Thanksgiving and beyond

This picture is a little older than Thanksgiving but I wanted to share it. This is the brace that Luke wears when he is sleeping. He is so good about wearing it. . . he will help buckle the shoes and will tell you that it is not right by saying, "ow, ow, ow" and fixing it. When he wakes up in the morning he calls to us and we take it off--then he is ready to go for the day. So now he has shoes for day and night time!

We had a busy but fun Thanksgiving. Roni and Doug and kids came over and we had a great time. The kids played well together and Cora was no longer afraid of the dogs! Way to go Cora. We had a great meal, went to the local Christmas tree lighting, the Pierces found a great tree, and Craig and Shar beat Roni and Doug in the wii tennis tournament. I am sure there will be a rematch coming on that!

The week after Thanksgiving we hosted the dessert part of a progressive dinner for our church. It was a lot to get ready for but we made it. Lot's of house work that we had been putting off got finished up, some deluxe cleaning and lot's of baking. It was fun to open our home to our church family. After some trouble at the church the Bennett's joined us and hosted appetizers at our house. Doing it together with them made it even more fun. I love our church family!

This weeks excitement included Luke's last major surgery for awhile. He had his nose and lip reworked. While he was completely adorable how he was as he gets older he will appreciate a little cleaner looking repair. The surgery went really well and recovery is going better than I anticipated. We end up not having to spend the night at the hospital--for which I am very grateful. He is feeling great this morning (the day after surgery). He has some swelling and the stitches are visible but is pretty much his normal self so far. We are trying to take it easy but he is ready to go, go, go. I woke up this morning feeling good. I didn't realize how much this surgery had been placing stress on me. I am glad it is done!

Tonight is Amanda and Ben's school Christmas program. Amanda has a speaking part in it. I am looking forward to going. They are doing a dinner theater style presentation with the focus being a birthday party for Jesus. Sunday is the kids program at church. Amanda, Ben, and Luke are all participating in different parts of that. It is fun to see them getting into celebrating the birth of Christ!