Days 103 thru 106 - Thanksgiving

Wow...I went THREE days without a journal entry. Life must be so good...and it IS!

Thanksgiving Day was a very relaxed day for the whole family. My husband woke early at 4:30 a.m. and traveled to the hills/mountains to hunt for elk with a friend, Curt. Curt and my husband have been friends for years and years. Curt is military. Very formal man. Perfect manners. And a GRANDE heart!

Curt was injured in Iraq about a year and a half ago. And he's never been the same man since. It seems he aged 25 years due to his illness and injury. He walks with a cane now. His hair is grayer. More deep wrinkles around his eyes and on his brow.

Curt nearly didn't make it back. In fact, his immediate family prayed by his bedside while the chaplain said a final farewell prayer.

But God had other plans for Curt. Curt is living and walks this earth...searching for the answer to why he's still alive. He can't seem to make his way to Christ. But we are praying diligently for Curt and we speak encouraging words to him every time we meet.

Curt and my husband never got their elk. They made their way back to our home for Thanksgiving meal late in the evening. Too bad...I burned the turkey! But Curt ate it anyway, poor man! Thankfully, we had other side dishes to fill our tummies! By the way, the turkey was one my husband had shot during turkey season in Eastern Montana. There were some pin feathers still stuck to it...it just didn't look so appealing, even when I dressed it and put it into the hot oven.

Oh, well. We have each other and we are healthy.

Maybe if you read this, you can add Curt to your prayer list. He's so lost...but I just KNOW God had his salvation in mind when he spared Curt's life.

Black Friday came and went. You know, the day after Thanksgiving when overfed, sleepy Americans crawl out of the warm beds at 3 a.m. and hit up Wal-Mart and K-Mart in search of that special deal that only Black Friday can bring!

Ha! Ha! I was snug as a bug in a rug...I had done all of my shopping online through Amazon.com. No lines, no crowds. I sat in my office with my hot cup of coffee in my hands and bargain shopped till I dropped! And then free shipping. You can't beat it!

My husband and I did attend one doorbuster at 8:00 a.m.: Our local Christian bookstore! We were in and out in 20 minutes. Sadly, no crowd there. But we made out like bandits with Christian music CDs and DVDs, posters for the girls rooms, new Bibles for the children, a few knick-knacks. It was the very first time my husband had ever in his entire life entered a Christian bookstore, and he loved it! He says he's now "a doorbuster for Christ"! I love it!

And today is my middle daughter's 11th birthday. Happy Birthday, Dolly! "Dolly" is what I call my girls for pet name.

So all day yesterday, we were busy preparing and decorating for her special birthday party sleepover. SIX GIRLFRIENDS spent the night last night. In fact, they're all spread out in their sleeping bags on my livingroom floor watching a Disney flick. Pizza for dinner, ice cream cake from Dairy Queen, and some board games and the event was a big hit!

This morning, I'll fix apple pancakes and scrambled eggs for breakfast, then shove them out into the snowy morning to build a snowman. After all, you've GOT to make a lasting memory...