Thanksgiving

¨Thanksgiving is more important to you guys than Christmas.¨Peruvian ¨No it isn´t.¨American

Although accustomed to celebrating Thanksgiving on Thursday, we waited and celebrated on Monday. Two reasons 1) we worked on Thursday (thus not having time to prepare the feast) 2) we couldn´t possibly do it without Andrew, and since he´s only home on Mondays...we waited.

Thursday night Tracy, Tyson, Kai, Wendy, Callie and I went to a grill (that i´d gone to with Daddy) and ate a bit of meat to satisfy our need to be full and then went home to watch last season of The Office to satisfy our need to feel like Americans.

Sunday night we were up till midnight baking the pumpkin pie, boiling the eggs (deviled eggs!!) and preparing the rolls and the bread for stuffing the next day. It was so much fun!

Monday, Callie and Tracy went to the Market early in the morning and bought all the vegetables, and then we made our house hot by baking sweet potatoes, rolls, stuffing, green beans, and the mashed potatoes...and Tyson did a steller job making chicken taste just like Thanksgiving Turkey. and the gravy rocked too! It was a feast that I would have been proud to eat in the USA, and I was thrilled to share it with the Peruvians. We invited Pastor Freddy and his family to join us, and they made the day extra fun (having to bring up an extra table, more food passing, extra noise...it was perfect!) We ate till we were sick and then laid around for a while.

That night the Smiths surprised us with a beautiful (artificial) Christmas tree!!!!! Those who have ever decorated a tree with me (ok, only my immediate family) know that I am very particular about how the decorations go on and can tend to sound a little bit.....bossy. But God has worked a miracle in my life and I didn´t say a word as people hastily and messily threw the ornaments on the tree. Tracy saved my life by suggesting we put the lights on first, so I grabbed the light strand and did half the tree. Then I passed it on to Andrew to finished the job. The lights look really good. The tree does look adorable...personally I would love to go in and rearrange the ornaments...but it´s not a big deal and it is fabulous to have the tree in the house. It may be 90 some odd degrees and feel like 103 with the humidity, but inside the house...it looks a little like Christmas season.

It truly was a day to be thankful for. God has brought us through so much and will continue to guide us as we go along. God has kept us safe, and relatively healthy. God has provided a means of communication (we now have a phone in our house! and if we buy phone cards we can call the states!) and there is an internet place in the center that isn´t tortois slow. And every day we grow closer together as a family. It was a good time to reflect and hope for the future.