Thanksgiving in the Noe Family

Matthew and Ashlee Noe and the beautiful Children

I had different post for today but it can wait for another day.  You really NEED to click on the title of this post and follow the link.  You NEED to read that post.  It is a demonstration and testimony to what God can do in our lives IF we allow Him to work His grace in us.

Trust  me and click on the link.  It will do you good.  Leave a comment on their post and let them know you are happy for them....

Davy

Thanksgiving Day

(Trying out a new design for the blog.  Let me know what you think.  Haven't settled on this one yet so I am interested in your feedback.)

Today was an unusual Thanksgiving day for us.  Unusual in that we ate a traditional Thanksgiving meal that Kelly Jo prepared and ate it as a family with only the three of us.  When we are in Ohio for Thanksgiving we are feasting with the Boggs Family one day and the Morgan Family another day.  Most years we are on the road some where and we usually eat at Cracker Barrel. They serve a great meal with turkey and all the trimmings and we have enjoyed it at various Cracker Barrels around the country.

But Kelly Jo was in Kroger the other day and ran smack dab into a deal on a turkey she just couldn't pass up.  She paid less than $5 for a 16 lb. bird and before you know it we were planning a big fiesta!  Here he is just as he went into the oven....

And Here he is a few hours later... He is ready to fall off the bone and jump into my mouth!

Here is Odie ready to jump in!

And here is the most moist turkey that has ever been prepared in the history of the civilized world! 

As I told you we eat most Thanksgivings in a Cracker Barrel so it has been quite a while since Kelly Jo has cooked a turkey.  She was more than a little nervous about how this one would turn out.  But I told her today that even though I vaguely remember saying something like this the last time, this is the absolute best turkey she has ever cooked!  It was awesome!

You might have noticed from the pictures above that we did not cook in the BoggsMobile.  It would be rather difficult to cook a big turkey in our Microwave/Convection oven so the folks here at Gainesville House of Prayer were kind enough to lend us their facilities for the day.  It worked out very nicely and we are thankful for their hospitality.

Now we are full, thankful and satisfied!  Thank you Lord for your blessings on me!

God bless you all!

Davy

Focus of My Thanksgiving This Year-2010

Thank God for friends. I have been blessed through the years with very many friends. God has placed men in my life from around this nation and beyond that encourage me on a regular basis. I thank God nearly everyday for these God given friends. 

Nearly Ten years ago while we were living in Kansas I sent "thank you" cards to many of my "Heroes" in the faith. Great men who took time to befriend me and their friendships proved to be invaluable. 

Over a period of several days I sat down and wrote or typed my heartfelt thanks to the many men who had a great spiritual influence on my life. I go back and read the copies of those cards occasionally and I always weep from a thankful heart. 

In the ensuing years there have been a whole new crop of men spring up and take on the role of friend in my life.  They have joined the others as my encouragers, role models, teachers, mentors, confidants and defenders. I thank God for these friends. 

I suppose it's time to sit down and write a whole new stack of "thank you" notes to these additional friends and spiritual heroes that God has placed in my life. 

However, I have been thinking about a totally different class of friends in the last few days leading up to Thanksgiving. I don't really know what to call these friends. 

Maybe...

"Friends I haven't seen in a very long time and that I hardly ever talk to any more but I still think about and thank God for on a consistent basis because I could Not have faced certain parts of life without them."

You know what I'm talking about?  If you are young, perhaps you don't. It is like this: They are like friends I had in high school that I believed were life long friends. I would never be separated from them... No way!

But I haven't seen some of those high school friends since graduation day over 25 years ago. If I have seen them it was briefly at a funeral or wedding or the WHS Alumni banquet I attended in May that was about as exciting as a wedding and as sad as a funeral in a weird twisted kinda way. I digress. 

What happened to those high school friends? We didn't get mad. We didn't argue. We didn't choose new friends or dump old friends. Life just moved on and we moved with it. It is the way life works. 

But the friends I have been thinking of were more important to me And my family than high school friends. We shared much more!

We shared spiritual experiences, Campmeetings, revivals, baptisms, dedications, Sunday school, Wednesday night prayer meetings, weeping altar services, singing, shouting, healings and the list goes on and on. 

We shared meals... Lots of meals!  

We have had long conversations about doctrine, preaching, music, temptations, food, feelings, fears, faith, families and numerous other subjects. 

In other words we connected deeply and stayed connected for years. These friends were as crucial to me then as my dearest friends are now. 

But life moved on.  Time, distance, several cross country moves, jobs, college, kids and the general busyness of life has interfered with some of our friendships. Of course the fact that my calling keeps us on the road most of the year and we relocate to a different city every week hasn't helped the cause any. Lol

I have been thinking of friends that fall into this category. These are the friends I have been wondering about this week. These are the friends I have been thanking God for this week. 

I have been thanking God for them and asking God to bless them for the close times we have experienced. I am a better man for knowing them and for the investments they made in my life. I am a better Christian for the prayers they have prayed and the seeds they have sown in my life. 

So I give praise and glory to God on Thanksgiving Day for Friends I haven't seen in a very long time and that I hardly ever talk to any more but I still think about and thank God for on a consistent basis because I could not have faced certain parts of life without them.

If you happen to be one of the folks I am thanking God for today, please know that I love you, we love you and we pray for you and will always cherish the part you played in our lives.

Oh, and call me any time!

Davy