This year we gathered at John and Pat Reinhardt's for our Thanksgiving feast. We also came together to celebrate our parents 60th wedding anniversary.

Tom enjoying a relaxing evening on Wednesday.
This is the cake we got for the Wednesday the day before their actual anniversary. It is a photo from the early days ;)

Jim Reinhardt cuts the anniversary cake.

Ashely Reinhardt (my niece) creating a delicious artichoke dip.
John Reinhardt, my brother and Poppa to Zayley.
Two cuties together Ashley and Daisy Mae.
Just hanging out on Wednesday. We arrived earlier in the day to avoid traffic.


Thanksgiving day after a leisurely morning and a nice walk in a nearby preserve the work began. Everyone pitched in helping Pat ( the main chef ) with all the cooking and cleaning.
It was a grand feast enjoyed by all.

Mom reading one of the cards on Thanksgiving that didn't get read on the evening before.
Recovery time on the couch.

Lang, Brooke and Zayley.

The evening on Wednesday was a success! Now they are working on 61 years.

Meandering with Em

So I have been meandering in Century City with Emily over night. She has interviews in the area today and had to spend the night at the Century City Plaza hotel. Emily invited me to spend the night so we could have some mother/daughter time together. It is nice to be able to have time away from the everyday distractions of home to be able to talk about her decisions. She has some big ones to make in the next couple of weeks for her job for next summer that will more than likely be her future place of employment. Century City is all a little bit over my head and a totally different world than I am used to but I am beginning to understand the picture. She will have some nice opportunities and as her Mom I am glad that she will be here back in L.A. We continue to pray for her as she discerns what God has for her.

The wonderful thing about meandering in life, which is what I feel like I am doing right now, is that I get to do random things. So yesterday I was heading up to Encino to attend an information night for Phillips Graduate Institute and I decided that since I was almost to Gretchen's I would drop in for a visit. Gretchen is my niece by marriage. She is the 2nd daughter of David and Robin Cox, David is Tom's older brother. She is married to Chris Jensen and they have one son, Anders. When I arrived Anders was still taking his nap. It was nice to have a little time with just the two of us. I was able to share with Gretchen photos of Leah. She really enjoyed the photos which I love sharing with anyone who is interested. Of course, Anders was a big part of our visit so after he got up from his nap he showed off his athletic talents. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed seeing this cute red head play! The second video reminds me of Grandpa Dave ;-)

Sad but grateful day

Today is a sad day because it is the day I should have been looking forward to instead of dreading. It is the day I cannot give any physical comfort to my first baby, Amy and her husband Jeff because they live far away in Illinois. I cannot comfort them on the day they should have been holding a baby, Little Leah, instead of having empty arms. I can call and cry and say that I am praying and thinking about them today.
I am grateful for their friends in Christ at First Presbyterian who are being the hands and feet of God today. The friends who are taking Amy to lunch and coffee and are providing dinner tonight. I am grateful for my friends from my covenant group and those believers that I share with you pray without ceasing for Amy, Jeff and our family. I am grateful for my friend Nancy who is taking me to lunch today too.
I am grateful that God walked alongside us as we raised our children to understand that the church( the body of Christ) can be a place of refuge.
I am grateful that Amy and Jeff have the hope of heaven knowing that Leah is with Jesus and someday we will all be together.
I am grateful for a God who takes care of all our needs and some of our wants too. I so wanted to take Leah to the beach and play in the sand and jump the waves.
So my silly hope of heaven is that there is a great big beach with gentle waves that we can get acquainted on. I can feel her clinging to my leg already ;-)

You can't always get what you want....

It was a happy sad weekend. We were happy to break in our new big screen TV with our fellow Bruin fans but it was sad because we lost. Not only did we lose but UCLA got skunked by BYU so it was pitiful. It was a lot of fun to have everyone over for the game. I even made a going away cake for Kevin because he heads out to school this Saturday.
We had people over from as far away as Whittier. Poor David (Tom's brother) drove all the way to watch the defeat. We enjoyed getting everyone together even though we lost. It was a good crowd who were hopeful even to the end. Next home game hopefully will be a better game to watch. There is nothing but up from here.

It's not labor when it's love

I am tired but not weary tired but the kind of tired like after a good workout tired. Labor day weekend that had few plans filled up fast with lots of fun. It all began on Friday, because the house was clean and we hadn't played with them for while, we invited Leacock's over for some dinner and ping pong. I did labor a lot on the house cleanup but not the dinner which Tom mentioned several times during the meal. I got the whole meal except for my homemade chocolate chip cookies at Costco. All I had to do was heat up, throw together and mix in everything and it was good. We were good hosts because even though we beat Kim and Rick in ping pong they beat us at spades. So I think they will return.
The next day after a bike ride we decided to invite Tom's Mom, brother and sister-in-love over for dinner. Dave and Robin were up taking in the last days of summer at Mom's and staying over to watch the UCLA Game on Monday. We had a nice meal and ended up talking the night away. I was getting tired when I looked at my watch and it was around 10. I love it when I am having such a great conversation that the time just slips away. Robin and I even hashed out the Cox Christmas gathering which I will be sending out to everyone soon.
Monday of Labor Day weekend for the first time in history the UCLA Bruins had a game. We had packed up the day before in the afternoon so our 8:45 departure for a 5:oo pm game wasn't too bad. It wasn't bad especially because we ended up leaving late as usual at 9:05, with anguish not knowing if we could get a spot on the lawn right in front of the Rose Bowl. Alas, our efforts were rewarded with a third row, YES very near the bathroom, spot. Being near the bathroom is crucial if you are there as long as we are!! After paying our $15.00 (this goes up $5.00 each year) we filed into our slot along with our good friends the Green family including Tim. As soon as the car stops we all jump out and start staking out our territory. The shades go up first because that marks the boundaries and then we fill in with our tables chairs and cooking equipment. Over the years we have accumulated quite a lot making our day comfortable. We have this down to a science with Dennis Green as our great commander and chief. He helps make up the menu for the day. This week was more work because it was breakfast (pancakes and bacon) and dinner (just hot dogs). During the day Tom and I got the privilege of meeting a famous UCLA player from the past, Gary Beban. He gave autographs and I took Tom's picture with him. He was a very nice man and even enjoyed hearing Tom's stories of UCLA in the 60's. At around noon the second shift of Kevin, Colleen,Ryan, Matt and Tiffany showed up just in time to play some games and have dinner. The only sadness was that our girls weren't present with us but I know Amy and Emily were there in spirit :-). All our labor was rewarded with an exciting game (we won 27-24) against Tennessee with a bonus of fireworks afterwards.
It was a working weekend but when you are doing what you love..... it isn't labor.

Traveling under the radar

This is all about letting go of vanity and pride. Today I tried to go to Costco to pick up some much needed laundry detergent and stay under the radar. I don't know how many times I have gone and wished I would have run into someone to chat with and haven't but not today, of course. Today, of all days, when I am feeling low and look like you know what I run in to 3 people I know. The way I looked, with my hat on, probably they wouldn't have recognized me but I couldn't help myself and said "Hi". I was really glad I said something because two of the people I hadn't seen in a long time so it was nice to catch up with their lives. God's timing is good and I walked away with a smile.