A Peek Inside Our House at Thanksgiving

 I am so glad you stopped by! Happy Thanksgiving!!! This is a pretty fabulous day in the United States! The news reports that it is the most traveled holiday. I love that! My earliest memories of thanksgiving were of my grandparents, Beba and Deeg, driving from Selma to have lunch with us. While mama was cooking, the men watched football and I would take Beba to my room and play records and have concerts for her. Then we would sit around the table, which seemed like for hours, and eat turkey and dressing and listen to grown ups talk forever. Then we would move to the den (to a much more comfortable chair) and then men would fall asleep and the girls would talk and talk and talk some more. As a child, I don't know think it was my favorite holiday.

Today Thanksgiving looks a little different. We still eat turkey and dressing, but times have definitely changed. and with five children there is never a dull moment. Conversation is never ending and there is always activity. Someone is always jogging or hunting or creating. The kitchen is the most popular room in the house whether we are eating, cooking or telling stories. It really is so much fun having everyone home. Every year life changes a little and holidays look a little different, but no matter what life brings, my heart overflows.

I love that we have a holiday that reminds people to stop and be thankful. I love social media the month of November, because everyone is constantly posting something they're thankful for. I love that! I feel like because it's Thanksgiving, people are more comfortable saying out loud that they are thankful. Do you know what I mean? I think we should be thankful out loud everyday! It's early in the morning here and I've sent a couple of texts to friends telling them I'm thankful for them and that I love them.  I need to do that everyday! Not just thanksgiving! Imagine giving and receiving love and thankfulness out loud everyday! Oh my goodness! What an different world this would be! Everybody wants to be loved. It's how we are made. So love out loud today, tomorrow and the next day and the next day...my heart is beating faster just thinking about it!

Happy Thanksgiving to you today! Where ever you are today and what ever you are doing today, be thankful.  I am thankful for you! love love love Ruthie

Registering for China

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I am so glad you stopped by! It's beginning to feel like a wedding is almost here! I went with MaryCam to register for china. Oh my goodness! China is not what it use to be when I got married twenty five years ago! It's so beautiful! Honestly, there should be a "mother of the bride" registry. I am ready to sell all my china and start over with a new pattern! Anyway, we had the best time picking out plates and glasses and mixing and matching patterns. When I was getting married there were two kinds of china, fine and every day. Now , everything is just fabulous and fine. Seriously, it was all breathtaking, and it's official, I'm saving my money and starting over, soon!

I was jogging yesterday thinking about MaryCam and her china. I loved watching her carefully pick up each plate and gently brushing her hand around the edge as if she were a million miles away and imagining  her place setting on her table. She hand picked each piece of her place setting. She started with a beautiful dinner plate from one pattern and then chose a salad plate from another pattern. She found the perfect size bowl and wonderful coffee mug from a completely different pattern. She finished with goblets and glasses and other fun things. She stepped back to admire the dreamy setting that she had so meticulously created. Each piece was amazing on it's own, but together they were stunning.

In Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." I read back through the first chapter yesterday morning and watched with fresh eyes as God created each and every little detail of the universe. The earth was formless and void, and He just spoke and there was light. "Then God said, 'Let there be light, and there was light.'"(Genesis 1:3)  If you've read the incredible account of creation in Genesis then you know how awesome God is. If you have not read it or haven't read it in a while, please read it! It's so amazing to follow each day with God as He created literally everything. The sun, the moon, the stars all perfectly placed so we could see to enjoy His creation night and day. God created every living thing, on land, in the sea, and in the air. He spoke everything into existence. And on the sixth day, God made man. "Then the Lord God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being."(Genesis 2:7)  "And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good."(Genesis 1:31)

God, the Creator of the universe, and Giver of life, made you. He made you in His own image.There is no one else like you. He made you perfectly and beautifully. It says in Psalm 139 verse 74 that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. Just like MaryCam designed her place setting, God designed you and He saw that it was good! You are His creation. So live today differently. Live knowing that the King of Kings made you. He knows everything about you! He knows your innermost thoughts. He knows your joys, your hurts, your fears. He knows you inside and out and loves you with an everlasting love. You are beautiful! Live like it!

Love love love Ruthie