Thanksgiving holiday 2009

I hope everyone had as good a Thanksgiving holiday as I had. My elders were very gracious in allowing me to go back to Springdale on Monday of last week so I could spend as much time as possible with Merilyn. It was great to have the extra time together and to be able to see Sarah and Blake more than I usually do. Adam stayed in College Station so he could attend the Texas A & M vs. Texas football game on Thursday evening so we missed him. On Tuesday evening I got to be with my Thursday evening Bible study group. That is always a great blessing to me. On Wednesday, Merilyn and I went to Cabot to spend the night with her Dad and then go to North Little Rock to aunt Joyce's house for the gathering of the Ballentine side of our family. We had one Thanksgiving feast for lunch and then went to Russellville to my Mom's home to have another Thanksgiving feast with the Frazier side of our family. Several were not able to be there this year but we enjoyed the gathering with all who were there. God has blessed us so abundantly in every way. It is good to take some time to stop and reflect upon that.
We spent Thursday night at Mom's then headed back to Springdale on Friday morning. The weather for the whole holiday time was just gorgeous with sunny skies and mild temperatures. On Friday afternoon I was able to get some yard work done and begin to get the outside Christmas decorations up. On Friday evening our good friends, Joe and Catherine, invited us to go to the Arkansas Razorback basketball game. It was fun and great to be with them, but the Hogs fell short in their effort. On Saturday I finished up the outside decorating. It took a bit longer than I expected and I left to come back to Ennis on Saturday around 2 p.m., a little later than usual, but I was glad to get the outside decorating done.

It was good to be back with the church family in Ennis yesterday. We had higher than usual attendance in the morning worship as several of our families had relatives visiting. In the afternoon I went out to the local hospital to see our oldest member, a 98 year old lady. She was having some breathing difficulty but was feeling better. She lives by herself and the best word I can use to describe her is "spunky." She is a real character and a wonderful Christian lady.

It's hard to believe it is the last day of November already. Yesterday afternoon a cold front came through. It brought a brief deluge of rain and dropped the temperatures by nearly 20 degrees in less than an hour, so that makes it a little more believable that it is late autumn. It is amazing, though, how quickly the time seems to fly. One great thing about that is that we are that much closer to Heaven! Have a great day and be sure to keep your focus on the Lord!

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, because we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)