Thanksgiving and Snow!

A few days before Thanksgiving...what a cutie pie

I just love her!

OK, explanation needed....Emily found my lipstick and decided to give it a try.

CAUGHT!

My snow bunnies

Our backyard looking like a scene from NarniaLooking out our front door....it just snowed and snowed and snowed

Snow accumulation on the spa

Emily having a hard time walking in the snow

Ready for the snowboard

Throwing snowballs

What joy!

A little blurry but I just love her face!

The beginnings of a snowman

Mike starting the snowball fight

Cody gets into it

Look at this Florida boy shoveling that snow

Our snow covered house

Oh how I love Thanksgiving. It is my most favorite holiday. I love the warmth of sharing yummy food with friends and family and having a day to focus on all the things I for which I have to be thankful. Our Thanksgiving celebration was made extra special this year because we spent the day with our wonderful new friends Sara and Bill. What joy filled our hearts and our homes as we gathered around the table in our new home creating new memories that I will cherish forever and as the day drew to an end and we watched Sara, Bill and their boys back out of the driveway I was overwhelmed with gratefulness at the goodness of God. I am in awe of how HE went before us and prepared a way for us to connect so deeply with these new friends. I am amazed at how God has eased us into such a beautiful friendship with this family. As Sara and I spent time cleaning up the dishes, talking over chocolate pecan pie and coffee and mulling over the After Thanksgiving Day sales ads in the newspaper I couldn't believe that I have only know this precious girl for 4 months. The comfort with which I share with her makes me feel like we've been friends for ages. And the icing on the cake is that we get to share intimately in the homecoming of their daughter Mya, a beautiful gift to Sara and Bill and a little girl whom our family has grown to love. Check out their blog here and following their journey to bring Mya home. They will be leaving soon..YAY! Sara and Bill, thanks for making our Thanksgiving so special!

Thanksgiving Day ended with a special treat for us Florida folks...SNOW! What a delight it was to open the door and see the driveway covered with the white stuff. It was just a perfect ending to a perfect day. And it wasn't the end to our SNOW....we awoke to more of the white stuff on Sunday morning and it continued to fall throughout the day on Sunday leaving us with about 10-12 inches. We loved it. Of course we had no-where to go and spent the day snuggling by the fire, watching Christmas videos and of course having some fun outside. Mike had his first taste of shoveling snow....not sure that he liked that aspect of Colorado living but we were blessed by our neighbor who used his snowblower to give us a head start on the snow removal and made the shoveling easier. The kids absolutely loved playing in the snow although they were disappointed that it was too powdery to make a snow man. So far the the snow is still hanging around and there is a prediction of more snow for tonight....just in time for a visit from Aunt Cynthia, Mikes sister who is arriving from Florida on Wednesday. The kids are so excited to have her visit and are looking forward to spending some time with her. She will be here visiting for about 2 weeks and just after she departs we will be heading back to FL for about 6 weeks. We had hoped to spend Christmas here in CO however we needed to head back a little earlier than expected. I am looking forward to spending time with my family and reconnected with our friends although I will miss all of our new friends here in CO. I have longed for my sister so very much and can't wait to have some extended time with her and spend some time getting to know my new neice. Our early departure means that I won't be decorating our house for Christmas which is something that I love and will miss however I did take advantage of having a fireplace for the first time and decorated my mantle and "hung our stockings by the chimney with care" and I dressed up my dining room with some Christmasy touches as well so it does feel like Christmas and we have a neighbor who has every inch of her yard decorated so she makes up for what we don't have. Thankfully, my sister and mom will be decorating our Florida house and will have it all ready for the kids (and me) when we arrive so we won't have to spend Christmas without a tree.

Before I close I would like to share a two links of some terrific friends who are holding raffle/give-aways to help raise money for a precious family who recently traveled to China and were unable to bring their daughter home. They are now awaiting another referral and I am happy to be able to share in helping them raise the funds to return to China. Both Sarah and Denise are showcasing some very cute items...so check them out!

As always, thanks for stopping by, I am so glad you did. Here are a some photos of our snow and a couple of Emily taken right before Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe it but Sara and I didn't take any pictures of our Thanksgiving Dinner.

Enjoy your preparations for Christmas!

Love,

Nichole