Thanksgiving Joys

Little did we know that God had allowed six of my siblings to make Thanksgiving plans that would overlap with our needing to make a trip over to Missouri to once again see and be with my mom and dad as he took a sudden turn for the worse. So our joyful time was turned a bit more somber, yet it was rich and joyful, thankful and beautiful all at the same time. 

 

It was a time to give thanks, to be together once again, and to rejoice in the Lord

Who makes no mistakes.

On our way to Missouri, we stopped in Mansfield to visit our dear friends Rev. and Mrs. Goodwin, who had filled in at our church about 11 years ago. Dennis Goodwin has been suffering so much since his stroke, and we just wanted to bring them some joy. It was wonderful to meet Bro. Goodwin's son, Dwight that night. 

 

 The children played piano, mandolin, and ukulele pieces for them.

On Thanksgiving morning, everyone was busy. When Jonathan and I arrived to Joella's home from the cabin/showroom/guest room a couple miles down the road where we stayed nights, I just had to capture this sweet scene.

Three little girls who were actually playing with dolls and a puppy instead of Ipads. 

And three little boys playing with a tricycle.

Some parents are doing a really good job with their children.

I spent some time at Mom and Dad's making scrambled eggs for their breakfast and mine, and then drove on to Fain and Regina's place a few miles away to get our turkey we'd asked the girls to roast in our roaster we'd brought. Timmy raised the turkey and we roasted it for Thanksgiving!

At Regina's, we tried to determine what to make for our dad, as he is without teeth and must have soft food, and very limited kinds of food, too.

Regina pulled out some frozen mushrooms and onion that I blended and sauteed and added to chopped green beans to turn it into a sort of "green bean casserole a la mode"--just for Dad who was not up to coming to the big gathering.

We had rented a very large community building at a fairgrounds, so we had lots of indoor and outdoor space both! Girl cousins had a blast decorating tables and making a memory table for the reunion. We also had a sort of informal silent auction in the corner as a fund raiser for medical bills for my niece Amaris who continues to suffer with chronic lymes disease and other complications.

Amaris and her mom had made these darling baby quilts. A couple of us purchased two of them for the fund raiser. This is Elizabeth, Gabriel's beautiful wife. And here are more of those quilts, some with embroidered centers. Amaris had a special sewing machine that does embroidery.

 

 

She was able to attend for a couple hours, until the noise and light got to her. She has so much constant pain and fatigue, and she cannot begin to enjoy life like the rest of us. One feels so helpless against the ravages of this new disease. Her family has spent tens of thousands of dollars on treatments and doctor bills, and the last doctor recently told her basically that all they had done for her was in vain.

Nevertheless, we all tried to bring her what cheer we could, and she bravely tried to attend at least for a while. 

 

Amaris has the sweetest little niece you ever saw, Jed and Rosalie's daughter Kari.

I just had to get a snapshot of the sweet kiss little Kari gave Amaris just before she left. 

 

Kari's little brother took to Crystal like a baby bird to its nest! He loved her! (And I think the feeling was mutual!) And he fell asleep on her!

Mom was given the honor of going first in line to dinner. Not only had my dad taken a turn for the worse, but my mom had apparently pulled her back and had been in pain for a few days till that morning. Her heating pad had quit working in the middle of that time, and you know how it is--they had at least two other heating pads but did not know where they were!

When I arrived, I looked at that heating pad and plugged it in just to make sure it was not working, and wouldn't you know it? That thing started working again! Jonathan says it had gotten damp from the leak in Mom's ice pack and must have tripped. Mom likes to believe it was my magic touch, and it would be so much fun if you would believe her!!!! 

(I also managed to find the other heating pads, too. I'm the daughter, so I get to go rummaging around in their cupboards and find their lost items!)

Green bean casseroles.

I always enjoy the beautiful job the girl cousins do with decorating. 

This is the memory table, with photos from earlier reunions, Scripture plaque, early photos from my mom and dad's life, and the recent albums the clan made for my parents of everyone's favorite hymn or song, and everyone's favorite Scripture.

 I am so thankful that this is the legacy my parents have passed down--the honor of God's Word and the love of excellent music.

This photo held a place of prominence. It's a photo someone unearthed recently of my mother (on the far right) with her two younger sisters about 74 years ago.

The boys' table.

After dinner, I was so proud of my unselfish nieces who spent most of their afternoon helping the younger cousins have a wonderful time of games.

Gabriel's little Aaron getting ready to throw the ball in dodge ball game.

Another game was held inside the fairground corral area.

The guys had built a fire in the fire pit. 

There were so many things to do there, and to think we only had to pay $150 for the whole day and we had access to the whole grounds! Missouri is amazing!

The girls cleaning the sawdust from their shoes after the games in the arena!

Candace doing a quiz and "Build the Pilgrim lady and man" game with some gel clings I had brought. (I had to wash the window afterward!)

Meanwhile, I was doing the final touches on a Thanksgiving Random Game that I had created with ideas from the Reformation Random Game we'd played on Reformation Day. It really kept the interest of nearly everybody except the very littlest children who had plenty of room elsewhere to play their own little toddlers' games.

There were various quizzes about which books of the Bible the words "thanksgiving" and "thankfulness" were in, questions about names of Pilgrim children on the Mayflower and how many pairs of shoes one of the pilgrims brought over. There was a matching stint, and a "What Rhymes With Thank?" rhyming game. But one of the best parts was the Corncob Classic. Elon's and Anita's daughter-in-law Rosalie helped me by counting to make sure each little cob of Indian corn that Rose grew had equal number of kernels on. We had a guys' team and a ladies' team the whole time. Lydia, Kezia's girl, got picked to be the one to shell the girls' cob. 

And the guys' team had a little boy to shell the corn--Benjamin, Gabriel's boy. Nobody else was allowed to touch the corn, but everyone could tell them how to do it or holler encouragement. You should have heard the yelling, drumming on the table, and clapping as the little children got nearly done!

Of course, the boys' team won!

Then we had some solos, Duets, and trios! A soloist from each team had to sing through a verse of a Thanksgiving hymn without making a mistake. The duet was someone from each team singing together on another Thanksgiving hymn, and the first one to make a mistake had to drop out. I loved when Ezra sang through to the end without mistake, as one by one the rest of us joined him in the chorus of "Let all the people praise thee!"

In between that game and another one that Candace and Natasha had prepared, everyone helped pack up and put tables and chairs away. I so appreciated the way parents made sure the littles had a good time. I do not recall seeing a single squabble or hearing a single temper tantrum. But I might have been a little blind or deaf.

 

In this game, brothers and sisters teamed up to try to operate, one without hands and the other without eyes! The boys' team had to open cartons of yogurt and eat them. Rose's arms are through the arms of the jacket while Timmy's hands are underneath the table. Rose is behind him, not allowed to see. When it was the girls' turn, they had to somehow open little jars of peanut butter and jam, spread it on bread which must also be opened and passed down the table to each one! They are allowed water and napkins. Talk about hilarious! Oh, and they also have salt and pepper.

They made a huge mess, although it was amazing how well they actually did together! And we onlookers laughed until we could hardly laugh anymore!