BLACK FRIDAY

What a great Thanksgiving we had yesterday. Nice and peaceful, well as peaceful as a house of 13 can be! The food was great, though we don't eat the traditional Thanksgiving fare, we usually have something out of the ordinary as none of us here care for turkey. I am the only one that had a food item that was from a Thanksgiving menu, a baked sweet potato! It was so yummy! We didn't eat until 2:30, and with many hands helping the mess was cleaned and put away quickly and off to the movies we all went. We had wanted to see Mr. Magoriums wonder emporium but, of course, it was not playing at the theater we frequent so we opted to see The Bee Movie! It was cute sitting and listening to my grown sons laugh and enjoy themselves as well as the younger ones. Victoria did ok, she was a little piglet with the popcorn and that was fine it kept her quiet and busy. I was also the designated refiller, I couldn't even tell you how many times I refilled pop, slurpies, and popcorn! We took up one entire row, so I was going from one side of the theater to the other with refills.

Once home, Den, David, Daniel, Branden, Bryan, Benjamin and Grant (a good friend) all decided to head to Soaring Eagle Casino. I so had wished I had sent a camera with them to record their adventure! They left about 7:30 and didn't return home until 6:30am! Den said he just had a ball with the boys and it was such fun watching them all play black jack! Pretty much everyone won back what they lost but, of course, not one walked away a big winner!!

I kept down the home front with Brett, Blake, Brennan, Jacqueline, Colson and my daughter-in-law Casey. Somewhere into the evening I got a flu bug and then Victoria got it as well. Nothing too serious but we both were not feeling well. She woke up about 1am and finally fell asleep about 5ish. I was exhausted and fell right into bed, not even hearing everyone come home. Casey fell asleep on the sofa waiting for Dave to return, then they left to spend the morning sleeping at her moms!

It was a nice quiet day, most everyone slept in. Dave and Casey came back over for a few hours, and we found ourselves watching "Funny Home Videos". How weird but we all laughed and it was just so nice enjoying my families company. The kids also drew names for Christmas, scurrying around trying to figure out gifts they might like to get. It was cute watching them all laugh and crack jokes as were all crowded around the kitchen.

Victoria and I are feeling some better though she still has had a few boughts with stomach cramps. Hoepfully tomorrow we will be fine. We leave bright and early to take Daniel back to the airport as he is North Dakota bound again! We will surely miss that kid! Gosh these past few days flew by since he has been home. One evening he spent in bed with a migrane so that was a bummer, not only for us, but for his fiance Elizabeth.

Everyone is scattered for now, I hear the movie White Christmas being played from the livingroom and I can hear some of the kids playing XBOX360 in the basement, Colson and Victoria are down for the count and I am taking a few moments to blog in between doing Dan's laundry.

We are so blessed, even when the frustrations of life squeeze and twist, we are still God's children and He is still in control. Sometimes its hard to understand the reasons behind the tests that he puts us through, sometimes we go through them kicking and screaming, and sometimes we even cop attitudes, we do confess our imperfections and try over and over each day to live the day better than before!

There are a few things we are in great need of, and there have been a few moments of weakness where we almost succombed to our own ways of taking care of them, yet at the final moment we stop, knowing that if God wants us to have them, He will provide, in His time. Is it hard? Oh my gosh, yes! Do I grumble, OH my gosh, yes! Do I feel guilty for my lack of trust and faith! Oh my gosh yes! Sometimes its in the testing that we find it the very hardest to trust. You know, in Romans, where it says, (my own paraphrase) "the things I don't want to do, I find myself doing, and the things I want to do, I don't." My hope and prayer is that no matter what I always search and seek what God wants. I know I don't live that out as much as I would like especially in front of my kids but I hope they see that I am trying, that their dad is trying and that serving Him is the only way to true contentment and happiness.