How was your Thanksgiving week?

I can't believe today is the last day of November already!  During "Fall/Winter", time seem to fly by extra fast here since it really doesn't feel like "Fall/Winter" in the first place.

Here's a little recap of our Thanksgiving week...

On Wednesday, while our friends in the States were busy preparing for the big Thanksgiving feast, we enjoyed a little visit with our friends who stopped by on a cruise ship.

"Moonshine" - An adorable puppy at Ital Creation!

I love having visitors because it gives me the chance to see the beauty of  St. Kitts through a fresh pair of eyes.  Although it was a tease to only have them for the afternoon, we had a great time catching up and sharing a little bit of our lives here on the island.

D and L brought us treats from good old Village Market!

On Thursday, while our family in the States sat around the table enjoying a meal together, Mike went to work just like any other day.

I'm still getting used to that.  It's hard to feel like "Thanksgiving" because it's just "another day" here on the island.  However, Megumi and I attended the "Thanksgiving feast" at the elementary school where I teach Art and piano.  It was delicious and we had a good time sharing our meal with friends.

For dinner, we attended the Caribbean Christian Fellowship Thanksgiving dinner potluck and enjoyed another wonderful meal with friends.  Unfortunately Megumi took out my camera from our backpack so I didn't get to take any pictures.  Although it wasn't the same and it probably will never be the same as in the States, we still had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  While we missed our family, we were blessed to have friends to share the day with!







On Friday, while the crazy madness of "Black Friday" was going on in the States, I enjoyed a peaceful morning playing in the pool at Palm Court Garden with another mom and the kiddos.

Today, while people back in the States are busy putting up Christmas decorations, we enjoyed an enthusiastic church service under the tent, had friends over for lunch and witnessed a beautiful baptism concluded with a fun barbecue on the beach under the stars.

Although there are many things I miss about living in the States during this time of the year, I have to admit, our version of Thanksgiving week was still pretty amazing.  We have much to be thankful for!

How was YOUR Thanksgiving week?

The wisdom of a two year old

Megumi recently started volunteering to pray whenever we hold hands together to pray as a family (meal times, bed time, before sending Mike off to work...etc.)  She used to mumble and say "amen!" at the end or repeat words after us.  But her first prayer using her own words went like this right before she went to bed: "Dear God, thank you for bed.  Thank you for laptop.  Thank you for blanket.  Jesus prays.  Amen!"  You can imagine how my heart swelled with joy and pride as I heard my little girl say her own prayer to God.  So simple yet so true.  Ever since then, her prayer differs but she always ends with "Jesus prays..Amen!" and I love that.  Isn't that what "In Jesus' name we pray" means?! That Jesus is our high priest interceding on our behalf? Oh the wisdom of a two year old!

I have to be honest.  Holiday season is hard. Lately I've been quite jealous of all the pictures on Facebook of the people wearing cute jackets and boots holding their steaming Starbucks cup in the snow.  I know...I know...I can't complain.  I have this gorgeous Atlantic Ocean spreading out in front of me outside the window as I type this and I just went snorkeling with my husband last Friday.  But living here, we tend to focus on what we "miss" than on what we have.

One of the things I usually tell my friends that I miss about living in the States is a playground for the kids.  I miss the slide, the swing set and all the fun things to climb on!  But looking at Megumi this morning with her friends giggling over a simple post at the port, they reminded me that we really don't need much to be happy.  She's not "missing out" because she doesn't have a cool playground to play on.  Instead of a climbing wall, we have a huge tree.  Instead of a sand box, we have a pile of sand.  Instead of a swing set, we have a hammock.
 Oh the wisdom of a two year old!

When I explained to Megumi that it's good to tell God what we are thankful for in our prayers, she smiled and started praying: "Dear God, thank you for A...thank you for M....thank you for B....thank you for C...thank you for..."  She continued to list all of her friends and let me tell you, it was quite a list!  No, she's not missing out at all.