Thankgiving

I'm pretty sure that any missionary, soldier, or person living away from their home country would tell you that this time of year is the hardest.  Missing fall, Thanksgiving and Christmas--and all of the memories, symbols, traditions, sights, smells, and people who make this season special and sacred--can be brutal.  

It is, in our opinion, the hardest time to be so far from home.

I teach on Thanksgiving.  So do almost all of the other missionaries we work with.  Lily has school that day, Matt has meetings.  But today?  Today was a big deal in Haiti.  Vertieres Day, celebrating the last big battle of the second war of Haitian Independence. 

No school, no work, lots of celebrating and lots of heavy political presence.  

A good day to stay home...or to have Thanksgiving.

So, while Haiti celebrated, we did to!

Today we welcomed 38 friends, lots of fantastic food, and a Faithful God to be a part of our praise and family in our home.

And it was awesome.

The little kid table ate at least 5 pounds of ham :)  Both ham and turkey made it's way from America for our feast today!

The big kid table did not mind one bit eating to themselves.  Nor the bag of candy corn.

After singing Great is Thy Faithfulness and reading through some Thanksgiving scriptures and meditations, Dave (our field patriarch :) prayed for us all.  I always cherish this time of deliberate and overwhelmed Thanksgiving.

I had an adorable fall colored dress all picked out for Lily.  She did not care. 

I also had an adorable dress picked out for Sofie.  Instead, she is wearing pajamas as she eats all of my pie.  Sigh.  She is healthy.  We are happy.

This was quite the feat :)  Next year we'll choose a shorter word, and put arrows on all the papers with "N".    

After lunch, the guys meditated as they do every year on how nice it would be to watch football...and instead played Can-Jam (a frisbee game), threw the football, and we all sat around and talked--really fun!

After our food had a few hours to settle in, bamboo Volleyball until it was dark.

It wasn't like the Thanksgivings I grew up with.  And I didn't get my nose or my laugh or my childhood memories from any of these people.  

But it was a REALLY good day, and I am incredibly thankful that in Haiti--today, in a foreign land-- He has given great food to Thanksgiving around, this family to Thanksgiving with, and SO MUCH Thanksgiving for our hearts.

Remember God's bounty in the year.  

String the pearls of His favor.

Hide the dark parts, except so far as they are breaking out in light.

Give this day to thanks, to joy, to gratitude.

--HW Beecher

Happy Thanksgiving!