We had a wonderful, extra special Thanksgiving! We had a few different celebrations over about a week's time... they consisted of family of all colors! We are so thankful that not only were we able to spend time with our own flesh & blood, but we also expanded our family this year by inviting some new friends into our home... Read on to find out about that special day! To kick off the celebrations, we hosted our 2nd Annual Myers Family Thanksgiving at our house the Saturday before Thanksgiving. I love this tradition we started last year and hope to continue it for years to come! I just love having people into my home, especially around the holidays, and knowing that I can have my family into my home every Thanksgiving makes me happy! Especially since our family is changing so much and we have new little people joining us each and every year! This year my brother & sis-in-law's baby girl had her first Thanksgiving with our crazy family, and next year Mallory Jane will be here! My parents come early to help me cook and clean and my dad and I have the most fun in the kitchen preparing a huge feast for everyone! I haven't really been cooking much this year with my rough pregnancy, so I looked forward to this day of getting back in in the kitchen! We cooked all of our fave, completely unhealthy holiday foods. Ha! :) I also tried pumpkin bread for the very first time and it was soooo yummy! Here are some pics from that fun day:
Mason thoroughly entertained by his new flashlight that Aunt Linny got him!
Reading some Thomas with Uncle Steve
Papa Jack admiring his new granddaughter, Wilson Marie 
I just LOVE this picture that my cousin Steph captured of Mason!! It may just have to be his "2-year pic" since we haven't had any professional pics taken in a year and a half! Ha! 
Playin' some ball with Aunt Linny
Aunt Linny and my MaMaw lovin' on sweet Wilson... she was smothered with some serious Myers sugar that day! :)
Nana Kay with her 2 sweet grandbabies 
My favorite picture of Christy and Baby Wilson!! Steph took this one as well. She's good, isn't she!?!??! 
MaMaw & me 
MaMaw lovin' on her two great-grands 
4 generations of Myers'! My MaMaw, dad, Jody (my brother), and Wilson
MaMaw with her 4 grandchildren... my brother, me, & our cousins Erica & Steph
MaMaw with her 3 children... my Uncle Mark, Aunt Linny, and my dad
My brother and his sweet family
My parents with their kids, son- & daughter-in-law, and 2 grandkids
One of many of my mom's Christmas Card outtakes! Ha!
On Thanksgiving Day, my family always serves a meal to the homeless and needy families at the Music City Mission in Nashville. I look forward to this every year! Of course, Mason had to be up all night long sick the night before Thanksgiving this year, so he and Marc stayed here and had a lazy day of tv-watchin' while I headed down to Nashville for a few hours to help at the mission. That night, the 3 of us had a relaxing family night at home and I watched Marc get all of the Christmas decor out of the attic and put the tree up. I sat on the couch and watched because I wasn't feeling very well. I was very proud of my hubby for getting the tree up and starting the decor! He did a pretty darn good job! :) We actually didn't finish the whole process until a few days later since I've been moving kinda slow lately, but we finally got it done! Our tree looks beautiful! I'll post pics later...
The day after Thanksgiving we had a refugee family over to share a meal. Bowling Green has had many refugees enter this past year from Burma, Iraq, Thailand, and some other areas. Our church has really reached out to them and started a ministry for them. Marc and I wish we could become more involved and have all these ideas of ways we can help, but we just need to get on it! Marc has been picking up a refugee family every Sunday for church and sometimes Mason goes with him. I'm so thankful that our son gets to be introduced to a ministry like this at such a young age. Marc says that Mason loves riding in the car with all these Burmese & Iraqi people showing them his Blues Clues, Toy Story, and other movies he gets to watch in the car. HA! Anyway, it had been heavy on Marc's heart to invite a family over for Thanksgiving and share some of our blessings with them. We invited a Burmese family who came to BG from a refugee camp in Thailand. Marc had picked this family up several times for church and has grown pretty close to them. I had never met them. The high school daughter is the only one who can understand and speak English, so she was a great help in communicating with them! We sat and talked and talked and learned so much about them. Mason was so excited to have the kids sit with him at his special table, and we pulled it into the dining room so that we could all be together. I will never, ever forget that scene of us all eating Thanksgiving lunch! It was just so special, and something I hope we can do every year. This family had never been invited into an American home, so Marc had no idea at the time how much of an impact he was making when he called them and invited them over. I just love my husband! He is so caring!!!
I left the Music City Mission Thanksgiving afternoon with the van loaded full of leftover food, so we were able to put it to good use yet again! It's the basic Thanksgiving meal of turkey & dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes & gravy, and rolls. The refugees have their own staples that they eat, and chicken and rice are among them. They aren't really loving American food, so Marc and I wanted to keep this meal as simple as we could. I cooked up some white rice, which I haven't done in YEARS, and it was the biggest it! They loved all the food and went back for seconds! The best part of the day though... introducing our new friends to the WII!!!! It was hilarious! They had the BEST time bowling, playing baseball, and just trying to figure out how the thang worked! Mason enjoyed every second watching this situation and even shared his toys with the little boy, who will be 2 soon. Mason didn't even seem to notice that these people had a different skin color from us or didn't really speak English, he just loved playing with new friends!
Marc workin' away! He was the most serious about it! 
We love our new friends! They had these huge smiles on their faces the entire time! 
Mason & his new friends sharing a Thanksgiving feast... How beautiful are these sweet faces??!?
The whole gang!
Wii time! Marc teaching the dad how to use the control
Love this!
I could just see our house full of adopted children some day from these different countries! We just love them so much and we know that one day a sweet little child (or more!) from similar circumstances will be brought into our family!
Sweet baby boy was lovin' Mason's chair!
We looked at him a few minutes later and he was all sprawled out enjoying life! :)
What a beautiful picture!!!
The Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed to Madisonville, KY to Marc's parents' where we celebrated with his mom's side of the family; the Certains'. I always love these celebrations cuz they're full of young ins' (well, who are growing up waaay too quickly!) and Mason has the most fun playing with everyone! Even the grown-up uncles! :) It was a fun day of watching KY football, eating LOTS of food, and just hanging out with Marc's family.
Our little family of almost-four!!
Sucker time with Great-Uncle Gary!
Hangin' with the guys... Marc's cousin, Mace, Uncle Gary, and Da Da
Uncle Gary always has fun with the kiddos!!
The fam having the BEST time watching the game... this is the most sports-lovin' family I know!!! Check out Marc's cousin, Heather, though all involved in her phone! Ha! :)
Us with Marc's parents, brother Jonathan, and Jonathan's girlfriend, Molly
The whole Certain clan! We were missing Marc's cousin Ginny & her little family, and his cousin Fayr & her family... Love that Mallory Jane was adefinitel making an appearance in this picture!! :)
Hope your Thanksgiving was as blessed as ours! It was definitely a time to relax and have fun with family, as well as a time to serve those in need and make new friendships. We desire to show our children that the holidays are times to share our blessings with others, as well as make special memories with our own families. God is so good!
1 comment:
April that is such a neat post! Loved reading through it and am so thankful for the wonderful people like you who open their homes and hearts to help those around us. God bless you and Marc and your sweet family.
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