Gratitude Attitude

Feliz día de Acción de Gracias!

It doesn't feel much like Thanksgiving here in Honduras.  Christmas decorations have been up since October.  It's 1,000 degrees outside.  I don't have a T.V. to watch the parade.  I'm in an empty house while my family is hundreds of miles away.  But luckily I did get to celebrate with a big feast this past Sunday, thanks to some very generous friends who invited us over for a big American-style Thanksgving. 

Of course, I couldn't just pick one thing to make, so I spent the better part of 2 days in the kitchen cooking up some yummy dishes to share.  Thanks to Mom's Thanksgiving care package, I was able to bring 2 kinds of dressing- our traditional Peperidge Farm mix and this cornbread dressing.  I adapted it a little based on the ingredients we have here, and it turned out spicy and fantastic!

And after spending hours searching my new addiction, Pinterest, I found some new recipes to try.  This corn casserole got gobbled up! (I mean, how can you go wrong with bacon and cream cheese?)

But quite possibly the star of the Thanksgiving feast were these homemade yeast rolls.  They were fluffy and sooooo incredibly easy to make.  No kneading!  I'll definitely be making these again.  And if you try it, watch the video from her blog.  Rolling these was so much fun!  I made about 50 rolls and guess how many were leftover?

Even though we don't celebrate Thanksgiving in Honduras, the school gives us a couple of days off since most of the teaching staff are Norte Americanos (side note:  Yes, we are referred to as NORTH Americans.  If you say you're American people get quite defensive, as they consider themselves to be Americans too.) 

 I felt like it was important to teach my class a little about Thanksgiving, and why we were celebrating.  We made turkey hats and wrote things we were thankful for on the feathers.  We also preformed a little song at the school assembly on Friday.  Here are my adorable little pavos.

I am thankful for so many things today. 

• I am thankful for my family who supports my crazy adventure and sends me little reminders of home and supplies for my class. 
• I am thankful for my health.  I am so glad to be feeling better after my Honduran hospital adventure.
• I am thankful for my students who put a smile on my face each day and inspire me with the way they try so hard to use their English with me.
• I am thankful for the friends I have made and their families that have welcomed me into their homes when I am so far away from my family and friends.
• I am thankful that our house is finally mouse free!
• Most of all, I am thankful for a God that is universal, who knows no borders.  I am thankful that I have a church family that I can worship the same God with both here and at home.

Happy Thanksgiving, Y'all!

(You can take the girl out of Texas,

but you can't take the Texas out of the girl.)