Thanksgiving twice

It has been a couple busy weeks that is for sure. On the 15th we celebrated Thanksgiving with all the folks here at the base. It was fun. We had 82 people together, kids, teachers, and all the Portuguese students and staff. We didn't have turkey, but chicken which quite a bit cheaper, but other than that, there wasn't anything missing from the tables lined with food and desserts.

The rest of the day was spent playing baseball, and visiting with those we don't get to see very often.

The hard part was going back to school Friday. Boy did that feel wrong. This week was a busy week. I worked on the set for the play and finalized the costumes. I am teaching the girls taking home ec to sew and we are working on the bag I showed earlier. Of course they want to make them for gifts for family and friends so we have the pressure now of them coming out perfect. This is their first sewing project!!!!! and they are supposed to be perfect??? So I had to address that one this week, we are doing our best, but they can't get so worried if their stitch isn't perfectly straight.

Church was really good on Sunday. Scott is getting quite comfortable in the roll of pastor here on the land. We had a missionary of 30+ years share about his experiences of working with a tribe up in the Amazon jungle. That was cool. He also has a ministry in a small town (all the houses are on stilts and have no bathrooms or plumbing) that is on the banks of the Amazon, there are almost 400 children and they all call him grandpa. It was really neat hearing his stories.

This week started well, and I was getting ready for my Thanksgiving dinner. I had invited 16 people to come and share the meal with us. The two single ladies, my friend Gina and her family, and the lady that runs our special ed dept. and their two dorm girls and her husband (it was also her birthday). I had all the trimmings I think for the first time ever since I came to Brazil, down to celery, black olives and cranberry sauce. I had prepared my fresh beans ahead of time, cooked the squash, made the pies, cut up the bread for stuffing (everything here comes unprepared) and all I had to do was get that bird in the oven make the rolls, and peel the potatoes. Then of course, just put it all together and make sure it was ready by 11:45. That was the scary part. I couldn't be late. So my turkey was out of the oven by 10:15 and thankfully everything else came out right. It was a ton of work, and the hardest part was that it was a school day. I had class at 2 to get ready for. But it was worth it as everyone really enjoyed the meal, and made the day special. I can say without a doubt a good time was had by all. It was worth all the effort. I miss my family so much on these days, but having a crowd around and being a blessing to those also homesick, sure does fill the day with memories!!! I don't have a copy of pictures others took, but I will get one soon!!!

And after all my complaining last week about the rain, we have had a gorgeous week this week with most of the rain hitting while we slept. That was a welcome change. We even got to go to the pool.