Steamboat Thanksgiving

As many of you know, we are in Steamboat having the time of our lives while I undergo a year long Functional Manual Therapy Fellowship. Wow! The time has flown! Jody is teaching HS math and has started his basketball season as head coach of boys basketball in Hayden. Reece is loving 1st grade but does miss her friends back home (especially Dax). I really love it here although I must say with the last 2-3 storms we have had, I took many deep breaths and prayed to love it through the storm.

They generally do a great job plowing here, but a storm is a storm regardless. I just ask that you all pray for Jody and Reece as they drive daily to Hayden. Jody had the pleasure of driving last week through a foot of snow with the Subi. The east bound to Steamboat was plowed, but the west bound Hayden lane was not. That's why we did snow tires and yes we love them and they are a must.

We hosted a group for Thanksgiving at our house and had a blast! We had 3 of our PT students and Tracy (senior fellow from Raleigh, NC) and her husband Kirk. This was the first year that I did everything because back in Texas Jody's mom, sister, and I all help. Well Sharla does most of it and I fix a side or two and pies. Wednesday night after a crazy work day, 1/2 ski day, then finished late at work, I headed home to start the cooking about 9:45 and finished at 1am. But all to make sure that we could meet Tracy and Kirk on the mountain on Thanksgiving and ski for a few hours before the turkey had to go in the oven. Truly a blessing to fix the meal with help from my sweet husband and mom. Reece and Cale helped a little and made more memories than I can count. That night we had a houseful, stuffed our bellies, and enjoyed a fun game of hedbanz with the kids.  (We enjoyed some yummy collard greens flown by Kirk all the way from NC because they are overpriced here. It was a fantastic treat!) I will say this...Christmas meal will be more gluten free because the belly ache that followed was a reminder of the whys to not eat like that. It was fun to stick to old recipes but they can all be adjusted!

Today we headed out to the mountain with Reece for her first time skiing. If you follow us on facebook, you've seen the videos of her 2nd run down. She did awesome once the fear of "what did you put on my feet and how do I walk" was over. There were thankfully no falls getting on/off the lift either. I managed to ski backwards for a short bit trying to take pictures and video as Jody proved yet again that he is an awesome coach! She begged for McDonald's after so we made it HER day. Sitting there I just had to have a moment of "WE ARE IN STEAMBOAT".  It was amazing to think about how much God has done to bring us here. No easy task, but for Him he proved again that if it is HIM then he paves the way. Provides completely. As we enter the holidays of course we miss our friends and family back home. We are so thankful for the friends we have here. And so thankful for the togetherness that a big move like this creates for our little family. I feel so complete getting to give my kids new experiences that they would only otherwise have in vacations. It makes me so glad that they are THIS age and getting to do something for the first time. It makes me insanely excited to plan other trips, vacations, and think of the next place that God leads us in His time. He has proved over and over that where He wants us, has for us is the ONLY place to be. I can't wait to take my kids to Disney and NYC (Reece wants to see Wicked so bad) and tour of the South and go to a beach.  I pray that God has fun trips in store for us! I can't wait to take Cale for his "first" tomorrow!

I'm also thankful for some very unique ministry opportunities here that only a mountain town offers. Our church (Anchor Way) has a neat cookie ministry for the liftees (lift operators) on the mountain. They told us stories from last year about how excited and thankful the operators were when they all showed up last year with the cookies. There are opportunities in our everyday. We just have to keep our eyes open. So many different conversations on the lift today when I took it twice by myself. I am not in the bible belt anymore. I miss my friends, my home church in Seminole, and my family. But I'm thankful to be right where I am. It is going too fast. I have a LOT left to learn from fellowship and BEYOND. Loving our life in the 'Boat!!!
Happy Thanksgiving!!