Today's Coffee: Regular with Peppermint Mocha Creamer

Here we are - Monday the 22nd of November. We are so close to Thanksgiving I can already taste the food. And boy o boy will there be food. I'm really excited to be having Thanksgiving at our little home this year - joined by Seth. With this being our last Thanksgiving together without children, I really wanted to cook myself and decorate the table and such. So, we didn't accept any invitations this year and are doing it 100% ourselves. I honestly think that it will be a lot of work, but I cannot wait. The recipes are amazing, the ingredients are waiting to be used and all I can think about is pecan pie and ham. I am not a fan of turkey and my family always did ham until we got a deep fat fryer and started deep-frying the turkey... so, I do a fabulous ham. I plan on starting the day with blueberry pancakes and maple bacon. Then we will go to a Thanksgiving service at the WOPC. We hope to skype the families so that we can see everyone. I am also happy that I get to be 26 weeks preggers for Thanksgiving. My enjoyment of food is crazy - so this will be a real treat. And then we will also spend some time talking about what we are thankful for. The Lord has blessed us in great ways this past year and I thought I would share a few of these things:
1. My salvation - I honestly cannot imagine where I would be today without Christ.
2. The love of my life - Thomas. What a great journey we have had thus far in our marriage and I cannot wait to see where we go from here.
3. Wilson Aiken Russell - I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed this pregnancy upon us. There have been some days (and nights) that haven't been the most fun - but every time I feel the little guy kicking- I just realize what an amazing blessing life is.
4. Family - Even though both families are 900 miles away the support that you have given me through the pregnancy is felt everyday.


As I am nearing the end of the second trimester - you really start realizing that the baby is really going to one day be in your arms. Scary thought at first, but I mainly get pretty excited now. Wilson kicks almost all day and he does flips and scoots and all kinds of acrobatics. I've told a lot of my students at school (when the ask) that we are naming him.... 'probably Cello' - they really don't know what to think of that and since I have a great dead-pan face they cannot tell if I'm kidding or not.

Thomas just played a recital in Philadelphia this past weekend. He did really well and the organ was bee-you-tiful. We didn't a chance to sight-see at all but I was pretty ok with just chilling at the hotel and taking naps. Sigh.
Anyways, it's been a 12 hour day for me. Started at 8:30 and worked until 8:30. Mondays are not the favorite day of the week. I have a half-day on Wednesday - I CANNOT WAIT! So, that's the brief update of our lives.

In Christ,
The Russells