing we love to do on the weekends is to enjoy chocolate pancakes, of course for Laura Cate,  eating with your hands is even more fun!

Here Cameron was reading her a book…she LOVES books….maybe it is the difference between boys and girls, but I don’t ever remember Cameron at this age sitting and looking at books. I have a feeling she loves her brother even more though :) 

“To Infinity and Beyond!”

Saturday was a big, fun day for Cameron.  I took Cameron with some friends to see his first movie in a movie theater (and it was also our first 3-D movie).  We got to see Toy Story 3 and it was sooo great!  We both laughed and enjoyed it a lot…oh I love being with my buddy…he makes everything so fun. 

Bunk Beds!!!

I never thought having bunk beds would be so much fun for Cameron.  We  have been planning on getting some for the past six months, but we were buying them from some people that were moving, so we had to wait on them to leave. It was so hard to wait, but Cameron was patient and we finally got them and stained them to match some other furniture.  Cameron and Alan stayed up late Friday night working hard putting them together, so here are the before and after shots.  Now the bunkbeds are not only a really cool place to sleep and snuggle and read books, but they are also used as a fort, treehouse, ship, car, or train.