Thanksgiving(s)

I say Thanksgiving(s) because we definitely got our fair share of turkey and have hearts full of many things to be thankful for! 

{Thanksgiving #1}

Our wonderful administrative staff did such a good job trying to give all of us American's an "authentic" Thanksgiving meal like we would be used to. We had an all staff lunch that included turkey, mashed potatoes (indo version), green beans, rolls, and sweet potatoes (attempted :), pumpkin soup (delicious!) and apple pie. We had the lunch on Wednesday because it's our short teaching day. Then we spent the rest of the day decorating our halls for Christmas. Great day all around! 

{Thanksgiving #2}

On Thursday, myself and the other grade 1 and 2 teachers organized a Thanksgiving lunch for our students. Our class moms and other parents were SO helpful in preparing all of the food! They even decorated! In the pictures below, you can see the "table" we set up for the kids, with their thankful placemats and letters written to their parents saying why they are thankful for them. Some good reading right there!

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{Happy and Thankful (for the most part) kids!}

{Thanksgiving #3}

Just yesterday, we had a Corban Thanksgiving. A couple from Corban (Holly and Aaron Schilperoort) with two kids came here this year, and are teaching at one of the other campuses. They volunteered to host a Thanksgiving get together for all of us Corbanites. This was the truest to all of our typical Thanksgivings. We all brought our traditional dishes, and Holly took on the turkey. It was such a great time of fellowship -- laughter, baby snuggles (with their 3 month old!), football for the boys, and a little bit of healthy venting about Indonesian difficulties ;) TIJ was uttered a time or two. . .

With Holly's adorable kiddos 

We have SO much to be thankful for! I can't say this enough, nor is one day a year sufficient to think about the many ways we've been blessed. My prayer is that we are in a constant state of thanks. 

To list a few things. . .

being surrounded by the body of Christ anywhere we go

our families that love and pray for us

getting to be a part of so many kids' lives through our jobs

opportunities to travel and see the world together

memories of fun times with our families

technology that allows us to talk with friends/family so far away

our apartment/location

our friends in Indo - couldn't do it without them

challenges that have caused us to grow in so many ways

all the little things. . . count them daily!

my wonderful hubby

ability to stream football games on the internet

my workout buddies

learning to see the world from new perspectives

restful weekends

Thanksgiving leftovers

and pumpkin pie :)