Thanksgiving finale

What a grand finale!  After Thanksgiving, we spent the weekend fellowshipping with friends from our sending church, Highland Heights Baptist Church in Memphis.  Thanks to a dear friend who opened his home to us, we were able to stay at the "Brewer Bed and Breakfast".  Moments after I took the picture above, Katherine was sound asleep and stayed in Granddaddy's lap for over an hour.

Another sweet friend from church provided supper for us.  What a blessing (thanks, Barbara!) to have a yummy meal waiting.  Once again, good food and fellowship to nourish the body and the soul.

 



Another perk to staying in the Brewer Bed and Breakfast?  The lovely quilts made years and years ago.

 



Look at those tiny stitches making every little scrap of material blossom into a beautiful work of art!

 



Saturday, we got to spend time with so many amazing people!  Even though we would love to have hours and hours to spend together, we're grateful for the little snippets of smiles we can enjoy.

 



Our first stop was a friend who let us intrude on her family's Thanksgiving gathering.  Even though she had a house full, she still gave us her time (and coffee!).  What generous friends we have.

 



 

For lunch, we dined at Café Palladio with another friend surrounded by antiques and served beautiful and delicious food



 

From there we drove over to Barnes and Noble to meet a friend from seminary days.

 

And we finished up the day with overflowing hearts because of God's fabulous timing (as always!).  Sarah has a friend who just happened to be celebrating her birthday this weekend.  We didn't make the decision to stay in Memphis after Thanksgiving until just a few days before we left Dallas.



 
 
 

What a treat to celebrate fourteen years of life with a group of beautiful young ladies at Spaghetti Warehouse.

 



 Sunday morning, we headed off to worship with our church family, not realizing what lay in store.  In Aaron's words, we're just "pieces of the puzzle", and we got moved into position of leading the worship service while playing the guitar (Aaron) and playing the piano (me).  The stomach flu had hit the musicians in the church, leaving a big gap.  Our gracious church didn't mind that I missed notes, we just all worshipped together.

I love the beautiful stained glass windows at church, and I love the beautiful people, too. 

 

 

Sunday afternoon, traffic on Interstate 40 doubled our drive time.  We pulled in exhausted, hungry, and sad that our already short time with my side of the family had been cut even shorter.  But my thoughtful mother maximized our time together by making s'mores!

 





 My brother helped with the cooking, and my sister-in-law joined in the fun, too, even though her husband had to stay in Maine.

 

We spent less than fourteen hours with my side of the family (including sleep!) and didn't get to see any of my grandparents.  But Christmas is just around the corner, and we'll enjoy some slower time together then. 

 

 

 

Our trip back to Dallas Monday went smoothly.  The kids traveled well and got lots of school done, and we didn't get stuck in traffic.  Now it's time to catch up on laundry and reflect on all of God's good gifts we've just experienced.