Between two birthdays and Thanksgiving all in the same month, Novembers are busy with celebrations around here. Because we’ve settled into life here in Oregon, our family calendar was a lot fuller this past month.

I volunteered in Silas’s classroom twice and hope to do it more. His teacher’s love for her students and love for teaching are evident. We are incredibly thankful that Silas is able to attend this school with this exact teacher!

Part of the reason I was able to volunteer is that I met another mom, whose child also attends Bethany, and she and I are swapping babysitting for each other. Just meeting her was a gift from God.

One day in the school gym at pick-up time, this soon-to-be friend mistook me for someone else and asked if I was the new mom at her Moms In Prayer meeting. I told her no, but that I wanted to join. Moms In Prayer is an international organization that facilitates prayer meetings for believing moms whose children attend public schools. We meet twice a month and pray scripture for our children, their classmates, teachers and administration. The group found me! I’m thankful for a God Who sees me right where I am and sovereignly directs even the details of my life.

In the ladies’ Bible study at our new church, Hinson Baptist, I’m being equipped to better study God’s Word. As we’ve walked through the book of Ruth I’ve learned how to observe what’s actually in the text itself, place it in it’s historical context, look for the markers that point forward to Christ and God’s redemptive plan, and apply the truths to my life.

Our family has also joined a small group from our church. We meet once a week with families who live west of the Willamette River as a way to share life and faith together.

Mid-November, Stephen took a four day business trip to Arizona where he was able to connect with our friends and former church. Solo parenting is a tough assignment, but my shift was made easier when some friends took us to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). I packed a lunch for the kids, and we made an entire day of it! I had not heard Silas really even say the word “science” before, but he just kept asking if he could “do more science.” We spent the day experimenting, building, playing and exploring.

Our neighbors invited us to their house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. In our decade of marriage, Stephen and I had never had dinner at a neighbor’s house before, so it was extra special to be invited. I pitched in and made a couple side dishes as well as a sugar cream pie, pear cranberry pie, and a marionberry pie (an Oregon specialty made with marionberries bred right here in the Willamette Valley).

The Friday after Thanksgiving we toured the Evergreen Aviation and Space Museum about an hour away. Evergreen is home to Howard Hughes’s Spruce Goose, the aircraft with the widest wingspan. We saw the airplanes and spacecraft, but the best part was watching the fighter pilot documentary in the IMAX theater. Or, more specifically, the best part was watching Stephen watch the boys watch the fighter pilot film. Stephen’s eyes were bursting with love and boyhood joy as he shared his love for planes with his little boys. At one point both Silas and Cooper were on the edges of their seats, and Cooper gave a running commentary of how “awesome” he thought the movie was.So, there’s a peek into some of what it’s been like around here.