A Special Thanksgiving Vacation

We have had an amazing week. It all started last Sunday, November 23. We woke early to drive to Nashville. That was Scout's 14th birthday present - Tickets to the Jets Vs. Titans Game. Brett Favre did not disappoint! He played great and the Jets broke the winning streak of the Tennessee Titans. Sad for Titan Fans....exhilarating for Favre fans.

Yes...that is a Jets Favre jersey...with the Packers Cheesehead combination. He's good with the compromise.



We enjoyed some time in Nashville - even though it was short. Kelly made a Thanksgiving dinner for us and we enjoyed being with our family.

Great food and fun as usual with this crew.

The next day, we woke early again to drive to Washington DC for a week of major site seeing and family time.

This vacation was so different for us. For one, it was during Thanksgiving and we are always with with other members of our family for Thanksgiving. As I was thinking how different this was for us....I began to remember that this is the way it was for me growing up. My family always took a family vacation the week of Thanksgiving. We would go to Navarre Beach every year. The special thing for me, was that there were other families who did this same thing and for years, we would go in anticipation of seeing these friends that we only saw once a year. My parents made friends as well and they would gather during the week and play cards in the sun room of the hotel we stayed in while the kids ran wild. It was GREAT! I loved my Thanksgivings. This vacation - was a perfect Thanksgiving for us.

We stay so busy with everyone's schedule that sometimes we don't have as much downtime as we all would like. The boys can nag each other TO DEATH at home. It can be crazy!! But this past week - they hung together and laughed constantly. The boys had a hotel room across from our room. Every time we went over there, there was wrestling, laughing, being goofy....just fun stuff. When we take them out of their environment.....they become the best of friends. Such a blessing for me and Kevin to see that.

Its neat to see them growing into young men and how their personalities are changing and growing too. Coming home, I'm determined to not put off trips like this anymore. We had an amazing time with tons of memories we will share for YEARS to come. We are already planning something for the spring....we hear Wyoming is wonderful....and I want to see my boys enjoy the site of the buffalo and those amazing mountains and valleys. Seeing my kids enjoy something new is a priceless gift. Experiencing new cities and sites together is special. It makes me wonder if that is a tad of what God experiences when we take delight in his word....and his world. He enjoys, enjoying life with us just like we do with our own families. Just a small reminder of how good God is.

There are some funny moments that stick out from this past week -



During our Thanksgiving Dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, our server gave Max a coloring book and set of crayons, he politely put his hand up and said, "oh, no thank you, I'm 10 now". The server, who had a GREAT personality, said "Oh! I see, so you don't color anymore! You are too grown up for coloring, huh???". We all laughed. Then Max said, "Well, you know, I am 10, but I still have a little left in me sometimes".
Typical Max.


Walking to the subway after dinner one night. Max saw this statue in the window of an antique store. He walked up to the window of this shop, pointed to the statue and yelled, "Look at this guy!!!! He looks awful!!!!" As soon as he did this, a man sleeping against the door in a sleeping bag rolled over....Max's foot was literally an inch away from his sleeping bag. None of us had noticed the man,until he rolled over and the sleeping bag moved. Only Nick, Kevin and myself noticed the movement and we grabbed Max and walked away quickly. I know...where was our Christian compassion? My first reaction was mama bear mode - move my child, because I didn't know who was in that sleeping bag and was not sure how safe we were. I feel bad now...seriously. But, back to the story - When we told Max what had happened - he didn't believe it at first and thought we were kidding him. But then he got really sad because he thought the man might have thought he was talking about him when he was really talking about the statue. (His brothers might have put that in his head too) Max talked about the man the rest of the way to the subway and then on the way to our hotel too. The next day while in Chinatown, we saw many homeless people. One man asked me if I had any spare change that I could give. My first reaction was no, but then I stopped and Max said, "mom you don't have any change you can share with him??" Of course I do...was the answer. I took out all the change I had in my purse and gave it to the man. We had walked almost a block and Max said, "Mom, I want to give that man my $7. Please mom". He had $7 left of his souvenir money. My first reaction was to tell him to save his money, but I could see that this tied into his experience from earlier in the week. He was thinking about the night that he woke the homeless man and his concern that he had hurt the homeless man's feelings and the fact that the man was sleeping on the sidewalk in the first place. I asked him if he really wanted to give all the money - and he said yes, and then ran all the way back to that man by himself to put his $7 in the man's cup. My eyes just welled up with tears as he ran back to me. Max smiled and said, "I feel good Mom, I think he's happy. He needs $7 more than I do". We thank God for his sweet spirit, tender and generous heart. We pray God continues to speak and work through Max as he grows up and that he always listens when the spirit tells him to move, give and speak.

Well, like I said, we are back and this day holds much laundry and some Christmas decorating for me too. I better get busy. But not too busy to enjoy my quiet house for a moment....everybody needs that the day after vacation right?