HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have had an exciting week, complete with lots of snow and even more turkey...yum, yum! Blake started off the week with a quick trip to the states. Would you believe he went to Warner Robins, Georgia? Yeah, you can imagine how jealous I was, especially considering he was able to have dinner with my parents and my brother. We weren't sure if he would even make it back in time for Thanksgiving, so I guess that was the first thing for which we were thankful--we were together. Considering the fact that Blake is leaving in 9 days for a 5-month "trip," courtesy of the U.S. military, togetherness is a luxury and not one we take for granted. We spent Thanksgiving day with a very good friend of mine, Jill, whose husband is currently on a "trip." I roasted the turkey, made some macaroni a la Brenda-Bailey-style, whipped up a sweet potato souffle (thank you Aunt Lois!), and baked some gooey, chocolate brownies (are you hungry yet?). We had a great time visiting and eating, and eating again, and eating some more. Later that night it started to snow. It snowed all night, and we ended up with about 3 inches of glorious white snow---perfect for sledding on our new toys that I bought for the kids last week. Let me just say right away that sledding is my kind of sport. Maybe that's because I'm in a position that comes natural for me---on my rear!

By the time we woke up this morning, most of the snow had melted, so we decided to take the kids ice skating in K-town. The rink just opened last weekend, and the kids have been asking to go....why not try it? Now here's my question for you to ponder....who sits around and thinks up this stuff? Who was the first person to say, Hey, let's put a very thin blade of steel on the bottom of our shoes and ride around on the ice! That will be fun! Actually, I did have fun, and by the time we finished, I was doing triple loops around the rink. Ok, I'm exaggerating. By the time we left, I was able to go around the rink one whole time without falling. That's more like it.

The kids had a great time, too. We rented a penguin for Grace. Ha! I can see the puzzled looks on all your faces! The "penguin" I'm referring to was plastic, about 3 feet tall, and wore his own ice skates. Oh, and he had handles on his head for Grace to hold, to help her keep her balance while she learned to skate. It was really neat. She skated around that rink for two hours! Of course, Troy was born with athletic talent, so he was skating circles around us all from the minute he stepped on the ice. Irritating.

I can honestly say it's been a wonderful holiday. I am thankful for so many things, but especially my family. I'm also thankful that I worship a God who has poured out blessings on my life even though I don't deserve any of them. I wrote a scripture on my message board this week that sums it up: "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." (1 Chronicles 16:34) So what are you waiting for? Go ahead...give thanks.

(Last weekend we traveled to Austria for our first attempt at skiing. When I say "first," I mean it literally. Grace, Troy and I have never been skiing. It was quite a trip! Blake says that I should have enough to write about for at least a week! We had a pretty good time, even if it wasn't the most ideal situation for beginners. The area we were in, Hintertux, didn't have a great slope for newbies. In fact, we were at the very top of the mountain...any higher and we would have been skiing with the Almighty Himself. Read on....)

I'm sure you've all seen those guys and gals on TV who are into "extreme" sports like skydiving, or snowboarding down the side of a mountain, or surfing the largest waves in the world. You have probably thought to yourself, Those guys are insane! It's OK to admit it; I've thought it myself a time or two. But this weekend I learned that I am an extremist! Yup, it's true. Incredible heights, excessive speeds, sports that defy death.....you name it, I am extremely afraid of it! In fact, I think that when God was weaving together my DNA strands, he inadvertently left out my "adventure" and "courage" genes! I figured all of this out too late, of course, because by the time it hit me that I am NOT a thrill-seeker, I was being shoved onto a ski lift and transported up to the heavens.

When I look back over the whole experience, I have to chuckle a little. I'm sure the only thing funnier than me falling down a million times was the sight of me banging my head against the ski lift while screaming, "Please, God, don't let me die!" If I had been able to take my video camera with me, I would be a filthy rich woman right now. I just remember thinking, Lord, if it's my time to go, you should just take me up, because it will be a closer trip for me. Blake was very considerate (or worried) and paid for me to have an instructor. Too bad she didn't speak English. Her only words were "look" and "go" and "STOP!!!" Hey, I only ran over her twice; she was lucky.

I guess I should be happy with myself, because I attempted something that is completely out of my comfort zone. By the way, my comfort zone could be defined as "sea level." Anyway, it was a neat experience, and I definitely want to try again. Only next time I'll leave my fear at home....or maybe just pack a few extra anxiety pills.

Have you ever had a weekend where you just needed to get out of your house? Maybe it needs some serious cleaning, and you can't stand to do it, but you also can't stand to stay in the filth. Well, I'm not saying that is what happened here (ahem...), but I will say that last weekend was a "get out of the house" weekend! That is the great thing about living in Europe. "Getting out of the house" becomes more than a trip to the local mall. All of the sudden you're able to see sights you've never seen and visit cities or countries that you've never visited. It means taking in the local culture, sampling the native food, even trying out your new language skills. This weekend we drove not too far from home to a beautiful castle nestled in the forest along the Mosel River Valley. That castle is called Burg Eltz (you can see pictures yourself and read the history at http://www.burg-eltz.de. They even translate in English). I've never seen anything like this. It is beautiful. No, the word "beautiful" really doesn't do it justice. Magnificent? Formidable? I don't think even Webster himself could pen the right words when trying to describe this place. We toured the castle, which, by the way, is over 700 years old and is furnished the way it would have been more than 500 years ago. As I was listening to the tour guide tell tales from the medieval past, I had a revelation: I should have paid more attention in history class 15 years ago.

Seriously, I have never felt so dumb in my entire life! She was spitting out facts and dates and names from centuries ago, and I can't even name all of the American presidents from the 20th century. I have distant memories of studying the history of the world, but apparently I only learned it for testing purposes. I never really planned on retaining any of it. Who would have ever guessed I would be smack dab in the middle of "western civ." Which leads me to this point (and I do have one): I will encourage my children to learn for the sake of learning, not for the sake of making a certain "grade" or maintaining an honor roll average, or graduating cum laude. I will teach them that learning is fun, it opens doors, it makes you a better person. Learning helps you experience life and live it to the fullest. You're never too young to start learning and never too old to stop. Carpe diem!