18-11-23

November 23, 2018
Daddy and Kathi called, and we got to have a nice phone visit. They'd been flying the day before, and he was planning to go see nugget before Don, Gene, Martha, and Ann came for dinner. 

I heard from Brittany.

Beverly called, and Beth called, and I got to visit with them. We're all excited about their upcoming visit. We heard from JA and Angela and Kennedy via text. 

A couple of times now, Vivian has sent me a text to see if I wanted to have lunch. We'd planned to have lunch this Wednesday. Tuesday afternoon, she sent a text and asked if we had dinner plans. She had decided to cook a turkey and prepare a Thanksgiving dinner at their place for Wednesday night. When I asked her if I could bring anything, she asked for deviled eggs. 

Zak and his friend were reaching for them, and the friend said they were good and asked who made them, and Zak said, "My granny!" 

Vivian had us each say something we were grateful for, and overruled any protesters. Brandon's brother Zach said the blessing (Backyard Paradise group). Zak made sure he visited with everyone and seemed happy and confident. 

We got a text from Amber -- she said she was beyond thankful for Papa and me, and that she had cooked her first Thanksgiving dinner. 

~When I was at Noah's soccer game, I again offered to take care of Chewy while they all went to see Kim's mom for Thanksgiving. They said they weren't going to get to go re: John being on call, so I asked what time I should be at their house for dinner. ;-) They said they were going to ask what we were doing for Thanksgiving, and offered to bring it all to our house, which they did. I said that I made great canned green beans, and John said that Kim had a way of fixing green beans that was actually a vegetable that he would eat. They are roasted green beans, so I offered to fix them ~ it felt like a closed circle --- from "She's making my pumpkin bread" to "She's letting me make her green beans." 

Tyler was with them, so the six of us sat together at the dining room table and ate off my white Thanksgiving dinner plates and visited. 

Noah said that it was a shame that I'd had to leave before he played in the next game because he did much better in it, and John and Kim described how he'd gotten the ball down the field and did a special kick pass that caused a player from the other team to say, "He did it!!" 

Chris and Shawn had coffee together Thanksgiving morning, and then Shawn went over there for the day. Shawn said that Erin cooked her first turkey and that it was good. After Tyler had dinner with us here, John and Kim took him back to Chris'. 

Chelsea came over with Jaden for a little bit --- looking for macaroni and cheese recipe, which she made to take to Thanksgiving at her step-father's house. He gave me kisses and we played a little bit of hide and seek. When I surprised him, he laughed a lot! 

Had a sweet message from Abby.

When I talked to Beverly this morning, she said the girls had had a good day together --- they made spaghetti, played games, and fell asleep on the sofa together, watching t.v.

It was a scattered family Thanksgiving but everyone seemed happy, and we were able to do loving things for one another even though we didn't gather at the same house and all try to fit together at the same table.