Happy Thanksgiving!

This was my first Thanksgiving away from home, and it was different, but still great! I have so much to be thankful for here in Antalya. In the morning, we still taught at the kresh, and introduced a little Thanksgiving fun to our lessons. We made turkeys out of cookies, marshmallows, and candy corn. At home we use frosting for the glue to hold the pieces together, but here we had to use pudding instead. I think frosting is much more appetizing... but the kids loved them, and had fun making them! (On Wednesday and Thursday at the center we used our activity hour to celebrate Thanksgiving with some hand-turkey art, some feather math, a Thanksgiving picture book, and of course, cookie turkeys.) At lunch we went downstairs, and were surprised to find a table laid out with a feast for us! Tansule was so sweet, she said that this was as much of a feast as they could come up with, and it was beautiful! Then she surprised me even more, and said that all the teachers would like to pray over the meal with us, and she translated the prayer. So touching, that they went out of their way to celebrate the day that they knew was special for us, to help us celebrate in a familiar way. I am so thankful for Tansule, and all that she does for us at the kresh. So many new friends to celebrate with!

For most of the afternoon, Alli, Nuran, and I took turns in the kitchen, preparing our own Thanksgiving meal! We tracked down some Turkey breasts, which was more difficult than you might think. I guess you have to special order turkeys if you want a whole one. The night before we made a pumpkin pie from fresh pumpkin, and that was fun. We even decorated the table in perfect Thanksgiving fashion! Nuran had some decorations that her sister brought over from the states years ago, and she even had a perfect table cloth! Alli and I bought candles from a street vendor one day after school. This celebration made me appreciate living with Nuran even more than I already do - she took such care to make this a special evening, and I think she had a lot of fun too! She folded the napkins into a pocket, and put fall leaves into each, and even pulled out her best china. So awesome! Ebru came over for dinner, and we had a very pleasant evening, eating way too much food. Everything turned out so well! It was each of our first times to cook our own Thanksgiving meal, and I was very impressed! And the pumpkin pie was amazing!

I am so thankful to be here in Turkey, living out a dream of mine. I am deeply grateful to all of you who helped make it possible with your prayers and donations - Thank you. I am thankful for the support and encouragement we have received here in Antalya, for the friends we have made, and for the way God's plans play out. We had a very special Thanksgiving here, and I hope you all did too! I know I will never forget it - yesterday I had to pinch myself, to remind myself that I was walking along the Mediterranean on Thanksgiving, and that there is so much to be thankful for!