A Thanksgiving Surprise!

 

We hope you all had a nice Thanksgiving with family and friends and are heading into December counting all your many blessings! Before November gets too far gone, I wanted to write about our wonderful Thanksgiving surprise for Sarah!

First, it was a smashing success! Sarah is a lot like her Momma...it's hard to keep a secret from either of us! So we didn't know if we could pull this off; but we did, which made it sooo much fun!

Our friend and faithful blog reader, Victoria, Sarah's mother-in-law, secretly invited us to come and stay with them Wednesday night. We enjoyed the extra visiting time with her family, and we especially enjoyed listening to the young adults play music on Wednesday evening: As you can see from this photo taken from above, there were many instruments represented...piano, flute, violin, accordion, penny whistles, and guitar: And then the hymn books came out, and we were serenaded with Christmas songs, hymns, and more! What a very delightful evening! I loved it! And Sarah and Eric missed it...because she had no clue we were in town!! The next morning we helped with part of the Thanksgiving meal, and I really enjoyed working in the kitchen with everyone; Victoria was so very organized and had most of the dishes made ahead of time. Here are the five kitchen helpers, quite excitedly waiting for the guest of honor to arrive: While the girls were in the kitchen, the guys were target practicing in the backyard. Here's Jonathan taking a turn: And the plan was...when Sarah, Eric, and the two boys came over on Thanksgiving afternoon for the main meal, we'd come around the corner from the next room and surprise her. Our vehicle had been hidden on another street.

The surprise was video-taped (hilarious!!)....Sarah's shocked face made it all worthwhile! "What are you doing here!!?" Lots of hugs all around from everyone as Sarah gets used to the idea that she has company going home with her! By the way, Eric was in on the surprise and had scrubbed and cleaned and made the house ready:

This little punkin didn't know what was going on! But both boys soon warmed up to everyone:

Around the table....first the younger adults and kids' table: And in the dining room the parents of five of the young folks above and our gracious hosts and friends: As part of the fun activities when we visited Eric and Sarah, they treated us to a visit to the Aviation Wing of a local history museum. Soooo....what does an Avionics Technician (Jonathan) do on his vacation?  Go visit old airplanes, of course, and sit in the cockpit and look at wires that he deals with every day! He loved it! Tom and I in front of one of the planes on the tour:
What a precious little family!

Here we are at Atlanta's first German ChristKindl Market. It was interesting for photo ops and walking around to sample German goodies: Entering the Market to peruse the mostly food vendors: The time in Atlanta passed way too quickly. We loved helping Sarah with some errands and chores while she decorated their tree and Eric and Jonathan put up garland and lights outside.

What a wonderful treat to get to see Andrew and Matthew! As you can see, the prayers of folks all across the country have been answered with how well Andrew is doing! Praise the Lord for His mercies!

I'd say Sarah definitely has her hands full with two of the cutest little grandsons I know! What a blessing and treasure they are. I think we had one of the best Thanksgivings ever!

~ Deb

Comments

[victoria]

We are SO glad you all were able to come and help surprise Sarah. I still can't believe we succeeded! It was definitely one of our best Thanksgivings too!!

[Brenda Nuland]

What fun! We could never pull that off. I am the only one in my family good at keeping secrets. ;)

Christopher, Melissa, and Piper went to a similar market yesterday. There is one close to where they now live. They said it was wonderful.

[Barbara J.]

Hi Deb, what a wonderful surprise for Sarah! I know how hard it is to do things like that. Thanks also for the wonderful pictures of the family we don't see very often.

[ANA]

QUERIDA DEB: QUE HERMOSA REUNION FAMILIAR, CUANTAS SORPRESAS, QUE BELLOS MOMENTOS EN FAMILIA. REUNIDOS EN EL NOMBRE DE JESUS Y ESOS 2 PEQUEÑOS HOMBRECITOS, QUE DULCES QUE SON , ESTAN TAN GRANDES, ALABADO SEA EL SEÑOR QUE EL RESPONDE LAS ORACIONES DE LOS SANTOS. ESPERANDO QUE PRONTO PUBLIQUE NUEVOS COMENTARIOS SOBRE LO QUE ESTA USTED HACIENDO. LE DESEO UNA BENDECIDA SEMANA. UN ABRAZO A LA DISTANCIA.

[Sarah H]

I still can't believe y'all came! No one has ever really tried to surprise me like this before, it was so fun! :) It made the weekend special. Come again soon!

[Tammy C]

How exciting!! Looks like everyone had a fun time.Glad you were able to surprise Sarah and Eric.

Grand babies are growing.