THANKSGIVING AT HOME WITH THE KIDS

Sorry I haven't had a chance to write the past couple of days. As you can imagine it has been a very busy holiday for us. We took 7 of the kids home with us for Thanksgiving! We arrived at Crystal Hill Baptist Church on Wednesday afternoon. The church fed our kids dinner and then we had service. After church some of the youth came to hang out with our kids and they played basketball in the gym. Me and one of the girls I brought from the home went to my moms to spend the night. Gary and the 6 boys stayed and slept at a room in the church. (Well, they didn't sleep. They played basketball all night...poor Gary) The kids had a blast! The next morning we all met back at the church and 2 of our wonderful friends cooked chocolate chip pancakes, (at the request of the boys) bacon and scrambled eggs for us. After our morning devotion we piled in the van and headed for my moms for lunch. I thought she had a big house until we all packed in there. We had a great time. The boys really made us all stop and really think about what we should be thankful for. I was able to be with my mom when they couldn't be with theirs and I believe even the strongest of us all was broken a little by the strength of these kids. The day was really amazing. I believe it was the best Thanksgiving ever. Just being able to take these boys and make them feel like they belonged was a great experience. The kids played football, jumped on the trampoline and played video games all day. In the afternoon we went to my sisters house to eat AGAIN.  I think that is what we did the most while we were gone. The boys hung out with my nephew while me and the girl I brought played Scene it with my sister, my daughter and my niece's. The kids rode the 4-wheeler, which I think was the highlight of the day for them, and again played video games. They really enjoyed getting to hang out with a family for Thanksgiving. We were only suppose to stay one night but the kids were having so much fun, they begged us to spend one more night. We made a phone call and got the OK and we were able to stay 2 nights for Thanksgiving! One of the boys told me he never gets home visits and he was so grateful that we let them go. He said he was really surprised how welcomed my family made him feel. I'm just glad God gave us the opportunity to take them home with us and let them experience a different Thanksgiving this year. I now have several boys begging me to take them home for Christmas! We are gonna pray on that one. :-)
I just wanted to say thanks to my family for welcoming these boys in to their homes. Thank you mom for letting us come, cooking all that food for us and making the kids feel like you were their nanny. Thank you Theron and Stacy for making the boys feel so welcomed. Thank you Karen and Rusty for letting the boys hang out, mess your house all up and feeding them waffles for breakfast. Thank you Carrie for baking them a cake at 10:00 at night and Thank you Payton for letting them play in your space. (Which they loved and said you were so patient with them) Thank you Crystal Hill Baptist Church for letting us use your facilities, I'm not sure we could have come without it. Thank you Shane and Stephanie for cooking for us and sharing in our devotion. And Thank you God for being the Awesome forgiving Savior that you are. I'm sure this will be a Thanksgiving that we all will have wonderful memories of. Love all of you and appreciate everything you do!


YOU ARE MY GOD, AND I WILL GIVE YOU THANKS;
YOU ARE MY GOD, AND I WILL EXALT YOU.
GIVE THANKS TO THE LORD, FOR HE IS GOOD;
HIS LOVE ENDURES FOREVER!
                                       PSALM 118:28-29