Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving we had our friends the Lows over.  They are a family who are from Singapore but who have been serving in Japan for the past nine years.  They're participating in the Lake Hart STINT with us this year.  We've enjoyed their friendship so much, as have our kids enjoyed theirs.  So it was a sweet blessing to share this holiday with them--their very first American Thanksgiving.

OK, so I know the turkey doesn't look so golden, but it tasted amazing.  It was really the first whole turkey we've ever cooked.  Not too shabby.

A feast.  Everything we missed while in Italy.

Either the Lows enjoyed the food or they were incredibly polite. . .  :)

The Thanksgiving trio of pie goodness.  Not a slice was left by the end of the day.

Us with Estella and Patrick.

It was a simply delightful day.  After filling our bellies and watching some football, we all headed out for time at the park.  And some Black Friday shopping.  Complete Americana.

A Family Serve Day

As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, our family has finally found a local church to call for our time in Orlando.  We have been deeply fed by the Word being taught, and we've been brought into beautiful worship.  Saturday was a church-wide serve day, and our whole family participated.

(As a random side note, this will be the only time you will ever see our family in matching shirts!  What I think is fun on occasion, my husband is morally opposed to)

The group we served with went to an organization called Harvest International.  In addition to providing low cost food and clothing to locals who need it, the organization gathers supplies to send internationally to those in need.  We spent the first half of our time together sorting and folding bedspreads a hotel had donated, making sure they were in good enough condition to give away.  Soon they will be crated up and sent to South America.

This was one of the first times we had to work beside our kids in the gift of service.  It was great to be able to pray together for the those we would be able to bless through our hands and feet.  It was great to see so many others in the church come together to go out.

Hannah, especially, had a great time.  When we left, she said, "I could do that every week!"  We do hope this is just the first of many opportunities we will have to serve together.

We began our Thanksgiving week with hearts thankful for the ability to serve others.  We will be spending Thanksgiving in Florida with our new friends the Lows.  They are a family from Singapore who are participating in the STINT we're doing.  Though the 80 degree weather in Florida is challenging to all of us in terms of it feeling much like the holiday season, we are pretty excited to introduce our friends to such an American tradition.

We hope you all have a most blessed Thanksgiving Day.

Grandma's Visit

I'm sorry for the last posting this week.  My mom came for a visit.  What a very normal American thing to have happen!  Something that only happened occasionally and with much planning and fanfare in Italy. . . It was a simply delightful pleasure.  Though a certain three-year-old was somewhat bewildered and devastated that Papa (who was hunting with his brothers in South Dakota) didn't come too!

One of the very hardest things about being in Italy was being so far away from grandparents.  We value them and their role in our kids' lives so much.  Now that we're only one time zone away, instead of seven, we hope to make up for lost time. Grandma and Papa Simmons will be coming back for Christmas and Grandma Phipps will be coming at the end of December for Hannah's birthday.

All of us are treasuring this specific blessing of being back in America.  We treasure it even more, perhaps, since we didn't know it for such a season.

It was a great week.

A Culinary Schizophrenic

Can I confess one of the most paralyzing things I've experienced since being back in the States?

Deciding what to cook and going to the grocery store.

It seems like it wouldn't be that hard.  Kind of like getting dressed in the morning.  You just do it.  For the first month after we returned, I was struck every day with panic over what to feed our family.  I would walk into the Super Target right across the street and meander aimlessly through the aisles.

For the first 34 years of my life, I shopped at an American grocery stores and cooked American food.  Why did that all of a sudden seem impossible?

I guess this is a classic expression of reverse culture shock.  Did you know there is culture shock in returning to your home country?  I think I had heard about it before, but I certainly hadn't given it any thought.  And then I was paralyzed.

I am not exaggerating when I say I cried every time I went to the grocery store for the first three weeks we were back.  It was absolutely overwhelming.  I had gotten used to cooking Italian food.  Now I couldn't find the ingredients to make what I was used to cooking and I couldn't remember what the heck to cook with the American food on the shelves.

A wise friend offered great words of advice.  Having lived overseas herself, she said, "Your life in Italy will always affect your current life.  Think of that as a good thing."  Yes.  Good that I don't want to make hamburgers or pot roast or Bar-B-Que.  It's OK that we are craving mozzarella balls and pasta carbonara.

So step one was accepting the new culinary schizophrenic I had become.  I don't have to cook like an American and I can't cook entirely like an Italian.

Fast forward two months and our meal plan this week has two all-American dishes and three Italian dishes (and a Chinese dish just for the heck of it).  We made Bolognese Ragu for the first time last night (it's been way too hot outside to make it before now. . . ), and it was divine.  With the coming of Fall in Italy always came Ragu.  It just felt right.  And on Christmas Eve this year, we will have have Tortellini and Brodo, just as every family is Bologna will.  Of course, Christmas Day will bring a big, ole' turkey or ham--neither of which will be eaten by an Italian.

Step two was finding somewhere to shop where I wouldn't break down in tears!  I found a great little "market" of a store called Freshfield Farms that helped me imagine a manageable shopping experience.  They have beautiful fresh produce, and they have fresh meats they cut themselves.  That's it.  On Saturdays I drive up to Winter Park to go to their Farmer's Market, which is life-giving to me.  Small vendors, fresh produce, seasonal vegetables.  And there is even a vendor where I can get some of the Italian cheeses we desperately miss.

There is still much I miss being able to get at the store, but I'm slowly filling in the gaps.  And no tears in weeks!  Once more, I am learning how to embrace the new me.