Thanksgiving 2010!!!

It has been a very busy November for us! There are several things that we have experienced that I would like to share with you, but instead of doing it in one massively long blog I will break it up into three blogs that I will post over the next few days. I’ll start with the most current experience and work back to last week and then the week before.

As we all know, last week we celebrated Thanksgiving; a special day to focus on being thankful for the many ways that God has blessed us. Just because we live on the other side of the world where the people here don’t have a thanksgiving day doesn’t mean that we don’t practice our own traditions. In fact, making sure to prioritize these special days is what helps us feel more normal and at home here. Of course there is a balance in that if we tried to do everything here the way we did when we lived in the States then we would never truly engage in our life here. However, if you try to deny the things that are important to you from your background then you aren’t being realistic with yourself. So, we live day in and day out in a culture that we will never fully understand and are always learners in, but at the same time practice some of the more important cultural tradition and teach these to our boys.

Anyhow, for thanksgiving day we got together with a bunch of other foreigners that live and work in our community and met in a city about an hour from here. Our gracious hosts are a part of a community project in this city to the west of us and invited us all to come where we would have plenty of room to hang out, eat together, play games and even play a little American football! We have found ways to get and make all of our traditional favorite foods and had a really wonderful day. We played some fun group games and when the boys were spent we put them in their pjs and then they slept on the ride home.

The next day we invited some friends over and put up and decorated our Christmas tree. Zeke had such a blast looking at all the ornaments. One funny thing about setting up our tree is that the lights we have are all individual strands that don’t connect together so we had to use two full power strips to get them all working! We all enjoyed some pizza and even some banana cream pie! Afterwards we watched “Miracle on 34^th Street” (the original) and strung popcorn for the tree. It was really a great night too and I feel like we are finally starting to solidify some of our own family traditions.

We are so thankful for the way that God continues to provide for us and sustain us here. We have the honor of raising our kids in a place that we have come to love while still teaching them the things that we ourselves learned as children. Now, if all of YOU could just move over here it would be perfect! While we wait for that to happen we will be content in where God has us and how he continues to bless us. Hope you all had a wonderful thanksgiving too!

an experience in the arts!

Scott here, putting in my two cents. There are unique instruments in this part of the world and, being a bit of a shade-tree musician, I love it! A few days ago I got an invitation from my language helper to go to a drum concert put on by a local group. This group started 9 years ago with one guy who is VERY talented and a bunch of misfit kids! They’ve matured over the years and have now performed all over Europe, winning contests at international festivals. The concert was only about 45 minutes, but it featured some incredible drum routines and great singing.

One of the funnier parts of the time was a very large cameraman who was set up about 2 rows in front of us. The men in the row behind us were heckling him because all the other cameramen were squatting or sitting in chairs, conscious of those sitting behind them. Now that we’re fairly proficient in language I could understand what they were saying; “it’s like trying to look around a refrigerator!” Fortunately because our culture is rife with brutally honest comments, the cameraman was not insulted.

Afterwards because my language helper is from the same town as the drummer group I was able to meet and interact with the drummers. Our host culture is so full of talented artisans, but because of the trauma of the region we often miss this fact. It’s a great place to be and live!

Okay, so I know I have gotten a little out of my Monday blog posting commitment, but the idea here is “regular” communication and I think I have been doing semi-well at that! I will try and get on board with that again once life becomes “normal” again…oh wait…does that ever happen???

So we have had a particularly unique last couple of weeks. Scott went on a business trip that took him out of the country for 10 days. So subsequently, that left me to be a single mom for 10 days! I would say we did pretty well! Although, I didn’t accomplish much other than cleaning and nourishing the 3 of us, but that was a good focus to have since I am not used to doing it on my own. I would say that I already had great respect for women who find themselves in single mom situations, but I now have an even greater appreciation for those who do it AND manage to stay sane! So to say the least, we are all thrilled to have Scott back home with us.

We also recently celebrated another milestone….Zeke’s 3^rd birthday! The day of was the day before Scott came home so it was a pretty normal day, but the Saturday afterwards we were able to have a party and celebrate another year of life for our oldest! It was a fun time. Our teammates came as well as two of our local friends. We had intended to have more kids come, but it just didn’t work out so we had Zeke, our teammates’ daughter and two babies! The good news is that at this age Zeke didn’t know the difference. His focus was on presents and cake! We can’t believe that Zeke is already 3 years old! He is such a blessing in our life and we couldn’t imagine life without him! He definitely brings fun, laughter and excitement to our lives. I am excited to see how God continues to grow and mold him.

The past weekend was my turn to be celebrated! With Zeke and I both having birthdays in October means that we have a lot of cake around! I can tell you that neither Zeke nor Scott mind that fact! I had a wonderful day where I got to spend the morning having some time to myself, then in the afternoon Scott and I went and hung out at the bazaar and then the evening we went out with friends for a wonderful dinner, and rounded off the day with watching a movie. This is a wonderful way to spend a relaxing day with my friends and family! Zeke was super cute in that he kept asking me if I would share my birthday with him! God is so good to us and continues to teach and grow us in ways that we never would have imagined. We look forward to seeing what this next year holds for all of us.