Tag Archives: Thanksgiving

Family and Friends, Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, The Adventure

Mondays are for Memories – Thanksgiving on the Road

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I wrote this post in 2014, so there are eight more Thanksgivings to be accounted for, but it seemed like a good place to start! So here you have it – a brief recap of our first 10 Thanksgiving “On the Road” –
November 27. 2014 –
So here we are, in a city park RV spot in Opelousas, Louisiana celebrating our 10th Thanksgiving “on the road”.
Thanksgiving 2014
We have no plans for turkey (here or at Cracker Barrel) and the closest family member (Gary excepted) is over a thousand of miles away. It might be easy to fall into a bit of a holiday-funk, feeling sorry for ourselves with no kids to hug or leftovers to eat. Instead I thought I’d just take a refresher course on how blessed we’ve been on other Thanksgivings since we’ve started this great adventure!
The first three years (2004, 2005, 2006) we were over-the-top blessed to be able to spend them with our good friends the Sensings on Amelia Island in Florida.
sensing2
Oh how those precious times got us over the hump of being far from family!
In 2007 we DID make it to Ohio for a big ol’ traditional Thanksgiving.
Conrads 2007
New baby and new bride – all Conrads present and accounted for! So much to be thankful for that year!
2008 found us far away in Arizona and enjoying our Thanksgiving day with SOWER friends. We were having such a special time that I never got around to taking any pictures! When I checked back to find the post from that Thanksgiving, I did find this, though –
Rainbow 1
Promises abound!
We spent Thanksgiving 2009 on the road. Tires turning, heading south.
Coachella to San Diego-8
We were driving from the Coachella Valley area of California south to the San Diego area, preparing to pull into our December project on Friday. We enjoyed dinner at Perkins (it was in the parking lot where we spent the night), and while we missed being with the family I knew we would be seeing them at Christmas-time, so my heart was content.
2010 we were in Waco, just getting started on Lara’s big kitchen remodel!
Floor progress-1
Needless to say, we weren’t cooking in THAT kitchen for the holidays, but we did spend the day with good friends of Lara’s (and now ours!), the Swansons. Family, kiddos, and great food – it was a very special holiday!
In 2011 we were parked in Texas (Lindale, actually), but we piled into the truck (including Lara and Denali) and we drove to Ohio for a big ol’ family gathering.
2011-11-20_07-44-14_103
Now that was one wild and crazy and Oh-So-Wonderful Thanksgiving!
Family Picture-7
The family just keeps growing – blessing upon blessing!
We celebrated Thanksgiving back at our favorite Waco campground in 2012 and actually had a sweet little pre-Thanksgiving dinner right at our campsite!
Thanksgiving2012-1
(OK, so the guests hadn’t arrived yet – but you get the idea! =)) We also had another great meal with the Swansons – Yummm!!! It was another lovely holiday filled with much thankfulness!
Just last year we were still in Texas, but all the way down in the Rio Grande Valley. Our day was spent in sweet fellowship with about 20 friends from the church we were attending.
It wasn't family, but it was pretty close! And it did include some small people hugs. Thank you, RGV friends, for a lovely Thanksgiving! ❤️
“We had a lovely day, enjoying the Big Meal with about 20 friends here in the Valley. Enough delicious food to feed an extra 20 folks, just the right amount of little kids to add some sparkle to the day, and sweet fellowship. Add to that a nice little package of leftovers so we could enjoy some turkey later in the weekend – and we would definitely call the day a Win!”
And that brings us up to today! While it’s true that holidays on the road can present certain challenges, it can also present wonderful opportunities for experiencing blessings in unexpected places. Whether we’re sitting in a parking lot campsite or surrounded by friends and family,  we have so much to be thankful for. Today, and everyday!

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!
Psalm 95:2

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I have a couple of pumpkin muffins I’d be happy to share if you’d like to stop by!
Pumpkin muffins

Mondays are for Memories, Pictures of the Adventure, RV Life, The Adventure

Mondays are for Memories – At the Beach

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It’s cold here today. In fact, it’s been snowing here today. So I thought for my memory this week I’d look back at our very first Thanksgiving on the road – 2004. We shared that first holiday away from our family with another dear family, and these are treasured memories indeed. Those little girls are married now, and that sweet young boy has graduated college and begun a career in Texas. Georgi and Troy are grandparents these days. But that first Thanksgiving on Amelia Island – well, it was just what this heart needed!
November 28, 2004 – A Day at the Beach

First the morning – Gary and I walked to the beach just in time to see the sunrise through the clouds. It was soooo beautiful…….

Later that morning, Georgi sent Troy and I to the beach with the kids while she got things ready for them to leave the next morning. I played photographer while Troy played with his kids. It was a great way to spend a late November morning!
Here’s Troy with his new toy – an ocean kayak~

Abbi gets a ride ~

and Hannah gets a ride~

and Thomas just played with the waves!

Here’s the gang – a good time was had by all!

 

Family and Friends, RV Life, The Adventure

Thanksgiving 2021

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Wishing you all a very blessed Thanksgiving! Gary & I have so much to be thankful for – our family, our health, our ministry, our travels – but what holds all that thankfulness together is our faith in the God of the Universe who sent his Son  to invite us into His Family! May your day be filled with love and grace, and hopefully some pretty good food!

RV Life

On this Thanksgiving Eve

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Our Father in Heaven,

If ever we had a cause to offer unto Thee our fervent thanks, surely it is now, on the Eve of our Thanksgiving Day, when we, the people of this Nation, are comfortable, well fed, well clad, and blessed with good things beyond our deserving. May gratitude, the rarest of all virtues, be the spirit of our observance.

Let not feasting, football, and festivity end in forgetfulness of God. May the desperate need of the rest of the world, and our own glorious heritage, remind us of the God who led our Fathers every step of the way by which they advanced to the character of an independent nation.

May the faith and conviction of George Washington be renewed in us as we remember his words:

…there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exits in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness; between duty and advantage; between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity; since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained…

For if we do not have the grace to thank Thee for all that we have and enjoy, how can we have the effrontery to seek Thy further blessings? God, give us grateful hearts.

(a prayer from the Senate of the United States, November 26, 1947, by Rev. Dr. Peter Marshall, Chaplain)

Borrowed from Bob Hostetler’s blog – One Prayer A Day (which I would recommend ANY day….)

The Adventure

Mondays are for Memories – Thanksgiving, 1990

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Today’s memory is from long before any of us had even heard of the word “Blogging” – probably before even the internet. It was the year that, unbeknownst to me, I was on the cutting edge of culinary deliciousness when I introduced a “new” vegetable to the Thanksgiving menu.

UntitledWhat Thanksgiving Means to Me
Abigail Fitzpatrick, age 10
Grade 5

To me, Thanksgiving is a really special day when we all thank God, the creator, for everything we have and all the blessings that he has given us.
One year I went to my aunt and uncle’s house for Thanksgiving. My Gramma was there too. So was my other aunt and uncle. We could all smell the yummy food cooking and being made and taken out of the oven.
Then we saw it – the horror of our lifetimes! Brussels sprouts!
“Acckk!” we all thought to ourselves.
“Do we have to eat that?” asked my 9 year old cousin Jos.
“Yes, you must each have one,” said my Aunt Stephanie.
My cousin Tim, age 13, tried to give his to Cricket, my aunt’s dog, but the dog was smart too.
So we ate the rest of the yummy food and tried to bear the horrid taste of the Brussels sprouts.
In spite of the Brussels sprouts, Thanksgiving really means a lot to me.
Abigail Joie Fitzpatrick, 10

Abby is now the mom to five sweet kiddos, and while I cannot attest to whether or not Brussels sprouts are ever on her kids plates, I do know that kale makes regular appearances. I must not have done too much damage!

Happy Thanksgiving Week, everyone!

Steph