A natural born organizer, I love to see a plan well-executed. I may, in fact, be a little prideful and believe that MY well-executed plans are simply the best. I am not the only brain-stormer in my marriage, but I come up with the majority of ideas and plans for our family. I have even teased my husband that he only has one great idea a decade and not to push himself too hard to come up with two. My favorite ideas usually center around family moments. Moments are what is remembered. I work to have all the senses involved, especially around the holidays. Holidays are special and hard in our home. We work to develop family traditions that do not trample the traditions from biological families. We also strive to create unique memories that include all our kids, those that are grown and those in the home. This year was heading toward being the best Thanksgiving gathering of all time, with the best laid plans. It was a little tricky in the menu planning this year, with a son-in-law that needs gluten-free foods and a daughter that decided to be a vegetarian five months ago. But ever the consummate organizer, I was up to the challenge. And having one our kids just weeks away from a move to the mission field in Kenya with her husband and new-born, Thanksgiving was scheduled for a few weeks early. The grown kids worked out travel plans, we planned extra space on the ranch for everyone to stay, the grandkids were coming from Kansas, the house was a bustle. September put a little cramp in our planning with the discovery that a whole bunch of bad was going on under our house. There was a moisture problem, a busted pipe, mold in the insulation and duct work, and some dry-rotted joists. Thankfully, WinShape cares for all of this through their Facilities team. Some appointments got put on our plate for picking out things that needed to be replaced once the repairs were done. Contractors and plumbers and workers filed in an out of the house for a couple frantic weeks of lining up the work. But then the icing on the proverbial cake was the decision made that since WinShape had the contractor working on our home through the end of the year, they would go ahead and bump up those 2021 bath remodels and knock them out this year! More appointments and decisions for us that were not originally on our radar. I told the contractor he could tear up anything, anything! As long as every shower and toilet were working for the first weekend of November, the time of the Thanksgiving gathering. Ten days before the gathering, the unthinkable happened. The one thing for which I did not have a contingency plan. We got the dreaded call from school that one of our kids was exposed to another child that tested positive for Covid. Fourteen-day quarantine…I start counting it out on the calendar and I begin to shake my head. This quarantine overlaps the family Thanksgiving dates. We are stuck and there is nothing that can change. We quarantine-quarantine. It is isolation in a separate room, meals brought to the door, masks on, distance kept. We watch for symptoms and do not have any; we are feeling positive that all is well. Six days away from the best Thanksgiving ever and the unthinkable happens. Hold on, the unthinkable twice? Perhaps, I need to be thinking ahead a little better. My husband crawls into bed with a fever and a cough. Sounds like we might have a serious problem on our hands. Two quarantines, a house to run, Thanksgiving meal to prep, and a lot of family to notify that we might not have company at our house and travel plans might need to change. I am praying for peace and that I do not fall to pieces. Long story short, the hubs had a 48-hr. man cold, the child tested negative, everyone chose to still come, the toilets all flushed, and we had the BEST Thanksgiving ever. The best Thanksgiving meal included missing two forks, lots of laughter and hugs, sweet conversations, and forgetting to make the sweet potatoes and gravy. And I am reminded that man may make plans but God directs his steps.