Thanksgiving

No, this was not my thanksgiving turkey. I have done many things while living in Honduras that I never dreamed I would do, but killing my own turkey is not one of them. I used a good ol' Butterball, bought at PriceSmart. We saw this guy when we were buying block in Santa Katarina. He was really strutting his stuff.

Brayan, Fito and Pamela grating and chopping

Linda chopping onions

The children each saying at least one thing for which they are thankful

No surprise. Our internet is down again and has been for several days. I am sitting at Wendy's eating a sandwich just so I can use the internet.

Karen and I cooked thanksgiving for our children, our staff, the group that came to build houses, a few friends, and, of course, ourselves. There were more than sixty people there. I can honestly say this is the first time I have ever cooked thanksgiving for that many people. And it was with more than a few challenges that this came together.

Just like last year, we had problems finding some of the ingredients to cook an American meal. We anticipated that this year and had a few things brought from the states with different people. Still the shopping took all of one day and then some. We finally found everything or decided we did not need it.

Our staff gets just as excited about Thanksgiving as the kids do. They were busy preparing salads and mashed potatoes. I was thankful I did not have to peel all those potatoes, about forty pounds worth.

I did not know how I would ever grate all the cheese and chop the celery and onions. Think many multiples of a normal thanksgiving meal. My kids may have been sad that they could not help with these chores this year, but Linda was the one crying as she chopped all the onions. The children were very excited. Brayan, Fito, Pamela, and Linda were eager and more than willing to help and did anything that was needed. Linda chopped the onions, Pamela the celery. Brayan and Fito grated all the cheese. Brayan opened all the cans of green beans for green bean casserole. They did dishes and ran things back and forth. It would have been hard to get everything done without them.

I took some shortcuts this year. Partly because in Honduras, there was no other way and partly because I used some sense. Who wanted to peel sweet potatoes for 60 people. This was the first time I ever used canned sweet potatoes. And I found out they weren't so bad after all.

Finding something big enough to mix that much dressing was a challenge, as was finding enough pans to cook everything in. There were a few large pans, but after that, we used what we had. And it all worked fine.

Only through a lot of prayer, did everything get done at exactly 2:00, the designated time for lunch.

The kids all told at least one thing they were thankful for. It was so sweet listening to them. After a prayer, the eating began. This is one of the few times during the year the children get to choose what goes on their plates and they can go back as many times as they want. They, along with everyone else, loaded their plates. And I wish you could have seen Linda's dessert plate. If she wasn't sick, it was a miracle.

Everyone ate and fellowshipped and had a great time. I found the time to reflect on my blessings, of which there are many. I hope everyone else did, too. It was another great day in Honduras.