November

November has been a very hectic month for us. Every single weekend (i.e. Friday and Saturday) we have had something going on. The first weekend was the church's annual ladies' retreat, which Mom, Mandy, and I attended; we enjoyed ourselves there, as we always do. The next weekend was another church wedding; I raise my glass to Mom because she was on her feet for sixteen hours that day, helping prep and doing things in the kitchen, not to mention the cheesecakes she decorated and helped serve at the reception, and then because she and I cleaned up the disaster- zone of a church afterwards; she did an amazing job. Then the next weekend was the church's annual Thanksgiving dinner; I made a batch of delicious rolls, Mom did potatoes and stuffing, and Mandy made a cake; it was another lovely event that we all enjoyed, especially hearing the testimonies of other people on how good the Lord has been to them this year.

Last weekend was Thanksgiving, which we celebrated at Uncle Josh's house. This year was more special because we had Ben and his mom and then Sarah (Gabe's girlfriend) join us for the festivities. Ben, as I have said before, fits right in with the Cunninghams, and his mom seemed to really enjoy herself in our company; Sarah also fit in very well too. We enjoyed plates of delicious turkey, ham, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, different varieties of rolls, green bean casserole, and then various desserts. We stayed there for several hours. Mandy left to spend the night with Sarah, and Mom left in the late afternoon; so Dad, Uncle Josh, Ben, and I sat outside around the fire and talked for a little before the cold (and hunger) drove us back inside the house. It was a good Thanksgiving, and I have uploaded pictures from it on facebook.

We have exciting news about Seth. A few weeks ago, he learned that NCR was willing to bring him back on to work in another division at the same location where he had worked, so he went up there for an interview. They said they would hire him back on as a full-time employee with all the benefits, but for weeks they did not say anything. This week, they called Seth back and asked him to start next week, which is very good news.

As for renovating the house, I have yet to get pictures because we are not fully done. We have painted half of the living room and dining room a dark green (a color of which Mandy approves- she is our color stylist who tells us what color would look good), and Dad and Seth spent several long, painful hours on their hands and knees tearing up our old beige carpet and putting down pergo (it's sort of like hard wood, but it's not real wood). The pergo has been laid down, but we are still working on putting up the new baseboards and staining them. Next up, Dad has plans to re-do the floors of both the utility room and the kitchen (both of which will require some logistical maneuvering), but we probably won't do those until the spring or summer.

I have been looking into other options for either further schooling or certification. I have a couple of ideas, but I still need to discuss them and figure out which one would be best for me. Two weeks ago, Mandy and I went to a church family's home; while she looked after two of the kids while the mom and her oldest were out running errands, I helped tutor one of the children in her schoolwork. I have only done this once because of Thanksgiving and other things, but I am hoping to start back up again next week because I found myself enjoying it.