Thanksgiving Eve

Psalm 133:1 A Song of degrees of David.>>
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (KJV)


I am a contented mama hen tonight. My flock is gathered snug inside the farmhouse. With all nine of our chicks home for a few days our table again feels full. Now Tim and I don’t find ourselves counting, saying “Someone is missing…Oh right … We’re all here except for Andrew and Kara at Purdue.” (When you have more than five children, you do a lot of counting.)

One of the greatest joys I have is seeing the way my children love each other. Before the older ones arrived last night, the younger kids made preparations. Many decorated cards, Peter cleaned and carded angora wool for Kara, and Kristen made cookies. Everyone stayed up way too late to wait for their homecoming. When they arrived, Benjamin, dead tired, still ran to Kara, tugged on her legs, and then snuggled on her shoulder. And I had wondered if he would still remember her! Six weeks is a long time when you are only 14 months.

Earlier today the middle children all went out to play in the creek that was running after rainstorms. Paul felt it was warm enough for a bathing suit, but I called him back and put on a sweatshirt and boots. This afternoon Andrew sat at the dining room table with Jonathan and Amanda, patiently explaining electric circuits, using descriptions something like, “And when there are too many negative charges, then they have to run away like this.” He wrote out formulas, and helped Jonathan, possibly our next engineer, understand why various processes occur, what resistors do, and how to change outputs.

The dark cloud on this Thanksgiving is that Tim has just been diagnosed with a severe case of walking pneumonia. But the upside is that now, after being sick for six weeks, he has strong antibiotics to help him fight the mycoplasma invaders. Once again, I am so grateful to have access to “wonder drugs” not dreamed of in past centuries.

Today our house is full. It is loud – the way it is meant to be. There is laughter, music, and the occasional shriek. My girls have been cooking together. Andrew, the most undomestic of all, even got in on the act by making the pumpkin pie filling. Tomorrow we will celebrate Thanksgiving – twice – with both sides of our families.
I have no idea how many more holidays we will have the joy of having all our offspring gathered together. But I will soak this one

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