Traditional...Not Even Close!

We piled into the car and began the journey to visit the parents and to celebrate Thanksgiving. The car was full of family, of excitement, of happiness, and even a dog, but was missing something important that would not be discovered until later. You see, just outside of Indy, Jess and Amos realized that they did not bring their luggage. Yes, they had packed everything else and left their bags at home. With a quick stop at a store to pick up the essentials for making it through the weekend, we were back on track and on our way to mom and dad's. We arrived safely and were greeted by mom and dad who were anxious to spend the rest of the night entertaining the grandchildren. They are spoiled...okay, just like us. We stayed up late talking and just catching up until we couldn't stay awake any longer. I was lucky enough to sleep downstairs on the couch where I was woken up every 15 minutes by a chiming clock.

But atleast I always new what time it was.

Morning came as the girls once again piled into the car to drive back to Indy to pick up my niece, Rhi. On the way back we made various important stops to shop and get coffee. Upon returning home, we realized that Grace was pretty sick, dad was still feeling weak, and Tyler was teething. We did our best to take care of all of them all while making the non-traditional Thanksgiving feast. We had a nice roast, mashed potatoes (made by rhi!), corn, green beans, biscuits (because the dinner rolls were still frozen), and salad. Not to mention the delicious display of pumpkin pie and pecan pie...

but I opted for a few spoon fulls of cookie dough instead.

Although, our brother and nephew weren't able to join us, the table was still full of family and great conversation. We spent the rest of the night playing dominos and kind of making up the rules as we went along.

The next day, Amos stayed with Grace, since she was still sick, and the rest of us went to church. It was another wonderful service and once again mom's words touched my heart. We made our way back to mom and dad's house, packed up the car...making sure we had everything, just in time to have a quick visit with my brother and nephew who came to pick up Rhi, before taking off on the drive home.

It was another great visit and wonderful Thanksgiving!

We didn't have the turkey and stuffing. We had to care for three out of eight people. We were missing two important family members. But we were together!

I was with family! We spent most of the time laughing and just enjoying being together once again! I don't think you could have asked for a better Thanksgiving! Thank you God for such great time together and great relationships! Thank you mom and dad for hosting it and for spoiling us as you always do! Thank you Rhi for coming to hang out with us this weekend. We always have a great time with you! Thank you Jess and Amos for driving!

Thank you all for the love that was shared!