We had such a great thanksgiving this year! This was my first Thanksgiving to be pregnant and when I'm pregnant most of my day is spent eating. What a great time to be pregnant!
We got to enjoy three thanksgiving meals this year. We had a Thanksgiving Church Potluck the Sunday before Thanksgiving ... or should I say Church Pot-Providence since we don't believe in luck ;) . Then the night before Thanksgiving we had Thanksgiving dinner with my mom, step Dad, sister, uncle, cousins, grandmother and grandfather. And thanksgiving day we went to Jason's Aunt and Uncles house.
Kenya and I went a little early to my Mom's house Wednesday night so she could help my Mom cook... or eat?
She had so much fun making deviled eggs.
She stuffed them...
and licked them
and stuffed them again and served them to our family half eaten.
We got a special treat this Thanksgiving as my grandfather was able to join us. This was only the second time Kenya has been around him. They enjoyed coloring together.
This is Kenya making candied yams which turned into yam soup because she cut them up so much. She had fun and that's all that matters, well not really because I wanted candied yams but I am glad she had fun!
Kenya enjoyed taking food from Uncle Jack who was my FAVORITE person growing up. It is so neat to get to watch my daughter interact with my uncle.
After we ate and had desert I walked in the kitchen and found Kenya eating all of the fudge. I can't really blame her I would have done the same thing if no one was looking.
One of my favorite Bible's that I use now-a-days is the English Standard Version (ESV) Study Bible. Before it came out a year ago I pre-ordered it and once I got it in the mail I have cherished it as a useful aid for Bible study (and I like the translation of course).
Last month something happened to my Bible that rendered it inoperable (details on this later) so I was trying to win one from a Sovereign Grace Ministries giveaway that they had on their blog.
I followed all the rules and entered the giveaway, then I sent my wife the link so that she could enter.
A week later it came time for the drawing and this is what happened (you only need to watch the first 2 in-a-half minutes of the video below to hear about the giveaway & the first winner which was my wife, even thought she didn't follow the rules... also how my original ESV Study Bible got messed up is talked about):
So, I was thrilled cause I found out that my wife had won me a ESV Study Bible (which was alot nicer than my original hardback version that I had) a day before my birthday!
They needed our shipping info so when my wife emailed it to them she did her "official entry" for the contest (even though it was not over and she had already won). Sovereign Grace Ministries wound up blogging on this, here it is:
Hi, my name is Vanessa and I would love to win this for my husband. He left his ESVSB on top of his car on his way to men's study. Not knowing he had done this I left the house and drove over his Bible. He called me later to tell me he thought he had left his Bible on top of his car and at that moment I knew what I ran over. On the way home I picked it up off of the road and, well, let’s just say it was broken. So I hope I can win one for him.
Vanessa Haltom City, TX
Last week C.J. chose Vanessa’s entry as one of the ten contest winners. Upon hearing that she had won (despite not writing anything about her pastors or church) she was eager to share a second story.
We were so deeply moved by her follow-up email that we wanted to post it so you could read for yourself the important role her church and pastors played during a critical season in her life.
Vanessa writes:
I'm so excited I won even though I entered wrong. I had no clue I had done that until I saw the video, which made me laugh really hard. This is also perfect timing as my husband's birthday is tomorrow.
I don't want to miss the opportunity to honor my pastors. They have been such a huge blessing in our lives. We had been attending our church for a little over a year when we discovered that I was 19 weeks pregnant with conjoined twin girls. We learned that our girls were facing each other, joined from the chest to the stomach. They shared one liver and one heart (which had only one ventricle). They had a zero chance of survival. In fact my doctor believed I would miscarry.
We continued with the pregnancy knowing that is was God who was forming Melody and Madison in my womb. He created them and He would decide when they left this earth. I am so thankful for our pastors because they taught us the hard truths of God's word. Because of their teaching we were not scared that Satan was controlling our lives but rested knowing that God was sovereign over our babies' lives and my life. Everything that was happening God was allowing for His glory and our good.
I ended up going into labor when I was 32 weeks pregnant on November 11, 2008 and—glory to God!—our daughters were born alive and lived for one hour. We were able to spend that time with them and we have a ton of pictures. The mourning process has been hard but a blessing at the same time. God has used our pastors to encourage us and stand alongside us during this most difficult time in our lives. I don't know what we would have done without them. Thanks for the opportunity to honor these men that God has placed in our lives.
To our pastors, Jay and Emilio, we love you guys and praise God for allowing us to sit under your teaching.
I am now 27 weeks pregnant with a healthy baby and we continue to praise God and give Him all the glory!
Vanessa Haltom City, TX
After reading my wife's "entry" C.J. Mahaney emailed my wife and told her to pick a Bible for herself! So we got 2 $75 ESV Study Bibles for FREE!
Here are some pics of my original ESV Study after the accident:
On the outside it doesn't look too bad:
It's the inside that is all messed up mostly,... and this is after I straightened out lots of the pages:
After straightened more and more of the pages out the best it will close is like this:
The main problem is that the binding is busted so if I use it it will only be a matter of time till the pages start falling out:
Even after flattening out alot of the pages it was still hard to read:
I just posted on my Facebook my favorite pictures with memories from what happened this day last year, I've been meaning to do this for a year now, but it was just to hard to look at some of these pics before:
Jason I love you so much and I am truly blessed to be your wife. We have been through a lot and you have always lead our family in a way that honors the Lord. I look forward to spending our lives together. You are my very best friend and I would marry you all over again!
I went to the doctor today for my 26 week check up and everything looks great. The baby is a little over 2 pounds and just the cutest thing EVER! My doctor surprised me and took some 4D pictures of the baby.
I can't stand it, I just love this baby more than I could ever express with words!
Look at that nose and those lips!
When I showed Kenya the pictures (she wasn't at the doctors office with me) she said "Mommy baby jealous popped out." The pictures looked so real she thought I had just come back from having the baby.
I am now more excited than ever to meet our sweet baby in just 11 weeks.
She had so much fun making deviled eggs.
I can't really blame her I would have done the same thing if no one was looking.
