Día de Acción de Gracias

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!  

I skipped school today, and Kym and I cooked a Thanksgiving meal.  Since we had to make do with the ingredients we were able to find here and we have a funny oven, we knew there was a definite possibility we would be eating cereal for Thanksgiving dinner.  

But, everything turned out perfectly!  My favorite part was the dressing, or the stuffing.  My mom mailed us cornbread mix, and we used Kym’s mom’s recipe.  It was great!  We also had turkey, green bean casserole, sweet potato soufflé, macaroni and cheese, and pie!  With way more food than two people are capable of eating, we will be having leftovers until next year. 

These are some picture I snapped buying sweet potatoes at the little Saturday street market near our house.

And….drum roll…the finished product… 

 I have to share the pictures cause we are pretty proud of ourselves. 

We even had iced-tea.

So, maybe I’m slightly biased, but I think Thanksgiving ought to be a worldwide holiday.  It’s one of my favorite holidays because it isn’t about getting stuff!  It’s a day when you sit down for a dinner with friends and family, and focus on all the blessings of life.  

My list seems to be extra long this year and I want to share a few.  This year I am thankful for:

1. Supportive family and friends:  

I can’t even begin to express how grateful 

I am for the prayers, uplifting words, donations, 

and unending love and encouragement.

2. A terrific new sister-in-law. 

This picture was from their rehearsal dinner 

and pretty much sums us up.

3. Internet.  It

allows me to keep in touch while I am so far away.

4. A cousin who is in remission after battling breast cancer!!  Praise the Lord!

Picture of Christen (sister) and Rebecca (cousin) at Race for the Cure 

5. My English-Spanish dictionary and my translator app.

6. Peruvian coffee. 

7. A new mentor, friend, and 

roommate - Kym.  

To the left is a picture of her 

getting ready to start a Bible 

lesson with the kids at the orphanage.

8. And last but certainly not least…..The opportunity to live in Peru and work with sweet, endearing, and rambunctious kids at the school and in the orphanage everyday.

 

My sister had a Thanksgiving/Christmas party for me before I left back in September since I wouldn’t be able to celebrate the holidays with family, and I am cherishing those memories today.  I have to admit, I was a little nervous about how I was going to feel today.  I didn’t know if it would be hard spending my first Thanksgiving apart from family…..

But, it has been one of the best thus far because I am still surrounded with family here, a new family of brothers and sisters in Christ.

Give thanks to The Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. 

Psalm 107:1

My name is Mary Moore-Eye.

Today was my first day working at the school!  I am helping the English teacher, who speaks English but still needs help with pronunciation, checking papers, etc.,   By the way, here it’s not like the United States where during any given day you probably see several different ethnicities.  My hair might as well be lime green, because I pretty much stick out like a sore thumb.  So, when I walked in the classroom all of the little kids were excited/curious/bewildered.  It was pretty fun.  Maria, the English teacher, let them ask me any questions they wanted before we began our lesson, as long as it was in English.  

Typical questions I got were:

What is your name?

“Madi” Which they have a terrible time pronouncing.  They think I’m saying Mary so I always have to spell it out.  They think it’s a weird name.

How old are you?

What is your favorite color?

What is your favorite animal?

Where are you from?

What part of the United States is that?

One boy asked me if I was from California?  I said “Noooo! I am from Texas.  It is much better.”

What is your last name?

Wow, if I thought Madi was hard for them, Murray was next to impossible.  They did the rolling r….and they pronounced it like Moorrrrrrrrrr-eye.

What are the names of your parents?

            Scott and Suzy. Again, lots of difficulties and strange looks.

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

“Wow” they said after I told them.  I also made sure to say that I am the youngest, and the favorite.

What is your favorite sport?

Oh, and my favorite question of the day:

What is your telephone number?

            When he asked this one, he and several other little boys got their pencils ready.  I told them I do not have one.  White lies are ok sometimes, right?