It's time for my mid-autumn blogging break!

As many of you know, my hubby's clan is originally from the Mayflower......yup...it's true....one of the Pilgrims on the ship from England was his great x eight uncle.....and yes...we have visited (and even had one Thanksgiving feast!) the Plimoth Plantation/Wampanoag Village/Mayflower ship MANY times.....and yes....the Thanksgiving holiday is a HUGE deal in the T-----family!  And yes...most of his family still live in Plymouth County and/or the New England area...other than his big sis who lives out in CA but will fly in to Boston for our holiday......

SO.....once again, we prepare to have a huge feast at the T----family beach house.....everyone will be there except my nephew Adam who is "over there" :( (serving our country at the ripe young age of 22).  His sister will be with us, though, much to my daughters' delight...she is in her 3rd year of college up in Maine and can come for a couple of days......and my other niece, Hanna, will be at university in Scotland where of course they don't celebrate Thanksgiving.....so she has classes.....we will miss her.....but her mom is flying in so all is good......

Plymouth Rock
Plymouth, MA

So....it's been 4 years since it was our turn to cook....Dave has 1 younger sibling and 2 older siblings...we all take turns cooking the feast to give my mother in law a break.....which means, Dave and I, traveling from NYS, must be super-prepared with all the food needed, etc. (my father in law takes care of the turkey...we just have to stuff and cook!).  We actually are having our family feast on Friday of that weekend so that we can all serve at the Good Shepherd Church in the town where the beach house is located.....that church offers a Thanksgiving meal for needy village people and we started the tradition of serving there last year....everyone felt so blessed to be serving on Thanksgiving day.....Dave is the only Christian in his family (other than some cousins in PA who do their own feast down there) so to see his family members partaking in this ministry is just awesome.....and my daughters loved interacting with the children who came to eat....it really is a blessing to "pay it forward".....this takes planning, too so.....I am busy this week!

So.... I will not be on here much.....I WILL be back for the Friday Fave Five....I have a really busy week...I will be doing the "single mother" thing as my hubby leaves later today for a week-long business trip to New Orleans......I am just praising God that my oldest has her license so she can use his car if needed while he's gone...it really helps to have an extra driver in the house!

Along with feast planning and shopping, I am repainting my dining room chairs.....not sure why I am tackling this task but let's just say if I have to have one more small group meeting with ladies sitting on my "needs re-painting badly" chairs, I am gonna lose my mind!  That is one long over-due project...my goal is to paint them tomorrow afternoon while my oldest is at church doing a service project with the other high school student leaders....and then I get the "pleasure" of helping her with her art application essay.....

so.....I hope you all have a blessed week......

I just posted a few yummy recipes on here...feel free to look around and copy any recipe you see......

and I will leave you with this Scripture portion I just read this morning...I love the Words in Psalm that God gave to us through the servant who was a man after His own heart!

"Cause me to hear Your Lovingkindness in the morning, for in You do I trust; cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to You.  Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies;  in You I take shelter.  Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God;  Your Spirit is good.  Lead me in the land of uprightness."  Psalm 143:8-10