Dia de Gracias aka Thanksgiving

We celebrated our first Thanksgiving in Honduras this week. Well…we actually celebrated about four of them! We definitely were not lacking in the eating department this week! We have so much to be thankful for, we decided to make it a week long celebration! We started on Wednesday with a ½ day of school. The kids got out at about 11:30am so the teachers could be freed up for the afternoon. Around 12:30pm a bus came and picked us up and we headed out to the military base to indulge in the first of our Thanksgiving feasts. I think all the Honduran teachers thought we were crazy because all of the Americans were going nuts on the bus. We were so excited…anticipated all the great food! We were singing, carrying on, and laughing for no reason the whole trip out there! Once we got clearance (at the entrance gate to the base they checked each person’s ID with their list of passes), we were headed straight for the dining facility. Greg and I got off the bus and started out toward the front of the stampede. However, once we got to the doors to the building, the other people had basically pushed their way in front of us. I guess the American teachers don’t know how the ‘line system’ works here…or should I say, how it doesn’t work here. You pretty much just ramrod your way through the crowd here….they conveniently forgot to tell us that before we arrived! Oh well! J It brought back fond memories of our honeymoon in Italy when the Europeans would mull over women, children, and elderly people just to be in the front!

Anyway, any hostile feelings we might have been harboring instantly vanished when we reached the start of the buffet line (we waiting about 20 minutes to get to the front). Shrimp cocktail, roast beef, ham, turkey, 2 kinds of stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, a plethora of veggies (including my favorite - baked sweet potatoes with marshmallows), rolls, eggnog, all kinds of fruit, mixed nuts, apple, pecan, and pumpkin pies…and more! It was amazing! There is a 95% chance that between Greg and I both, we at least sampled each dish available! Greg was determined when he sat down that he would finish every last morsel of mounded food on his completely overflowing plate. About 7 minutes later….the mission was accomplished! (Well, maybe it was more like 15!) I was quite impressed! (Before and after photos of Greg´s plate are to the left and right respectively.) By the time it was said and done, his face had turned an unusual shade of red and he was sweating profusely…but nonetheless, he was victorious! I didn’t do quite as good as him, but I was uncomfortably full once I finally retired my fork.

We officially left the dining hall at about 2:30pm. We waddled over to the chapel and our familiar hangout place, Crossroads, for a little R & R. Around 5:00pm we headed over to the recreation fields to watch Army take on the Air Force in a base-wide football game (yet another opportunity for us to sit around and let our gorged bellies have more time to digest). The Air Force (for whom we were cheering) came out on top at the end of the game. Following the game, we went over the firehouse to watch the “Tops in Blue” perform (a U.S. Air Force entertainment group, made up of all active duty personnel that travels all over the world to entertain military troops and their families). It was a great show, commemorating the 60th Anniversary of the USAF through song and dance from each decade starting with 1947 to 2007. It was truly a great day! By the time we got home (at 10:30pm), we were both still full!

On Thursday, each teacher was responsible for coordinating a ‘Thanksgiving Lunch’ for their classes. Many of the students would celebrate Thanksgiving for the first time in 2007. Miss Emily’s 4th grade class celebrated with food from Domino’s (Pizza, cheesy bread, and brownies) while Mr. Greg’s 7th graders indulged in Wendy’s Super Value Meals. Not your typical Thanksgiving cuisine, but nonetheless, it was still time spent eating with a spirit of thankfulness! That evening we headed back to the base for yet ANOTHER meal! Several people from the church volunteered to cook a Thanksgiving Dinner for anyone interested in joining them in the meal. They figured maybe 25-30 people would come. Little did they know that approximately 150 people would show up to eat! The buffet line had a steady wave of people in it for about 45 minutes! And somehow, there ended up being plenty of food for everyone to fill their plates (I am telling you, it was like the story in Matthew when Jesus feeds the crowds with only a few loaves of bread and a couple fish…truly amazing!)

Which brings us up to Saturday…..our last Thanksgiving Supper! Before we knew they school was making any plans at all to celebrate Thanksgiving, all of the missionaries got together and decided we would cook a dinner together. Greg and I, being the oldest and wisest (ha!) got stuck making the turkey and stuffing. Luckily, good ‘ol Jumbo Supermarket actually had some Butterball Turkeys! A friend brought me a Rachel Ray magazine from the states (with a roast turkey recipe) and our neighbor allowed us to use her oven (we don’t have one) and Wuh Lah! Thanksgiving #4!

It actually is pretty suiting that we would celebrate this holiday four times this year here! In fact, it makes me realize that we should really take the time to celebrate Thanksgiving everyday. We have so much to be thankful for…God provides for each and every need that we have! It is very easy to get caught up focusing on the things that we don’t have, rather than realizing all of the abundance that we do have! Take time to count your blessings, naming them one by one, and you will have many reasons to celebrate Thanksgiving each day!

HAPPY 30th BIRTHDAY, STEPHANIE!!!

Weekend Getaway

We recently had the pleasure of traveling with a crew of people from the military base to Lake Yahoa. In that same vicinity is a small local hangout, called D & D Brewery, (owned and operated by a man from Oregon) nestled in the beautiful natural setting surrounding the lake. On its grounds is a small restaurant, several cabins for overnight travelers, a pool, several patio areas, and many plants, flowers, and animals. The owner brews several different types of beer (including fruity flavors such as a mango brew, apricot brew, and raspberry brew). He also makes a variety of homemade sodas (root beer, vanilla soda, strawberry soda, etc.) all served in frosty mugs. We arrived there on Friday evening, just in time for dinner. The group sat outside in an open-air dining area decorated with plants and Christmas lights. We all enjoyed the Honduran cuisine and spent the rest of the evening relaxing, telling stories, and laughing! The boys even broke out some ´fine Honduran cigars´to set the mood! :) That night, Greg and I shared a cabin with our good friends, Kyle and Crystal for L400 (about $20). The accommodations were actually quite nice! There was even a cable TV in room! We didn´t stay up too late because we planned to get up early the next morning and hit the Lake for some boating and water skiing. Greg was about to fight me though, because as girls do at a sleepover, Crystal and I stayed up talking in our room as our husband´s tried desperately to tune out our voices so they could sleep!

We woke up around 8:00am on Saturday and were bound for the kitchen. The owner mentioned ´fresh blueberry pancakes´the night before and we all had our heart´s set on a tall stack! Fortunately, they delivered! We all gorged ourselves on the tasty treats...and of course, washed them down with several cups of delicious Honduran coffee! Sadly, the weather didn´t look to promising. The sky was overcast and there was a light drizzle. We figured we could just relax a little longer (while hanging out in a little piece paradise) and wait for the weather to improve. In the mean time, the owner gave us a tour of his property. The grounds were so beautiful - as you can see from the photos, it was very green with a splash of color from the flowers and buds. It was an interactive tour because along the way, he pointed out many plants, flowers, and bugs that are used for eating, making products (lotion, hair conditioner) and making beverages. As we would go along, we would pull a flower off a plant and say ¨Try this, it is delicious!¨ He showed us a plant that if you squeeze it, it produces a thick, fragrant, milky substance that is used for hair conditioner (one of the girl´s with us actually used it!) We also got to eat ´root celery,´the plant that is used for making root beer. (I don´t know if that is the name of it, but it look exactly like celery, but tasted exactly like root beer!) And, the most odd thing we experienced would have to be....eating termites! Yes, we ate TERMITES! Okay, so I really didn´t want to, but everyone else was....and then I thought, when will I have this opportunity to do this again....and I went for it! They actually weren´t bad, believe it or not. They tasted like pepper. Our friend, Kyle, who grew up in Africa (his parents were missionaries in Kenya) said they would often gather termites in bulk and deep fry them for a meal! Crazy! After the tour (and snack!) we ended up just sitting around, talking, listening to music, reading, and hanging out together! Several people even started ´arts and crafts hour´ by making things out of Panamanian palm branches. (The material that they use in to make hats in Panama). Greg made me a friendship bracelet....that I preceded to lose about 5 minutes later...sorry honey! :) (See photo) It was very tranquil and relaxing! Next thing we new it was about lunch time, so they brought out the menus and we ordered lunch! Sadly, the weather still wasn´t clearing up! It was quite cool outside, so after we ate, the crew in my cabin decided we would go take an afternoon nap! We hibernated for about two hours then hit the road around 4:00pm to head back to Comayagua.

We stopped in Siguatepeque at this place we read about in a Honduras travel guide. Apparently this guy from Italy moved there and started an Italian restaurant. We got a huge salad and several different kinds of pizza....It was very good! I would have to say the best part though, was the fact that there was a huge screen set up in the room playing music videos, pre-recorded from MTV. Every once in a while, the guy running the projector would come to our table and ask if anyone would be interested in singing karaoke. Sadly for everyone else in the place, we had a couple takers. The worst, I mean, best, was our friend Tim´s rendition of Journey´s Separate Ways. Fortunately, Greg was so busy enjoying the food that he didn´t get the opportunity to ´show his stuff!´ It was a great night! We got home around 9:00pm and were so worn our from doing nothing for the past 24 hours that we went to bed! :) We had a very fun trip!

Christmas came early this year!

Care packages are truly a wonderful thing!!! What a blessing! We were very fortunate to get three within a short amount of time! Its funny because sometimes back home we would leave the mail in the mailbox for a couple of days before we were inspired to walk all the way to the end of our driveway to get it (literally about 20 steps from our front door!) Now, anytime we hear we have mail, we wait anxiously in anticipation before we have it delivered. You see, if you get mail here, it goes only to the post office. Since there are no official street names (let alone addresses), all the mail goes to a central location where residents must go pick up any packages or letters that they receive. Similar to a PO Box in the United States, from what I understand, that is the only option here. Fortunately, Greg and I haven’t had to go there yet, but from what we’ve heard, this is the process: Say someone sends something to a teacher in care of Maranatha Escuela (their PO Box). One of the school administrators will go to the post office and they will give her several slips of paper. The papers have names of the people they have received packages for (obviously people employed at the school). Then, the administrator will come back to the school and hand out the slips to those with packages back at the post office. Next, each person has to go back to the post office (which has very limited hours and long lines), show identification, sign for the mail, then they are free to leave with the item(s)….as long as they can find them! Wow, crazy! We haven’t had to do this yet because we are having things sent to another one of our friends here, that receives the items, then drops them off at our house! (Lucky us!)

Anyway, so about two weeks ago, our friend called and said he would be dropping by with a package. Although Greg wasn’t home, I figured I could do my best resist the temptation of opening the box before he returned. I mean, it was addressed to both of us! I carried the box up and set it on the seat next to me, admiring the thing and pondering it’s contents. Then, I stumbled upon the ‘international shipping label’ pasted on the outside. I noticed that it required the sender to write a brief description of the items inside. When I saw the words “small blender” I broke under the pressure. Could it really be….THE MAGIC BULLET??? I swiftly tore at the corner to reveal “Does any job in ten seconds or less!” and I knew our dreams had come true! We had admired this fine piece of machinery for years as it cycled through the ‘infomercial circuit’ on multiple channels. I screamed excitedly, thought about all of the wonderful things we would make with it, then the guilt set in. I officially opened our first care package…addressed to both of us....without the company of the other recipient! I smoothed over the torn area of the box and tried to rough the rest of it up a little to look like it had a tough trip getting here (hey, that’s believable!) I decided I would be ‘really nice’ and wait to open it until Greg got home, so we could both enjoy the gift together (obviously, I would not tell him I already took a sneak peak). As soon as that thought left my brain, my cell phone rang and startled me. It was Greg…Act cool, you didn’t do anything wrong, be natural…Then like word vomit, it just came out…”Greg, I’m so sorry I opened our first care package and we are officially proud owners of The Original Magic Bullet.” Apparently when he heard the words “Magic Bullet” roll of my tongue, he totally ignored the first part of the sentence (Lucky for me!) I could hear him smiling on the other end as we both celebrated our new piece of culinary equipment! I decided in my mind that I would let him open the next two items we receive in the mail in attempt to make up for my preemptive strike!!!

Not soon after I had my chance! We got two more packages….on the same day!!! AMAZING! Contents included: A library (literally about 20 books and 5 magazines), tea, hot chocolate, cider, cookies, jelly beans, gum, mints, flip flops, a box of Cliff Z bars, a manicure kit, facial products, toiletries, and several other very useful odds and ends. Greg and I seriously felt like kids on Christmas morning! We were so psyched…and still are! It truly is the little things in life that make your day!

Anyway, thanks to you for all of your support! Your prayers, emails, guest book messages, letters and packages are extremely appreciated and provide us with renewed spirit and joy. Everyday is a blessing as we grow closer to the people here, each other, and especially to God. Have a wonderful week, and don’t forget to take pleasure in the little things God gives you every single day!