HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I enjoyed my first Thanksgiving in Honduras. It was a fun day of cooking and time with friends. We all went to Jim & Glenda Faber's home. I made Elaine's sweet potato casserole and corn casserole. We also had sweet potatoes with marshmellows, green bean casserole, green bean bundles, mac & cheese, turkey, chicken, mashed potatoes, corn, broccoli, dressing, gravy, home-made rolls (made by Mark Colbath! Delicious!)... and chocolate pie, sweet potato pie, lime pie, pumpkin cake, cake with chocolate icing. I ate way too much because it was all so good!

We had searched and searched for sweet potatoes, and there were none at the grocery store, and none at the base. There is a vegetable here that is like our sweet potato, but they had none at the grocery and we didn't have time to go to the open market to search, so Lance brought us some cans back from the U.S. He actually hauled back 5 ginormous cans of sweet potatoes, that is why we had two of the sweet potato casseroles and a sweet potato pie. And we still have one can left! We brought one of the sweet potato casseroles to school on Friday to share with the teachers at lunch. They all loved it! And I will be passing out the recipe next week. It was fun to share this family tradition with them.

Friday at noon ended our vacation school to try and give the students who had not completed their year some extra time to finish all their work. At noon when the bell ring I had several crying girls. Unfortunately most of them had several paces to complete so even staying the afternoon would not have gotten them through all their work.

Sunday is graduation for our prepa kids (the little guys), 6th grade and high school. Here 6th grade is almost as big of a deal as graduating high school, because the majority of children in Honduras only complete the 6th grade. That is the last grade that is offered in public school, after that any further education must be paid for at a private school. We have 4 graduating high school, and one is Celestino who will be coming to the states next summer to begin studying in the U.S. Many of you have met Celestino when he visited Restoration church.

It is odd for me to think that in a little over a week I will be in the U.S. When I first arrived and began trying to transition into living here this day seemed like a lifetime away. Now I know this last week will go by quickly. I am already excited about next year and all the opporunities we have at the school to teach these kids and really minister to them and what goes on in their lives. But right now I am dreaming of spending time with family and friends, going to Restoration, and seeing all my kids at church, trash pickup, driving in a straight line down the road, and driving on pavement, Panda Express, and Walmart!