"Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." ~Ps 107:1
Brian and I have so much to be thankful for. Recent tragedies have brought a shocking reality that God gives us so much...mostly we are thankful for each day we have together. We have endured so many changes over the past few years, but we know that God was with us every step of the way. Brian made it home to us! To even express how thankful I am to have him back in our lives is impossible. This holiday season has and will continue to allow us to be reflective on all our blessings.
This song has been in my head for several weeks. It is an older Chris Tomlin song, but I've just been loving it.
Give thanks to the Lord our God and King
His love endures forever
For He is good, He is above all things
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
With a mighty hand and outstretched arm
His love endures forever
For the life that's been reborn
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is with us
Forever
From the rising to the setting sun
His love endures forever
By the grace of God we will carry on
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
We had our first grown-up Thanksgiving at our house. Brian and I did all the cooking! We slaved over our dishes from Wednesday night until 3PM on Thursday. It was so much fun even though we were absolutely exhausted after cleaning up the kitchen on Thursday night! Brian's grilled turkey was all the rage and my chocolate cheesecake was devoured in a few minutes. We had a bunch of traditional food, also. (view pics of our weekend at the top of the blog)
I feel like our ministry is to the single soldiers. Brian and I love to have them over for dinner. They are so appreciative. It is tiring, but seeing their happiness makes it all worth it. There isn't a lot of Christian leadership in Brian's unit, so we see it as an opportunity to show them how we are different.
On Saturday we headed to Salzburg for the Christmas Market. It was a wonderful experience! Everything in historical Salzburg was about Christmas. You could feel the joy, cheer, and excitement everywhere. Kennedy kept wanting to see Christmas. It was cold, but not rainy or snowy. I loved our time there. We got a few ornaments, but wished we could have bought enough to do a whole tree...you know that money thing held us back. = ) I think we will try to go to the Christmas market in Munich next year; supposedly its HUGE. I am such in the Christmas spirit now.
Brian news:
He will be leaving us again this Thursday. He will be gone for about a week. He just re-enlisted in the Army for another 6 years, and we will now be here in Italy until Nov. 2009. Brian's pending deployment for 2008 is on hold for now; he probably won't go anywhere for awhile. We are still sharing one car, but we hope to be getting a Volvo for Brian by the first of the year.
New video of Kennedy is on www.dropshots.com/texasdrlng
(click the slide show to see the pics enlarged)
