Thanksgiving x 3

I'm sure there are many people who get to have Thanksgiving twice a year, but this year, I got to have it twice before Thanksgiving even gets here!
STORY #1: Saturday morning, we handed out 500 Fiesta Thanksgiving meals...this is almost a surreal experience for me...We work for hours and hours preparing for the day that we will do this and then in about an hour, we get all the food bags packed and in less than 2 hours, it's all gone. This is one of the most memorable moments each year. First of all, I LOVE THE DREAM CENTER. It is a part of my heart in a big way. I love missions and I am committed to local missions especially. I, like everyone I know who has been privaleged to go on a foreign mission trip....LOVED IT TOO! I went to Thailand and India this year (with some stop overs in some other fabulous places)...and I fell in total and complete love with this type of missions. I wish that my job included getting to do more of this type of work and then I would not be restricted by finances. (Hint hint boss...I am convinced my boss needs an assistant to travel with). With that said, I am still so passionate about Lubbock. This city has been very good to me and to my family. My heart is connected to the idea of making a difference in the city. How fabulous to see so many COTR people out there simply doing "whatever was needed" to make it happen. I watched with awe as people came up to me or Linda or whoever and simply said, "where do you need me?" It is inspiring to see the desire to work for the Kingdom! Now, I was totally on board with the Fiesta idea this year for the Dream Center Thanksgiving meal, but after doing it and seeing the various reactions, I think the Turkeys were a bigger hit. Our hearts were in the right places...we wanted to recognize and honor the dominant culture of the Dream Center neighborhood. I think most people have Turkey, dressing, and the fixins in mind when they think of Thanksgiving and we kinda lost the ability to give that. Now, let me say this: I do think that most everyone was very grateful. I was told that there were people in line crying because they were so grateful...I certainly don't want to take anything away from that...I'm just sayin' - my vote is back to turkeys next year!
STORY #2: Later that day... As soon as the Dream Center event was complete, I had to take Sumaiya and Ally (who, by the way, outdid me because they did Thanksgiving 3 times on Saturday!) to a Thanksgiving meal for the exchange students. Sumaiya kinda waited til the last minute to decide and therefore did not get the chance to take a Bangladesh dish to the meal. Instead, she took Bangladesh blessed KFC! The girls had a blast and Ally got to meet a girl from Italy (that is where she wants to visit so badly!) and now they are e-mailing. Anyway, I drop the girls off, run to Sam's to get yummy dinner rolls, go back to pick up the girls, and then get to my house to get a traditional Thanksgiving dinner ready for my parents and Rob's parents. Since we will be out of town on Thanksgiving (GOING TO SEE ROBBY - YIPPEE!) we decided to have them over for an early celebration. It was great, the Tech game was on (oh my goodness what happened to our Red Raiders?) and we visited and had a nice meal. Needless to say, Saturday was super busy and I was falling into bed Saturday night.
With all that...now I get to pack my bags to head off to Atlanta. Please pray for our operations manager...he is in the hospital and if he is not ready to roll then Rob may have to stay here while I take Ronny and the girls to Atlanta for Thanksgiving....ughhh!

Silly Me Updates:
The Biggest Loser: I am super mad at Amy...I WANTED COLLEEN TO WIN! Amy wimped out and got rid of someone who is not nearly as big a threat and now it is my mission to "will" her off the show..ha!
Best part of last week: Definitely the Dream Center Thanksgiving meal
Hardest part of last week: Definitely the Dream Center Thanksgiving meal