Decking the Halls

What a glorious Thanksgiving  we shared with friends.

The day was beautiful in every way.  

I didn't take ONE picture....so sad!

The highlight was our Texas pecan pies 

made from the pecans we collected a few weeks back, remember?  That's HERE.

Today, Meredith led the charge to deck the halls for Christmas.

Ian and Peter brought down all the boxes from the attic and the kids went to town.

I delighted in Meredith's interest and careful attention.

She did the mantel all by herself with greenery and berries and flowers

It is lovely and she was quite pleased as well!

The Jesse Tree found its place in the family room

My favorite angel sits atop the piano

The creche is assembled

(a youth group fund raiser from many years ago!)

Charlotte is outside working on lights

My kids are taking over this year....and its kinda fun!

Christmas music is playing and we made a Starbucks run for warm drinks...

If only we would have had the dusting of snow that MN received this morning...

nonetheless, it's been a great couple days being all together as a family

sweet, sweet memories of another Thanksgiving

and we look forward to the Advent season as we

prepare to celebrate the birth of Christ!

I pray your Thanksgiving was a blessing, too!

Thankful For...

I AM THANKFUL FOR

Salvation through faith alone in Christ Jesus

God's grace day by day

God's Word

My godly husband Ian

the blessing of five children

my siblings Scott, Sarah, and Andrea

my Parents: Stephen and Sandy

My in-laws: Ron and Mary

Neices and nephews: Kael, Kirra, 

Liam, Nathaniel, Louisa, 

Gwyneth, Neale, 

William, Katherine, and ....

a new nephew Charles Stephen born TODAY!

Grandma and Grandpa on the farm...man I love them!

Our precious church family

Our faithful and dedicated pastors

A new calling this year to children's ministry

Our school family at CCS

 our chidlens' godly educators

our health and well being

friends near in far

extended family

beauty of creation all around us

our home 

our loving home group

adoption
plans for college next year....yikes!

coaches who mentor my kids with excellence
my husband's job
piano lessons and the gift of music in my home

missionary friends in far away places

food...beautiful food

being planted in Texas

freedom

pets, namely: Zoe & Kirby (not Gus so much)

sweet family memories and milestones

Sabbath rest

teachable moments

second chances

simple pleasures

life

abundant life in Christ

and so, so much more!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Thankful Turkey

What is David thankful for?

{poor turkey lost his eyes}

school friends, the trampoline, peanut butter sandwiches, 

mom and dad, brother and sisters, his dogs and toy trains

Give thanks to the Lord for He is good

His love endures forever!!!

Blessings

Saturday morning, the children of the church gathered in the church kitchen

and we made pumpkin bread for some of our homebound members.

We also made Thanksgiving Day cards

It was precious to see the kids 

working together

playing together

helping one another

While the loaves were baking, we helped stuff 2400 bags with

Christmas invitations to our church's

Children's Christmas Party & Parent's Night Out

Our Christmas Musical and Coffee House

and

Our Christmas Eve Worship services.

It was quite a group effort and very fun!

 Once our bread was cool, we wrapped them up and made some very special deliveries

What a blessing it was to spread some joy

for Thanksgiving week!

So grateful for our church family

and a special day to serve the Lord together!

Thanksgiving Lunch

Tomorrow Claire has her Thanksgiving Lunch Exchange.

It is a precious tradition at CCS in the elementary grades.

Students draw the name of a classmate

and bring lunch for them...

They pack their friends most favorite. . .

sandwich

chips

fruit

vegetable

drink

&

dessert

They can pack the lunch however they want.

Claire chose this heart shaped box and a variety of felt and foam stickers. . .

then she went crazy!

It sure turned out cute!

Her sweet friend Tori sure will be blessed by this special lunch -

tuna salad on wheat, Pringles, strawberries, carrots and a mini cheesecake!

The kids are all very excited to have a full week off of school next week.

And we are looking forward to giving Thanks together on Thursday.

Bless the Lord oh my soul,

and all that is within me,

bless His holy name!

Thanksgiving 2011

It was wonderful to have a full week off of school, to welcome family from out of town and enjoy the beautiful Houston weather all together!

The whole Achterkirch family was together from Dallas and Minneapolis.

What sweet memories we made!

There was frisbee throwing, laughing, swimming, donut making, story telling, bingo playing (with Nannie's great prizes!), trampoline jumping, walking, zip-lining, napping, cooking, shopping, reading, football throwing, eating (lots of eating!)  and some hard core hoops competing!


Thanksgiving Day was also Peter's birthday.  Fourteen.  How very blessed we are by you, Peter and we pray God's continued blessing upon your life as you seek to live for Him!

Here is the big guy getting some sister love!



And of course, Thanksgiving day will never be the same for our family since seeing David's referral photo on Thanksgiving two years ago and making the decision to bring him into our family.  God is so good.

It's been a great week.  I hope your Thanksgiving was blessed in every way, too!

David's Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Today was baking day.
I love baking days.  So does David.
And today was a glorious day for fall baking....67 degrees, windows open and oven on.  Hmmmm.
We made items for the older kids to take to school for their Thanksgiving feasts tomorrow.

Charlotte is taking a pumpkin roulade with ginger buttercream.  Beautiful!

Peter is taking two dozen giant Foster Market sugar saucer cookies.  Delicious!

Claire is taking pumpkin bread for her teacher and a special packed lunch for her friend Jacob.  This second grade tradition is precious.  The students draw names and fill a special decorated container with a lunch for their friend.  They enjoy their lunches picnic style on the playground tomorrow.  I think Claire's turkey box turned out simply adorable!  Inside will be all of Jacob's favorites!!!

Back to pumpkin bread.

One of my favorite preschool prewriting activities is to take dictation on short stories that accompany art work.  Or having kids write a recipe.  So today David shared his recipe for pumpkin bread.  It's a winner!




DAVID'S EXTRA SPECIAL PUMPKIN BREAD

1.  Get a big orange pumkin from the store.

2.  Baba can cut the top off but he needs to be sooooo careful.  The knife is big.  And Claire needs to stand back way far!

3.  Take mommies bread and put it in the pumpkin.  Put some eggs and some milk and stir it.  Put in some butter too - 5 pieces.

4.  Put the pumpkin in the oven and make it real hot.  It can be hot for 5 minutes.  When it is done, you can eat it.  But I don't like pumpkin to eat.



David, you are the cutest punkin' ever!!!  Thanks for being my kitchen helper today!