Happy Thanksgiving to All!

In deciding to give my Kitchen the day off (and granting the turkey 'immunity'), we were joined by family and friends at the Villa Christina restaurant in Atlanta for a wonderful Thanksgiving Dinner together. They served everything from the traditional turkey & stuffing to shrimp, salmon, mussles (I don't even know how to spell that!), and prime rib! Yum! Roll call: Leon, Ruby, Chandler, Ann, Nathan, Courtney, and Clay (Courtney's Grandfather).
{click on photos to enlarge}

We wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving Day!

Courtney & her Grandfather, Clay

Mom & Dad

the Big Cheese...and the First Lady

Nathan & Courtney

Out in the gardens at the Villa Christina Restaurant...

Mom & Dad

This is a great photo of our family...but unfortunately Courtney's
grandfather, Clay, is hidden behind Ann!

An empty plate??

When the napkins are folded and the plates are empty.....what will be said of Thanksgiving Day? Delicious food? Yummy desserts? Will it just be another holiday spent with the same ol' people you see from day to day?

Why not put a new "twist" in your Thanksgiving menu? Why not make it a point to honor those who brought you into this world by GETTING TO KNOW THEM?!

In the November issue of REAL SIMPLE magazine they share dozens of questions that are great conversation starters....and the answers your loved ones give may just prove that the people you think you already know are even more fascinating than you ever imagined! Let me share a few:

• What was your childhood home like? neighborhood? school?
• Other than family, who were the most important people in your life?
• What were the happiest times of your childhood?
• What were your biggest disappointments?
• When you were a kid, what did you imagine your adult life would be like?

• What was your first job and how did you get it?
• Was there one person----a mentor, maybe---who had a big impact on your life??
• What was the best job you ever had?....the worse?
• If you had it all to do over again, would you choose the same path?

• Were you and your spouse in love from the start, or did the relationship take time?
• Over the years, what was the most rewarding thing about raising kids?...the toughest?
• What do you remember as the best times you had as a family?
• Which family vacation was your favorite?
• Did you dream about doing anything special once you all grew up?
• How are you like your parents? How are you different?
• Which side of the family are you most like?

• Who knows you better than anyone?
• Other than family, who are the most important people in your life right now?
• Who makes you laugh the hardest?
• Do you have a favorite book? author? movie? song?
• What is the most amazing place you've ever seen?
• If you could go somewhere you have never been, where would it be?
• If you could have lived in another age, what would it have been?
• What is your most beloved personal possession?
• What is the bravest thing you've ever done?
• The scariest? The dumbest?
• Is there anything you always wanted to do but never did?
• What would I be surprised to learn about you?
  

• What were the best years of your life?
• What was the hardest decision you've made?
• What do you consider to be your strongest character traits?
• What do you consider to be the most important world events of your lifetime?
• What do you hope to be remembered for?

I'll just go ahead and tell you....for some reason I had such grand dreams about life. I guess I thought I would really make an impact on history. (I'm not sure HOW I thought I'd do it!) I thought I would probably speak to thousands of people who would gather to hear "my" wisdom. (cough, cough)

Ha! Somehow diapers and runny noses and homeschool preparations and dirty dishes....and oh, those mountains of laundry....brought me back down to earth pretty quickly. But now that I'm definitely "over the hill" and see full well that those dreams will never be fulfilled, I realize that life is much deeper....much richer than that. In fact, I believe it's in the simplicity of life that real fulfillment comes. I believe it's in the mundane that we discover that our impact on history is through the influence we have on the lives around us.....those who live in the next room and those who sit at our Thanksgiving table. But how can we have an impact on them...or them on us....if we don't get to KNOW them?

So, before the Big Day, you may want to print the list of questions, cut them into strips and let family members pick one out of a hat! ...or maybe display them on a side table in the family room and have everyone select one they want to ask---or answer---over turkey dinner. However you plan it, allow it to create an atmosphere of love and acceptance......and gratitude for those our Lord has brought together to be called "family". I'll bet you will be surprised at what an impact they have had on your life....and what an influence you have had in theirs!

Happy Thanksgiving to all from The Georgia White House~

P.S> Please go to "www.cookthegoose.blogspot.com" to view and SHARE your yummy Thanksgiving receipes!

Flammily News

Pictured here are the two run-aways who are thought to be the ones who kidnapped four young boys from their grandmother's house in Georgia.
Below you will see pictures of the boys who disappeared sometime in mid June of this year. As you can see, they have been neglected, starved and deprived of having any fun at all.
Soon we will post pictures of the saddened grandparents....who, out of grief, have moved out of the family home and into a small bungelow where they have become hermits in Woodstock, Ga.
Many say they will never recover from their grief until presented with grandchildren from their son, Nathan, and his wife, Courtney. (pictured below also)

Surprise! Surprise!

Lunch with Noel, Presley, Tiffany & Nathan. . .

Is this not the most precious little face you have ever seen????

Tiffany & Presley made a surprise visit over the weekend and we had a wonderful time together! I was so shocked when she appeared at a recent birthday party I attended...that I was actually speechless! (can you believe it??) Bye, bye, sweetie.....see you again Thanksgiving!

Be Still

Dear Child,
God does not say today, "Be strong;"
He knows your strength is spent; He knows how long
The road has been, how weary you have grown,
For He who walked the earthly roads alone,
Each bogging lowland, and each rugged hill,
Can understand, and so He says, "Be still,
And know that I am God." The hour is late,
And you must rest awhile, and you must wait
Until life's empty reservoirs fill up
As slow rain fills an empty upturned cup.
Hold up your cup, dear child for God to fill.
He only asks today that you be still.

~Grace Noll Crowell