"Grateful"

Today I'm sitting and typing (resting). I love the Thanksgiving holiday but my feet and back are always sore the day after!  Scott and I got the notion to paint the living room last week.  Ha! We're not 20, 30, or 40 anymore, we are just plain dumb.  We energetically chose the paint (my brother's home color), prepped the room, moved furniture, etc.  Then Scott edged the room and painted on Monday.  Peter and Krisha Gabucci visited with us on Monday and just walked through the mess, bless their hearts!  We had a wonderful two-hour plus visit, it could have been longer!

 Room Before, above, Room after, below

The paint dried, we slowly moved the furniture around and hung up the last picture on Wednesday afternoon.  All this plus babysitting Emma, preparing the rest of the house, food, decorations for Thanksgiving.  Somebody, please keep reminding us we're not 40 anymore!  Ha!
When all of the family and guests arrived and made themselves at home it was all worth it.  I always love it when all have their plates and are seated at the table.  There's no feeling like it - very blessed.
Our daughter, Victoria, and her husband, Leonard, hosted their first Thanksgiving dinner with guests from the base.  German ovens are small, so they cooked steaks instead, with all of the other trimmings.  I am very proud of their hospitality and effort for others.
This was our granddaughter, Emma's, first Thanksgiving.  We are so grateful that the Lord has allowed them to live close by (around the corner) and that they are so faithful and active at church.  We can see the family several times a week.  She was sick this week and at the hospital ER and doctor's office, but she made it here for Thanksgiving day.

(Martin, Jessica, Emma - Thanksgiving day, 2012)
About 8:00 p.m. I started to log my calories on my calorie counter app.  After breakfast, the appetizers, etc. the calorie bar chart went from blue (calories remaining) to bright red (calories over).  For fun and honesty and I decided to go ahead and log every bite I could remember taking.  Well, now I know why we only have Thanksgiving one time a year!  I only had one bite of dessert and I still logged in enough calories for a family of four! :)

We were so honored to have a street full of cars and tables full of guests at our home for Thanksgiving. We may not always have this opportunity and we are so grateful to the Lord for His blessings and kindness to us.