This year I am thankful for...

My family is better than your family.

Wait, let me back up.

Remember when you were a kid in elementry school and every thanksgiving your teacher would make you write a paragraph explaining what you were thankful for? I don't know about you, but every year I wrote the same things. "I am thankful for my friends and family, a roof over my head, food to eat, and water to drink." I felt so profound. So now that I am not in elementry school and I am not required to write a paragraph on what I'm thankful for...I think I'll just blog about it.

It may sound cliche, but out of everything that I can think of, I am most thankful for my family.

So where was I? Oh yes. My family is better than your family. I hate to break it to you, but no family can top mine. I down right love them.

The first thing you need to know about my immediate family is that we are about as traditional as it gets. We have SO many traditions and we stick to them every single year, without fail.

The first and probably the most important tradition we have is lefsa. You may be asking yourself, "Lefsa? What the heck is that?" Well, you are not alone. Most people have no idea what it is. Well, it's a norweigian pastry that looks like, but tastes nothing like a tortilla. There are many ways to eat it, but my family likes to butter it, roll turkey in it, and dip it in gravy.

Why is this such a big deal, you ask? Well, let me tell you. On the Saturday before Thanksgiving week, we make the lefsa. It is not a simple task, mind you. With christmas music blaring, mom rolls all the little flour-y, potatoe-y, balls of dough. Then the fun begins. We roll out the dough and fry them. We work in an assembly line and we have it down to a science but by the end we are literally swimming in a sea of flour.

Every Thanksgiving morning, we wake up and my mom has fresh cinnamon rolls waiting for us. We all grab our breakfast and settle into our big, green, sectional couch and watch the Macy's Day Parade. After it's over (or we are sufficiently bored) we pile in the mimi van and head to the Turkey Bowl and utterly dominate in some football with our church family. When noon roles around, my sister and I help mom in the kitchen and Kyle and dad watch more footlball. (I will never understand what it is about that sport that fascinates the male species so much.) Soon all the fam starts showing up. My mom's twim sister, all of her family, and all the grandparents, plus a few extras here and there come through our door bearing green bean cassaroll and the ultimate dessert, 7-up salad.

Feast time. 300+ pieces of lefsa, tukey, light meat, dark meat, gravy, a multitude of rolls, enough mashed potatoes to feed all of Wenatchee, green bean cassaroll, stuffing, cranberry sauce, 7-up salad, every kind of cookie or bakable item imaginable and of course lots and lots and LOTS of pie.

After this we all go find a quiet spot in the house and do what we call "getting horizontal" to let the food settle in.

The second thing that you need to know about my family is that we are probably more competetive then anyone you know. Ever. Period. End of discussion. You think I'm kidding, but I'm not. Literally everything is made into some kind of competition. It's the best.

So let the competition begin. We start out with a little game of catch phrase. Which then turns into two games of catch phrase. Then three and then four. And normally we'll wrap it up with "the championship of the universe" round and, let me tell you, this is no laughing matter. It's serious buisness.

After we have laughed until it hurts, and screamed until we have no voices left, we compete just a little more. Chase the Ace. I will not even take the time to describe this game but it is quite simple. But even more competetive than catch phrase and an absolute blast! Complete with table slapping, ear-piercing singing, and of course the musical stylings of The Big Guy aka gramps.

We finish the day by kicking off the christmas season and we watch the best christmas movie known to man: It's a Wonderful Life. I have legitimately seen that movie every year since I was born and it never gets old.

My family is the cream of the crop. The bee's knees. The cat's pajamas. The crock's socks. They are...to put it simply...awesome.

So this year, I am thankful for my family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Onward and Upward

The past month has not been an easy one. I do my very best to hide from the ghastly evil called "drama", but somehow, it always finds me. I guess that's high school for you.

Sometimes in life, things happen. Things that you don't want to happen. Things that you don't understand. Things that litteraly don't make sense. Things that make life hard. Things that just plain suck.

I have found that these "things" are hard to get around. In fact, you can't get around them. It's impossible.

Let me just pause for a moment before I continue this post. I am beginning to realize that basically everytime I blog, it has something to do with trusting in God. I try to be creative and come up with new topics, but for some reason I keep coming back to trust. Maybe because it's something I have been struggling with. maybe because I desperately need God's help in my life. Maybe because it's so important. Maybe because it's INCREDIBLY important. Maybe because it is a blatant sin to not trust God. Which leads me to my next point...

When these "things" come up in life, there are two things we can do. First and foremost, we MUST trust God. We must give everything to Him; the good things and the bad things, in the good times and in the bad times. He is our rock and comforter. The only real peace that we can find is through Him.

Now practically speaking, the second thing to do when drama arises is to simply (or not so simply) move on.

Move on?

Move on. Hmm, only one thing comes to mind...easier said than done.

It might be difficult, but when you really think about it, that's what you gotta do. I have found that the less attention I give to drama, the less often it finds me. However, that doesn't make the daunting task of moving on any easier. But there is one thing that makes it easier. There is one way to accomplish it...you guessed it...Trust. In. Jesus.

So after the drama and hard "things" in my life in this past month, I have decided to completely and fully give it over to God, let Him handle it, and move on.

Tomorrow is a new day filled with new blessings from my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I am moving on. Onward and upward.

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases;
   his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
    great is Your faithfulness.
Lamentations 3:22, 23