the turkey says it all...

We had really pumped the Thanksgiving holiday to Emma this year, telling the Thanksgiving story almost every day, making Turkey wreaths, elaborating on all the fun and unique details about what a big thanksgiving party includes (namely, the blessedly large options of desserts available). I was a little worried that the party, no matter how great, could never live up to the hype.

In fact, I was a bit concerned that the party might not come about for Emma. Since Friday night, she has throw up every night. Every night except one, these throw-ups occured in the wee hours of the night, waking me from already precious-little sleep...and then usually involved marathon loads of laundry on very hard-to-launder items like her comforter and rug. I had told myself that if she threw up Tuesday night, then I would likely not take her to thanksgiving. My first concern was spreading it to the other kids, my second concern was that if she lost her lunch while we're all grubbing on turkey and pecan pie, well...that just seems wrong. Wrong. Well, she threw up tuesday night, so I had to decide if I was willing to put my money where my mouth was, and so I thought long and hard about the source and reason for the vomitus (an actual medical word, I am told). I retraced all our steps over the last few days, and also took into account Samantha's vomitus on Saturday morning, and her and Emma's non-stop diarrhea since Friday. And what I came up with was that they have been drinking too much.

Bathwater, that is. It's a big no-no to drink the water out of the tap here; we all, locals included, only drink filtered water that gets delivered to your house in those little blue water cooler things. Many people are even told not to brush their teeth with the water, though both we and our children do that. But lately while the girls take their baths, I have noticed they play together and invent little "parties" together. And every party must have its share of good beverages, but when those beverages include bathwater, there's bound to be trouble. Friday night I put them in the bath and went in to check on them five or six times, and each time they were toasting each other and had little cups up to their lips. I think they ingested a serious amount of Asianese water via the bath. Hence, the little number it did on their tummy-tum-tums.

But wednesday, emma had no throw up and I decided to brave it and stuff my fear of a messy throw-up and take both the girls. We made pilgrim hats and bonnets for the mommies and daddies, and Amy made indian hats for all the kids. We had games to play and special thanksgiving books to make, not to mention our share of goodies which included FORTY rolls that I personally made myself. They were a nice nod to my Oklahoma memories, since the recipe came directly from my Luby's cookbook and tasted as though they were just picked up from there too. We had appetizers that melted in your mouth, a lunch spread that could have fed an Asianese army for days, and a dessert selection that left Emma (and here momma) open-mouthed and paralyzed, unable to choose which delectable items ought to grace her plate. We both ended up choosing Pecan Pie, a small helping of Blueberry Cobbler, Cheesecake ball, and Chocolate Mousse Pie...and that was only the first go-round.

little indians raiding the appetizer table...

All of our children - all seven of them - donked out for naps after stuffing their bellies to the max, and the adults lingered at the dessert table, followed all sorts of tangents on a wide variety of topics, and thew in a few rounds of Catchphrase. Once the kids finally woke up and were re-fed again, they played happily until almost 8:30pm, building houses, racing cars, feeding babies, reading books, dumping dump trucks and pretty much doing anything except get in trouble or ask for adult supervision! I couldn't have been more thankful!! We had a lovely evening, full of relaxed adult-time, happy play time with kids, and sweet fellowship.

Our family made it home by 9pm, which is really pretty late for us, since my kids are usually in bed before 8...but our special night didn't even end there - daddy kept both girls up and told stories to them, as they listened with big eyes, hanging intently on every word. By bedtime, our thanksgiving day was drawing to a close, but the sweetness of the day - time with friends, a life of contentment, happy time with our girls - left a more taste in our mouths than even the delicious turkey and pecan pie.

I mentioned in my last post that my list of gratitude would come later, and even though my list can be long (the usuals: family, friends, good health, etc), I think the major thing sticking out to me is that I am thankful for God's sovreignty in my life and in my family. The summer and the miscarraige left me with anger that was uncharacteristic of me, bitterness that is a little unusual. Fortunately, thankfully, God allowed me to see different perspectives and see His consistent and abiding faithfulness to me, even though I often have varying degrees of faithfulness to Him. He has taken that anger and bitterness, and has brought such a contentment and peace in my spirit, I can think of no other option but to be thankful. I look with deep contentment at my family - my kind husband and two tender-hearted daughters - and I realize that my family is just as He wants it. That makes me thankful. Thankful that He is trustworthy enough not just to deal with my questions, and my anger, and my inconsistencies, but that He is trustworthy with those things that are more precious to me than anything else.

Happy Thanksgiving, 2007.