giving thanks

So the official day to celebrate what we are thankful for has come and gone. It was a beautiful day. We had 16 people come over. Getting chicken would´ve been very expensive, so we ended up getting thanksgiving sausage haha...and a lot of it. Everyone brought food, so we had the sausage, macaroni and cheese (we had a bunch of cheese that was about to expire), mashed potatoes, regular cooked potatoes, a salad, tons of bread, camote (which is kind of like a sweet potatoe but better in my opinion), popcorn, and apple pie! We had probably just the right amount of food...enough to send plates home with people, to send food for those who couldn´t come, and we still managed to have some leftovers to last us the weekend. We had a bunch of construction paper and markers out for people to write what they were thankful for and then we all put them on the wall. We weren´t sure how it would go over because it´s not a tradition that is really celebrated here...but we were happy to see everyone really get into and put some time and thought into what they wrote. The beautiful colorful reminder is still up on our wall...next to our Christmas countdown. Our friend Herbert gave a beautiful prayer to bless the food, and Meghan gave a great toast.

We told people to get there at 7pm...so we expected people to start coming over around 8 or 9. It took a while to cook and warm stuff up on our little two burner stove, so we didnt actually start eating until around 9:30 or so. But no one seemed to mind. It was beautiful to watch everyone visiting and interacting...friends from work laughing with friends from the bakery...all of the random pockets of people who have been so warm and welcomed us here in Cusco. And they were all enjoying food and fellowship together in our new apartment.

Thank you so much for all of the thanksgiving packages and emails! We are definitely set on snacks and yum food for a while now. We feel so blessed and lucky to have so much love from people. I am blown away by how much love God has showered over me through my family and friends. I miss you all so much. I look forward to seeing you all again and sharing in more love, laughs, trials, and beginnings. Love you.