Our Thanksgiving....

Well, we had quite a day....I'll recap (but you know me, it probably won't be a short post).

Since we've been married, we've actually hosted Thanksgiving each year. Both sides of our families are here -- remember, our families aren't real large. It's nice -- only one big Thanksgiving feast! And, we get to spend time with both sides.

For the past two years now, we've also hosted a couple of international college students. Last year, we had one student from India. This year, we had Vinay and Nagesh -- also both from India. They are both engineering students at Wichita State University.

Marc actually fries our turkey each year.

So, here's a photo of Marc and our two international student guests, preparing the fryer for the turkey.



And, after the oil heats up, the turkey goes in the oil and takes a little over an hour to cook. It's soooo yummy this way! Plus, it doesn't tie up my oven.



Several years back, it became a tradition, mainly with the guys in our family, to "pre-eat" before the actual Thanksgiving meal. My brother, Joel, and Marc actually call it "pre-stretching" (that is -- pre-stretching of the stomach). Marc's mom graciously makes the ol' hamburger dip (you know, with hamburger and Velveeta cheese) for the guys. This year, my mom also made a spinach/artichoke dip for the guys -- though, I'm not totally sure it was up my brother's and Marc's alley. However, our international guests did not eat beef; therefore, my mom's dip was actually a good thing. So, here's the "dip" selection in the garage -- they eat while they fry the turkey and play basketball.



And, here's quite a lovely photo of my brother -- right after his mouth was full of chips and dip.



I just had mentioned basketball. Here's a photo of Marc, Joel, Vinay, and Nagesh playing basketball while the turkey was frying. Yes, my sister-in-law, Amber, and I were both a bit nervous about the basketball flying into the turkey oil....But, it all ended up fine. I just don't want our home to become a statistic of those who have fires as a result of frying turkeys on Thanksgiving.



And, just because I must post a good photo of Luke -- here's one of him rolling a basketball on the driveway -- completely away from the turkey fryer.



When Luke was not outside (which was the majority of the time), he spent some time being entertained by his Grandma Koehn (my mom). If you look closely at this photo, you'll notice he has my mom's watch around his wrist. That entertained him quite a bit.



After awhile, all of the food was ready....It took up our entire kitchen table as well as some additional cabinet space. Wow! We have absolutely NOTHING to complain about and everything to be thankful for. For the past two years, when we've had international students at our home, I have always wondered (and not really wanted to ask) exactly what these students think about the mass quantity of food we have here.





Our two nieces, Grace and Natalie, wanted to eat by themselves at the little table. It actually was quite cute. It's fun to think that Luke will be able to eat at that table with them next year. You can tell in this photo (with all of the toys a mess in the background) that there were indeed three small children playing before the food was ready :)



After eating, but before dessert, the guys all headed outside to play Cornhole. It's a fun game we learned about several years ago. Our friend, Joel S., custom made our game for us -- which is why we have a Texas Longhorn game (that was at Marc's request -- not Joel's).

After playing Cornhole and eating dessert, the guys headed outside to shoot BB guns, of course. They think our international guests seemed to actually enjoy that.

Inside, we cleaned up and played with kids.

Remember how I mentioned several posts back that Luke really enjoys singing. Well, he definitely knows how to get his Grandma Koehn to sing with him. He succeeded in that today.



And, here's a photo of my mom with her three grandkids.



And, one last thing -- and this is more for my brother than anyone.

Joel, my brother, always seems to think that Luke will not come to him -- especially if I'm in the room. But, looking back through some photos, it's amazing how many photos I've found of Luke and Joel together.

Anyways, Luke did spend some time on Joel's lap today. It was cute :) Here's a photo to prove it.



It was a fun day, but all three of us in this household are tired. Tomorrow, we're planning on going to get a Christmas tree....Stay tuned for that adventure.

I want to close with a listing of things I'm thankful for....I wrote these 12 things in my journal last night. I know the listing of "thanks" could go on and on, but here's a start --

1) Jesus Christ -- For dying on the cross for my mess-ups; for my relationship with Him.

2) For our country -- the freedoms we have; the veterans and current soldiers who protect us

3) For my wonderful husband, Marc -- who strives to love me just as Christ loves the church

4) For our first baby -- who is in heaven (the one I miscarried)

5) For Luke, our most wonderful son -- a gift from God

6) Our warm, absolutely more than enough, home

7) Our families

8) Our friends

9) Marc's job

10)Food on the table -- we obviously have more than enough

11)Clothing

12)Our Health -- and I pray that we don't take that for granted

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!