When Manny returned, I sent him the video I compiled with some men and couples from church, including our pastors, just to encourage him. I can't post the video here, but if we couldn't do a party, it would still be nice to show him honor and love on his birthday.
Thanksgiving was low-key, but nice. I invited a neighbor, but she had plans with her son's family already. It's now a holiday when Naomi comes home from school. She still makes her sweet potato casserole or candied yams. We got a frozen cajun turkey from Popeye's again. It's expensive, but the family seems to "gobble" it up. Our church also had a Thanksgiving celebration. I made some pumpkin cheesecake brownies. It was just something sort of easy and autumn-y.
Finishing up Manny's birthday celebration, we went out for pizza and then to the mall to try our hand at some VR games. The parking lots were full, but they opened up a back wall for parking right when we got there, so we were blessed to make our appointment in time. Unfortunately, I somehow booked the wrong day. The representative said that happens because the calendar they use is nonstandard, and she really hooked us up despite being completely booked. It helped that one group was late/no-show. We ended up saving quite a bit, and we had fun. We also stopped by See's Candies right before. There was actually a shooting at the mall not long after we left, so I'm glad we missed that. But Naomi's friend who was working there was locked down. That was pretty scary. It sounded like it was a targeted attack. We had a cake I made with a marbling effect and gold flakes. Unfortunately the tweezers broke so then I had to apply the goal with chopsticks which wasn't easy. It was supposed to sort of be like kinstugi, which is the Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold. I feel like there's something biblical and applicable to us in it, especially with the rough times we had last year but healing from that.
Isaac practiced tennis at a wall at the park a lot in November, even when it was pouring heavily. He gets really into things when he builds that momentum. I have a photo, but he asked me not to take it so I won't post it. Also in November, I coached basketball for Lucas's recreational sports class. We have smaller groups of kids during the winter, so sometimes the parents had to step in, but the numbers kept working out, as did the court. It's first-come first-served at the park, and we managed to get at least a half court each week. As for Naomi, she took weightlifting her junior year in college!
I also went out with a young friend from church I hadn't seen in a while. I'm now getting on in my years, and while I still struggle with wisdom, I do sometimes have advice for the younger women. Time sure does fly!
