Abundance

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The Lord has blessed Casey and I greatly this year as far as abundance goes--his job, our house, etc... I think I have learned a little bit about Paul's statement on being content whatever the circumstances. Part of contentment includes letting go of anxiety about the future. We have spent many years with very little in the way of money, so it is hard not to let anxiety get in the way of trusting God for the future, or relishing His goodness to us without that nagging fear of losing it all in the back of our minds. We could very well lose it all tomorrow. But, contentment means embracing with joy our situation, trusting the Lord's providence, whether we are enjoying much or little--both sets of circumstances can provide tremendous growth and teach valuable lessons! "Rejoice in all things!" has been my mantra of late--and it really is possible!

Casey's family came down and stayed with us for Thanksgiving. My mother-in-law wanted some pictures while we were all together so we went outside with my self-timer and got this one:

And this one of the eight grand kids...

Our house made entertaining this number of people soooo wonderful. The kids disappeared outside, or the boys played with the Wii downstairs and the girls played upstairs in the girls' room. It was easy to forget there were eight kids in the house!

I LOVE this one of Casey's parents. I am so blessed to be part of their family. John did a large chunk of the cooking (turkey included!) which was awesome :)

My mom had a tradition of having a new puzzle out on holidays with lots of company. I bought this one and had is set out. It was done by the next day! Everyone had a hand in it, it was so much fun! (I highly recommend these Wasjig puzzles--they are sort of mystery puzzles. You have a picture, but you're building the puzzle from the perspective of someone inside the picture! Very clever and super fun :)

Here are the men getting into the puzzle action:

This pic speaks for itself :)

And a photo of our spread!

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving and are still rejoicing in God's goodness!!!!!!