We all survived Thanksgiving weekend! Well, all of us except for Emma, who appears to have yet another tummy bug. (As opposed to Ana, who, as you can see, is just showing her tummy.) I wasn’t there when Emma blessed McDonald’s with an overflow of holiday goodness (ahem), but I’m sure it was spectacular. She’s been overflowing ever since, and two sheet changes later, we’re all waiting to see what happens next. Oh, the suspense!

Back to the holidays. This year was our year to celebrate Thanksgiving in Alvarado with my family. On the drive down, the temperature in Oklahoma was below 32 with a lot of rain, prompting Wes to wisely suggest that we leave by four in order to be home before it was dark outside and potentially below freezing. So, when we left at 4:30 with many apologies from me, he said, “I meant six, which is why I said four.” I almost told him to turn the car back around for that extra hour and a half but refrained. I’ll just remember that he does this time adjustment, for future trips. That’ll fix him! (Even so, he was right. It was good to get in before it hit nineteen degrees that evening!)

The girls stayed behind with my parents so that we could take our long anticipated date to see Harry Potter. Eeeee!!! It was every bit as great as we thought it would be and left me to conclude that once the final movie comes out in the summer… well, what will be left to go see in theaters?! Everything else will really pale in comparison. And if that doesn’t make me sound like a pathetic nerd, I don’t know what will. This is the second Harry Potter movie I’ve seen in Oklahoma, after seeing all the others in different places — Namibia, Lebanon, Fort Worth, and Okinawa. (Oh, yeah. Harry Potter gets around.) After we see the very last one this summer, that will make the grand total of THREE of the eight we’ve seen here. Go, Oklahoma! This place really is home for the Faulks.

I had a great birthday and received some wonderful unexpected gifts. A couple of great gift cards, a plane ticket (so I can join Wes at this conference), and birthday moolah… all of which I gave to Mickey Mouse. (That mouse is a greedy fellow, you know. Thankfully, we’re almost done rationing our pennies for that trip in February, and it will be worth literally every last cent!) The best gift, though, came from Wes who, in lieu of a present, celebrated my birthday by adopting our third Compassion International child. We’ve been sponsoring Denis in Uganda for six years and Sitota in Ethiopia for almost two years, and like we did with both of them, we searched for one of the youngest children Compassion works with so that we can be their sponsors from the start of their Compassion experience until they’re adults. After a lot of searching, we found a profile for a little girl named Princess who lives in the Philippines. Ana is super excited that she’s going to get to write letters to a little girl who loves all the same playtime activities that she does, and she’s even MORE excited that her name is Princess. (Which Ana would rename herself if given the opportunity.) We’re so thankful for this great ministry and the chance to be involved in the work they’re doing!

We took the church youth out to Chickasha last night to see the lights. If you’re anywhere near southwest Oklahoma, the Chickasha Light Festival is worth going out to see. This was our third year to check it out, and hitting it this early in the season was perfect, thanks to the mild weather (only about forty degrees) and short lines (only ten minutes from the road to the main gate). I’m not sure what the youth enjoyed more — the lights or using the church’s video camera. You be the judge, based on their work…

We got up this morning, expecting to be reunited with the girls after church. An early call from my mother changed the time to much earlier because my grandmother has been really sick, then another call on the road from my mother made the arrival time even earlier because Emma (as I mentioned before) threw up at McDonald’s en route. What’s the deal?! The barfing was doubly disappointing because the girls had big plans to surprise their old Mommy with homemade cards, gifts, and a cookie cake. They still did so, but with Emma half-comatose, the celebration was subdued. (I was super impressed that Ana was able to scrawl a legible “Happy birthday Mommy” on her card, with, as she said, “Just a little help from Gram!” Best. Gift. EVER!) Thanks to Gram and Gramps for watching the girls and for giving them a chance to surprise Mommy!

And now we’re getting ready for another week. Oh, how I hope it doesn’t include any more vomit. But even so, I’m thankful that’s the worst of it. When I think of health concerns we could have with our children, I celebrate run-of-the-mill tummy bugs. It could ALWAYS be worse, y’all!

Hope your week is off to a great start…