Our 1st Thanksgiving as a family of 6

Heading to Garland for Thanksgiving:


The boys are geared up for the 3 1/2 hr car ride with audios
and DVD's to entertain them.

Kathlena is busy at work with her 1st leap pad.

With Charlie sick he made the trip also. If you look out the
back window you will see our trailer we are pulling to house
the beef we are bringing back in our first delivery.


We made it to Paw-Paw and Grandmommie's at last. It
is worth the drive as Grandmommie is an excellent cook,
making everything from scratch. Below are some pictures of
one of Emily's favorite photography subjects...food. These
are the best mashed potatoes ever!! When we read Cranberry
Thanksgiving and it talks about Grandma cooking "everything
with crisp edges and tender centers" It makes me think of
Grandmommie's cooking.



We break tradition and have chicken...nothing against
turkeys, Shiflet's just prefer chicken. Doesn't that make
your mouth water for some chicken?

The kids table on night 2...leftovers as good as night 1

Paw-Paw and Kathlena "fixin" something. She knows the
right one to go to for "fixin" stuff.

Kathlena's first french braid...we finally have

enough hair!

She wanted 2 braids just like Mimi's.

The braids didn't last long. Can you imagine why?

Kathlena playing toss me as high as you can

with her Uncle Steve. Which is quite high as

Uncle Steve stands at 6'5". Aunt Cecilia

and cousin Hannah watch Kathlena soar

above their heads.

Andrew and his new rrrrrobot. Uncle Steve

is the master at finding the most perfect and

coolest ever little boy gifts. Thank you Uncle

Steve...it hasn't left his sight during the day

nor his arms at night.

THANKSGIVING PART 2:

Our first Thanksgiving as 6 at Dewey and

Nana's

Kathlena and "Dewey" a.k.a Dodad,
but princess Kathlena has renamed him.

Kathlena and Nana

Kathlena and Uncle Todd

The preparations in full swing as Emily and Aunt Susie help

get things ready to serve.

Aunt Susie and Sherri taking on the task of labeling all of

the cups for all 35 guests. Yes, we are a large family-four

generations represented here today.

Mom and I finishing up the giblet gravy...well Mom mainly

I am just visiting slowing down the process really, it is

almost ready though.

The boys table...enough said.

My 3rd cousins Madeline, Millie, Mary Grace, George and

Pete Smith. We have not seen them since they adopted Pete

(from South Korea) so this was an extra special day for us to

see them and meet Pete. It was the first time for them to meet

our newest little ones also.

My cousin Amber (Blake's Mommy) blowing bubbles with

the little ones.

Madeline and Andrew playing Wii bowling.

Madeline was such a sweet heart helping Andrew play!

Thank you! He had so much fun.

Kathlena watching the golfers.

Aunt Susie up at bat...oops wrong sport.

Blake and Pete playing too.

Kathlena and Pete playing in the "clubhouse" notice the

bucket of golf balls. The caddies are resting. hehe

Daddy getting in some target practice...well trying it was

quite windy.

Our budding photographer...imagine that? She had a big

time with her cousin Lucas.

Playing drop the cup from my head.

Lucas's glasses fit just right

Much to be thankful for this year

It has been a sweet time of learning about the meaning of Thanksgiving and it's significance to our Christian heritage. Andrew and Kathlena had no idea what Thanksgiving was, but have had so much fun learning about it. We used a book called Cranberry Thanksgiving that is a cute tale set in the New England cranberry bogs, about a Grandmother and her special cranberry bread recipe. Grandmother and granddaughter invite two friends for Thanksgiving exploring the concepts of relationships, charity, honesty, and Thanksgiving. Andrew's favorite character is Mr. Whiskers. It has been so fun to learn anew through their eyes.

At dinner each night Daddy went through ThanksLiving Treasures devotional by Family Life. We learned about the six treasures: God's Word, Protection, Freedom, Health, Salvation and Provision. We talked about the hardship and perseverance of the pilgrims, and God's sovereign protection over them.

We also made our annual "Thanksgiving tree" made from hand print cut-outs everyone got to write down the things they are thankful for and put them on the tree as a reminder of all the blessing we have been given. Here are some pictures of us making our tree.

Emily helping trace Andrew's hands. Andrew was thankful
for Mommy and Daddy, sisters and J.Michael, Mema, friends,
Uncle Darrell "who is so good at catching all the fish", grandparents,
God.

Kathlena and J.Michael working on their hands.

My very thoughtful Emily filling up her hands with all she
is thankful for. Things Emily is thankful for are...Laughter, joy,
parents and grandparents, brothers and sister, country music,
that the God-given rights and liberties to worship the Lord freely and
openly are acknowledged by our government.

Some of the things J.Michael is thankful for are...pets, family
and extended family, Jump-Jump, C.S. Lewis, John R.
Erickson, Nana's Beef.


Putting the tree in place...thank you helpers.

Andrew and Kathlena gathering up their hands.

Proudly displaying them.

J.Michael handing some out to put on the tree.

Kathlena putting hers on...she was thankful for her bed,

bubbie, Andrew, Mimi, Mommy and Daddy, Mrs. Hoood, grandparents,

Uncle Todd, Happy the goat, Lucy the gecko, Chase and Charlie.

Sorting things out...vision issues update

We have completed the testing through the optometrist. While the optometrist believes that the patching will not produce better acuity and that perhaps this is lost and will not be regained, however she believes through therapy his eyes can be trained to compensate in other ways for it. She has recommended extensive therapy for both vision and a host of other issues. Unfortunately, we are not sure how accurate the findings are as much of the test weighs heavily on a concrete understanding of English. It would seem she is relying more heavily on his background and statistics in the recommendation for extensive therapy as she also commented on the English issue to the reliability of the testing. We continue to pray for wisdom and have decided to consult with a second pediatric ophthalmologist who specializes in strabismus and amblyopia...in fact if you do not have strabismus the Dr. will not see you. We have an appointment scheduled for Dec. 9th. We are so grateful for the Lord's provision as each time we "hit a wall" the Lord directs us to the new door of opportunity.

We continue to trust the Lord...believing his Word for all situations. Proverbs 11:14 tells us that "Where there is no counsel, the people fall; But in a multitude of counselors there is safety." This has been our prayer as we have sought Dr. after Dr. and test after test. Perhaps in all of these visits and "feeling" like we are doing something what we needed most was more time.

"You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish; You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry. But it is good for me to draw near to God; I have put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all Your works." Psalm 73:24-28

A hard week...

Charlie is such a beautiful dog...thiese are two of my favorite pics of him. We found out this past Friday that Charlie has tumors and they are likely cancer. We noticed that he was bleeding from his nose then it progressed to his eye where we could see what looked like a tumor on his nose. X-rays confirmed what we already knew. They also confirmed that it is not just his nose but on his heart and other places. It has been a sad week around here. Charlie has been with us for two-thirds of our marriage and lived in three of our 6 homes. He is a survivor of heart worms, copperhead bites, numerous wanderings when he was younger that resulted in many great stories and living on the ranch. After his successful battle with heart worms we determined to get him a companion and by providence we found Chase which we believe to have added many years to his life. In fact we gave Chase his name because all he wanted to do was chase Charlie.

As of now Charlie is doing fine...chasing deer, barking at neighbors passing by, eating and laying around like normal. In the last two days since on antibiotics and Mommy's herbal concoctions he has started blowing out tissue through his nose that may be a sign of the tumor in his nose breaking up. David and I clean his nose with saline rinse and give him syringes of water and herbs in his mouth that usually start the sneezing fits, but are productive in getting the clots out of his nose. Sorry, this may be more detail than anyone wanted to know! Herbs I have been using are Yarrow tea, spirulina (suppose to be great for fighting cancer), astrangulus root, black walnut hull powder, colloidal silver drops in nose and eye, echinacea, blood builder(kelp, alfalfa, dandelion root, strawberry leaf) and raw milk kefir. A couple of helpful sites I found on treating dogs naturally are Holistic Cancer Treatment for Dogs . Preventing and Healing Animals Naturally
Below are pictures of Charlie over the past 10yrs...note how little Emily and J.Michael are! We continue to treat Charlie and have been in close contact with our vet who has been a great help.

Charlie about 7 months old. Emily is 4yrs.
Spring of 1999.

I love this picture...J.Michael and Charlie have been great
pals for 10yrs. This was taken at our house on Franklin St.
in Hillsboro,TX when J.Michael was 5yrs old.

Charlie was even in our family portraits for
Christmas cards. Dec. 2003



Charlie in the Hillsboro annual 4th of July parade 2004.


August 2004

Playing in the Lake at the Ranch.

J.Michael with Charlie and Chase his dogs and friend Taylor.
Summer 2005



Kathlena warming up to Charlie after 1month home. June 2008

Charlie and Andrew became quick friends. There is just
something about boys and dogs. July 2008