Thanksgiving...

This week has been full of plenty to do and now I can relax for the next few days while Mike has to study. No one ever said vet school was easy, and if they did they should give it a try for a few days and see if they can handle it. Mike has also been on call this week and once again luck is not on his side, every single day he has been called in twice. Yesterday he woke up, went into surgery, went and celebrated Thanksgiving with all of us and then got called in at 12:30 am again for a surgery that lasted about 5 1/2 hours. Needless to say, he slept in this morning.

We got to spend Thanksgiving yesterday with the gang here in Manhattan and we had a great time. There were 17 of us, including Lindsey's family from Minnesota. We had a good time eating, playing games, watching movies, and just laughing. As you can see in this picture, some of the guys couldn't even stop laughing while they were trying to swallow. And after everyone
stuffed themselves, some had to take naps during the day to recuperate, like baby Jamie.

The gang

Josh, Chris & Mike shouldn't be allowed
to sit by each other. (Any of these guys
together means trouble!!)

Jamie's first Thanksgiving was too exhausting

I also got the Christmas decorating almost done. Mike ended up being called in every time we started to decorate so I had to do most of it on my own, except when Hammy tried to help by relocating the ornaments to the floor. I guess he thought he wanted them down on his level. But finally Hammy relaxed and enjoyed sitting by his first Christmas tree and falling asleep, and later that night he enjoyed sleeping under the tree.

So Thanksgiving Break has been busy, but it has also reminded me that I have a lot to be thankful for. God has blessed Mike and I with so much, including our families back home and our friends and family here in Kansas. He has taken care of our every need from the time we started dating, to the time we got married and to when we packed up and moved 1300 miles away from all we knew. I will admit that I cried when I heard we were going to Kansas, but now I know those tears were in vain. I couldn't of pictured not being in Kansas during this time of our lives. Between the vet school and church, God has filled our lives abundantly and has blessed us with friendships that we would of otherwise never known. What a blessing to share Thanksgiving Day with those God blessed us with!

We hope that everyone had just as wonderful a Thanksgiving Day as we did! God Bless!

This is a totally new thing that I wanted to start since we have friends relocating and others all over the US. Hope this works out. This was the end of another week full of exams and studying for Mike (surprise there) while I continue to try and get all the other things done, including Christmas shopping and making preparations to head home at Christmas. We are so excited to be able to see our families and to see how much our nieces and nephew have grown. It is hard not being close to watch them grow up, but we enjoy the time we do have with them. Our little family keeps growing also. Hammy, who is only 5 1/2 months, now is bigger in size and weighs more than Tiger and is almost the size of Cinder. He is a beast! He recently went in to visit the vet to prepare for him to lose his manhood, and he weighed in at ~8 1/2 pounds. He survived the surgery and doesn't seem to hate us for it. His personality is back, and during these cold winter months his affection will come in handy with keeping me warm. He's a lover! The pictures can help you compare how much he has grown and how big he is now.

Hammy when we first brought him home (July 17, 2006)

Hammy now (November 19 th)

Here are some pictures of the rest of the clan also:

Cinder & Hammy

Henry right after we got him groomed so he wouldn't look like a Muppet.

Tiger enjoying his window seat at the new house.

And above is a picture of our new home (since June) for those who haven't seen any other pictures. It has been a blessing to have our own space and know that God has given this gift to us for our time in Kansas.

This week ahead is only a two day week of studying and school for Mike and for me at work also. Of course, when Mike isn't doing schoolwork he is on call at the hospital, so we are a bit limited on what we can do while we both have off. But either way it will be great to relax and spend time with friends, plus we will be setting up for Christmas (one of my favorite things to do). We are planning to have Thanksgiving with our "little church family" since we can't make it back east and also to enjoy the holiday with some of our friends that will be moving away soon. We will miss the Rozenbooms and Scotts, especially knowing that they are now part of our family and made our time here in Kansas all the better. It will be a sad couple of weeks ahead but we know that God has wonderful plans for them in Georgia and Iowa.

That is the latest from Kansas and the Marino clan for now...to be continued