Thanksgiving Day and A Little Pilgrim BOY! :)

Psalms 103:2- "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits"

In the words of our little ones, we had the "bestest" Thanksgiving Day ever! We pray you all had a very blessed time remembering the countless benefits of our wonderful God.

We really had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day. I told the children after we got home from mid week prayer meeting then night before that they could stay up and help me roll our the cinnamon rolls for the morning. As I tucked them into bed, I told them they could sleep in a bit the next day too (of course hoping to catch a bit more sleep myself :) ). But the next morning, their excitement for the day ahead brought most of them hopping into our bed by 6 am. We had fun talking, cuddling, and snuggling together for a while. Finally, we all got going on morning chores, and met around the table for those home-made rolls and hot canela (a hot tea make with cinnamon sticks). We finished reading the book we'd started earlier in the month- "Stories of the Pilgrims" too.

Earlier that week, Daniel had hired a man to help us begin putting a fence around our house. We still needed to pay him for his labor, which made necessary a trip into the next town to go to the bank. Since we were going to be making the trip, we called our OB doctor to schedule a checkup for me and the little Lockwood growing inside me. We all cleaned up from breakfast, climbed into the van, and headed to town.

While the children sat in the waiting room, Daniel and I went in for my check-up. We were thankful that both mommy and baby are doing well and are happy to announce that this new little pilgrim (according to the doctor's interpretation of the u/s) will be a......

BOY! :) How excited and thankful we are to be expecting our 8th son. The girls were a bit disappointed as they are a bit out nubered, but as soon as I started talking about making the baby a blanket and finding some new blue sleepers, they were giggling and deciding who would dress the little guy first.

We came back home and while the little ones took their naps, the older ones helped mommy in the kitchen. We'd put the turkey in that morning and it was well on it's way to being done. Benjamin cut all the potatoes (25 of them), Rebekah worked on the vegetables, I made the stuffing, and the rest of the crew took turns shaking the cream to make butter for the biscuits. The afternoon before, the boys cut up peaches and apples and we baked a peach cobbler, apple pie, and a blueberry pie. Though we missed having pumpkin pie and yams, it was a bountiful feast we all enjoyed so much~ beans and rice and tortillas are great, but there is just something about mashed potatoes! :)

While I finished the meal, the children all stood at the counter and made turkeys with apples, raisins, marshmallows and toothpicks. Josiah said he made a porcuipine instead and Noah was basically eating his as fast as he was putting it together. They had a great time and after I snapped a few pictures of their creations, they enjoyed eating their special snack :)

As we sat down for our Thanksgiving meal, we all went around the table taking turns saying what we were thankful for this year. We have so much for which to bless the Lord and we just loved hearing the children share what they were thankful for too...it went on for quite some time...it was so precious.

There, of course, is no official Thanksgiving Day here in Mexico. In fact, just 2 days before Thanksgiving, the Mexican's had a big holiday...their Revolution Day. They had marching bands from all the schools and parties all day. A few cowboys stopped by our house and let our children have a ride on their horses. But I love reading our American history and about those faithful men and women~ their love for the Lord, their sacrifices for their families, their courage and bravery, their endurance and their gratefulness. Last year, I bought a simple book that gives a basic overview of Mexican history because I wanted the boys and I to learn about it. Oh, how very depressing and sad~ it is filled with greed and selfishness...such a contrast from ours. Even on their money, they have pictures of 'gods" and idols printed. Though they no longer worship those particular images, as a country, they are no closer to knowing the true God. It always burdens us more for their precious souls.

Thank you for your prayers for the lives here and for upholding our family before the throne of grace as well.