Turkey and 'ketchup'

So i'm a little behind on my postings but I'm going to start with Thanksgiving.

I love seeing all the family, but the Thanksgiving I enjoy the most is the one with have the day after with just us: John, the boys and myself. I LOVE cooking a big meal for my family, having all the yummy smells in the house, listening to the boys play, and just simply enjoying being a family. This year we had friends join us and it was so much fun. John smoked our turkey this year and WOW!!!! I'm not even kidding when I say that it was the BEST turkey I have ever had. You outdid yourself this year John! Along with the turkey we had dressing, potato casserole, sweet potato's, green beans, ham (thank to the Choctaw Indians) rolls,cranberry sauce and pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing. It was indeed a feast. I loved sharing it with friends and making new memories for us. Our family truly has so much to be thankful for!

Not that I don't think they are important, my family-husband, children, family and friends-but i'm sure that it is a given I am extemely thankful for those things. This year my main thankfulness is John's job and bills!!!!

Bills? Yes, I am extremely thankful, well maybe not extremely, but thankful none the less. Do you know what we just did this month? We paid all our bills...ALL our bills, didn't have to juggle this one or that one to make it all stretch or like usual put a few off because we now have income!!!!!!

For those of you that don't know, Jan. 2009 John was caught up in a layoff from his company due to the economy. He was unemployed till he found a job in June that was an experimental position (company seeing if they were ready for expansion) which they were not so in July the new department was dissolved and with it his new job. We were back on the job hunt until an unexpected blessing happened in Oct. Long story short, someone contacted him asking if he was still looking because a position was open and they would like to talk to him about filling it. A casual meeting to go over details was set up, but when he got there it was actually a job offer. This was on a Friday and we got the official word that all had been approved the following Monday. Two weeks later, he started. He is now working as a financial accountant for the Choctaw Nation. Not the casino, but for the tribe. He loves the job, the people he works for and in just the short time he has been there we have had many many extra blessings. *the 15lb ham given to all employee's as a thank you for working for us. I thank God everyday for this job, for more than just the money coming back in. But because John is finally working at a job he truley enjoys. His previous job he hated and I don't blame him. Most of the people were wonderful, but the company was horrible. There is no reason employees should work with empty boxes under their desk because you never know when the owner will come in and say "You're fired" give you 10 minutes to get your stuff collected and be escorted out. Not much for work morale.

We have been through many struggles this past year (last couple actually) but we are now slowly climbing up the mountain. I know that God has something for us to learn from our experience though I'm not quite sure of the answer yet. I am thankful for all we have come through, learning,growing and becoming closer as a family the whole way! Thank you Lord for your many blessings and may the spirit of thanksgiving continually be not only in my heart, but on my lips!