Our first care package!
recieving care packages to encourage us along the way. Our terrific daughter-in-law Kate made us some pumpkin muffins and they arrived two days before Thanksgiving, and in perfect condition! Thanks, Chris and Kate!
Our second care package!
Then we got a package from Adam Doughty's family, full of our favorite candies, a book/music CD and a picture drawn by Adam! We know Adam both from our church and the school where I (Cile) used to work. (By the way, Cile's favorite is black licorice (and M & M's) and Glenn's is peppermint patties, in case anyone is writing a book!) The packages were a nice surprise and thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated!
Thanksgiving Day itself was a great day! During a normal week we start the day with worship in our small group of 7, but on Thanksgiving, all 14 of us going to Central and Eastern Europe met for a time of singing, worship (giving thanks!), sharing meaningful Scriptures and things God is teaching us during our time here. These folks will be part of our "family" overseas and we are growing to love and appreciate them.
Singing praises to our Lord!
Thanksgiving meal!
Then we headed over to our Richmond Associate's house for a delicious lunch of 2 turkeys, 1 huge ham, dressing, gravy, corn casserole, sweet potato casserole, green beans, cranberry sauce, Watergate salad, yeast rolls, and 5 pies! The food was plentiful and a very welcome change from the cafeteria! We spent the afternoon coveting Susie's Polish ceramic dishes (at least, I did!), playing board games, and talking long distance with our families.
OK, so it's not leftover turkey sandwiches, but it was just as good!
The cafeteria was closed on Thursday for supper to allow the kitchen staff to celebrate Thanksgiving with their families, so we had a pot luck meal in our "quad" that evening. Everyone hit Walmart on Wednesday night in order to contribute to the variety! We had pizza, meatballs, chips and cheese dip, candies, sweet breads, nut mix, and lots more!
Friday morning came all too quickly and it was back to classes as usual, but Saturday was a trip to Washington, D.C.! Oh, not for sightseeing! No, it was a working, cultural experience only! It took 5 buses to haul the 192 missionaries and their children to Washington. Everyone was divided into groups of 4-5 people and had certain tasks to do, having to do with our "people group" that we will be working with overseas. (Since our "people group" will be the missionaries, we went with 3 ladies going to Poland.)
Driving past the Washington Monument on the way into town was the closest we got to "sightseeing"!
We had to observe an international family for 15 minutes and record their behaviors that are different from American ways. We had to do something kind or helpful to someone of a different nationality. We had to share our testimony or talk with a foreigner about a relationship with Jesus Christ. We had to go somewhere via the metro system to experience how a large part of the world gets around. We had to locate and visit something that had to do with the culture we were going to be living in, so we went to the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center since Poland is a very Roman Catholic country and proud of the fact that he was Polish.
Weiner Schnitzel, red cabbage, cole slaw and sauteed potatoes!
We also had to eat an ethnic meal, but because we could not find a Polish restaurant, we ate at a German one, and it was delicious! We walked enough across the city during the day to justify the American milkshake we bought as we were loading the buses at 5 pm to return to Richmond. We were exhausted by time we got home, but it had been a fun day!
Chris and Kate at Chili's in Staunton, Virginia
On Sunday afternoon, we drove to 1 1/2 hours to Interstate 81 in the western part of Virginia to meet up with Chris and Kate as they were driving home to Tennessee from visiting Kate's parents in New Jersey for Thanksgiving. They arrived at the restaurant about 2 minutes before us. Perfect timing! We visited with them for about an hour while we ate lunch together, then they had to get back on the road, so we headed back to Richmond.
Chris, Kate, Glenn, Cile and Shadow (the dog)
We enjoyed every minute with them and look forward to seeing them again in 3 weeks! See you soon, Shadow!
2 comments:
That German food looks awesome!! I can't wait for our first sauerkraut this year - yum!!
Glad you guys got to see Chris and Kate. I'm sure that was great for you both.
Also happy to see your mail is coming. Doesn't it just make your week?!
Y'all have a good week!
We love you!
Hmmm.. considering the fact that I'm part Polish (one of my grandfathers came over from Poland), that Polish food looks really good! I'm so glad you got to spend time with family as well as with friends. And I am thankful for this blog, so we can keep up with all your adventures! We'll see you in a few weeks!
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