One Year

Thanksgiving Day 2011

- a Thanksgiving in North Dakota without family.

 

The Lovedahls, neighbors and native North Dakotans,

not wanting us to be alone, 

 invited us over for a beautiful and delicious lunch

 

 

and then we moved into this house with a lot of

potential...

 

The beveled leaded glass window faces the east

and gets my attention every morning.

It's been the subject of a lot of pictures in the last year.

 

May 2012 -

Spring had never been more welcome.
Pansies in the pots and rockers on the porch
helped me forget about the needed work out there.

 

July 2012

Summer was perfect, the tree stump is gone,

fern in the pots, and a lamp in the window.



October 2012

Fall - the leaves turned colors, then turned loose.

We finally have new boards inside of the porch.

 



November 9, 2012

Winter arrived with a foot of snow,
(and the ferns were still green.)

 

 

Thanksgiving Day 2012 -

more snow and a chance to pay it forward

 

 

by sharing our blessings, our home, and a meal

 

 

with some RV dwellers here in this oil patch town.

 

Our Guests:

A California commercial building contractor and his wife,

 working here and living in a small motorhome,

trying to keep from losing everything

after construction came to a halt there. 

 

Another young couple finally back working

 months after being in an accident-

living in a trailer and looking for a house.

 

A missionary couple here on a working furlough

from the mission fields of Indonesia,

and their son, working to pay off student loans 

so he can go back to Indonesia also,

 all living in a tiny used FEMA trailer.

 

Another man from Washington,

also here escaping the terrible economy -

sending money home to his family

 

Not only would a turkey not fit in their RV ovens -

but a turkey breast wouldn't even fit!

So, yes they really enjoyed a chance to be able

to be in a house for a change.

 

We all still missed our families and traditions from other places,

but we felt a little like family after eating together,

and sharing stories

(and I was so caught up in the moments,

that I forget to take pictures of our group

around the table).

 

 

I can hardly believe it's been a year since our neighbors

and now good friends

opened their home and holiday to us.

But we thought of them as we followed their example

this year.

 

It was a good day

 and we certainly have a lot to be thankful for.

 

Giving thanks always

and for everything,

 to God the Father

in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(Ephesians 5:20)