Thanks

Before I start rattling off about Thanksgiving, let me just give a shout out to my mama. Nanci Noren Alcorn was born on November 30, 19?? (I actually do know the year, Mom. Just thought you'd want to keep everyone guessing!) Thanks, Mom for making me laugh and making me think, and always making me feel loved. It just doesn't get better than having a parent you actually want to hang out with! Thanks for modeling for me how to be a wife and a mom who is joyful to be where the Lord has placed her. Happy birthday Mom, just one day late on the blog, not too bad considering I'm the one who wrote a post about Christmas in mid January. I love you!

Whew, this last week has been LONG. Long in a very good way. I think this was one of the best Thanksgiving weeks I've ever had. I keep saying week and not weekend because our Thanksgiving started last Monday when our baby niece arrived from California. Oh yeah, and her parents Jane and Curtis, I guess they came then also. But let's face it, baby Bekah's chubby cheeks and angelic face pretty much stole the show. Although if you ask my boys, Uncle Curti's endless supply of energy (never-ending games of tag and races and wrestling) took Grand Prize. Your mom's not paying me to say this, Jane, but the house across the street from us is for sale. You'd get a lot of free babysitting. I'm just saying.Here's the quick rundown of the week: Monday night was an open house for the baby; delicious desserts. Tuesday afternoon I hosted lunch over here with the Stump family and Ann's parents. Wednesday my mom came over for dinner last minute (Pops was sick at home) and told us grand stories of their weekend in Florida with Tim Tebow. Lucky bums. Thursday we got to spend the whole day with the Stump side of the family. So much fun. I really can't tell you how much my in-laws rule. I can't say a bad thing about them. Honestly, I've tried, it can't be done. Then Friday we pretended like it was Thursday again and my mom hosted the Alcorn gang for some great family time and the full turkey dinner (and what a turkey it was...delish!) I just have to say that living so close to my parents is NOTHING like you see in the show Everybody Loves Raymond. I love being able to hang out in the house I grew up in with my own kids! Dan's in-laws rule, too. We're pretty blessed. No, VERY blessed.

I've decided that I'm on a cooking strike for the next few days. First of all, I don't have any clean dishes, and second of all, I cooked enough in the last week to sustain a small country. Chocolate chip cookies, pizza-pasta, Caesar salad, garlic bread, dump cake, nacho chicken casserole, broccoli au gratin, blended jello salad, pumpkin bars, apple pie, chocolate log cake, and a few PB&J's, grilled cheese's and Easy Mac's for lunch.

(This was much cuter in person, sorry the picture cut off your face, Bek.)

Thankfulness, thankfullness, thankfullness. Really and truly, that's what I feel. Thanks, Jesus, for your life and for your death. Thanks for the Alcorn's and the Stump's. Thanks for our marriage that just keeps getting better. Thanks for Jake and Ty. Even when Ty is too wired on excess desserts to take a nap and Jake insists on Dino chicken instead of turkey for Thanksgiving dinner.