Giving Thanks with Our New Church Family

The week before Thanksgiving Day we gave thanks at our church's annual Thanksgiving banquet. We are very used to supping with our new church family as they have a fellowship meal every Sunday between our morning and afternoon services, yet this meal was an especially beautiful feast. For my dessert contribution I brought traditional Thanksgiving chocolate covered strawberries ;)

For Thanksgiving Day, we were invited to our pastor's home with a few other families. N and I were especially grateful to be part of their celebration as our 5th wedding anniversary also happened to fall on Thanksgiving as well. Over the years we have grown accustomed to spending Thanksgiving and our anniversary (which floats around Thanksgiving) with both of our families together. N and I were both a little homesick that day and extra grateful to be able to spend time together with our new church family.

Beautiful centerpieces

How lovely

Our pastor's family grew this pumpkin! How amazed I was with how beautiful it looked and how delicious her filling was.

The pies and crusts I made. Pumpkin and rhubarb

How silly I was to wait till the last minute to make these. N said they tasted great, but see how rushed my lattice top looks.

Our pastor grows lemons! and an amazing amount of other lovely fruits and beautiful roses.

The sunsets here are much more colorful than I remember back east. My little camera has a difficult time picking up the depth of colors.

We all enjoyed sitting around their fire pit. M is playing with a glow stick.

My big little girl in curls.

This Thanksgiving

I am especially thankful we began the journey of marriage five years ago today,

 welcomed our first born two years later in 2008, and

 welcomed baby sister two years later in 2010.

Our lil Pumpkins

I LOVE taking the girls to the pumpkin patch in the fall. It is one of my favorite days out of the whole year. Our favorite part of the whole experience is the hayride. Once we got here to CA, I asked around and searched online to find our new pumpkin patch place. While at this pumpkin park, I often commented, "We're not in Virginia anymore!"  Yet all of us really enjoyed our time here and are looking forward to next year already.

 

 Here are the four of us a year ago in 2010.

 Here is our family of three in 2009.

 

We went at sunset which added an extra beauty to our trip while reducing the quality of the pictures my little camera is capable of taking.

I did miss the pulling horses we had in VA the most!

This hayride was set to music and a silly narrator.

I enjoyed all the different scenery we traveled through on this ride. We went through corn stalks,

a pumpkin patch,

sunflowers,

and a beautiful field of marigolds.

N and I were both surprised to see that E really enjoyed the ride too. Here she is clapping and dancing to the music. But that is our E! She is always happy and ready to have a great time!

My smile is continuing to heal! It is looking drastically better than it did a few months ago.

11 month old E

11 month old M in 2009

Silly baby

 

 They had fresh honey for sale. We tasted 5 different varieties and ended up purchasing sage honey. Yummy!

It was awesome being able to see the bees in their hive, yet if you put your ear to the glass you could hear all the buzzing- and that sound was a bit frightening.

My sweet baby M is almost three!

Here in CA we have the most beautiful sunsets!

California Girl

The beauty of the area we now call home has captivated our hearts and helped to alleviate the discomfort of moving 3000 miles.

You are precious to me, little one!

We live two miles from the ocean, and not a day goes by without my being able to catch a glimpse of its beauty.  We can see it in the distance from our home on a hill.  

Our baby girl M is growing into a little girl. She will be three years old in November.

My dear child, one day you will no longer need me to hold your hand, but I will always hold you in my heart.