A Special Thanksgiving

During a conversation with some friends from our Thursday Bible study group, we caught a glimpse of how God has changed each and everyone of us significantly this year.  I then suggested that we should celebrate Thanksgiving.  It would be a great opportunity to enjoy a special meal with great friends to glorify an ever faithful and amazing God.

Food!

Turkey by Gina

Fortunately, we are blessed with our ever awesome hosts, Chip and Cat, who generously open their home as a venue for our Bible study.  Cat immediately volunteered to have Gina, her cook extraordinaire to prepare the turkey.  Everyone also willingly volunteered to contribute to celebrate the occasion.  Jen lovingly baked some artisan bread, Florence and Anthony's teamed up to prepare some wonderfully baked fish, Ava and Karen had a special cheese and cold cut platter ordered, I made tossed salad and baked sweet potato casserole to compliment the mains and Oliver, Mario and Alfie brought some yummy desserts to end the feast in a sweet note.

from Amen Designs

Cat, Ava and I thought that we had to come up with an activity for everyone to make our Thanksgiving   dinner meaningful.  Since the guys often remind us of Proverbs 27:17, we used the verse as the guiding principal of what we were to do.  Cat mentioned that we should do something to encourage each other.  So Ava and I started brainstorming on how to go about it.  Our initial plan was to give  each person a board and have everyone post some "thank you" notes on it.  As we rummaged over the bookstore for the materials needed, we found that 1/4 size illustration boards would be perfect for the activity.  We then tried to look for post-its in different colors to represent each one.  Since, we were a lot, it was quite difficult to do so.  Then a light bulb moment hit, "you know we can just write on the board and make things easier".  Which until this day remains as an inside joke for Ava and I.  We then had to figure out how to make the board more personal to each one.  We thought of making a monogram of each person's initial but since it would seem too plain we decided that we had to add a drawing that reminds us of that person.

Monogram and Messages

Ava had the letters printed in special sticker paper and pasted it on the boards.  We then met up for the personalized drawings.  At first we even considered sketching each person's face on it!  But then we thought of drawing something for each of our friends that would represent a significant meaning in their life.  We prayed that God would show us what to draw for each individual, discussed our ideas, listed it down and drew it correspondingly.  We then determined that there was to be two parts to our Thanksgiving activity.  The first is to share how the picture speaks to the person's life.  Anyone can give insights to the drawing.   The second is for everyone to pass around their boards and write a special message of thanksgiving or encouragement to each other.

Sharing Insights

Writing Words of Encouragement

We were really blessed that everyone whole heartedly took part of the activity.  It was such a nice moment and our bond among each other was strengthened.  Words really have the power to bring life.  At the end of the night there was an atmosphere of gratitude.  Gratitude first towards God because of the depth of His love for us and gratitude towards each other because we have one way or the other made an impact in each others lives.

The Guys with Their Boards

Girls Showing Off Their Boards

I hope you take the time to create meaningful moments with the people God has given to you in your life.