Thanksgiving

Friday the 21st of November, Korben and I headed to my mom's house. It had been almost 6 weeks since we had seen each other, and I was very homesick! On Saturday, Kim came in from Tennessee and stayed through Monday. We had such a wonderful time together. We spent time visiting with my grandmother, having many messy meals (Korben tried Biter Biscuits for the first time), watching old home videos, going to church, and visiting with family. It went so fast! Korben loved his Aunt Kimmie. It had been 3 months since they had seen each other! Korben was in love with Kim's dog, Melody. Three times in a row, when Melody walked in to the room, Korben said "HI" to her. I wouldn't have believed my ears, but mom and Kim heard it too. Of course, he hasn't said it since! We also appreciated Melody being a vacuum cleaner for all the cheerios Korben dropped. We sure did miss her after she left. "DaDa" was the phrase of the weekend. He said it over and over. We had just heard him say it for the first time from his crib on Tuesday (the 18th) morning. On Sunday night he realized he could blow raspberries on the leather couch. He would bend down and make the "noise" that it makes when you blow on the couch, and lean his head up and say "DaDa." This went on for several minutes. It was hilarious. His daddy came in late Tuesday night after finishing up the Thanksgiving Blessings service at our church. I don't think Korben said "DaDa" once on Wednesday...Aaron said it was because he didn't have to, his "DaDa" was with him and he didn't have to call for him! Good point.



First Biter Biscuit. He loved it, of course.




















Me, Korben, and Mema.


























Korben and Melody smooching.




















Mom, Korben and me before church.


























Kim, Korben and me before church.




















Korben loving on his big cousin, Carson.




















Kim was about to go home. Sad.




















Korben was giving her a goodbye hug.




















Getting acquainted with Santa.




















He wasn't scared at all. He was very amused with the "tricks up his sleeve." So amused that it was hard to get him to look up and pose. We have some professional pictures that I will post later.




















We saw this cute rocking horse in Dillards. You can see from my expression that I couldn't wait to get Korben on a horse.
























We drove to Heber Springs on Thursday morning to have Thanksgiving with Aaron's parents and Dustin. My mom followed us there in a separate car. I started out riding with her, but after being on the road about 15 minutes, Aaron asked me to get in his car in the back seat with Korben and block the sun out of his eyes. The sun was incredibly bright that day, and since Korben's car seat is still in the reversed position there was no way for him to escape it. So, I held up a box for 45 minutes. Aaron turned around and took this picture saying, "we're making memories!"


























We had the most incredible meal! No weight watcher points were counted that day, or the day after, or the day after that! Julie surprised us with an appetizer of "Pumpkin Soup." We will be eating that in Heaven, I'm sure, and it will be calorie free! Until then, pumpkin soup will have to be eaten in small, small portions! We had such a great time with Don, Julie, and Dustin. Not just eating (even though that's always a big part of our fun), but we also watched movies, played games, and did lots of playing with Korben. I guess we were having too much fun to take pictures. The only ones taken are on Don's camera, and I will post them as soon as I get them. I'm so glad Christmas is just a few weeks away because I'm ready to do it all over again.
Korben really wasn't himself most of the time we were home. He had rosy cheeks on most mornings, with a low-grade fever. I blamed that, and his fussiness on teething because he is still working on getting those two bottom teeth to come in. On Saturday he ended up with a rash all over his legs. It turned out to be Fifths disease that caused the fever, upper respiratory infection, and the rash. Poor baby. He has either been dealing with the complications of teething, or getting over some sort of sickness for a solid month now. I think he is much better today, although, he is still acting like his teeth are really hurting. They are so cute though. The two little white spots on his gums already change his appearance. I can't wait to get a good picture of two little teeth so I can post it on the blog.

People were so kind to think of us on Thanksgiving, being the first major holiday without Dad. I appreciate all the messages I received with those of you saying you were praying for me. I heard the phone ring all morning on Thanksgiving, with people calling my mom. It means so much to know that people care about us. Speaking for me, Thanksgiving didn't feel much more difficult than any regular day. The past two Thanksgivings have been terrible. Dad was sick and miserable on both, and the whole time we were thinking "Is this the last?" Someone sent me a message saying "I know its hard to be thankful this year." Well, as much as I missed Dad this Thanksgiving, I was truly thankful to know that he is no longer suffering. I know for a 100% fact that my dad is with the Lord. I know he is experiencing things that our brains aren't meant to understand this side of Heaven. I know he is waiting on us to join him. I am thankful for Jesus who gives us the choice of eternal life. I am thankful that my dad knew He was the only way. I can't imagine living this life, thinking it ended at death. God has a big picture that we can not see yet. Some would say, how tragic for a baby to be born just moments before his Grandfather went to Heaven. I say, what better blessing could God have given to help us cope? Holding Korben at that time made me feel closer to God than ever. There were many times I just held him and cried over losing my dad. In a strange way, just by cuddling my newborn baby, I always felt like God was cuddling me. God's way is perfect, even if we don't understand it...and for that I am thankful.

I could write for hours about all of the things we are thankful for everyday. I am so grateful for my husband. Marriage just keeps getting better. I love how we continue to grow closer to the Lord and closer to each other. Aaron wakes up, thrilled to go to work. He loves his job and everyone he works for and with. I wake up, thrilled to be a stay at home mom. I wish everyone could see all of the precious, new things Korben does everyday. I am just so in love with him, and I am so blessed to get to absorb everything he does everyday. We love our families so much. They sometime seem so far away, but it could be a LOT worse. A couple hours away is not much at all, and we are grateful for that. We are grateful for the health of our families. We know that anything can change in a second, and we don't want to take a single healthy day for granted.

I can't write this without asking for prayer. A couple in our church, Emily and Phillip Marsh have a 7 month old son named Collin who is in the nursery with Korben. Collin was just diagnosed with AML Leukemia, and he has just started chemotherapy at Children's hospital. I can't even think about this situation without crying. I can't imagine how terrified they are right now. Please pray with us for HEALING of sweet Collin Marsh. This is just one situation of how our lives can change in the matter of a second.

Thank you for reading this. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. "Count your blessings, name them one by one..."