Pre-thanksgiving with FIC

Tonight we had our annual pre-thanksgiving dinner with our Friends In Christ at Fr. Francis' mom's house ... this is our second year attending and we've been looking forward to it since we got the invitation a few weeks ago.  We really miss Fr. Francis and we love getting together to catch up and spend quality time with not only him, but with the rest of our Cathedral family.

It was so much fun hanging out and eating and drinking (I probably had too much wine, but I was "off-duty" anyway).  One of the traditions Fr. Francis has is to pass a candle around the table and have each person talk about something for which they are thankful.  It's always so inspiring to hear other people express their love for God and the faith they have in Him and His plan.

Later in the evening, Tasha gave Mike and I a present to celebrate the anniversary when we asked her to be Zoe's ninang.  I had actually been thinking about that same night the past couple days as well (it was at last year's pre-thanksgiving dinner) so it was so sweet of her to honor our "anniversary" in that way.  She got us a book about cooking and some white & black truffle oil to use on my future cooking adventures (she's a truffle-holic like me, too!).  How sweet is Tash?!  The card she wrote was even sweeter ... she said that was "a night that changed her life forever".  She thanked us for welcoming her into our family ... actually -- we should be thanking her for her presence in our lives.  Ever since that day, she has LOVED Zoe to the fullest.  I know that even though they don't get to see each other every single day, Tasha prays for Zoe and thinks of her often.  She's a HUGE part of Zoe's life and I can't wait to see the two of them grow up together =).

It was a wonderful evening and a great way to kick-off the holiday season.  We are so BLESSED to have so many awesome friends in Christ ... we are all pretty diverse but we all share the same love for our Lord ... and that binds us stronger than anything else ever could!