Overdue Thanksgiving Pictures

My family decided to run the Feaster Five Race Thanksgiving morning. The following pictures are from the morning of the race.

Pinning Daniel's Number On

Now that we are awake, we are ready to go!

Mom, Christine and I before the race

It's cold and early and Christine is beginning to
wonder why she said yes to doing the race.

Daniel is trying to look happy

Lauren and Lilli at Samuel Adam's Brewery
the day before Thanksgiving

Christine and Corey

Daniel and I

I love this girl!!!

Mom and Lilli

More Pictures

Thanksgiving Day, after the race was very low key. We made dinner at Christine's apartment and then played a round of darts. After getting up really early, we felt like we earned the meal!Ready for our meal!

We all helped out with the meal

Christine looks unsure here...

Daniel counting up the points

The Saturday after Thanksgiving, we went to Plymouth Plantation to see the Mayflower II and the Village at Plymouth. Lauren, Ray and Lilli met us there for dinner that night.

Daniel excited that we are going to Plymouth Plantation Today!!!

Christine is REALLY excited to go to Plymouth!

The Mayflower II

Daniel is excited about his chili

Mom ready for her clam chowder! Mom and I are on a
mission to find the best Clam Chowder on the east coast.
This place had very yummy clam chowder!

Christine loves the Mayflower II

I love this picture of us.

The entrance to the villages

Christine and I at the Wampanog Village

The Wampanog People

The Pilgrim's Village

Daniel and Mom in the Pilgrim's village

That evening we went to the 1600's pilgrim thanksgiving dinner at Plymouth Plantation. They served traditional food and sung transitional songs. One pilgrim even tried to convince Christine to move into the village to marry an eligible bachelor!

So excited the James family arrived!!!

Lilli loves her Poppop

and her Mimi

Pilgrim singers at our 1600's dinner.

Hanging out with Kim.

Davia and I

Advent

This year I decided to get up 15-20 minutes earlier each day during Advent and read from the book "Watch for the Light," an Advent book with readings from many different authors. Although, it has been a struggle to get myself out of bed every day earlier than normal, especially during this very busy season, I am very grateful that I have made the commitment (and followed through). My readings have reminded me of a few important things about the Christmas season...

1. Advent is a time of waiting, not for the birth of Christ, but for the second coming. Psalm 130:5-5 "My soul is waiting for the Lord. I count on his word. My soul is longing for the Lord morethan a watchman for daybreak..."
2. Advent is about Repentance. Often we think of the Christmas season as being about giving. But it isn't really about giving. It is about repenting our sins. John the Baptists is the first to truly prepare for the coming of Christ, and his primary message was "repent for the kingdom of God is near."
3. Advent is not about giving it is about receiving. This was perhaps the most shocking part of what I have read so far, but also the most important. This morning I read an excerpt by William Willimon (what was his mom thinking!?) that reminded me of the true purpose of Christmas. It isn't about giving, it is about receiving. God gives us a simple but profound gift, the gift of His Son, in the form of a poor infant. He doesn't ask anything in return, in fact we can't do anything in return. We must simply and humbly accept the gift. As Willimon points out, we tend to focus on the giving of Christmas because it magnifies our abilities, our money and our love. But God's gift has nothing to do with what we can offer. In contrast, receiving a gift magnifies our needs and deficits and requires us to be truly humble. When we receive the gift of Christmas, we are recognizing that we are truly poor in spirit, and need only God to sustain us as we wait for his coming.

Busy Season

Things are so busy around here, I haven't had any time to update my blog!! I will add pictures later of our Thanksgiving holiday.. But for now I will just update you on our life events.

Daniel and I went to Massachusetts for thanksgiving break to spend time with my family. My parents drove up and we had a weekend of fun. Thanksgiving morning we got up early to run in the Feaster Five (a 5k run) with 8,000 other runners! Then we made dinner at Christine's apartment and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Friday, Mom, Christine and I got up really early to do our black-Friday shopping! It was so worth it to get the good sales, and feel like you had accomplished so much by the time 7:00 rolled around! Daniel and Dad got to sleep in a little bit while we shopped the morning away. That afternoon Daniel and I spent time with Kim around Gloucester. In the evening we went to Indian food (sorry Ray) and then played games at Christine's house.

The best part of the trip was Saturday. We went to Plymouth plantation and the mayflower to experience the history of thanksgiving. Then Lauren, Ray and Lilli met us at Plymouth for a traditional 1600's thanksgiving dinner! It was a fun night, with traditional food, madrigal singers, and lots of talking (I made friends with the kid next to me, who tried to dare me to eat more mussels then him! I think he won).

Although it was rainy or foggy the whole weekend, Daniel and I realized how much we love it on the North Shore. We just love the history and culture of the little New England towns. Maybe we did fall in love with the old windy streets that make no sense and the dunkin donuts on every corner. Even the cold rainy weather is nice sometimes. And as Kim reminded me, I loved Ireland even though it rained all the time. It is just too bad we aren't out there this weekend, because it is all snow covered now.

Now we are back in Indiana, which we also love, because of its simplicity and our dear friends. Two weeks left before we head out on our crazy Christmas Vacation! (more on that later). We just have to get through the next two weeks! Hopefully before then I will get a chance to upload some pictures of our trip and recent events.