Happy Thanksgiving

Thank you, Lord, for each new day you give to me,
For earth and sky and sand and sea,
For rainbows after springtime showers,
Autumn leaves and summer flowers,
Winter snowscapes so serene,
Harvest fields of gold and green,
Beauty shining all around,
Lilac scent and robin sound,
Stars that twinkle high above
And all the people that I love.

Wednesday found Kyla and Emma baking pies with me in preparation for Thanksgiving. Emmy spent most of her time rolling out the dough and cutting out shapes......and throwing lots of "snow" (flour) everywhere. We had a great time and Kyla took home a chocolate cream pie and an apple pie for her dinner. She and Jed hosted Thanksgiving for Jed's dad, Jack and brother, Benji. Dave and I spent the day with Barb and Rick, Kristi, Pat, Jordie, Addie and Lexie, Brian, Jill, Wade, Kelli and Wade's friend, Cain. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed spending time with everyone and playing with the kids.

Jordie and Addie got to feed the chickens and Addie is a pro at crowing. Jordie spent some major time fishing out the leaves from the pool. We did a little Christmas shopping over the rest of the weekend but have a lot more to do.

I just want to take a moment to say how thankful I am for all or our terrific friends, family and acquaintances. You are all wonderful and a great support to us and we love all of you. HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Busy Weekend and Charo's Birthday

Saturday was spent working outside blowing all those darn leaves and cleaning up a bit. We still have a lot to do. Brian had dinner with Kyla, Jed and Emmy while Dave and I went to Izzy's for dinner. Today we cooked dinner for Charo who has her 30th birthday coming in a few days. Kyla and Emma spent the day while Jed was at a seminar for school. We had a lovely time with Charo like we usually do.

Powderpuff Football, More Birthdays, Imaginary Friends and MRI Results

Thursday we had dinner at Lane Community College with Joe and Sheri. The students in the culinary/hospitality program cooked and served a great multi-course banquet with a Fall harvest theme. There was an auction during the dinner for two groups of students to come to your home and cook and serve dinner. Dave had the bidding going on and got up to $250.00. But someone else ended up outbidding him. Whew! Thank you Joe and Sheri for the treat!

Friday Jill, Dave and I met up with Kyla, Jed, Emma and Isaac at Silke Field to watch Kelli play in the annual Thurston High School powder puff football game between the junior and senior girls. Kelli played lineman and did a great job. The seniors won of course and it was great fun to watch. Kells threw in a couple of good tackles (even though it was flag football and she got a team penalty for one of them) but she said she just had to do it. You should have seen the male cheerleaders.....not sure how many games those girls could have won if this went on for more than just one game. They were pretty unusual.

Saturday Tony took Dave to the UO football game and watched them lose to the Huskies getting soaked in the pouring rain. Afterwards we had a birthday dinner at GG and Grandads for Tony and Patti.

Sunday afternoon Kyla and Jed brought Emma to stay with Dave and I and then flew out to San Francisco for her Monday morning appointments. We were kept very busy with all of Emma's imaginary friends which change from moment to moment. We don't know what persona she will take on either. One moment she is Dora and the next she is Cinderella. We all have our own parts we have to play and answer to. Most of Sunday and Monday she was Baby Butter from PB&J cartoon on the Disney network. We also had to feed, bathe, read to, seat belt in her two imaginary friends, Oswald and Deedee. Gosh I am mentally exhausted today just from two days of trying to remember which character I was supposed to be and keeping up with her friends. It is a good thing though because it kept our minds focused on other things. Sunday evening Dave, I, Emma and Jill met Joe and Sheri and Joe's sister and nephew at Round Table Pizza for dinner and on Monday evening we took GG and Grandad to Thurston High School to watch Kelli's induction into the National Honor Society. Congratulations Kelli! We are very proud of you.

OK, the news is great......Kyla's MRI scans look great. No change from two months ago. Thank goodness....we are all breathing a little easier today.

Weekend in Portland

We spent the weekend of the 9th in Portland. Dave's brothers and sisters-in-laws took us to dinner at Alexanders Lounge at the top of the Hilton and we listened to Tom Grant play. Tom even played and sang happy birthday to Dave (guess it pays to get really old or maybe he was bribed). We spent the night at the Hilton then did a little Christmas shopping before coming home on Sunday. A huge thank you to Karen and Tony, Patti and Gary and Mike and Linda. We really had a great time.

Monday was spent sewing together the Christmas stockings that Kyla cross-stitched for Jed and Emma and herself. They turned out very pretty.

New MRI Date

Kyla now has a date for her next MRI....November 18th. She and Jed will go to San Francisco on the 17th and hopefully will be back on the evening of the 18th. We all become anxious when the time draws near but we just keep praying for great scans and try to have faith that there is a purpose in all of this. Thank you to all of the people who wish Kyla well. It means so much to her and to all of our family.