Jeyson, Stephanie, Elijah, & Audrey

Jeyson, Stephanie, Elijah, & Audrey

Monday, December 2, 2013

Expat Thanksgiving

I LOVE Thanksgiving and it's always so interesting to see how we will celebrate here in Brazil, where it is obviously not a holiday.  This year we got together with our new friends, Eric and Donna, who live on the border with Venezuela.  They have been missionaries in Brazil for about 15 years and have 8 kids who are now in the US.  Over the past months knowing them, they have taken us in in a special way, and even taken care of Elijah for a weekend when I was in the hospital.  So it was so fun to celebrate Thanksgiving on Friday with them and stay at their home through Saturday afternoon.
 It is also really fun that one of their sons just got married about a month ago and he and his wife (John and Rebeca) are now going to be serving long term in one of the native villages.  They will be flown out by Asas on Wednesday and will only come out of the village every 4 months or so.  But they were also able to make it for Thanksgiving.  We had a great time getting to know them.  Lots of fun to talk in English and make new friends in general.  Such a refreshing time!
One of the things you will find funny about us expats is how excited we get about food that you can only get in the US.  John and Rebeca brought this can of cranberry sauce back from the US as a surprise for Donna and we cherished each bite during the meal.
 Tons of fun time relaxing....


 And cooking the meal together...though Donna is SUCH an expert at whipping out meals for crowds with the large family that she raised that she makes cooking Thanksgiving look as easy as ordering take out!

Our meal...no turkey since they are very rare and expensive, but we had a great chicken

Elijah loved bath time in this very tiny tub!

And sleeping in the pack and play under a mosquito net.  The weather in Venezuela is GREAT since it's up in the mountains, so it was SO fun to take a break from sweltering temperatures to enjoy warm baths and pjs!
What a great weekend...it couldn't have been more perfect.  And there is no end to the list of what we are thankful for this year!

2 comments:

Danielle said...

OHG he is TOO MUCH in those Elmo jammies!!!!! And the tub is cracking me up.

bruce ciotta said...

I feel like we spent Thanksgiving together. Thanks for the pics and update.