Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

Thanksgiving celebration is always a fun and interesting time around here.  The last few years we have had Macedonians over for our traditional meal of giant, wild, poultry, also known as, The Turkey, stuffing (try explaining that one in another language, "What's this?" Stuffing. Bread, seasonings, turkey juice.... After which an awkward silence commences as they add some to their plate), green bean casserole ("What's a casserole?" We just add a bunch of yummy things to the green beans and bake 'em. Awkward silence commences as they add add some to their plate), sweet potato casserole ("What's a sweet potato? It's a sweet potato, then we add a bunch of yummy stuff to it and bake it. "Is it dessert?" Nope.  Awkward silence commences as they add some to their plate.), cranberry sauce (Candied cranberries? It's sweet? Yep. More awkward silence...), mashed potatoes and gravy (finally familiarity), rolls (which are very similar to the Macedonian kifli, but are far too small to eat with a meal. "Where's the loaf of white bread?" and "Why does this butter have honey in it?") It is a cultural experience for all of our people as we welcome them into our home and world of food. They always eat and enjoy it but still find it very odd, but I mean, really, Thanksgiving food is a little odd. What we can't explain, we blame on the pilgrims and indians and chalk it up to tradition, which is a concept they can understand, and once again, we are all on the same page and all is right with the world.

This year, we joined some other Americans who live in town and work as professors at one of the local universities for our meal, and we invited our baptized believers.  It was a blast.  Thomas and Kate got to play with the other kiddos. The food was delicious, and the fellowship was precious. We are thankful. (My apologies on the complete lack of pictures of the big event.)

On Friday, we got up and prepared to go be even more thankful with our Macedonian family, also known as, our team.  We headed to Prilep to meet up with everyone. Friday night we watched football and got way too little sleep. I blame it on the cheese dip.  Saturday morning, the guys went and played their annual football game. After they shoveled the football field from the horse droppings, they had a big ole time in some good ole fashioned American fun.

The cheerleader. Cutie face!

Brian looks for an open receiver. 

Both teams joined together for a picture.

His biggest fans.

The ladies got all the yummies ready, and we sat down to enjoy our delicious meal, where we didn't have to explain what anything was (though there was an odd colored pumpkin pie ;0)), and we could just enjoy the food and fellowship. It was a blast and we are so grateful for the opportunity we had to share this holiday with our precious family here.  God is so good and kind to us.