Thanksmas 2012 and Baby Emma

This weekend was Thanksmas 2012. That's synonymous for food-coma-while-surrounded-by-our-entire-family-while-playing-games 2012. Insanity, y'all.

My parents are too good to us. Entirely too good.

They live for Thanksmas all year long and spoil us rotten from the time we get there til the time we all leave. We will get an email with the details of next year's trip in about t minus 2 days.

They think of every little detail and go out of their way to make sure that we are all together, having a complete ball.

The weekend is always like food for our souls.

Speaking of food, my mom cooks for all 20+ of us. But you'd think she was cooking for a small army. We graze ALL WEEKEND LONG. And it. is. fabulous.

We ate pinwheel sanmiches til we couldn't see straight.

Sausage balls and biscuits every morning.

Chili and taco soup.

Brisket samiches.

Fried chicken.

We were only there for 3 nights.

You do the math on that.

We ate A TON.

We also met the nicest Carnie in Pigeon Forge. He let Coop ride the rides at Kids Kountry (eeek with the K alliteration) after dark. Even though we arrived 4 minutes after the park had closed.

Made Coop's night, can't you tell?

Miniature Grumpett. Anyway. The Carnie, wish we had taken a picture of him. He was just too sweet.

We always stop at a Christmas Tree farm in North Carolina on the way home and scoop up our Christmas tree. Tell me how in one years time, we went from this...

To this.

Mercy me.

So we're home and tonight for dinner, we had ice cream sandwiches. In our PJs. Ok, also while snuggled in bed. Only Cooper tee teed on our bed the night we left, so our entire bedding set had to be taken to the cleaners for damage control. So we ate 'em in our frumpy no-comforter-or-blankets bed. Which means I am going to freeze tonight. Sweet.

The weekend was so full, it really was. But I can't tell you how many times I hit my knees this weekend for our sweet friends the Cheeks. Baby Emma was born last Sunday and is in the {completely unexpected} fight for her tiny little life. She has brought so much glory to God and is a little warrior already.

I cry out to God for her again and again each day. Her mama is just absolutely precious to me. When Chris first got sick way way back when, Kelly brought us this little bamboo plant. It was to bring good luck, and goodness me, did we need it in those days. Chris guarded that little plant with all his life for YEARS. Every time I turned around, he had it situated in a new place in the house.

We moved and the bamboo plant moved with us.

I nearly killed it a dozen times over. On accident of course.

I am re-reading Angie Smith's book right now and just ran across a quote that made me instantly think of Kelly and Andy. "At the end of each day, regardless of what it had held, we knew that she had been given to us for a purpose, and we were seeking wisdom as we embraced that. To be brutally honest, it wasn't because embracing it came naturally. It was because we didn't know how to survive without believing that God was in control".

Isn't that the truth?

Baby Emma needs your prayers, sweet prayer warriors. Will you please do me an itty bitty favor and cover her in the coming days and weeks?