Thanksgiving Recap!

I had breakfast with Sherri this morning and I was reminded that I don't update my blog often enough. I really want to get into a good habit of sharing our life with those we're leaving behind when we go to Australia in....37 days!! Oh my. That is soon.

Right before thanksgiving we went on a staff retreat at Deep Creek Lake, then to the Regional Staff Conference on the eastern shore of Maryland, so we were ready to relax a little. We were also both a little sick.

with Katie and Julie at Staff Retreat

Julie and Kelsey with Katie and Lauren during our petting zoo adventure

On Monday night, we found out that one of the students very involved in Cru, Eli, had died in an accident while hiking, which was really shocking and so sad. Thankfully, we felt very comforted by the Lord and still really enjoyed Thanksgiving even though it was hard.

So our thanksgiving holiday this year was quite extended, delicious, and a great time to spend with family. Since we're leaving so soon, there are obviously limited opportunities left for us to see our extended family, so Jordan and I tried to initiate even more thanksgiving festivities than normal! Our schedule: Wednesday night - Thanksgiving dinner with Jordan's mom's side of the family. Thursday: Thanksgiving feast with my mom's side of the family. Friday: leftovers extravaganza in Manassas with my dad's side of the family. Thankfully we took some quality family walks this week too so hopefully that helped to offset some of the calories we took in without shame.

Our Wednesday dinner was planned by the "kids," i.e. Jordan, me, Jason (Jordan's brother), and Emily (their cousin). This was fun because usually everything is organized and cooked by the matriarchs of the family. So - we got our first chance to try to roast the turkey for the family! Let me tell you, it was kind of out of control. Picture me, Jordan, Jason, and Daddy Peace circled around the sink, trying to juggle a 22lb turkey, while I am digging around up to my elbows in the turkey trying to pull something out but none of us had any clue what it was! We almost cooked the turkey with the bag of giblets still inside simply because we couldn't find them! Anyway - it was hilarious and definitely memorable. Then, while cooking, we had 2 thermometers, both showing different temperatures, and because we didn't desire to make the whole family sick with food poisoning, we were concerned. Long story short, after figuring out that the convection oven actually does cook the turkey much faster than we anticipated, we just stopped cooking it, crossing our fingers that it was actually done. Then on the way to Jordan's grandpa's house (20 minutes late) where we were serving the meal, we were all carrying liquids on our laps (wassail, gravy, tea) plus the turkey and about 4 sides, with them sloshing around and us screaming when we hit a bump. We did finally make it and the turkey was wonderful! Super juicy and delicious, even two days later! Success.

here's our pretty turkey!

Thursday was a bit more relaxing since all I made were the mashed potatoes. We had fun hanging out and playing Pit and watching Oliver Twist that night.

Friday was good, but I think we talked about birth a little more than Jordan appreciated. My aunt Jen is about to pop any day now, and being a doula, she knows lots about the whole process and was just filling us in on EVERYTHING! Then she kept telling Jordan he better listen because he'll need to know this stuff some day. I thought it was interesting, but poor Jordan. The leftovers were delicious and we played a long game of Balderdash which was enjoyable - even if Dad won.

my Aunt Jen and my little cousin Myra Clare - and baby on the way!

here's the family picture we took at Jen's

That's our thanksgiving recap! We didn't do much else besides a little shopping and reading. It was relaxing.