We Survived Thanksgiving

Once again, we loaded up the tribe and pointed the mighty mini-van northward to Indiana.  The past few years, we have celebrated Thanksgiving with our extended family in the Hoosier State and then stayed home for Christmas.  It allows us to remain in our pajamas until at least lunch time, take our time in reading the story of Jesus' birth (we read from a "grown up" Bible and a children's Bible), open our gifts leisurely (Sam struggles with this part...he gets incredibly excited {grin}), sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus and blow out the candle on His cake, and then enjoy a big holiday meal together.  All without the stress of having to rush out the door with bags in hand.  It's one of the best decisions we've made as parents.  In spite of missing our extended families, it just feels right for our little family.  So, we make the trek to Indiana for Thanksgiving to be with our loved ones.

Traveling with four little men ages 6 and under is madness.  Our parents live just over an hour away from one another and both live in very small houses.  After all, they are empty nesters.  My mom always makes a comment about how small their space is ...and I always reassure her by saying something like, "This house works perfectly for you and dad 98% of the time.  When my family invades your space, we swallow it up."  It's true...we are a tribe of 6!  So, when you take four little men out of their normal routine, strap them in a car seat for 4 hours, give them a "nap" while en route, and then put them in an unfamiliar place to sleep for the night.  Trouble is bound to come!  For the most part, it's fine.  However, it's exhausting to shuffle things around: suitcases, pack and plays, diapers, clean clothes, dirty clothes, cameras (to capture the images of memories being made), coats and hats, and at least a million other items.  We had planned our time to maximize the fun and minimize the disruption...or so we thought.  It seems that something always happens to mess up our well-laid plans.  {grin}  Caleb struggled a bit with his asthma, his breathing was rapid and he was wheezing. Thank God that I felt the "nudge" to pack the nebulizer machine in our suitcase.  We needed it.  Brad and I were able to handle it, and it felt good to know what to do.  He was up several times throughout the night.  I gave him breathing treatments and prayed over him.  Such peace comes from knowing that when your little one is sick, you can call on God for help and healing.  He is faithful to hear and answer prayer.  I am so grateful to know that God loves my boys even more than Brad and I do.  Amazing.

So, we ate (a lot), we drove (a lot), enjoyed being with our family (a lot), enjoyed a lunch with our youth-ministry friends (a lot), and then we headed home.  We made some sweet memories along the way, too.  I treasure the opportunities for our boys to spend time with Brad's grandfather...he loves watching them and gets a kick out seeing their latest "tricks."  {grin} In fact, we were so busy making memories, that I didn't take a single picture!