Blessed in Baker

Today was the best day I've ever spent in Baker. Actually, today was the only day I've spent in Baker before in my life. Its a city north of baton rouge. Anyways, I had thanksgiving with a friend of mine, Heather, and her family. It was wonderful. I come from a small family. Me and my sister, mom and dad, that's pretty much it for the holidays. Since we moved around so much growing up, it was small, intimate gatherings, but we all have fun together.

Like I said in an earlier post, I wasn't able to make it home for thanksgiving, so Heather was gracious enough to invite me to eat at her house. I gotta admit, I was a little nervous. I'd met Heather's mom once for like five minutes, and the rest of the family I'd only heard of. So as I'm driving there, I'm praying that I don't turn into Captain Awkward when I get there. I find the house, which is beautiful by the way, and is real close to some big church out there. I can't remember the name. More importantly, I had a fabulous thanksgiving. There were people everywhere!! There were cousins, uncles, aunts, grandfathers, grandmothers, and pets. It was like a dream come true. Chaos everywhere, but so much fun I wouldn't have traded it for the world. I sat at the kid's table across from a first grader named Alexis. We talked about school and books and coloring. Then a little later, over pecan pie, I had to do a little verbal sparring with Heather's grandfather because he was giving me a hard time about why I work for a non-profit instead of using my chemistry degree to make "big money."

God really wowed me this thanksgiving. I walked into a house full of strangers and walked out an honorary grandchild. It was such a blessing. I love when God surprises me. He knew I missed my family and gave me a substitute one to love on today for a few hours. He's so gracious and I hope He blesses me with a huge family of my own one day.

The Chapmans have a few traditions of their own that I found delightful. They sing this song that Heather's dad made up, and they all hold hands and pray around the table before they dig into the meal that the ladies have prepared. Our family traditions are we all go out to eat, and then we go see a movie on a holiday. So I kept half of the tradition by going to see a movie after Thanksgiving lunch. To read more about it, check out Ann's blog.