Thanksgiving - a time for family ( & of course, food)

I love Thanksgiving. I look forward to the food every year. This year we celebrated with my parents, my sister's family, my grandma, and my granddaddy who has Alzheimer's. Although I'm pretty sure he didn't know who we were, he kept telling us how beautiful/handsome we were and saying that he was proud of us. Here's my sweet granddaddy (my dad's dad)...

My grandma - my mom's mom

Angela & Ava

Chase couldn't wait to eat!

The Davidsons

My dad, the turkey carver

Everyone got to eat something!

As always, we missed not having the whole family together. I wonder if that will ever happen again... ? After lunch, we went to the Whitenton family gathering and hung out with his mom, aunt & uncle, and cousins. We didn't take any pictures...

The Fun Theory

I think this is such a neat idea, and it obviously works. Check it out:



I wish we had these at my office. I may climb all 17 flights of stairs if we did... just maybe. It reminds me of playing the big piano at FAO Schwartz in NYC! SO FUN!

Thanks Green Line!

After 26 years, Mike finally went to the State Fair! We had a great time just walking around, finding (and trying) many of the different friend foods (and taking pictures of them), watching the bird show, checking out the cars, and riding the DART to and from the fair. We were both shocked at how many people in Dallas use mass transportation - it was exciting. Oddly enough, there were more people crammed onto DART's red line than there were on any of the NYC subways on which we rode!

The first thing we ate was a Fletcher's corny dog... YUMMY!

Then, we found the fried butter.

It lasted all of about 10 seconds between the two of us. It was DELICIOUS!
Then, Mike had a turkey leg. I won't show a picture of that, because you might lose your lunch. It was gross looking. So, onto the fried peaches and cream for which we waited 45 minutes...
Yep. Delicious. However, I liked the original fried butter more!!!!
Finally, Mike had been waiting all day to try the chicken friend bacon.
Unfortunately, he thought it was pretty gross! He couldn't figure out why it won the best taste award in 2008.

I'm glad we went, and I hope we go again (not this year)... mainly to get more fried butter. Don't knock it until you try it!

Kate's Birthday Cake

Here's a preview of what you're about to watch...

So fun & messy!

Get Ready to be Impressed

A few months ago, Mike was asked by a New Testament scholar, Mike Bird, to co-write an article on an ongoing debate in scholarly circles. My Mike was, of course, thrilled to contribute! Now, after having written, edited, and submitted their article, it has been published in the October edition of New Testament Studies (a hugely important journal)! How amazing is that? Please join me in congratulating my husband on a huge honor - he is a published scholar!!!! I have a feeling that this article is just the first of many...


The Faithfulness of Jesus Christ in Hippolytus’s De Christo et Antichristo: Overlooked Patristic Evidence in the Πίστις Χριστοῦ Debate (Michael F. Bird and Michael R. Whitenton)

Preggo Ladies

Random fact: I know 20 pregnant women and 13 women who have had a baby in the last year. Isn't that amazing?

Tests

Mike is taking a very important test right now - the GRE, or Graduate Record Examination. He began the test 36 minutes ago, and it will not be over for another 3 hours and 24 minutes. I feel sick to my stomach. It felt like this day would never come, and now it's happening right NOW!!! Yikes. This test is testing ME - my patience and my trust.

Over the past 3 months, Mike has prepared for this day. He bought tons of materials (vocabulary cards, GRE apps for his iPhone, practice tests, online practice writing exams) and spent countless hours studying. He's scored in the 700's on both the verbal & math portions of the exam. He's made 6's on the practice writing tests. He's absolutely brilliant, and he's worked so hard! Even still... I'm afraid. Afraid that he might blank out or get sick during the test. Afraid that he won't do well and will have to re-take it. AFRAID. Afraid that he will feel like a failure if he doesn't get a perfect score (or close to it). Afraid that I won't know what to say or do if that happens. AFRAID.

I should receive a phone call from Mike right after the test ends at 4:00. He'll be calling to tell me his verbal & math scores... Until then, I'm afraid. If you're like Jack in LOST, you only let fear take over for 5 seconds (remember the pilot episode?) and then move on with your life... but I'm not like Jack. :-) Pray for Mike!