truth #22: Tabitha says: Gordagordagorda

HAPPY THANKSGIVING! We have so many things to be thankful for. Here is a short list of things I am newly thankful for this year:

-Family (especially after seeing the lives of the orphans)

-Supporters (Couldn't do the things that I am without you!)
-Electricity (not having it several hours each day makes one thankful)

-Running Water (again our water has an electric pump.. connect the dots...)
-Internet (to talk with my family, friends and keep up with the world news)

-That God is always good (not said lightly)
-Daily food
-Cold weather
-Good friends

-Letters in the mail

-Nights were you can see the stars (never here..)

-Silence (learned to appreciate this one cause of the little dog next door with the big voice)

We had a night of celebration Friday the 26th of November in my house. Let me just preface this by saying I never truely understood all that went into a Thanksgiving until this year, my mom and my aunts are my heros! Seth, Sharon and I began cooking at 1pm for the 20 guests we were expecting at 7pm. Did I mention that we still are under power cuts and it goes out everyday from 4 to 6pm... just another little glitch in the preparations. Thankfully we have a gas stove!! Also there is not such thing as cranberry sauce, we looked in almost all the stores! However just for your future knowledge, blackberry jam is very similar. You also cannot find velveeta cheese, the kind that Seth needed for his mac and cheese. So we made it, yes that is right we made velveeta cheese. It turned out well but not quite the same.

First came the turkey. Yes Sharon and I voted unamously for Seth to get the turkey struggle, he didn't even get a chance to say no! It turned out great and two hours early!! What can I say none of us have ever cooked a turkey.

Then I made my family's famous dressing and for those of you not from the south it is similar to stuffing but not made inside the turkey. Sharon helped me with the tasting.

Sweet potates - recipe courtsey of my Aunt Etta. These are a little different as the sweet potatoes here are purple instead of orange. Funny isn't it?

We also had mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, steamed green beans, gravy made from turkey drippings (yay Sharon!!), my mom's famous rolls (already becoming famous in Ecaudor), and salad.

We all stood around the very long table (no kids table this time!) and prayed, then explained the tradition of Thanksgiving and the foods. It was a great time of fellowship and getting to know each other better.

Shura and our friend Isabel brough pie: Pumpkin and apple. As you can see Seth is really enjoying his pumpkin pie!

Then last but not least the HUGE clean up! Thanks everyone for helping!!!

truth #21: The Ecuadorian Turkey says: Gordagordagorda

Thanksgiving is a week and a half away. I love this holiday, I think that it is my favorite of all the holidays. Mostly because it is hard to commercialize as Thanksgiving is made up of Family, Friends and Food. I am sad to miss my third Thanksgiving with my family. I think that is one of the hardest things about being a missionary. I really like my family: my Papa and Earlene, Uncle Eddie and Aunt Jeanette, Uncle Gerald and Aunt Polly, Uncle David and Aunt Cynthia, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Jerry and Aunt Etta, Erin and Jeremy, Ethan and Sarah, Bryan, Deborah, Delancy, Jessica, Brandy and of course my Dad, my Mom, my incredibly intelligent favorite older brother Jason and my incredible cute, favorite little brother James. I just wanted you guys to know that I am thinking of you during this time.

Well the three North Americans currently on the team, Seth (Georgia), Sharon (California) and me (TEXAS!), we decided that we would like to share a little of our culture with the OM team. So on Black Friday we are going to put together a little Thanksgiving dinner. We are trying to keep it small as none of us have ever cooked the whole Thanksgiving meal! So we think that there will be around 13-15 people. The current menu look like this:

Turkey - Seth (First time for all of us to try and cook one so if you have tips...)
Dressing - Me (family recipe)
Mashed potatoes - Sharon
Sweet Potatoes - all (recipe from Aunt Etta)
Rolls - me (just guess, yes that is right Tina's famous rolls aka Mom's rolls)
Green Beans - all (no recipe, we will just make something up)
Gravy. all (another experiment)
Macaroni and Cheese - Seth

Pumpkin Pie - Shura (My field leader's wife. She is an AMAZING cook!)
Apple Pie - Isabel (Good friend and I hope that she is an amazing cook :)

We will search high and low for the cranberry sauce but... no guarantees . I hope that all of you will enjoy your holidays. Oh and just for the record in Spanish Gordagordagorda means Fatfatfat.