Thanksgiving

Unfortunately, it was just the four of us for Thanksgiving. Little Ezra Richard is still in Haiti. But there has been a lot of progress recently. All we are waiting on is the visa appointment at the US Embassy. We were granted an appointment, but the orphanage director just happened to be out of town during that time, so we are now awaiting a new appointment date. The waiting is hard, but we are trying to somehow turn it into a positive spin: "okay, we have two more weeks of freedom! Lets go out! Lets drink beer! Let's spend money before we have to spend it all on formula!" Of course, we'd rather not have that freedom, but we are trying to stay positive.

So, upon learning we would not be preoccupied at Thanksgiving, Jon and I decided to go to Miami for the weekend. We were quite excited. Then, as the day got closer, we decided to just go on a day trip to St. Augustine instead. Which meant we would, in fact, be in Orlando for Thanksgiving day. We had options of places to go - but we chose to sleep in and spend the day together. We went on a long bike ride. Around 2pm (while the rest of you were hung over from Turkey dinner) we re-heated our left-over pizza and watched a movie. We also did a TON of housework - got the 2nd bedroom all set up to be a very multi-purpose room - bike storage, office, half-nursery (E will sleep by us, but change table and clothes are in that room), guest bedroom, my closet -- needless to say, it's a little cramped. But clean!!! Then, that night we decided we should drink some wine. So we went out to the liquor store. Closed. So we went to 7-11 and got some $8 wine. Awesome. We went home and drank it. THEN we found out that ToysRus started their Black Friday sales at 10pm on Thursday! Woo hoo! That's what expecting parents should do, right - go to ToysRus for the big sales!!! So we leisurely made our way over there at 10:30pm only to find a line-up. Not just a few people standing in line being ushered in to the building. No - we're talking about an army of people in a formation 5 people wide that stretched around all FOUR sides of the big box store. I'm not kidding. I don't know how many hundreds of people that was. We couldn't help but laugh - at the people so desperate for toy sales, and at ourselves for thinking we would just go "check things out". Needless to say, we went back home.

On Friday we got up early to go get good deals at BabiesRus - well, is 7:30 early on Black Friday? I think not - it seems as though many people are back in bed by then! We got good sales on formula and bottles. Yippee. Then we got a good deal on some ties for Jon at the Men's Warehouse. Then we got on the road to St. Augustine.

We started with beer and a sandwich at the pub. Then we looked in all the cute stores on the cute cobble-stone streets. (for those of you who don't know St Augustine - it's the oldest town in North America. We've been there lots, but it's a nice day trip. Nice beaches along the way, too.) Then we went in the Pepper store. Jon likes to sample hot things. He thought it would be a good idea to sample the "world's hottest hot sauce". He put some on a chip. I was not beside him to be the nagging voice in his ear to say "are you sure you wanna try that?". But he came over to me a couple seconds after swallowing and couldn't even talk. He was already sweating and his face was beat red. I said "What happened to you?" He just motioned that he wanted to go outside of the store. "I ate hot sauce" was all he could say. He was doubled over at the waste. He was crying. I was laughing. Jon LOVES hot things - nothing has ever been TOO hot before. This was hilarious! Poor guy's stomach was a wreck. He said his body was doing everything to get the HOT out - sweating, crying, shaking - he wanted to vomit and go to the bathroom at the same time! I had to get him two bottles of water and a muffin just to make him able to cope again. It still makes me laugh.

Anyhow - we've had a good long weekend so far. It's nice to spend all the time together, just relaxing. Today we are going to be productive again though - it's a school work and housework day today. Jon is running errands right now while I procrastinate.

But I was just reflecting on how truly thankful I am. I am thankful that I have a great husband who is in a job that reflects his values and passions. I am thankful for the career I am developing. I am thankful for being raised in a family that follows Jesus. I am thankful for friends and family who are so loving and supportive. I am thankful for our little buddies Atticus and Fallujah. I am also SUPER thankful for this little guy:

(Passport photo - about 10 wks old)

I will write again when he is here - and post lots of pictures!!! Hope all of you had wonderful Thanksgiving weekends!