Yummy

Thanksgiving brings out the best in neighborhoods. Most years, I'm a hermit inside my house, occyupying myself with random things while waiting for the food...mashed potatoes has become my particular specialty (to make...and to eat, I guess).

This year, however, I had to drive back and forth to Lizzie's. I cooked potatoes there and baked a casserole and cleaned and fed the dog, etc. It takes about 1 minute, 46 seconds to get to Lizzie's house: no major streets, one stop sign (depending on which way you go) and a few cars parked on the side of the road. Yesterday, there were a LOT more cars, and they were all centered around particular houses. Warm, fuzzy feelings began rising up in me as I thought about so many people, gathered together around the country (and our neighborhood) for the sole purpose of being together (and maybe a little turkey). Think about it. Thanksgiving is one of the few days of the year where everyone feels the injustice of anyone not having a fwam of a turkey. No one is okay with someone being alone on Thanksgiving. Yep, you're getting warm fuzzy feeling now too, aren't you?

Our personal Thanksgiving was quite nice. We had Thanksgiving breakfast together at a hotel with Liz and Peter before they headed out to Minnesota.

getting ready to head out the door...no, she's not a superhuman four year old though we do think she's quite amazing...the angle just makes it LOOK like she's carrying baby.

eating it up...

then we played outside for a while.  Yes, Judah is wearing pink pants.  Glorie's pink pants, to be exact.  At least this time it's not a my-dad-got-me-dressed deal.  No, no.  Instead it's more of a bodily function that couldn't quite be contained in the diaper deal.  With no spare pants except girl cousin's pj's in the car.

just after this picture was taken, her 6'4" dad remarked how Glorie has now surpassed Judah in height...

OJ and Judah play...you can see the progression.  OJ hides...Judah runs in circles...

Then we cleaned and got ready and Pete came!  We love Pete.  We all got dressed up and took some family portraits.

they are a lovely family, are they not?

all of us...

this following is the best one of this particular group...even though it's blurry

Ariel was soooo excited about her Thanksgiving dress

Then we ate.  Suzy cooked an amazing meal...

the turkey and the boys

don't worry...that's sparkling grape juice getting poured into Judah's cup

And it was yummy.

Another Peppermint Patty

You know what I haven't had yet this season?  A peppermint mocha.  Not that it's a tradition or anything, but when I think about it, it seems kind of wrong.  I've had the red cup, but not the pepperminty goodness.

What I have had, however, is peppermint patties.  You see, I've been working on college applications, and Liz happens to have a nice little stash of these other minty goodnesses in her cupboard, and when I just can't write one more sentence, I go break out the patty.  For a little inspiration, you know?

How are college applications going, you ask?  For the first time in a long time, you're about to get a positive answer.

Yes, sir, applications are actually going fine!  I have to more forms to do, and then I'm done!  Two!  Granted, one of those involves THREE small essays, but I am making progress.  Three supplements submitted with one more to go, then I just have to upload the final product of my main essay and submit that.

Almost there...almost there.  Please, someone have a party with me when this is over.

The Family that Bakes Together Stays Together

Today Judah and I got some quality bonding time.  Suzy took Samuel and Ariel to the store (Thanksgiving, here we come!), and when Judah woke up, it was a party with Annie.  We hung out, had some yummy food, went on a walk, and baked a coffee cake.  About a week ago, Judah and I were about to bake said coffee cake when we were interrupted by visitors.  Today, Judah still remembered and wanted to bake, so we did!  Then we watched a movie, and he even wanted to sit next to me and put his head on my shoulder instead of sit on his dad's lap!  Talk about making me smile inside...not that he shouldn't be with OJ, but he LOVES his dad and pretty much never turns down an opportunity to be close to him.  I love my Judah...

Here's a cute-o picture of him from our walk:

And here's a couldn't-you-just-eat-him-up-'cause-he's-so-cute picture of Samuel.  Yes, you know you want to kiss his cheeks.

THANKSGIVING UPDATE: So, we thought it was going to be just us for Thanksgiving, but a friend of Suz and OJ's from Tacoma is thinking of coming!  WEEEEE!!!  He might not come, but he's wanting to and looking at tickets!  Come, Pete!  Come!

AAAAAHHHH!!

So, I just realized that my profile had my blog hidden...this means that when I commented on other Blogger blogs, and someone else saw my comment, then clicked on my name, it looked like I didn't have a blog!  So much possible traffic wasted!  Dear possible readers, PLEASE COME BACK!! I will comment and comment more, and now please click on my name and see hey!  she has a blog!

In other news, hello New York, New Orleans, and LONDON!  I am loving Google Analytics.

Only 3 Sleeps!

Yesterday morning on the way to church Ariel asked "How many sleeps until Thanksgiving??"  Well, dear little one, only four sleeps (three today) until we eat the yummiest food in all of America and celebrate being thankful and being pilgrims...  

Growing up, Thanksgiving was our big holiday.  We didn't do Christmas until I was about 9 or 10.  That's correct, people.  You read right: we didn't do Christmas. 

Or at least, not in the normal American-sense.  We didn't get a tree, we didn't give presents.  We DID praise the Lord that He was born and we DID have a big, yummy dinner (basically a second Thanksgiving, only with ham).

I remember the days of begging my dad for a tree...it probably included some sort of logic akin to: "Everybody else has one!"  "It'll be fun!"  "It'll help us be closer as a FAMILY!"  "We get to practice giving!"  "I REALLY want that Polly-pocket set!"  

You know, something like that.

No Christmas presents.  My brother's birthday is Dec. 23, and mine is Jan. 11, so it's all pretty crammed in there.  Finally, Dad caved, we ventured out on the then-foreign mission of picking a tree, and Christmas is now an established tradition in our family.  I think squeezing it in there was good to do before we started marrying into various other families, all of whom do Christmas. Even though we've started doing the presents (and everyone only gets two: we pick names so we don't all go bankrupt), my dad emphasizes every Christmas morning that it is all about JESUS.  The reason we celebrate is because in His kindness He took on a human body...something that should blow our minds every time we think about it.

Back to the subject of the particular way we celebrate the holiday: since there was no Christmas, Thanksgiving was our HUGE holiday.  It was when everyone came home, we had tons of other people over, Grandma got carried up the stairs by the men of the house (sometimes in her wheelchair, but we do have this precious picture of Sam, home from the Naval Academy, carrying little frail grandma in his arms up our stairs).  She always got the most comfortable chair, everyone dressed up, and we were thankful.  Thankful for each other, thankful for the holiday that forced everyone to come home for a few days, and mostly thankful for Jesus.  Our thanks usually turned to Him and what He'd been doing in our lives...and most often turned towards the fact that He came and the fact that He died...we were thankful for the freedom His cross brought in our lives.

The dawn of the McPeterHerd Christmas tradition has sadly meant the sunset of the set-in-stone Thanksgiving tradition.  Eventually, sisters had to spend holidays with their husbands' families.  People might have to plan on coming for Christmas, and miss Thanksgiving.  We started wearing jeans to dinner, even if make-up was freshened up and a pretty shirt put on.  

I thought last year was small, when Thanksgiving was my parents, me, and Amy (oh, and the Pakistani doctors...different story).  This year it's going to be even more secluded.

Elizabeth, Peter, and Glorie are headed to MN for dinner with Peter's family.  Mom, Dad, and foreign student Steve were going to be here, until Mom had an emergency appendectomy last night...so, it will be the McD's and me.  No matter who's there, the thanks will be the same, and I can assure you our words before we dig into the turkey will again reflect on the goodness and beauty of Christ.  (And Judah might throw in a little thanksgiving for goats...he likes to do that)

Videos of note

Raking, raking.  Ariel's the only one that got anything real done, but you know what?  Those other ones had fun!

As with most videos of children doing normal things, this may only interest you if you're related to these cute-os.  (Hi, Aunt Mamy!)  Oh wait, I take that back.  No matter who you are, the fact that Judah's dancing outfit is his coonskin cap and Alligator Wellies will probably humor you.

And lastly, this isn't really important but GUESS WHAT I SAW ON DRUDGE REPORT?  24!  24!  24, in case you don't know, was affected by that writer's strike that happened a while back.  The thing is, 24 can't start in the middle of a season because then it wouldn't be 24.  It would be 13, or 10, or even worse 8.5...maybe 60 minutes would have a special that ran a half hour extra and then things would REALLY be thrown off.  *In case you don't know, each season has 24 hours documented, real time.  It's quite riveting what can happen in 24 hours...bombs, hostages, guns, world wars...all in 24 hours*

DISCLAIMER: I have only watched one season of this show.  Well, one plus the few that got me hooked in the season before.  I don't really feel the need to watch another season...I had my 24 experience and it's done.  Plus, it's extremely violent and, though I can appreciate Jack Bauer's rival-of-Chuck-Norris status, he needs to learn how to not torture people.  Therefore, I really can't tell you whether it's okay to watch this show.  I won't be.

K, but here's the perplexing part.  They're doing a little two hour catch-up show before the real season starts in January.  Read the description from the website:

After sacrificing everything for his country, Jack Bauer is wanted by the U.S. government and now stands to lose the only thing he has left: his freedom. Working as a missionary in Africa, Bauer is called upon to stop a ruthless warlord from drafting innocent children into his murderous militia. First, Bauer must confront his own torturous past and face an impossible decision that will change his life forever. A decision that will set the stage and raise the stakes for Season Seven, which debuts in January 2009.

Did you catch the "working as a missionary" part?  (Remember the afore-mentioned torturing problem) .  Wait a minute...are they really going to make Jack Bauer a missionary, or have they decided to go ahead and re-define the word?  I mean Jack Bauer is nice and everything, but...preaching the gospel?  That'd be cool, and it does air on Fox, but...it would really surprise me if he's actually there with a church instead of just doing good things and being called a "missionary".   Strange that they chose that wording, methinks.

Tunes in my Ears

BREAKING NEWS

Just bought on iTunes...just added to my playlists.

By Your Side by Tenth Avenue North

I'm not big on sentimental K-love songs...but this one I really liked (I don't know if it even falls into that).  Anyways, it's encouraging.

Lion of Judah by Jason Upton

Fire.  Pure fire.

No one knows the hour.

No one knows the day.

Jesus is coming soon.

All creation trembles, longing for the day.

Jesus is coming soon

There will be judgment.

There will be mercy

On that terrible day

Leaders will bow down.

Kingdoms will fall down.

Have you felt your world begin to shake?

Hear the sound of the Lion of Judah

See the fire and the fear in the enemy's camp

From the sound of the lion of Judah roaring again

There's a new generation arising

A nameless, faceless, placeless tribe

All they fear is the fear of the Lord

All they hear is the Lion of Judah

Raise up an army!  Raise up an army!  Raise up an army like Joel saw!

This song brings it all out of me.  My heart just shouts to the Lord: "ME!  ME!  I'm part of that tribe!!"  There definitely is a generation rising.  Jesus is coming.  Everything else melts away in importance.

Outfitted

The kids love to dress up and dance. Glorie, now almost as soon as she gets to our house, wants to put on "preTTY Dwess!" and then insists that "lel-lel" (Ariel) put hers on too. Judah promptly runs to get his "dress-up" outfit...a coonskin cap and Alligator Wellies. Let the children dance.

Let them rake as well. Glorie shoveled, as you can see, but they had a blast and not one of them cared that it was so cold their noses were about to fall off.

These kids have FUN.  

Cracking me up.

Meet Judah's outfit of the night. This cracked me up, and has continued to do so. He is hilarious.

Flat...but mountainous.

Last night I sat in the prayer room for an hour and a half being discouraged. I scored a table and opened my computer and got nowhere on college essays. Seriously, people. An hour and a half. In the prayer room. All I could think was "it takes some serious discouragement for this to happen." Eventually, I decided it was much easier to write about what the Lord was doing in me than it was to make up something for a particular college that sounds better than: "I want to go to your school because I have friends in Tacoma and want to be near them, so, um...you're the best option. Please let me in [Puppy eyes]."

Then I closed my computer, moved to a seat next to my dear friend Christina, and met Jesus for a long while. By the end I was encouraged and had a lot of weight off of my heavy heart. Jesus is so trustworthy. I truly can trust Him...with my life, with my time, with my heart. He proved to me on the cross that in His eyes, I was worth His very life. He would never save me from so deep to leave me by the wayside.

By now I definitely have a list-topper of what I'm hoping to do next year. Let me introduce you to the Bohlenders, who play a large part in this. I told Randy today how I've been feeling recently: that even if no one else had become my friend in Kansas City, I would feel so loved and accepted purely by the way the Bohlenders have acted towards me. HERE is an example. Randy's commentary of their latest happenings includes me, and I just cannot describe to you how much I am blessed to know this family. I fully invite Randy to sabotage any and all college essays -- who needs college anyway? =D

I have to take a moment to say that one of my current favorite things about them (there is a list that extends beyond the Yangze River) is that they have a gorgeous two year old, 2 month old adopted twin girls...then last week found out they are pregnant and LOVE it. That loving it part rocks my socks off.

Seriously, I don't think I can say "I love that family" enough times. As I began to blend in with the Kansas City crowd and TheCall team, I also learned to gradually accept that the Bohlenders meant what they said, and that I really was loved here. That moment of "hey...maybe they really mean it" is a GREAT feeling. If you haven't felt that in a while, do yourself a favor, break off some insecurity, and believe that next person who says "we love you!" You might just find you have some Bohlenders in your very own life...and then you can make them some cake! =)

Steps

Does moving on always have to ache?  

I'm obviously pondering next year a lot of the time, and thinking about going somewhere else just makes my heart hurt.

There's something special that's happened to me in Kansas City.  Sometimes I can't describe it, sometimes it's found sitting in the prayer room, sometimes it's on a plane to Washington, D.C. with TheCall, sometimes it's in Costco with Lizzie, sometimes it's around the Bohlender's kitchen table with cake...  No matter where it is shows itself obviously, it's always there in the background.

 A friend recently was mentioning how you have good times in places, but at the end are totally ready to move on.  I do not feel like that.  At the same time, I don't feel like I have to be in KC.  I can feel excited about the ideas of the Lord doing grand things in me and know that those grand plans might include cities and communities other than Kansas City, TheCall and IHOP.  I can feel that way, but I kinda don't want to.

So, as I look toward next year I wonder again, "Does moving on always have to hurt?" 

If I love the thought of staying in Kansas City, cultivating the many amazing friendships the Lord has provided in these few months, of working with TheCall, of finding a home at IHOP...if all of that feels so right and anything else -- Stanford, Wheaton, miles and miles and miles from Kansas City, feels so lonely...

At the same time, I know that Jesus might call me somewhere else, and I fully trust that wherever He sends me He will provide friends and a great calling.

Thoughts...

Welcome, Canada!

I have some friends from Canada.  Well, maybe I have an acquaintance.  Hey, actually, I kind of have two or three!

Off subject.

What I really want to say is welcome to my first international visitor (since beginning to use Google Analytics...yes, I stalk the map and watch how many times you've visited my blog... muah hahaha....)  Halifax, Canada -- thanks for stopping by!

Maybe I need to do a bloggy give-away.  I'm really trying to figure out how normal people who write about normal everyday stuff rack up the readers!  Any advice, master bloggers?

And in other news, I still haven't finished those applications.  

Dear Stanford, Princeton, etc.:

You have officially driven me to the point of tears.  Congratulations.

Not yours,

Annie