My Thanksgiving in Cebu

This is mega-long, but there was so much to share!!  Enjoy the pictures!

Thanksgiving is a well-loved American holiday, and there are many Americans on staff here, so....despite the fact that it's not officially celebrated in the Philippines, we do honor it with several activities!

We began before Thanksgiving by creating a bulletin board of things we are thankful for....

Then there was the long-awaited turkey-coloring contest!  The kids work long and hard on it, knowing that the grand prize is to join the staff for THANKSGIVING DINNER!!!  They hear about it from the previous winners and how yummy turkey is, so they put forth their full effort to try to gain a coveted spot at the Thanksgiving dinner table.

The kids anxiously eyed the pictures, making their best guesses at who the winners would be.  They also wanted our opinions on which ones we thought were the best - so as to possibly give a spark of hope to their anxious minds!  We chose to decline comment. :)

We brought in some neutral judges to judge the four age groups.  All I can say is I'm certainly glad I didn't have to judge!  It was a tough call, and even the judges had to deliberate for a long time before making their final decisons.

On Thanksgiving Day, we still had school, but we had a Thanksgiving program in the afternoon for the kids.  It included some Thanksgiving songs, games (including drawing a turkey blindfolded!), the telling of the original Thanksgiving story by Paul (and a real turkey!), the announcement of the coloring contest winners, and trying pumpkin bread for a snack!

After our program and the end of the school day, the staff raced home to finish our Thanksgiving dinner goodies!  At our house, Sandy worked hard at the mashed potatoes, Tammy carefully put together her deviled eggs, and I mixed together my usual specialty, green bean casserole!  All of the CSC staff gathered at the Ohlendorfs, and along with the four coloring contest winners and some friends of CSC, we sat down to a HUGE Thanksgiving dinner!! 

It was very fun to have this special meal with four Filipino children who have never experienced one before!  The four kids started the meal line, and several of us staff went up to explain the different foods to them.  I started by saying, "This is stuffing.  It's like.......bread....kind of..."  It was tricky to explain it, as I'd never even thought twice about how to describe stuffing before!  I moved on to the green bean casserole, lifted up a spoonful of the green/white/brown gloppy stuff and explained, "This is green bean casserole.  It's beans - vegetables..."  The kids eyed the white saucy stuff with the fried brown things on top and their eyes seemed to say, "You're crazy.  That does NOT look like vegetables!")  They were brave eaters though, and were willing to try almost all of the goodies.  I convinced Paula and Jenive to take at least a small bite of the sweet potatoes because "you never know, you might love it!"  They did indeed love it!  The other favorites were the turkey, mashed potatoes, and the deviled eggs - especially for Clyd!  June and Paula were NOT fans of the green olives!  Their faces said it all (see picture)! 

Ruth and Marlys, the turkey carvers!

Eyeing the different foods and cautiously taking small portions.

Look at the tiny servings on their plates! :)

Debating over whether to try the sweet potatoes.

NOT a fan of the olives (they called them "olivias")!!

Loving the new food and the whole experience!

We had quite the spread!

We explained to the kids that they could go up as many times as they wanted to get more, so they definitely took advantage of that!  Once they started getting pretty full, Joel did an awesome job explaining the science behind making room for more.  I chimed in, and the kids listened intently to our every word.  It was hilarious to put into words exactly what we do in America without even thinking about it!  You see, when you start getting full, you just sit back and "take a rest" for a little bit and then eventually your stomach says, "I think I can take one more bite".  Then you take another rest, maybe move around a little bit, stand up and walk around, stretch, and then you have room for more!  We even explained the concept of wearing a belt that you can loosen as you go so you can eat more, or wearing pants that stretch at the top.  The kids were laughing hysterically, and loving every moment of it! :D  There was even a competition among the kids and some staff to see who could stick out their tummy the farthest!

We told the kids to save room for dessert though!  The pumpkin pie was soooo good, complete with whipped cream, my favorite!  At home, there are some friends of mine who consider putting whipped cream on something "Michelle-ing" it since I love it so much.  To properly "Michelle" something, it needs to be so covered in whipped cream that you can barely tell which pie is underneath! :)

It was wonderful to be able to celebrate Thanksgiving with these four CSC kids....and I think I gained a little more appreciation for our beloved American holiday by explaining it to these Filipinos at our program and at Thanksgiving dinner.  I guess being away from the norm and family during holidays opens your eyes to things you never realized before - and gives you an even greater appreciation for what you do have.

There's my story of my Thanksgiving in Cebu.  I have so much to be thankful for, I couldn't possibly list it all here.  I am first and foremost thankful for my Lord and Savior, who has been so loving, gracious, and faithful to me in life and during my time here.  I'm thankful for the opportunity to be living out my dream here in Cebu this year and for all my friends and family who have been a huge support network for me from home.  I'm thankful for the kids here and for the wonderful staff, and for what CSC has meant to so many people over the years.  Let's never forget to praise God continually for who He is and all He has done for us.  We could never say thank you enough.  Our God truly is an awesome God!!