Monday, November 27, 2006

Are you still with me??

(Updated with pictures)

If you are amazing enough to patiently wait a month since my last post, and you're back to my blog, faithfully expecting another entry, I commend you. I thank you. I appreciate your loyalty. This is the longest I've gone between posts, and it's not really due to lack of time. It's more accurately due to lack of computer time. It's been an interesting month.

But here I am, back on the bandwagon, so to speak, and ready to start filling you in on the Great Green Adventures of weeks past. They say when you're behind on something, to start backwards with the most recent event, otherwise you'll never catch up. So I'll begin with Thanksgiving weekend.

This was the first year I remember actually having to make an effort to have a thankful heart. I mean, I knew in my head that I am abundantly blessed and have loads to be thankful for, and so many others are experiencing true suffering, but my attitude wasn't in the right place at all. I found myself praying for a spirit of thankfulness almost the entire week prior, and my prayers were graciously answered.

We went down to the Ranch in Laredo, feasting for days on end, relaxing in the beautiful weather, and watching the kids have a blast the entire time. All the usual activities took place: trike riding, trampolining, animal viewing, junk-food eating, and this time, fishing as well. In fact, Garfield caught a huge catfish, as well as a Tilapia, which we understand are very difficult to catch without using lettuce or something "grassy" for bait.

Baby Garfield learned to master the art of shaking his head "no", mostly as a reaction to me trying to take him from his Grandfather's arms. He was also able to sucker his Grandmother into sharing a variety of her sought-after pies with him. (Seriously, hers are the best. Even if there's a table of 15 pies around, you'll hear people asking which ones she baked before they make their selection.)

Emma cracked us all up as she pedaled her new trike a mile a minute back and forth to the lake. (Thanks Grandma Sam and Papa Del!) We kept expecting her to keel over from exhaustion, but that girl has endurance!

Oh, and I did find something new to be thankful for: being pregnant during the holidays! Everyone should own a pair or two of stretchy maternity clothes with pouches to wear during feasting time--they are so handy!

So all in all, it was a wonderful holiday, and I think we all feel a little more refreshed and able to tackle the obstacles that lie ahead of us. How was your Thanksgiving?



A Garfield Totem Pole



Emma's first fishing excursion



That big gray thing is NOT a whale!



What a catch! (And the fish is pretty nifty, too.)

7 comments:

Kim C. said...

Glad to hear you're still plugging along. We missed you at church!
It sounds like you had a wonderful and relaxing week. Ours was wonderful in an entirely different way: I think you went to the beach, and we went to 6 Flags, metaphorically speaking.

Candace/Chloe said...

It's good to have ya back! I'm glad you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We did too. Hope to see you at HOPE this month!

Candace/Chloe said...

You look GREAT, Stephanie! I wish I looked as good as you during pregnancy! What a precious family you have!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you had so much fun on your Thanksgiving week. I love the pictures, Garfield totem pole how funny and cute! We missed you at church Sunday. We had a relaxing Thursday and slighly more stressful Sat, but a wonderful Sunday.

Krista said...

Oh yay for pictures! Little Garfield is getting so big! I'm glad to hear Thanksgiving was wonderful. Congrats on the fish! And I think you look great, Steph!

Hofwoman said...

Hi Friend! You have been missed! I am glad that you had a good time :)

thecolonelswife said...

Still here, Stephanie - I just knew you would eventually come back - I thought maybe it was a difficult time in the pregnancy maybe so I had a lot of grace for you! My sister is at the same point in her pregnancy and I could understand.

But it sounds like things are going well and what a wonderful time you had over the holidays! I ALWAYS love seeing pictures of your growing family.

Blessings.