November News

OK, well, it's not November anymore... In fact, it's just about the middle of December.  I'm a little late blogging about November.  However, I am quite proud of myself for staying on top of the blogs since August.  I'll try to keep up.

Just a side note here... Curtis thinks our blog should be called "Neilsonmania" or "Curtis Neilson Rocks".  Funny kid.

HUNTING

Erik has been hunting the past few years but had only been able to go out for a few hours at a time and only near McMinnville.  This year Erik, Doug and Mike set out to go camping/hunting for a week at a place called "Desolation Unit".  I don't exactly know where this place is but it's about as far away from here as you can get and still be in Oregon.  And from what I hear, it's pretty desolate.  Doug and Mike headed out on a Friday to set up camp and the plan was for Erik to join them after he preached on Sunday.  Because I needed my car for the week and we didn't know if Erik's truck would make it so far Erik borrowed Doug's truck.  Erik headed out right after church and made it all the way to I-84 in Troutdale.  The truck engine started revving and speeding up all on its own.  If Erik put on the brake the engine would continue to rev.  He pulled over and called me.  After I dispensed all of my truck knowledge on Erik (so about 2 seconds later) he started making some other calls for help.  Then he took a minute to pray about getting the truck fixed.  Seconds later a friendly passerby stopped and offered to take a look at the truck.  Amazingly, it was simply a hose that had wiggled loose.  A very easy and free thing to fix.  Erik was soon on his way again.  He arrived at the hunting grounds later that evening and was greeted with a layer of snow on the ground.  Fortunately the guys that Erik went have all the equipment for staying warm that anyone could ever possibly need.  They even had a wood stove inside their tent.  The hunting trip was a successful one and all the guys got a deer.  This was Erik's first deer ever.  Unfortunately, Erik spent several of the days hiking through the woods fairly sick.  He came home with a bad cold, cough and fever.  He also came home with a deer cut in two halves which got to hang in our garage over night.  (I avoided the garage until it was gone).  And now the deer resides in nice white packages in my freezer.  We've been enjoying deer burgers, stew, steak and ground beef.  I wasn't sure I would like the  meat but have been pleasantly surprised.

Erik and his buck

Doug

Mike

TURKEY BOWL '09Each year on Thanksgiving morning the men of Adventure Christian Church gather together for the annual "Turkey Bowl" football game.  This game has been going for about 5 years.  Two years ago Erik and his buddy Doug became team captains of opposing teams.  Erik's team is the "Gravy Train" and Doug's team is the "Giblet Blitzers".  There is even a "game ball" that they play with and then the winning team's captain gets to keep the football at their home until the next year.  Unfortunately for Erik the football has never made its way to our home.  This year the "Gravy Train" tied up the game and then lost in over-time.  It's really amazing how many people make it out on Thanksgiving morning for this game.  Of course the guys who want to play football show up.  Then the sidelines are filled with guys who just came to watch, children of the players, wives of the players and various other bystanders.  Usually it is raining, or at least very chilly.  Most of the spectators are usually holding umbrellas and starbucks.  ACC's "Turkey Bowl" has definitely become a Thanksgiving tradition.Erik and Doug fighting over the game ball

The Football Players

THANKSGIVING DINNER

After the football game we headed home to get Thanksgiving dinner ready.  When I say “we” got dinner ready, I really mean “Erik” got dinner ready.  Typically, I get the house ready for company and Erik gets the food ready.  He made turkey, cranberry sauce, garlic mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, sausage stuffing, pumpkin pie, and probably some other dishes I’m forgetting.  I made the rolls.

Usually, instead of driving up to Gresham for Thanksgiving we look for people at church who don’t have family around to be with on Thanksgiving.  We have several regulars that usually join us each year.  However, this year several families had decided to stay home and invite people to their house.  So, just two people from church joined us this year.  In addition to people from church my parents joined us as well for Thanksgiving dinner.  My Dad had recently had knee surgery so they had planned to just stay home so that my Dad could lay low.  The day before Thanksgiving I happened to be talking to my Dad on the phone and mentioned that they were welcome to come to our house for dinner.  My parents decided to join us.  We were all thrilled that they could join us.

As is tradition, after we joined hands and prayed and served up our food we went around the table saying what we were thankful for.  This year I am thankful for my husband who made most of the Thanksgiving dinner, who has supported me in my college endeavor, and who loves me through everything.  I'm thankful for my beautiful children who are growing up too quickly.  I'm thankful for my parents, siblings, parent-in-laws and siblings-in-law.  We are truly blessed to have such a great family. I'm thankful for friends who have been there forever, ones that are newly acquired and for old friends that I have been newly reconnected with this year.  There are so many more things in my life to be thankful for.  One of our guests said he was thankful for friends who have become family.  That really touched us this year.  And we too are grateful for friends who have become family.