A Benware Thanksgiving

Happy turkey day!  It was our first Thanksgiving without family and we decided to lay low. 

A little bit of advice, I learned the key to self-control on Thanksgiving.  I (Kelly) got a stomach bug this past weekend that had me out for most the week.  Today I'm feeling fine though I've not been able to eat much.  Sadly, it had to be on our first attempt at cooking a turkey, which turned out mighty fine.  I ate a small portion of turkey, potatoes and corn before I felt I'd eaten a huge Thanksgiving feast!  I'll say we had a feast on our table though I was the little bird that just did a fly-by. 

Regardless of how much I ate, I must say that I am thankful for all that we have.  We are thankful, thankful for family, friends, and everything the Lord has blessed us with when we truly only need Him.  I left humbled from our local grocery store yesterday.  We were in line behind a young mom with three kids, one a newborn.  Whatever her circumstance, she had misjudged how much she could afford.  It started with her her taking a few Thanksgiving items out of her bags and quickly became weekly groceries that were unloaded.  The kids were oblivious that they were leaving with a few bags of groceries, as opposed to their weekly grocery list.  Why I did nothing, I don't know.  I do know that the family and their apparent need has not left my memory since I walked out of Ingles.  So, again, all I can say is thanks to our Savior, while asking He'll make me a better steward.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Here's a few days out of 35 weeks.  Just about a month out from meeting our little girl...  I told B that from this picture I look like I ate the whole Thanksgiving feast!  One would never know.

The Blessing of Parents

Brenton and I often talk about how blessed we are by both our families.  We are grateful for godly heritage, loving parents, the prayers that bathed us before we were born and those that still cover over us now.  Most recently, a few different blessings have brought this conversation up again.

This past week, the Benwares made their yearly fall visit to the North Carolina mountains to say, "Hey" and catch some soccer games.  Thankfully the boys won both games we attended, finishing their season 10-6, and are now preparing for their first conference game this weekend.  Sadly, the Benwares had a family reunion without me (Kelly) much of the time as The Cove had four programs in one week; a concert with Selah, a seminar with Erwin Lutzer, a Pastor's Institute with Johnny Hunt and Jerry Vines, and a seminar with David and Kay Arthur.  While they were ever so gracious with my constant yawning and nodding eyes, Brenton and his parents relaxed and made some visits around the area.  And they caught the end of our fall leaves, as our trees have become quite bare.  It is truly amazing how quickly the leaves changed and fell this year. 

  

All the other random pictures are of a cosmetic wall my (Kelly) dad added in our basement downstairs.  We use to have a large living area that we only used one side of, which became our living room.  The other side, we were able to convert into our third room, thanks to the Dongells.  Mom and Dad, thanks for making the trip out here this summer to make this possible.  Here is our new guest room and living room! 

And I almost forgot to mention how infatuated our dogs are with both of our fathers.  You can begin to get the idea from the few pictures posted!  Does not matter how much time passes, grandpa is still a hit!