Happy Thanksgiving

Sometimes weekends are a welcome respite from the busy, busy, busy of the week. This weekend has been a haven of laughter and peace and fellowship after six weeks that were approaching the ulcer-inducing-stress range. It has been blissful, and there is still a whole day left in it!

We had a sleepover at camp. My new friend, Soul Sista, who is my sister-in-the-Lord and has enough of my idiosyncrasies that we could be long-lost actual sisters, invited us for a sleepover at her family's camp on Lake of the Woods. The Sprouts were a bit nervous about going somewhere new with people who they had only met briefly in church. But the lure of sleeping in a bunk bed was far stronger than the nerves.

Camp is a pair of cosy cabins, one circa 1960, when the land was first purchased, and the other added in the '90s when their family was too big to fit into one cabin. It reminds me very much of my parents' place and my sister's place. Lots of knotty pine, lots of beloved memories, and enough Canadian Shield rocks, water and sky to fill the soul with peace.

Since this weekend is possibly the warmest Thanksgiving I can remember, we sprawled on the dock with books and magazines and talked, wondering if swimming was an option. The Sprouts used a bucket of water and big paintbrushes to 'paint' the dock. LK hung out with his camera in hand and watched; observing and waiting for magic shots to unfold.

We stayed up late for a campfire and Smores. The kids slept in their bunks - Fi like a log, and Jo not-so-well (being under the weather). This morning we all went to church together. It felt like family, and it was, although not biological.

My point is that I am developing a refreshed appreciation for the ties that bind us together in Christ. There is a level of transparency that we can have with fellow believers that builds the intimacy you usually only have with people you have known for years. After several years of being outside a faith community, this blessing of fellowship is particularly sweet to me today.

So, on this Thanksgiving weekend I am deeply thankful for family. For the family that raised me; investing their hearts and souls into it. For the family that I gained when I married LK; taking on a non-Dutchie and learning, eventually, that even though I am not Dutch, I am not so bad. For the family that God has given me to raise and invest my own heart and soul in. For the family that I was adopted into through the saving work of my Lord; providing comfort, fellowship, guidance and friends in any place around the world.

Happy Thanksgiving to all my families, and all my friends. Lots of love out to you from up here in Grassy!