Thursday, November 26, 2009

Dia de Gracias

Sofia eating her cheese tortilla at the seafood place
Our wonderful spread tonight at the Thompson's
Lee's seafood platter with a small octopus (Ceviche...very famous dish here)
The kids are just pretending to look mad, Sofia actually said she wanted to go there everyday
Some of our team before the race, sorry the Yoakum's got cut out accidentally

Happy Happy Thanksgiving!

Well we have officially been in Lima 2 weeks! It's been a whirlwind but things are going great. Nothing like moving to a new country and having your first of many important holidays to celebrate two weeks later! For those of you who know me I'm a huge HOLIDAY/BIRTHDAY person. I just love celebrating. So that being said I love Thanksgiving. I knew this year was going to be different but man, WOW! The morning started off great and the evening ended wonderful but everything in between I could have done without.

This morning our team had our 1st annual Carretita Pavita Run/Walk (Small Turkey Trot) Race. We all showed up with 5 strollers and our 9 kids to run/walk around a 2 1/2 mile park. It was fun and we all had a great time. Sofia ran forever and it made me think about how grateful I am for her heart surgery. I had never seen her run like that before her surgery.

After our little race we went home and realized we had no food so we decided to try a little seafood place by our house. Needless to say that this was the point I started feeling a little sorry for myself.
We had a nice family meal but I couldn't help thinking how much I just wanted to be with family, in some crisp air and enjoying some turkey and stuffing. Instead we had fish, fried platano, rice and a tortilla with cheese, in a warm restaurant with the main song from Titanic in the background.

When we got home I needed to start preparing for our actual thanksgiving meal with our team and realized time was running short. The lady that helps us out during the week, Mercedes (I'll tell you all about her on another post and yes her name is Mercedes) was trying to help but here is what happened:

Sofia was spazing out for about an hour and a half because she was so tired but wouldn't nap. I was exhausted from that little turkey trot and seriously could barely function (not just from the walk but from lack of sleep these last few days), I sent Mercedes to the grocery store for Karo syrup and pie crust and she came back with maple syrup and small round discs of dough used to make empanadas (not pie), it was the first time I used real green beans instead of canned and they were taking forever to steam and of course Liam pooped all over himself. All that was a little crazy but after a few tears and a phone call to my mom for recipe help everything turned out great!

Our meal with our team was AWESOME. We had sweet potato casserole, pumpkin cookies, cornbread, green bean casserole, turkey, stuffing and SOOO much more. It was perfect and we had a great time.

I thought I would end with some pictures of our seafood outing, some pictures of our thanksgiving meal and a few things I'm thankful for.

I'm Thankful For:
  • My awesome husband and three precious kids
  • Our families back home that are incredibly supportive and encouraging to us
  • Our teammates that have helped us so much in our transition
  • All of our friends back home that we miss dearly
  • Buying our Minivan yesterday!!! That's right, we our the proud owners of a minivan. We just can't drive it for a week while we do lots of paperwork so it's just sitting in our garage :( Ok, so Lee takes it out around the block every once in a while just to feel good.
  • The individuals and churches that consistently and generously support us
  • The contacts we have already made here, God has been so good
  • Our precious senora-Mercedes and all her help
  • The health of Liam, Sofia and Maddox and everything going so well post-baby
  • SO SO SO much more but I'm truly exhausted and so thankful for my bed.
Love to you all...

2 comments:

Larissa Smith said...

Oh, I remember our Thanksgiving attempts last year. I had a few flops and frustrations, to say the least.

By the way, for Karo syrup, we have to buy glucomiel. For Christmas stuff, one name for molasses is miel de cana.

And I'm jealous if you actually can find pie crusts in the store.

Vanessa said...

Turkey Trot!!! How fun!!!
We know how much of a celebration person you are and thought of yall often during Thanksgiving! Glad you've got a team there to gather with.
Hope the pie turned out ok! And we are SO glad you have some help!!! A little sanity goes a long way! Xoxoxoxo