i do hope that everyone has a wonderful blessed Thanksgiving!!! We miss not being with our family today, that is for sure!!! I went into town in Ayr today and got my hair done and was trying to explain to the girls in the shop what Thanksgiving was. One of the girls said “oh that is the day when they show it on tv with the big feast and the big parade!” and I agreed that that was part of it!!! But the best part is just being with family and friends and being thankful for all that God has blessed us with. And we have been blessed. Beyond belief. I have had my share of negativity lately and I am realizing today that there is just no place for that and I had better shape up and be grateful for all that I have!!! So I am!!!

Chris and I came back home tonight and since there was still no gas—(-I may have to call and talk to a real person tomorrow-)—we thawed some steaks out and did some veggies in the microwave and steaks on the bbq and we ate just fine!!! It was a long day for Chris—he is doing budgets (again) and I know that it gets tiring looking at numbers all day so he is going to hit the hay early I think. I am trying to get the boys organized for our trip tomorrow to Port Douglas so I am collecting laundry and trying to get it started so I can get it all run through and dried before we leave tomorrow afternoon. It has been raining the past day so it is kind of sticky and wet out right now and I seem to be the only one in the house that is hot!!! Hormones perhaps???? Nahhh!

I tried to load a picture of my new friends down by the house in Ayr—-don’t tell anyone but I have been spoiliing them a bit when I drive by them with carrots and apples!!! They see the car and come on over now so I think I have made friends for life!

Oh and I got the sweetest letter from a sweet lady who used to go to Epworth—Edith Arthur. I had sent her a note because I found a bookmark that she had made me in one of my Bibles and wrote her a quick note to tell her that it had made it all the way to Australia. I guess she was so happy to get my letter and wrote right back along with her wonderful daughter, Nancy, who included a note. It made my day to hear from her and know that my letter had made her smile!!! So that was something else to be thankful for today—-letters from friends who come into our lives at different points and make us smile!!!

So as the families all gather—–the Chiles side in Ada with Colleen and Bryan and Meredith in their new home and the Brown side in Reynoldsburg with Carla and Christopher —we think of you all and are thankful for what you mean to us!!!!! See you soon!