Thanks, Giving & Blessings

I've recently been over the rivah (river) and through the woods to visit family. What a fabulous mini-vacay it was. Sometimes I lose sight of the fact that time continues to move in my realm, but think that it stands still everywhere else. This is sooo not true. My nieces are growing like weeds and really coming into their own. Their personalities continue to amaze me. Eva is so sweet, considerate, thoughtful and a busy-bee. On the flip side, Madeline is determined, detail oriented and definitive. We are all so interested to see what personality the newest Darden addition, Cora, will have. I am sure they will bring all their powers together for good and to torment their parents when they are teenagers!

(Madeline, Cora and Eva)

The rest of the weekend was spent celebrating my grandfather's birthday, visiting with my grandmother, having a quality (and delicious) lunch with Daddy and Jane (many, many, many thanks for driving into Chester to see me), re-learning how to drive a manual vehicle (Thanks Johnathan and Danielle...please let me know if I owe you a new transmission! Dad, I'm pretty certain the Miada is OK), eating my mom's amazing homemade food and searching for new snow boots. My Hero and I are so blessed to have so much family that love us. We are so grateful for everyone's support as well.

We truly miss our family, but My Hero and I are making it work. We spent our first Thanksgiving as just the two of us which was a tremendous change from being with a lot of family surrounded by even more food. Actually, it wasn't that different. We were still surrounded by tons of people while watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, we had a delicious Thanksgiving Day pizza for lunch and ate dinner at a French restaurant for dinner. We wouldn't trade our experiences for the world. As much as we miss our family and friends, we are confident in that we are exactly where we are supposed to be. Happy post-Thanksgiving and early Merry Christmas to all!