Happy Thanksgiving!
November 23, 2017
Thanksgiving
After our looooong day of driving yesterday, we finally arrived
in Maryland.
We left our house a little after 8 in the morning. We
arrived at my in laws house about 8:30. We encountered bad traffic the entire
way from North Carolina all the way to Maryland. I felt so bad for my husband
who drove the whole way. We made way too many bathroom breaks but with 8 kids
that is unavoidable.
The entire way up I was recounting things I was thankful
for. This month always makes us recount our blessing.
We had our family thanksgiving celebration Tuesday afternoon.
This could be the last year that we are all living under the same roof. That is
something that is very hard for me to wrap my head around. Next holiday season I
could just have 6 children living under my roof.
I asked each child what was one dish they wanted me to cook.
Alex – chocolate pecan pie
William – Brown and serve rolls
Nathan- pumpkin pie
Esther – strawberry pretzel salad
Daniel – mashed potatoes
Sam – turkey
Caleb – Watergate salad
We had a lovely meal. I did most of the cooking on Monday so
I felt very relaxed on Tuesday except for when I could not find my crock pot. We
searched frantically for it for about 30 minutes until we discovered that no
one had removed it from the van after church on Sunday.
All of the food was
delicious. I added stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and green bean casserole
to the menu.
We had a great time and went around the table with each
person saying what they were thankful for. Most of my kids said they were
thankful for Spiritual Twist Productions. Alex almost made me cry when he said
he was thankful for all the times that I have taken him out to work on his
book. I have seen him mature so much this year and I am so proud of him.
We packed Tuesday night and were ready to get on the road
early on Wednesday morning, along with thousands of other people. It was quite
a drive but I was so thankful for my phone and Lamplighter Theater. For the past
few days I have been researching what audio books we wanted to listen to on the
drive up. My kids love audio books. I mean, LOVE, audio books. We have spent
hours listening to the story of Corrie ten Boom. They loved Hope Auer’s audio
drama of a Cry From Egypt. Hal and Melanie Young’s Pollyanna and Five Little
Pepper’s had them laughing so hard. We have listened to Adventures in Odyssey
and Paws and Tales and Jonathan Park all over the country. Every time Christian
audio has their twice a year sale we spend hours trying to decide what audio
We have always loved Lamplighter Theater. We almost have
every audio drama they have ever produced. Almost. They are having a Black
Friday sale and so a lot of their audio dramas were $10. I bought four. We
listened to three of them on the way to Maryland. I may end up buying more so we
can listen to more on the way home.
We listened to The Haunted Room, Frozen Fire, and Titus: Comrade
of the Cross. With each story I watched my children really get into the story. Whenever
we had to stop or I accidently wiggled the cord and it would pause I heard protests
from the back of the van.
Lamplighter’s motto is “Building Christ-like character…one
story at a time.” Each audio drama that we have listened to has done just that.
They have really affected my children and make them want to be more like Christ.
It is worth all the money in world for my children to be exposed to Godly, well
made material like Lamplighter produces.
We are now up enjoying a relaxing Thanksgiving Day. All my
children are playing together well and without a phone or device in their
hands. For the month of November, I decided that I was going to put all the devices
away. I collected all the devices and when I visited my mom last time I asked
her to keep them at her house. I knew that if I kept them at my house that my
children would spend the entire month searching for them. I have run out of
hiding places.
It has been so nice not having the arguments over the devices.
My children are playing together with their toys. They have spent more time outside
this month. They even have rediscovered all the board games that we have. It
has been lovely. I may keep them at my mom’s house past November 30th.
I feel like we have gotten closer as a family since the devices have been gone.
We have done more things together and been able to address several issues with
our children.
So, I guess, this thanksgiving I am thankful for a device
free month and audio books.
I hope every one of you has a blessed thanksgiving. I am
thankful for each one of you who reads my little blog.
My next post will be about what I am doing to prepare my
heart for the upcoming Christmas season.
Comments
Post a Comment