Come, ye thankful people, come

Our SlaughterHouse Thanksgiving Day was wonderful, and here are a few tidbits to share with y'all. After several weeks of Dave working long hours it was so nice to have him home for the day. The kids were thrilled and didn't even seem to mind that we spent a majority of the day in the kitchen preparing quite a spread. And when I say "spread", I mean "tons-o'-food". While I blog this, I'm sitting on our couch, contemplating a comparison between me and a pig. Or cow. Or both. I ate so much that I mused to Dave that maybe I looked pregnant, but don't worry, its just a food baby...I had a big dinner. This morning while I cooked, Dave prepared a perfect addition to our dinner, some family worship time centered around Thanksgiving, even making up programs for each of us. They were beautifully done! I'll include the text of the program at the end so you'll be super-impressed with my husband. So at the end of the day, despite each of us missing celebrations with our families, we were able to feel truly grateful for the blessings abundant in our lives. I hope that your day was equally blessed.

I forgot to take a picture before we cut up the turkey, so here it is partly demolished. I will add that I was surprisingly impressed with the turn-out. No dry meat!!

Our lovely table, with name cards designed by Molly and Dave, and thankfully it was cold enough to have a fire.

Finally ready to eat!

Slaughter Family Thanksgiving 2008

Giving thanks to our Lord Jesus Christ for His mercies are new every morning and His grace that is unending.

Scripture Reading: Psalm 46

Hymn: Come, Ye Thankful People, Come

Litany of Thanksgiving

Let us give thanks to God our Father for all His gifts so freely bestowed upon us.

For the beauty and wonder of your creation, in earth and sky and sea,

We thank you, Lord

For all that is gracious in the lives of men and women, revealing the image of Christ

We thank you, Lord

For our daily food and drink, our homes and families, and our friends,

We thank you, Lord

For minds to think, and hearts to love, and hands to serve,

We thank you, Lord

For health and strength to work, and leisure to rest and play,

We thank you, Lord

For the brave and courageous, who are patient in suffering and faithful in adversity,

We thank you, Lord

For all valiant seekers after truth, liberty, and justice,

We thank you, Lord

For the communion of saints, in all times and places,

We thank you, Lord

Above all, we give you thanks for the great mercies and promises given to us in Christ Jesus our Lord; To Him be praise and glory, with you, O Father, and the Holy Spirit, now and forever.

Amen

Thanksgiving Day Prayer:

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labor of those who harvest them. Make us, we beseech thee, faithful stewards of thy great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen

Thanksgiving Day Feast

Oven Roasted Turkey

Mashed Potatoes with Caramelized onions

Fresh Snapped Green Beans

Stuffing with sausage and apples

Sweet Potato cranberry bake

Raspberry Jell-O salad

Pumpkin Dinner Rolls

Pumpkin Pie

Buttermilk Pie

Eggnog lattes

Christmas Blend Coffee

Sparkling Cider

Shiraz

Expression of Personal Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day Charge

A Prayer for our vocations and ministries:

God has so graciously placed us in different vocations and areas of ministry as so we pray this prayer:

Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers, which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you: through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

it just may be a lunatic you're looking for

The Warren clan (my family) keeps a blog for the amusement of others, and though it is largely ignored for months at a time, we occasionally pop in to post pictures of the kids or share funny stories. In a concerted effort to get the blogging-ball rolling again, the 9 of us offspring have been working on a list of "Warren-isms", including our own strange vocab and odd phrases that have no intelligible meaning if you haven't been around us long enough. If you're so inclined, head on over to Yours Mine and Ours and see what's already been posted. I'm sure more will be added (semi-) regularly, so y'all check back now, you hear?

you're not to blame, it always ends the same

Liam, this morning after finishing his breakfast: "I'm all done, Mom. Eggs all gone. Want more eggs, peeze!"

Who told him he could talk? I mean, I didn't teach him that. I still speak annoying baby language to him in hopes that it will slow down his development (aka - growing up). So, if my son is speaking to me like this, guess I have to stop calling him "The Baby"? Yesterday I called him "Baby" and he said, "No Mom, I Wee-um!" He's against me. They all are.

you're the top, you're the Colesium

Yeah, we are just the luckiest. Today the UPS man handed me a precious package, containing two more original paintings from my oh-so-talented father-in-law! When Mom and Dad were here in the summer, on July 4th we headed to the Antietam battlefield in nearby MD, the sight of the deadliest one-day battle of the Civil War. As we drove through the different areas, we took some time to get out and walk around by the Burnside Bridge. Dave was instantly taken, and after shooting a few pictures he mentioned to his Dad how awesome it would be to have a painting of the bridge (of course this was not coercion, but merely an offhand remark. I was there. I know, ok?). Now, another time during their visit, I was admiring the work of Dad's already on our wall, the painting of Mt. Hood and the other of Multnomah Falls. And I thought, here we have representation of Dave's childhood environment...wouldn't it be way cool if we had something to contrast it from my childhood?? Granted, I grew up "everywhere" and don't have the same attachment as Dave, that stems from spending 18 years in one place. But Texas is still home (or at least has always been "home base"), and if I could have one thing on my wall to reflect my roots, I choose bluebonnets. Fortunately Dad was receptive and immediately started looking for inspiration, searching the internet for pictures of the flower. Wow! I wasn't ready for what I saw this morning, and blinked back tears as I soaked it in, recognizing the love that went in to creating this perfect painting. **sigh** I love it, and now am trying to tackle the problem of where to hang our new additions in this tiny house. But that's a pretty good problem to have, in my opinion. And of course I have other ideas tucked back in my mind of potential works of art that I can see added to my collection, but I figure that I'll give Dad a respite of sorts and allow him a few months (I mean a week) to rest before I drop the bomb. Thank you Dad...you're AMA-ZA-ZING!!

there's someone else I've got to be

After more ridiculous blogger issues, I was finally able to get some pictures loaded of our annual Halloween fun. This year in attendance was a soldier, power ranger, Venom spidey, Cinderella, and the cutest little dragon you have EVER seen (and for those you keeping track, yes, the boys recycled costumes from last year...this is what happens when you have a bunch of kids without the Halloween budget to match). Plus, they were joined by cousins (and neighbors) Erin, as Sleeping Beauty, and Judah, as Robin Hood (or Peter Pan...take your pick). Of course they had a blast amassing levels of candy approaching illegality, and showing off their costume finery. And here I am shaking my head that I, in all my motherly concern, had finally thrown away the last of the candy from the Independence Day parade, and here we go again. I imagine I'll throw away more to allow for one or two candy-free weeks before Christmas stockings. AAAAHHHH!! I'll never win the "make-my-kids-healthy" fight, so I might as well quit trying.

Don't you want to take this dragon home? I know! Too bad he's ours.

The SlaWel kids, ready for the bounty.

Hi. I'm the neighborhood candy pusher. Don't worry kids, every kid is eating this stuff. Don't worry, just take it.

I could squeeze and kiss Jude all day. He's so fun. This was Liam's suit from last year...so glad its seeing some action again!

Liam's fun pumpkin decorations came from his super-cool Aunt Beth. He looooves it, and points, saying, "Kuh-kin!"

The SlaughterHouse 5 with their hard work. Or maybe it was their loving Dad's work. Can't remember.

Pretty nice, eh? We had parents of trick-or-treaters stopping to take pics of Dave's handiwork. I made sure to tell them that the talent was solely a Slaughter trait. Warren traits are more of the "intangible" variety. Hehe.