Skip to main content

Thanksgiving and Birthdays

Thanksgiving 2015


As you boys may know, today is Aunt Michele's 50th birthday.  Yes, I really am that old!  Half a century!  Growing up sometimes my birthday would fall right on Thanksgiving day since it's a holiday that is on a certain day of the week and a certain week of the month.  Do you know how that works and what U.S. president set it up that way?  Check it out and see if you can find out!

I remember often getting a chocolate pie for my birthday and not a chocolate cake.  But it was always A-OK for me since I love pies!  Pumpkin is one of my favorites.  This morning I was glad for three extra pieces of pie leftover from our Thanksgiving feast - and yes, I ate one for breakfast with whipped cream.  I also remember that the birthday money I got almost always went to buy Christmas presents for my brother and for my parents.  Your daddy's birthday money had always run out long before the holidays, so half of mine usually got lended out to said brother to buy gifts as well.  I'm still wondering if I ever got paid back for all those loans?

Thanksgiving is a time to spend with family.  Being a missionary kid often means that you are never with your whole family on holidays.  I guess we have never been with you all on Thanksgiving.  Your mama can correct me if I'm wrong, but I can't remember one.  But being a MK also means that you can call many special people "aunt" and "uncle."  Yesterday Greyson was surrounded by people that love and care for him - his mama and his papa and two sets of missionary aunts and uncles.

I cherish the time that we got to spend at your house in Texas last year and the time we had together in August of this year.  We didn't have any turkey in North Carolina or Georgia in August but we did have some grand times of thanksgiving.  I am very grateful for memories of this past summer.

Today I am wishing each one of you an incredible holiday season as we get closer and closer to Christmas.  Be thankful for what you have and don't forget to be grateful for good times together with your family while "the getting's good!"

By the way, yesterday we ate turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, two kinds of cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, baked creamed corn, yeast rolls, two kinds of fresh salad, mashed potatoes, deviled eggs, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, key lime pie, whipped cream, and washed it all down with sweet tea and cool sparkling water.  Most of all that was from ingredients bought right here in Brazil - but not all!  :)

Love you,
Aunt Michele

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Everything New

I'm reading a book for old missionaries about all the crazy things people go through in returning from their field of service to spend time in their home country.  One of the chapters is all about how tough it is to "go home."  Things change and the missionary ends up out of sync with what's new since their last "home" visit. "Coming home" this time has been smooth in some ways and a little crazy in others.  Byron and I haven't had a real furlough for six years.  On one hand our recent short visits pathed the way for an easier transition.   But staying for a longer this time around means we don't have to feel as rushed to go and do and see, even though we are always reminded of that the pages of the calendar are passing by. Keeping in touch with our friends in Brazil is uniquely easy nowadays allowing us the privilege of almost instant contact, real time decision making and even seeing regular photos of my cat.  We can send money quickly an...

Sabbatical Time

  Furlough, it used to mean getting my boys all prepped with new clothes, all ready to attend classes in real schools, and all set to interact with Americans.  Today, it means finding someone to take care of our Brazilian pets and hoping the grandkids remember who we are.  I didn't even buy any new clothes! Thankfully we found who I hope will be the best house/petsitter ever, and I think my grandbabies already know who I am.  Tying up all the loose ends of ministry and house took more effort and time than ever, but we made it to the aiport on time and so far so good.  I am sitting unstressed in the largest airport in Brazil this afternoon typing away with few concerns. Hopefully this sabbatical furlough will be just that unstressed with few concerns.  We need to visit around 25 churches, see as many loved ones as possible and go to Walmart as often as we can.  We also need to rally support for the missionaries that are joining our ministry efforts in t...

Quitting

This fall I posted about a camping trip my husband and I took with our boys. Our oldest was getting set to head back to Brazil without us and we wanted to get away together with just the family for a few days. When it came time to get in the car, our middle boy refused to get in. We were leaving for a weekend with reservations in another state. It was a tense moment as he started walking away from the car and house and down the road away from us. It was just one of many such moments that occurred over the past two years as we watched our boy slip farther and farther away from us and our values. I worked literally day and night to find help, look for counsel, and often searching for our missing boy.  Nothing we did seemed to change the direction in which our son's life seemed to be going. Many times my husband and I felt like giving up.  We prayed.  We asked others for help and advice.  I remember one night in particular as I was chatting with a...