Since Thanksgiving....

Where can you find us at 4:30am? at 3:00pm? at midnight?

Yep! This picture just about sums up our lives since the week before Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008 part 2: Friends

The whirlwind continued in outline form:

Friday:

• 5:30am: Keren gets up and starts sewing her dress for Megan's wedding the next day. (It was not finished because the weekend before, I went to sew the skirt into the bodice and it didn't quite close. I had cut out the pieces a month before, with what I thought was grow-room....but was apparently not enough! The new plan was to insert a large piece of the trim as a panel down the front.)

• 8:00am: Jon leaves for the airport. (Keren continues sewing)
• 9:00am: We all have breakfast, then Erik and Cat leave. (Keren continues sewing, her ankles keep swelling)
• 11:00am: Keren and Jonathan leave to drive to Danville, where Megan and Peter's wedding rehearsal is that night. (Dress is still not finished, so the sewing machine goes into our trunk with the overnight bag) It is discovered that long car rides are not ideal for deflating swollen ankles.
  
• 3:00pm: Music practice, wedding rehearsal.
• 6:30pm: Rehearsal dinner at Chinese Buffet.
• 8:30pm: We find our hotel room and praise God's providence in providing a large table to set up the sewing machine on. Jonathan watches TV while I sew.
  

• 11:30pm: Dress finished--ankles huge. I try on my boots that I plan to wear with my dress for the wedding the next day and they will not zip up. I decide to use my pillows for my feet instead of my head.
  
• 12:00pm: Bed! Sweet Bed!

Saturday:

• 5:30am: We get up and shower. I immediately put on my boots, they will zip closed, so I don't take them off again. This makes getting my jeans on a little tricky, but at least I won't be wearing tennis shoes as Megan's matron of honor!
• 6:30am: arrive at Megan's aunt's house to make the flower bouquets.

• 7:15am: The girls from Seattle arrive to help Megan get ready and meet Peter for the first time.
  

• 8:30am: Flowers are finished
• 9:00am: Keren and Jonathan practice wedding music with Denny, who's playing the guitar for us.
• 11:00am: We begin playing the prelude at the Wedding Hall
• 12:30pm: Megan officially becomes a Green--she and Peter are officially hitched!
  

• 1:00pm: We all celebrate with toasts and luncheon.
• 2:30pm: We leave with the girls to drive back to Saint Louis.
• 6:30pm: Turkey dinner left-overs for all in our apartment.
• 8:00pm: At this point we are all draped over the furniture in the living room. Jonathan serves tea for everyone on a tray.
  
• 9:00pm: Bed! Sweet Bed!

Sunday:

• 7:00am: Keren wakes up and starts making cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

• Much tea is consumed by all as we wait for them to bake. It is commented that Keren in the kitchen while cinnamon rolls are baking equals a lot of buns in the oven--13 to be exact!
  

• 9:30am: Breakfast with my girls!..these are the good times!
  

• 11:00am: Morning prayers together.
• 12:30pm: We take Abby to the airport...sigh!
• the rest of the day: we discuss different ideas of doing something off and on, but mostly try different positions of lounging while we recover on the couch.
  
• 6:00pm: We order pizza and watch a movie.

Monday:

• 6:15am: Emily and Janelle leave for the airport....sigh!
• 10:30am: Judy comes with me to my pre-natal checkup.
• 11:30am: Soup for lunch at the Saint Louis Bread Co., better known to you as Panera.
• 12:30pm: I take Judy to the airport...sigh!
  
• about 6:00pm: Jonathan wanders into the kitchen to tell me he's lonely. The apartment is really very empty now! And we have no more Thanksgiving left-overs to sooth our pain. We discuss how fun the weekend was, how nice it is to sleep. God is Good!
  

Thanksgiving Weekend 2008 part 1: Family

Thanksgiving was a whirlwind; not exactly restful, but sooooo fun!
Here it is in outline form:

Tuesday:

• Jonathan and I type away furiously at our hermeneutic analysis papers for our Covenant Theology class until...
• 5:30pm: I pick up Jon from the airport.
• 6:10pm: Erik, with lovely girlfriend, Cat, drives in from Georgia.
• 6:15pm: My parents drive in from Houston, TX.
• Much hugging and exclaiming that I am indeed pregnant. It is decided that the progeny in my womb shall from now on be called "nibbling" by the uncles-to-be.
• (Definition of "nibbling": non-gender specific term for niece or nephew, modeled after the word sibling. plural, niblings)
• We all make it laughing into our apartment and fun dinner commences.
• Menu: spinach salad, pumpkin soup and home-baked bread. (Thank goodness for crock-pots!)
  
• 9:30: Guests retire to their beds. Jonathan and I continue as pictured above.
• 2:00am: Jonathan goes to bed.
• 2:30 am: Keren goes to bed.

Wednesday:

• 5:30am: Keren and Jonathan resume their positions at the table.
• 8:30am: Rough drafts finished, showering, dressing and then back to revision.
• 8:45am: Family arrives for breakfast, which Mother is drafted into cooking. Jonathan and Keren receive toast and eggs at their work stations.
• 9:30am: Final drafts printed, J and K drive to school.
  
• 10:00-12:15pm: Covenant Theology Class, papers turned in. (much relief,very sleepy)
  
• 1-2:00pm: Lunch
• 2:00-5:30: We all Take a field trip to the City Museum!

There's me and my mom, watching the others climb through a wire-mesh tube suspended three stories above the ground by a crane and cable .

Apparently the height does not bother them!

The architecture of the place lends itself to interesting views of people. I love my mom's little head poking out here!

Here's dad and Jon, climbing up in the rafters. I had to stick my camera through the rope web to get this shot.

The mosaics were beautiful--as my hubby is handsome!

Nothing like hanging out in the caves, philosophizing.

There were lots of spaces that seemed a little tight for grown ups....

But if you are a kid at heart, you can fit through anything, right Erik?

Or, as we concluded, if you are Cat, you will fit through anything!

Lots of fun!

• 5:30: Now on to the best Indian food in town! We were all very hungry, and the food was very good.
• 8:00: We are all very full, and decide to relax and digest by watching "Enchanted"
• Bed! Sweet Bed!

Thanksgiving Day:

• 9:00am: Breakfast with all, all for breakfast.
  
• Menu: Grapefruit, home-baked blueberry muffins and sage scrambled eggs with commodore tea, coffee and orange juice.
• 10:30am: Thanksgiving Service at local Episcopal Church, Dad gives homily, Keren get's cute little baby socks from a kind woman she has never met before in the congregation.
• 1:00pm: Ernest preparations for "THE MEAL" begin.

• Appetizers for the happy workers: Cheese and cracker tray featuring Goat cheese, sharp Cabot cheddar and Irish Porter; Tapinade medley including Wild Portabella and Walnut, Roasted Asparagus and Garlic, and Rima's fabulous home-made hummus. Wine, sparkling juice and coffee.

• 2:30: The stuffing and turkey are ready to go!
  

6:00pm: Turkey comes out perfectly!

6:30pm: Our first Thanksgiving Dinner!

Menu

starters~
Spinach Salad with Apples, Candied Pecans and Balsamic Dressing

main course~
Roasted Turkey
Apple and Bacon Stuffing
Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Marzinke Baked Sweet Potatoes
Green Beans with Orange Essence and Toasted Maple Pecans
Cranberry Sauce
Wine

• 7:30pm-9:00pm: Recovery from meal.
  

It is not really clear in this picture, but my ankles were quite swollen by this point!

• 9:30pm: mmmm Dessert...
  

dessert~
Pumpkin Pie
German Chocolate Pie
Persimon Pudding with Grandma J's Hardsauce
Coffee and Tea

• 11:00pm: Bed! Sweet Bed!

You know you have moved away from Seattle when.....

....The news anchor on NPR sounds excited that it will get to a high of 34 degrees today! That's because right now it is 19 degrees and feels like 7.

...The gas costs $1.47 a gallon.

...The person walking into a building 50 ft ahead of you, stops and holds the door until you catch up. (My question is, are you supposed to run, so they don't let all the heat out of the building? I hope not, because I don't run so well these days, but at the very least it is very awkward! Does this mean I'm supposed to hold the door for everyone behind me too? How impractical! )

...Your boss at work tells you to "do what the Holy Spirit tells you" when you ask her how she would like a business policy enforced with a client.


(I promise pictures of our Thanksgivining fun are coming...I just couldn't resist sharing these little tid-bits of Midwestern life now.)