Thanksgiving Weekend...Saturday!

I had such a fun time on Saturday. I caught the high speed train to Taichung, which takes only 23 minutes to go the distance that would take 90 minutes by bus, I'm told. Taichung is in the middle of Taiwan, on the West side of the island, and it's HUGE! My great friends, Otey and Cheryl, and their three kids, Hannah, Owen, and Peter, moved there just this past summer and I consider that one of God's gifts to me to provide for some deeper relationships for me (and indeed one of the ways He used to confirm that Taiwan is where I should be right now.)

So, I got on the train, and met up with Otey and Owen who were on their way back home after spending the night in Taipei. It was fun to hang out with them on the train, albeit a short journey. Cheryl and Peter picked us up in the van and thus began a hilarious ride back to their house. Peter is a funny kid and since it was so warm in Taichung, he was wearing sandals and got to show me how he could pinch with his toes and inflict great pain. Trust me, it hurt! We began to share all our strange human tricks with one another and laughed all the way home.

After running a few errands, (I got some fresh okra that I can fix, yea! and some great coffee to bring home from Otey's favorite coffee shop, which I love!) we all hung out talking and watching some videos on YouTube. It was like being with family, and I was so appreciative. Later that evening, we shared a great meal together, I've included a short video of the meal for my mother and friends. Shout out to Cheryl and Otey for cooking a delicious ham, (which Otey had to cut and we all had to hear the perils of leaving the string on the ham when you cook it...poor guy), making some awesome mashed potatoes, vegetables and hot rolls! (I made the stuffing...well, stove top put it together, I just added water...yummy bready goodness!)

My favorite part of the day was Otey gathering the family together in the evening after the meal and sitting everyone down to talk about being thankful. Hannah is 16, Owen is 12 and Peter is almost 10 (I think that's right), so the fact that they would be willing to participate in this activity is a testimony to good parenting, the grace of God and the benefits of raising your children outside of the U.S. - not necessarily in that order. Anyway, we all sat down, and I was reminded once again of how much I love the way certain people handle the truth, in this scenario it was Otey. We are all in a new place, again, and we're all without others in our lives for whom we're thankful, and that makes living here/being here sometimes difficult. Otey acknowledged in a humorous way that although it may be hard to be thankful for this particular period of our lives, we have much still to be thankful for. He asked each of the children what they are thankful for, to which Peter readily volunteered, "I'm thankful that all my body parts are here!" We all laughed about that and then we agreed that we were thankful for that too. Owen was thankful for a good weekend in Taipei with his dad, and Hannah was thankful for her school (which is Morrison Academy, a great school for all three kids). I was thankful for friends like Otey and Cheryl who would indulge the deeper side of me to hold an intentional time of thanksgiving with me and include me in their family celebration. Otey prayed...and it was a good day.

At that, Cheryl and I rushed off so I could catch the train back to Hsinchu. It was an awesome thanksgiving Saturday!

Stay tuned for more Thanksgiving weekend news!

LC