32 and Counting

Wish I'd Done That : My friend and business partner, Laura, has a great suggestion for keeping kids quiet and occupied during church. She gave her kids pipe cleaners, and they could make all sorts of shapes and people and whatever. They didn't wear out, and kept them quiet. Brilliant!

32 and Counting

Rather than a Thanksgiving meal, our church focuses on missions during the month of November. We are an action church who go out and evangelize and serve. During the past year, we've been to Nicaragua, New Orleans (yes, they still need help!), the Gulf coast for all the hurricanes, Mexico, and other places near and far.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we have a missions banquet where we make an offering to support missions around the world and at home. We review where we've been this year, and look forward to the next.

For the last 2 years, I've been in charge cooking for the mission banquet. This year, we made 32 pumpkin pies for dessert. I've never made that many pies, but Mitzi prepped my ingredients, and over the course of a few hours, turned out this:

Wow, that's a lot, even when you start cutting them all up to serve. Nothing says Thanksgiving like pumpkin pie!

Laura decorated for the banquet. She made this "earths" last year. Just a glass bowl painted with textured paint, and then joint compound to form the continents. They are really great, and look marvelous.

I'd encourage you to focus out during the holidays. Look for others to bless. Give generously to those in need.

Getting ready to start cooking tomorrow. What's your favorite Thanksgiving food? I'm going to have to go with the dressing.