Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving in Philly, and it was a GREAT one! I most definitely missed being with my family (I will be seeing them in 24 days!!), but I'm glad I decided to stay in Philly. My brother wasn't able to make it home for Thanksgiving either, so I decided the money and the time it was going to involve just to be in NC for 3 days wasn't really worth it. I will be staying for almost 2 weeks at Christmas, though. I miss my family!!

Okay, Philly Thanksgiving. First, my mom was worried that I wouldn't have anyone to eat with. She did NOT need to worry!! I was invited to at least 5 different meals! I only made it to two of them, but still feel really blessed to have so many wonderful people around me!!

I started my day at the Hinsons. They were having kind of an open house for the day where people could just come by and hang out whenever they wanted, for however long they wanted. It was SO GREAT! I got there when several people that I really enjoy were there and we had a good time eating and laughing (Frank is an AMAZING cook!). I can't remember the last time I got to hang out with the Hinsons, so yesterday was such a blessing!! I LOVE THAT FAMILY!!

(The pic is actually me with the Santiagos...their first Thanksgiving as a married couple!)

Of course, Frank and Carisa are awesome people that I always enjoy being around (and really make me feel like family, even if I don't get to see them all the time), but their kids...well, their kids are who really suck me in. I fell in love with their oldest (he's 7 now) as soon as I met him and nothing has changed. They have since had 2 more that I was sure would never be as awesome as their oldest...but I was proven wrong with both of them!

When I came in, their middle child immediately took my hand and showed me where I needed to start getting food. In fact, he told me exactly what I needed and even put it all on my plate!! Of course, to get the cheese off the knife he just used his hands and it didn't bother me one bit. He was SO SWEET!!



I didn't eat too much while I was there (seriously!), because I knew I had a huge meal coming. At 2:30, I left with my friends the Varasos to go pick up Shera and head to Maggiano's, an AMAZING Italian restaurant where we had reservations. We all agreed that none of us wanted to do dishes this year, so we decided to splurge and go out to eat. It turned out to be a GREAT decision!

First, I will start with the food. I may never eat again! It was a 5 course meal, served family style. So, we made our choices as a table and they just brought us food until we were full! I had to take pictures of everything (on my new digital camera that I got on a GREAT deal pre-black friday deal), so here is our meal in pictures:

First, we had an appetizer: bruchetta:

Next, came 2 salads: spinach salad and cesar salad:


Then we got to choose 2 entrees (each came with a side): turkey with stuffing and ham with sweet potatoes; AND 2 additional sides (mashed potatoes and spinach):




(the spinach was REALLY good!)

We ALSO got 2 pasta choices: 3 cheese ravioli in pesto sauce, and mushroom ravioli: (it is an Italian restaurant):



And then finally, we got 2 desserts: pumpkin pie cheesecake and chocolate cake:


(please remember that we shared all of this food, these were not our individual plates, haha)

The best part...it all tasted SO amazing! Seriously, the pasta was some of the best food I have ever tasted!!

Of course, the company was wonderful as well! Shera and the Varasos are some of my favorite people in Philly, so spending Thanksgiving with them was absolutely perfect (next to time with my family, of course). And of course, baby Selah is ALWAYS a joy to be around! Unfortunately, she didn't want to be with us, haha. This is how she spent most of the night:

She's so funny! She really wanted to be a part of everything around her, we were apparently too boring, haha. I just love this little girl.

I finished off the night by heading back to the Hinsons with the Varasos so that Selah could meet Lili (they are about 6 weeks apart in age). That was HILARIOUS! These two girls are SO different, yet I love them both! Selah is a mover (she's already pulling herself up and standing on her own, at 9 months!), while Lili is just laid back and chill. I plan on having sleepovers with them when they get older, and I already know its going to be a lot of fun!!

Ashley stayed in town for Thanksgiving too and cooked dinner with a friend, and they left a lot of left overs in the fridge. So, I will be eating well for days! Yay! Overall, a very successful first Philly Thanksgiving!

And, I actually got up at 4:30 this morning to go to Target for some Black Friday shopping with Elizabeth! (Another first for me). I really only needed one thing for my brother, and I got it! We also got $3 toasters and I picked up a lot of toys for Prayer Pals Christmas presents. (I am doing a lot of the shopping this year to the pals can save on shipping; and the economy has left many of them struggling financially but they still want to bless their pals!). I pretty much picked up anything that looked cool for the kids and was on a "Black Friday Sale". I will do the rest of my shopping in the coming weeks.

Thankfully, both Elizabeth and I got exactly what we needed, and even went to Kmart when they opened and got what we wanted there too! I was home and back in bed by 6:30. It was awesome!!

Now, I'm off to enjoy some Christmas decorations in Center City with Ashley and her friend. We need to work of some of that Thanksgiving food! I will be going for a run (or two) tomorrow...

Mom and Dad; Its all your fault!!

Dear Mom and Dad (or the Chief and his woman as I like to call you, lol):

Thank you for teaching me perseverance. I would have quit a long time ago if it wasn't for you. I can't remember either of you ever taking a day off from work unless me or Jack was sick, had a field trip or just needed you. Mom, you worked full time AND took care of two kids full time, and we never felt neglected for a second. Dad, you worked full time AND went back to college while Jack and I were still living with you because you knew that was the best way to take care of your family. And again, we never felt neglected for even a moment. (okay, maybe a little during the hockey playoffs, but that's really because I have never understood hockey, haha) And, while doing all of that, neither of you ever missed a holiday, birthday, sporting event, band concert, etc.

One of you walked us to the bus stop every morning (until we were too cool to be seen with you, haha), and picked us up from every school dance (until we were so cool that we had our own 1983 Honda Accord). I have watched both of you battle health issues being in and out of hospitals at various times, yet you only took the necessary days off work, and NEVER took time off from us. You always persevered.

If Jack or I ever said something was "too hard", you said, "no its not". You never let us quit (except cotillion. But let's be honest, that would have just been torture for me). :) When Jack went his own way for several years, you NEVER gave up on him; even when so many parents would have just washed their hands of all of it.

No matter how many arguments I started with you, you never gave up. There was no doubt in your mind that I would not only go to, but graduate from college and you never let me think otherwise either.

I have watched you face and overcome countless obstacles and never once heard even the slightest complaint or hint of wanting to quit.

Jack has said a million times that his work ethic is all because of you. You taught him to keep pushing through and never quit. Now he is sober, back in school and can lift terrifying amounts of weight. :)

Why am I saying all of this?

So you can know that really you only have yourselves to blame for the fact that I'm still living in Kensington and not packing up to move back in with you. :)

The thought has crossed my mind more than once, that's for sure. But, when I look at both of you I realize that when I'm in my 50's (hehe, sorry about that), I want people to see me the way I see you...or at least as close to that as I can.

In order for that to happen, I can't quit. You didn't, so I won't either.

Retreat

I know its been a really long time since I blogged. Usually that means that I'm either really busy or really struggling. Unfortunately in this case, its the latter. When I go through hard times I tend to retreat and work things out on my own, not really sharing much. So, that's kinda what I'm doing. Of course, you know all too well (haha), that eventually I will share everything. But for now, I will most likely stay pretty quiet and just seek the Lord. (I know what you're thinking. Trish, quiet?? Haha, its pretty rare, but it does happen).

In the mean time, I will share this with you:

Revolve!!!

This weekend was the annual Revolve Tour! This year I, along with two other leaders, took 18 teen and preteen girls the tour for our 4th year (I think?) , and this may have been the best year yet!

Before I go into details, though, I have to show you our new God's Girls t-shirts! We all LOVE them!!! Carisa and I have been wanting to have them for a long time, and thanks to a wonderful donation from a Sunday School class, we were able to get them just in time for Revolve!!




Okay, now on to the weekend.

Revolve is basically Women Of Faith for teens, and preteens. Actually, its a little over the heads of most of our preteens, but they still enjoy it and do learn some stuff. Its really powerful for the teens, though, which I was really excited about with Cupcake, Linda and Bonita all there.

This year, since I had so few adult leaders, the teens really stepped up to help. We didn't have any problems with anyone getting lost, or feeling left out. It was great!

We also had AWESOME seats this year! We decided to pay a little extra (okay, more than a little) to get seats on the floor, and it turned out that we were RIGHT at the stage! The girls got to touch most of the music acts!! They were so excited! Okay, let's me honest, I was excited too!!

I really enjoyed the tour this year. All of the talks were amazing and really spoke to where the girls are. There was NO talk about marriage, and they FINALLY had people on stage that were larger than a size 2! In fact, several of the dancers and musicians were about my size! YAY!!

Britt Nicole, Stellar Kart and Group 1 Crew were the music acts and they all did an amazing job. Their songs really spoke to the girls, and they each spent some time sharing about their hearts for the Lord, which was so encouraging.

Everyone's favorite speaker was Chad Eastham. (Yes, they do allow boys!). Chad talked to the girls about the differences between guys and girls and about how guys need us to be who GOD created us to be, so they can be who GOD created them to be! He's very funny but also really solid in what he has to say so we all enjoyed it.

There is no question that we all had a lot of fun. :)









This will be our last year at Revolve for a while, which I am actually pretty okay with. It was a great weekend, but I can't handle preteens in large doses. :) The Revolve tour is taking all of 2010 off, and they aren't coming to Philly in 2011. Instead they will be in Reading, PA which is about 2 hours away, so I don't think we can make that trip. Makes me a lot more excited that we had such a great experience this year! Now I just pray that the girls really remember and apply what they learned.

Hershey Park!

We had an AWESOME weekend last week at Hershey Park! We have all been so busy and overworked and were really looking for some time away from the city. I got an awesome deal on a hotel room ($20 a night!) about 20 minutes from the park. The park is open on weekend through Halloween, and tickets are 50% off there too. So, we decided to make a weekend of it! Ashley, Cupcake, Linda, Bonita and I left on Friday night and had a lot of fun going out to eat ice cream, laughing and being silly in the hotel room.



The park didn't open until 2:00 on Saturday. Our first plan was to get up and maybe see some sights before going to the park. We couldn't really find something that we all wanted to do, so we decided to just wake up whenever, hang out at the hotel, go to lunch and then head to the park. That turned out to be the perfect plan since we all slept in until after 10 a.m.! None of us realized that we were that tired!

After we all got ready, we went out to a delicious lunch, where they had some fun things for us to take pictures with (I have uploaded all of these and more onto my phanfare site!).



Finally, after we were all full, we went to Hershey Park. We had SO much fun!! There were very few people there, so there were basically no lines for any of the rides. We hit all the major roller coasters in the first 2 hours! It was awesome!! By about 7:30, though, we were all exhausted. At first we couldn't figure out why. Usually we are at Hershey Park from 9 a.m.-10 p.m. and are totally fine! Then we realized, we usually have more time between rides and we usually take a break for lunch and dinner when we are there all day. We didn't do either and I think that wiped us out. It was good timing, though. We had already ridden all the rides and were kinda ready to relax. It had rained a little too, so we were kinda wet and getting cold. So, we got back in the car, grabbed some dinner and went back to the hotel.


Since it was Halloween we had the plan to curl up under the covers and watch scary movies together. However, once we were all in our pajamas and curled up in bed, we all fell immediately asleep. Maybe we were all even more overworked than we thought!

I had to lead Children's Church the next day, so we packed up and left around 9 a.m. (not too early) so we could be back in time for church.

So, it wasn't an incredibly long trip, but it was A LOT of fun. We still have some coupons for the same hotel, so we are hoping to go again in the Spring!!

What a Sunday!

On Sunday I went to church late...on purpose. I didn't go to Sunday School because I knew that the wedding would be the big topic of conversation. I just wasn't ready for that. So, I came in just before the service started and one of my God's Girls pulled me aside because she needed to talk. We went to our Sunday School room and she shared with me some of the things that she is struggling with and we talked through them. I felt SO inadequate, but listened and did the best could to encourage her. I felt very encouraged as she shared with me that I am one of the few people that she feels comfortable talking to. As we walked into the church for the service I was thanking God for giving me a good start to the morning and reminding me that He is always working, even when I am struggling.

Since we came into the service late we decided to stay in the back for worship. Linda and Bonita spent the night with their mom on Saturday and they were supposed to meet me at church that morning. I looked around the sanctuary to try and find them and didn't see them. As I was getting my phone out to call them, I saw Rocky, Bonita and Linda come in the door across the room. And, behind them were Mac and Pac!! I hadn't seen them since the beginning of the summer before they left to spend the summer in Lancaster, PA. I was SO excited to see them!!

Next to Mac was a tall, very handsome looking young guy and my first thought was, "Wow, they brought a friend to church. That's awesome!". A few seconds later I realized I recognized him; it was Guapo, Linda and Bonita's oldest brother (and my oldest godson)!! (Not his real name, of course. He is the oldest boy that lived with me several years ago. He just turned 19, so a little too old to be living with me. I see him all the time, but I can't remember the last time he came to church! Incidentally, Guapo is handsome in Spanish, and he is definitely growing up to be such a handsome man!).

I couldn't believe he was in church and I literally ran to hug him. And yes, I started crying a little. I just love him SO much and miss getting to see him all the time. He has had a few wandering year recently, but I know God is still at work!!

What an amazing Sunday! ALL my kids were back at church (except for the girls' middle brother), and I didn't have to bribe any of them to come. They all came on their own!! I couldn't help but praise God after that excitement!!

I had to lead children's church, so I didn't get to talk to any of them until after the service. On my way downstairs to get ready for children's church, Bella pulled me aside and gave me a big hug. It was so sweet, but kind of random so I asked her what it was for. She said, "Because you're the best friend I've ever had". Yeah, the tears started to well up again. What a day!!

After church I decided we definitely needed to go out to lunch to celebrate everyone being together again, but first I wanted to some pictures. Thankfully, my friend Kirsten was there and she is an awesome photographer. She took pictures of everyone, and then edited them to look amazing!! Here are some of my favorites! (Most of the pics are of the boys since they were the special guests!)

In case you are a little confused about who I am talking about (especially if you know the kids by their real names and my fake ones confuse you); here is a little tutorial picture for you:

Me and all my boys: :)

See what I mean by handsome?!?

Being silly (with our friend Dom at the top):

And my favorite one...

Haha, I think this pretty much expresses our relationship perfectly. :) We did get a sweet one together too though:

Yeah, no doubt. God is good.