Thanksgiving Weekend

I love Thanksgiving and all that it brings but boy was it busy!

Wednesday night my brother arrived in town so we ate dinner as a family.

Thursday was turkey day and my mom served over 20 people the tastiest lunch. I love how we have so much variety that my plate is overflowing just from getting a little bit of everything.

Here Owen is watching the Macy's Day Parade. Well he didn't really watch it but he did look up every now and then to see the big balloons. Notice his cute Thanksgiving shirt that Mary Beth made him. He loves his Uncle BP. They had fun playing together while waiting for our guests.
Because the weather was so awesome, we got to play lots of backyard games like cornhole and ladder golf. Owen traveled from relative to relative and of course was the star of the day.
He got to eat the big people food and loved Mom's mashed potatoes and sweet potato/apple casserole.
He even played in the leaves that Papa had raked up that morning.

Friday Mom and I met my aunt & cousin in Raleigh for some Black Friday shopping. While I didn't completely finish my shopping, I was excited to snag some great deals. My parents also informed us that they are giving us a bedroom suite for Christmas. I am super pumped! We picked it out on Friday and it should get delivered in the next few weeks.

Saturday we cleaned the house and my mom babysat Owen in the afternoon while Jeremy and I did some shopping. After Owen went to bed, Jeremy and I decorated the house for Christmas. Here are my two favorite spots.

Sunday we went to church then Dad gave us tickets to the Carolina basketball game. We got to Chapel Hill in time to eat at one of my favorite places from college, The Loop. I got to have my favorite salad and spend some quality time with my husband. The game was great though the Heels have some work to do. Sadly it's a rebuilding year but I'm thankful for the victory. It was an awesome date night.

We had a great holiday and it was hard to get back into the groove this morning. Only 3 more weeks then Jeremy is home with us again for 2 whole weeks! Hope you had a great holiday!

Thankfulness

Recently the Lord has been revealing to me how ungrateful I have been. Many times I think about the sacrifices we have to make by being a one income household and get a "woe is me" attitude. Just this past Sunday the Lord just really laid it on my heart how much I do have. As I was contemplating my upcoming birthday, I could not think of one thing I really needed or wanted. (Bigger shocker, right Dad?) It really made me stick back and think about all the things that I think I'm giving up by staying home, but in the end I'm not really giving up anything. I am gaining so much more.

So in that spirit, here are the things that I am thankful for this year...

• for the unconditional love and never ending grace of my Heavenly Father. So many times this year I have put my quiet times and my relationship with him on the back burner. But He never fails to show me that He is there and that He loves me.
  
• for the Lord's provision. I praise God for helping us to pay our bills each month and for putting food our table. We have a great house and we feel safe. (well most of the time)
  
• for an amazing husband. He not only provides for our family, but he is a great listener, problem solver, and all around talented man. He is my best friend and I can't imagine walking through life with anyone but him. He's also a fantastic daddy..just ask Owen.
• for an adorable son. He is so sweet, so laid back, and just all around fun. He brings so much joy to our lives. If only he could keep a consistent sleeping schedule. :)
• for 2 amazing sets of families. We are blessed with incredibly supportive and loving parents. They are fantastic grandparents and I love seeing them love on Owen. We also have some pretty great siblings...we are excited to add 2 more to the Cox side this year.
  
• for great friends. I thank each of you have been diligent about keeping our friendship though we don't live close by anymore. You will never know how much it means to me. We are super thankful for the Langstons and praise God that we had a familiar face when we moved here. Your friendship means the world to us.
  
• that I live in a country where I can live the way I want. I can speak freely, worship freely, and vote the way I want. I thank those who serve our country so that I can have these freedoms. You are true heroes.
  

Ok there is a lot more but you get the idea. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Take time to count your blessings in these next few days. :) Happy Thanksgiving!

A Letter to Thanksgiving

Dear Thanksgiving,

I just wanted to let you know that I haven't forgotten about you. I am sorry that everyone (my neighbors, the stores, the tv stations, and movie industry) have forgotten that you exist. They skip over you like you're just a stepping stone for the next holiday, putting up their decorations and lights full of red and green.
Though they might like to skip over you, I want you to know how much I love you. I love that you bring our whole family together for fellowship, food, fun, and football. With it, you bring some of my favorite dishes including Ma-Ma's cheese ball, Aunt Wanda's broccoli salad, Dad's fried turkey, Uncle Mark's stuffing, and pumpkin pie. I also really dig your parade that Macy's puts on each year. I love that it gives us a time to really reflect on all the things the Lord has blessed us with this year. So many times during this season, we are too busy figuring out what we are getting next to remember all that we really have.
Thanksgiving, you really are an awesome holiday and I'm sorry you get overshadowed by Christmas. You deserve your own hoopla and you should tell Christmas to wait it's turn!

Love,

Update

Owen's fever broke last night! The fever seems to be gone and he is getting back to his normal self. He is still sleeping a lot trying to regain his strength; his appetite is slowly coming around as well. Thank you for all your prayers and advice. We are very thankful it was not the flu and he seems to be getting better.

As you can tell, I've tweaked some stuff around again. I'm slowly learning Photoshop so you'll probably see more again. Thanks for all your previous sweet comments :)

A Case of the Sickies

Owen hit another milestone this week...his first time getting really sick. Sunday he was kind of mopey when he woke up so we decided to stay home from church. He went back down for a nap at 9 and slept until 1:30. When he got up he had a fever of 102. He had a runny nose and cough last week but it was accompanied with a fever. Monday morning I called the doctor and he had us come in. He saw Owen's ears were red, he had lots of drainage in his sinus cavity, and of course a cough and a runny nose. He gave us an antibiotic and anti-histamine and told us to alternate him on Motrin and Tylenol.

So we've been doing that since Monday and his fever has continued to be high ever since. His highest being 104.3. He doesn't keep any food down either. Luckily he is still drinking well.

I feel so helpless...I so badly want to make him better but can't. It's hard because he can't tell me how he feels and I am so unsure of my nursing skills. I question if he's getting worse and whether I should call the doctor. I feel lucky that he hasn't really gotten sick and he's 13 1/2 months old.

My nose is starting to feel a little stuffy...not good.

House Divided

Saturday we were a house divided as Jeremy decided to cheer for a darker uglier blue. If you'll notice though, Owen is wearing the lighter blue! Just so everyone knows, the Heels stomped over dook 16-6. :) Go Heels!

Please Excuse Our Mess

Please excuse the mess...I'm reworking some stuff and learning in the process. If you're a subscriber in Google reader, please forgive me. I really hope it's not giving you every post I use as a test. :) On that note, if you are reading about us in a reader, click on the blog and check out the new changes. Well give me a few days..

I love HT Triples!

Today I would have paid $50.84 for all of this at Harris Teeter. Instead I spent $8.24. That's an 86% savings! I need to go back after they restock and pick up some ketchup and dish soap but I thought it was a successful trip. (PS Crazy RM HT shoppers, please save some for the rest of us!)

A Year Later..

Saturday marked the one year mark in our journey as homeowners and citizens of Nash County. Ironically we weren't even in our home on Saturday. Maybe somehow that seems fitting. Though we have lived here for a year, I still don't feel like it's home. I don't feel connected to our neighborhood or the community. We have been attending a church for a while, but it's in another community so that doesn't really help.

We really miss Raleigh, the Summit Church, and all of our friends there. Jeremy and I have realized that we prefer to live in a big city rather than a small one. We realized that we like going to a church that preaches and lives the Gospel and challenges us to do the same. We miss having a group of friends to have stuff to do with on Friday and Saturday nights, even if it just hanging out in our house.

Ok that's enough complaining...on to the good stuff. We love having our own home. One that we can paint, decorate, etc. just the way we like. We love having a yard and Jeremy loves having a shed where he can do wood work. We love having my parents near by too. Mom and Dad, thanks for all the Saturday dinners, afternoon walks, babysitting, etc. I love the fact that Owen is able to know you and see on a daily basis.

While we don't plan to be here long term, I am trying to make the most of our time here. I can't live here acting like we are moving soon and not see what the Lord is doing for us now. This last year has been one of the hardest for me. I became a mommy, moved to a new place therefore leaving my comfort zone, and became a stay at home mom. The Lord has used this time and this place to teach me a lot. Though it has been one of my driest times spiritually, I have learned how much I need the Lord. I have learned that no one can fulfill my needs like He can or does.

No matter our location we are a family and we will praise God through the good and bad. :)

Halloween Weekend 2009

Halloween weekend was spent with Jeremy's family in the mountains of NC. Sadly we missed peak leaf season but the leaves that remain were still really pretty. Because his parents live out in the woods, there wasn't really a place to trick or treat so we hung out at home. We dressed up our little giraffe anyways. Thought he didn't mind the costume, he wasn't super stoked about having his picture taken.


This has nothing to do with Halloween but I think he was super cute all dressed up for church. :)