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Give thanks...


Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise;
give thanks to Him and praise His Name.
For the Lord is good and His love endures forever;
His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Psalm 100:4-5

 Coming to China, I'll admit I was a bit apprehensive about spending the holiday season away from my family and friends. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. I love the holidays. I love being with the ones I love. I love the feeling of being able to sit by a fire at my parents' house as it gets colder outside. And during this time of the year, I especially love the delicious food of Thanksgiving and the fellowship of preparing for Christmas. So I wasn't really sure what to expect. I knew that I would be spending Thanksgiving with other Americans feeling the same way so I hoped it would be a day that gave me a glimpse into one of my favorite traditions...

Thankfully, that's exactly what happened, and our Father graciously blessed me with a day full of fun, food and fellowship with my ND family, and I couldn't have asked for anything more. The day turned out to be packed full of fun as myself and the other interns started off with teaching some of the kids how to make mashed potatoes...


And they were all ready to be good helpers!

The first step was to wash the potatoes so they were given bowls of water to scrub their potato in...

After that, they helped us peel them (with fake knives for the little ones and lots of guidance for the older ones). Then we chopped the freshly peeled potatoes, boiled them, and gave each child a bowl to mash the potatoes up in. Our next step was to add milk and butter...

 

And we ended up with lots of smiling faces!


So after all the food was prepared, the kids all sat down to a Thanksgiving feast complete with fresh fruit, chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, corn, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin pie! It was delicious!

It was the perfect Thanksgiving! We even had a few adorable pilgrims and indians present...



How cute are they?

Overall it was a wonderful time. And I can't be anymore thankful to have had the opportunity to spend a holiday based on blessings with the little ones that have blessed me so much the past several months. Looking back on last Thursday, I can't help but thank our Father for His love and faithfulness, His provision and understanding...He has given me so much and I realize that my natural response can be nothing less than to give thanks to Him and praise His Name...

Comments

  1. Laurie StoneDecember 2, 2011 at 1:17 PM

    Beautiful blog post again! Thanks for blessing my heart! :) And we can still turn the fireplace on when you get back in April, if you want! :) XX!

    ReplyDelete

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