Traveling For Turkey

This year Our soon to be bigger family did something we haven't done for Thanksgiving before. We weren't able to fly home for this fun holiday, due to needing to be here in Charlotte for the weekend and the fact that the turkey in my oven is about ready. My belly button has been poking out, and Philip often tells people that that is how we know that Camden's getting close to being done :) Anyways, back to our new Thanksgiving experience. We drove to Ohio to spend a few days with my mom's side of the family. We got to see aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents. It was so nice to be able to spend time in the comfort of Grandma and Grandpa's home, while eating Grandma's yummy food and snacking on Grandpa's popcorn. 

We drove halfway there on Tuesday night and finished the trip Wednesday morning. Upon our arrival, Grandma had a big pot of taco soup waiting for us, and then we all crashed for an afternoon nap. I think Parker and Philip were competing with how long they could nap :) they tied at about 3 hours! We finished the lazy afternoon with ordering pizza and chatting with the family. Philip and I got to go to the late showing of Hunger games after we put Parker down for the night. It was almost like what life was like before kids... I'm just lucky I didn't fall asleep in the movie!

Thursday was filled with prepping the Thanksgiving meal, and playing in the freshly fallen snow.  It was Parker's first experience with snow, and it was hard to pull him away from it as we got ready to eat. 

Lunch was followed up with some football, and in and out dozing as we browsed the ads for Black Friday. I decided to brave a couple stores with my aunt while Philip took Parker to the movie Frozen that evening. Parker had a blast and got to eat popcorn throughout the movie. He would say "popcorn please" and then "thank you Daddy" after every bite. Hard to say no to that, right?  

On Friday we headed over to my aunt's house where we took some family pictures with my cousin Nicole. She had been practicing taking pictures of couples and families, and I asked if she wouldn't mind practicing on us. She captured some really sweet moments, and made my life much easier by supplying us with our Christmas pictures and maternity pictures all at once. The rest of the day consisted of naps and reading. Philip also got to go to the shooting range with my Uncle Tom. Overall , it was a very relaxing and enjoyable trip. We did make the trek back home on Saturday pretty quickly since Philip needed to be back for church in the evening.

We ended our weekend with a wonderful morning of worship and start to our Christmas series, Times and Seasons.   As we all enter into this especially busy season, Philip and I pray that we don't wish it away, but that we see God's blessings and ever present grace in each and every season. We know that it is so easy to get caught up in the lists of things to do, especially with a baby coming, but I plan to try to live in this time as much as I can.  As we wrap up the Prodigy Program, we will soon know where God will have us in this next season. But until then we have faith that God is in control, and that he will provide us with each next step. We pray to be obedient and respond to his callings. Thank you for your continued prayers and encouragement!  We pray you will also hear and obey God's calling in your life! Happy Thanksgiving!

With love, from Charlotte