Thanksgiving 2014 in Vienna, Virginia

 We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving Week.  We have so very much to be grateful for:  being on this mission, our family, our health, our testimonies, this gospel, living in this country, the beauty we are surrounded by.  Today at church a wonderful young woman with a palsy of some sort bore her testimony of just how wonderful life was and admonished us to grab on to all that was good.  She had to speak slowly because of her condition--and she walked slowly as well, but her attitude and smile just filled the room with the spirit.  It was quite inspiring.  I echo her thoughts:  we have so much good and lovely around us that we need to grab onto it.

Monday 25 of our senior missionaries got together for a Thanksgiving Feast.  It was a wonderful time to gather, enjoy each other, be uplifted by each other and enjoy a delicious meal.  We have 3 senior couples leaving in Dec. and 2 were able to attend, so we heard their testimonies.  They all want to serve again.  The 3rd couple is doing records preservation and just felt that they needed to stay and complete all they could.  They are not presently being replaced.  Of the 3 leaving couples, only 1 has a replacement coming.  WE NEED MORE SENIOR COUPLE MISSIONARIES!

 Thanksgiving day we got up early and by 4:30 am we were on the road to Jen's.  We arrived before anyone was awake, even!  The traffic was almost nonexistent at that hour.  Jen and Angie had prepared most of the food the day before, so we did not have too much to do.  However, Jen is in the midst of having her kitchen remodeled, so we had but half of the kitchen to work with.  She somehow convinced the contractor to leave her a stove and sink and 1 frig until after this weekend.  David and his family were there, so we enjoyed spending time with 2 of our children and their families.  David and his family left us Sunday night of last week and headed towards New York City.  They stayed in Newark, NJ and did NYC all Monday.  The walked the Brooklyn Bridge, did Central Park, the ferry from Staten Island, Rockefeller Plaza and all the other NYC downtown things.  They liked it.  The next day they traveled to Jen's via Gettysburg and toured that historical site.  The younger children were fairly tired of history, but they did see 2 Smithsonians on Friday, and some monuments yesterday.  The pictures above and below are of the 21 guests for Thanksgiving.  We enjoyed meeting Gifty from Ghana, and another family from their ward, as well as Kim from their ward and Brian Jeffries who often comes.  The meal was wonderful!

 I think Chelsea only ate rolls...

 Chelsea, Hannah, and Gifty.  Gifty just became a member of the church this past summer.  We dared her to try mashed potatoes and gravy but she just would NOT.  She thought that was the weirdest combination ever.

 Hannah arose the morning after Thanksgiving to begin Christmas.  She had already taken Morgan and Chelsea to her store (Hallmark) and got them--and ME--Christmas stockings.  This is the Rudolph look for her truck and below, Hannah in the truck with the matching antlers...

 Correct, we are not done.  Apparently Hannah LOVES Christmas and she ordered this "Elf" sweater from Amazon, complete with hat.  I loved it!

 We brought Marbles and Jokers with us, as well as Skipbo and we had two tables of games going most of the time.  The Marbles game became a bit intense at times.  Joining us on Friday night was Sam, Hannah's boyfriend.  Everyone joined in learning this new game--and everyone played it.

 We could only play 8 at a time, so some played Skipbo in another room.

All and all we had a wonderful weekend.  We especially thank Jen and Brant for their hospitality and hard work in making it all turn out so nicely.  I even got to attend a Craft Fair where I saw lots of fun Christmas items that I had to turn away from, as I do not have room to take anything more home.  I did purchase a Christmas bracelet from Hallmark when we went in to see Hannah and take advantage of her wonderful discount.

Once again, it is another month gone...Our names appeared on the departing missionary list that the Mission secretary keeps on her desk.  It was sad...