We had lots of questions about what we would do for Thanksgiving, which made us feel very loved. Thank you for your love and concern for us. It's always hard to be away from family but the holidays are one of the hardest - especially with the little guy!
We ended up celebrating with an all church dinner the Sunday before Thanksgiving and then on Thanksgiving day we went to an ICS staff dinner and a dinner with the Chapmans. Below are some pics from our celebrations.
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| Church Feast |
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| Steve speaking at the Feast |
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| Time of Worship |
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| Caleb singing |
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| Just about the most I saw Steve that day! =) |
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| Children's Orphanage that joined us |
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| Time of Thankfulness |
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| Caleb and his buddy "Miss Teal" |
As a family, we did a Thankfulness Jar during the month of November, adding slips of paper with thanksgivings written down throughout the month (and not sharing with each other) and then reading them all together at the end. We had Caleb "write" on a few himself and then we also asked him what he was thankful for and wrote it down for him -- he actually listed off quite a few of his favorite things (things like "pancakes" and "riding in the car" and "Shell's van" and "DADDY" and "coloring"). It was a fun tradition to start.
This year has been a year focused on cultivating a spirit of Thankfulness. I've read and lingered long over my favorite blogger's book "One Thousand Gifts." And I continue to find myself failing and resloved again to be ever-thankful.
Reading from Ephesians 5: 15-20 this morning - What is the will of God?
"Look carefully then how you walk, not as the unwise, but as wise....but understand what the will of the Lord is....be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another with psalms and humns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,
giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ."
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Wow... You once again touched my heart big times... as for mailing things, etc., I can certainly understand. I am the same way tho, I see something & think of so and so and here it sits in my apt. forever... And it's not even hard for me to do get it in the mail... Also, I love how you did or are still doing the thankfulness slips. I do this all the time so that when I am discouraged, I can read through them and be reminded that I have much to be grateful for. Thank you Lord... for these three AWESOME people who are AWESOME examples of You... I love you Steve, Sarah and Caleb! And I love Jesus too with all my heart! :o) Love, Hugs & Prayers, Auntie NJ in SD!
ReplyDeleteOHhh, this was so nice, what a good idea! Thankful for YOU, for God who thought you up and gave you to us for a time and keeps you and calls you to Korea and gives you grace in good times and hard times and fills you with thanksgiving which is spilling over to Caleb
ReplyDeleteThe Thanks Jar is a very cool thing to do! I think I'll try that too. : )
ReplyDelete