Falling into Thanksgiving

Gabriel and Jaycee at Kenden's soccer game

Love the big smile on Kenden after his soccer game. His team played Smithfield's home team.

Love this picture of Gabriel on the pier of Titus Creek at Nike Park with the sun setting

Ladybug meets Ironman

How can you not laugh at this?

Trying to get a nice fall picture with the boys is almost impossible....but, this captures their personalities

Second Attempt

Chase as Spiderman, Tim, and Laurie's goldendoodle puppy Gus

October is perhaps the busiest month of the year for our family. We have four birthday kids (eldest to youngest): Emily, Kenden, Bella, and Jaycee. Then there's soccer, school, work, speech classes and don't forget Halloween rearing the month! Needless to say, I'm somewhat relieved we survived the month and are now in November. However, we have happy highlights to share from last month:

• Laurie decided to have a Halloween-themed costume party for Bella's birthday. Most everyone dressed up from the youngest in the family (Charlie) to my 90 year-old grandmother. So much fun! 
• Hurricane Matthew side-swiped the east coast and "gifted" us with its outer rain and wind bands but we kept power and didn't lose any trees in our immediate area. Unfortunately, folks in surrounding areas suffered more severe damage and are still feeling the repercussions today. 
• Soccer, soccer, and more soccer!  We even got to watch Kenden play a game at Nike Park with this travel team. Tim's team (and Gabe's team), the Pirates, wrapped up their season victoriously. Tim stepped down from coaching the 6/7 year-olds to trying his luck with the 4/5 year-olds this season in order to coach Gabe's first season of soccer. He transitioned incredibly well with an undefeated season! Gabe never fully understood the purpose of the game nor did he score any goals, but he at least tried and enjoyed playing.
• Chase did extremely well playing for a new coach after having had Tim coach him for the past 3 seasons. Chase's team made it all the way to the final championship game and played their little hearts out. They didn't win, but they hung close to the other team making it all the way to overtime and a shoot-out. Chase did awesome all season as the team goalie. He blocked countless goals and got to play a little offense in some of the games. After an undefeated season up to the championship game, he was disappointed not to win that final game. He cried along with several other players out of exhaustion and mere disappointment after trying so hard to get that final win, but we're still so proud of how well the Dolphins did! The kids quickly dried their tears as their coach presented them all trophies and individualized awards. Chase got the "Guts and Glory" award since he was known for showing no fear as the keeper and giving forth all of his effort. What an awesome soccer season with the kids, coaches, and parents! Tim and I met so many great people in our community this fall! 
• Gabriel had a field trip to the pumpkin patch with his class.
• Dawn had a pizza party for Emily after church on the 16th. Wow....Em is 15 years old!
• We enjoyed trick or treating in our neighborhood. Gabe was Ironman and Chase was Spiderman. The superheroes racked up a ton of candy! Our neighbors did such a great job decorating this year, which made it so festive! I think we saw almost as many Halloween lights as we do Christmas lights in the neighborhood. 
• Chase got straight A's on his report card!
• Gabriel's speech keeps improving. We can actually understand his bedtime prayers better now. He just recently asked God to heal Grammy Pam Sneed's back and knees and to bring him a dog....the last part of that prayer was very random with him asking God for a dog. I hope he realizes God doesn't work like Santa Claus. 

So here we are in November now. As we're into election month and voted in Trump as our next president, please pray for our country. We could argue all day long over which candidate we voted for and why, or why we're happy or discontent with the one that was elected. However, at the end of the day, we're still one nation and we have to move forward with our current leaders whether we like them or not. To hear folks in our country chant "not my president" towards Trump just makes my blood boil. In 2008 and 2012, I didn't vote for President Obama because I strongly disagreed with his policies (had absolutely nothing to do with skin color just to set that record straight). As much as I would love to see a woman be POTUS someday, I couldn't vote for Hillary Clinton either; once again, I strongly disagreed with her policies. I voted policy, not person! I could go on and on why I voted the way I did, but prefer not to make this a rant. I was disappointed both times Obama was elected, but I still put on my big girl pants, accepted the fact that my candidate didn't win, prayed for President Obama and respected his position. I pray we can all do the same for Trump without insulting each other anymore than we already have. I'm baffled at all of the Facebook wars I've seen over this election. Thankfully, I didn't lose any friends over it, but then again, I'm not one to befriend just anyone. Unlike some people who think the number of "friends" they have on Facebook represents a popularity contest, I choose to limit mine to people that I believe respect me regardless of my views.  Anyhow, I pray President (Elect) Trump will follow through with his policies and help bring unity rather than more division in our country. 

Furthermore, our Pledge of Allegiance states that we are one nation UNDER GOD. Even though our country now contains many people who don't even believe in God (don't forget our forefathers fought to give us those religious freedoms), I still put my hope in the true ruler of the world, my Lord Jesus Christ, more than any worldly leader.  We still have so much to be thankful for in this country. Let's not lose sight of how incredibly blessed we are to live in the USA! 

Beyond Election Day, we have Thanksgiving to celebrate at the end of the month. I always feel as though Thanksgiving doesn't get the attention it deserves as Halloween and Christmas overshadow it. Let's take the time to enjoy this holiday that has yet to be over commercialized. Slow down enough to breathe in some fresh air; listen to leaves crunch under your feet; take in the beautiful colors of fall; be thankful for friends, family, jobs, health, and all the many freedoms we have in this country! Let's count our blessings! Get your gobble wobble on!