Every year we deal with the same thing, do we celebrate Thanksgiving and if we do when? If you stay off of social media or the internet for that matter, you wouldn't even know it was Thanksgiving. Life is normal here. There is no one to ask you what are you going to be doing for Thanksgiving. No one asks you if you are heading to a different state to visit with family. No one to explain how on Thanksgiving you visit one side of the family and the following month during Christmas you visit the other depending on where they live. This is how we would handle the holidays when we lived in Minnesota. That was 9 years ago. Now we are the only Americans living in Autlan with the exception of a single lady who works with the baptist church in town. Over the years we would have a meal together with other missionary families. Now, if we don't put the time into it, it is a holiday that just passes by. Even now as I sit here in my office there are so many of you preparing for the holiday feast. We do plan to celebrate on Saturday when it is more convenient, especially when we have our weekly bible study as well as possible meeting with a few people today.
During our discussion about whether we should celebrate with a traditional Thanksgiving meal, one thing that effects our decision is the fact that our kids don't eat the food very well. Our kids look American but their taste buds are very much Mexican. One of our favorite meals is beans and chorizo (Mexican sausage) and tortillas. All of them will scarf it down in no time often asking for seconds. Last year at Thanksgiving, we gave each kid a plate of turkey, potatoes and gravy, yams, green beans, stuffing, and even cranberry's (something you rarely find). Anna is the only one who finished her plate while the others asked "do we have to eat this?" We would smile and tell them "This is what everyone else on this day are eating. It's good for you to try things that you normally wouldn't eat."
Just to give you another idea of what it is like in our home, this morning Jessie mentioned that with the temperature starting to get cooler, it might be a good time for chilly and that is when Levi than yelled "yeah chilly dogs, yum!!" Then we explained to him the chilly is like a bean soup that you eat. "OH. So we can't have chilly dogs then?" What else do we expect a six-year-old missionary kid to think? This is life in a different country.
I hope you have a good day celebrating with family and friends remembering all the things we are grateful to have. My prayers is that God would reveal to you His blessings and provision in ways that you normally wouldn't think of. Be blessed on this day of Thanksgiving!
During our discussion about whether we should celebrate with a traditional Thanksgiving meal, one thing that effects our decision is the fact that our kids don't eat the food very well. Our kids look American but their taste buds are very much Mexican. One of our favorite meals is beans and chorizo (Mexican sausage) and tortillas. All of them will scarf it down in no time often asking for seconds. Last year at Thanksgiving, we gave each kid a plate of turkey, potatoes and gravy, yams, green beans, stuffing, and even cranberry's (something you rarely find). Anna is the only one who finished her plate while the others asked "do we have to eat this?" We would smile and tell them "This is what everyone else on this day are eating. It's good for you to try things that you normally wouldn't eat."
Just to give you another idea of what it is like in our home, this morning Jessie mentioned that with the temperature starting to get cooler, it might be a good time for chilly and that is when Levi than yelled "yeah chilly dogs, yum!!" Then we explained to him the chilly is like a bean soup that you eat. "OH. So we can't have chilly dogs then?" What else do we expect a six-year-old missionary kid to think? This is life in a different country.
I hope you have a good day celebrating with family and friends remembering all the things we are grateful to have. My prayers is that God would reveal to you His blessings and provision in ways that you normally wouldn't think of. Be blessed on this day of Thanksgiving!
