I woke up this morning and my roomate, Jess, and I ventured to our local neighborhood pazar to buy some produce! Honestly, I could not have had a better start to my morning! First, I woke up and could see blue sky and it was crisp and clear outside…incredible! It actually feels like fall today - what a blessing! We walked the about a kilometer or a little less to our local pazar…I love that walk! I absolutely love grocery shopping and even more than going to the store do I love buying fresh produce from the open air markets and picking out which vendor has the best looking produce. I feel so grown-up getting to make those decisions and picking out the absolute best apples, or whatever we happen to be selecting, from the immaculately stacked bins of produce. As a side note, the way that they display their produce here truly is an art and it is beautiful! We had to get carrots, cranberries, mushrooms, apples, and a few other things. We successfully purchased (while succesfully understanding what we were purchasing - perhaps a bigger victory) our produce and headed home. Since we had several kilo’s worth of produce in bags, we decided to not walk home but to take a minibüs that was supposed to go right by our street…but as nothing is ever easy in this city, we quickly learned the difference between “ömür” and “incirli” - they are the same on the otobüs but not on the minibüs haha. Yeah, so that ONE minibüs our roomate told us not to take to come home…definitely took that one! Haha! As soon as we crossed the highway, we knew we were not going to end up near our house so we got off and walked home - it was equally as far, if not further, than the walk would have been originally from the pazzar! Of course, we came laughing all the way home. Now we know which minibüs not to take - sometimes trial and error is the best way to learn here!
After our marathon run through the neighborhood, I had to run up to our apartment and get ready for Thanksgiving dinner! Speaking of Thanksgiving dinner, I must say that it FAR exceeded my expectations of ever celebrating Thanksgiving outside of America! I was thoroughly impressed to say the least! We had the whole regular menu: cornbread stuffing, bread, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, turkey (now I can say I have eaten turkey in Turkey haha), pumpkin casserole, jello salad, cooked carrots, pasta, dressing, pumpkin pie, pecan pie, pumpkin cheesecake, creamy delight with cherries, and I’m sure a few others that I can’t remember but surely tasted today! :) We even made ice for our drinks - we were American all the way today. Honestly, in some ways, I had set low standards on my expectations for what Thanksgiving would taste like (I didn’t want to get my hopes too high for my favorite holiday meal) but everything was incredible and delicious!!! Probably because it was all made from scratch…not short cuts with canned vegetables or canned soup mixes! So naturally, it has to be incredible…and it was :)
My roomates and I all celebrated Thanksgiving this afternoon with four other American families in our city. I was so blessed to fellowship with them this afternoon and to feel like I had a family to enjoy the holiday with! My roomates definitely are like my family here and I am so thankful for them! If you know me and are with me around this time of year, you probably know that Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! I love everything about it! I love fall and I love that Thanksgiving is in the fall! I love all the food that is served and the low-key, agenda-less afternoon that always follows the meal…hopefully with a good cup of coffee and lots of laughs :) I love that for one day out of the year, I don’t care what I eat and want to try from the variety of creative cooking that is displayed across the kitchen counter. I love hearing people tell stories and reminiscing about their childhood…I had all of that today! So thankful! Yes, I did miss being with my family…it is my first Thanksgiving away from my family. I expected today to be much harder than it was…yes, I do miss my family and it would have been great to be with them today but God is SO good to give me joy on the day that I thought was going to be the hardest to be here! He gets all the glory! I cannot praise Him enough! Today was a great day!!
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness! Come into his presence with singing! Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name! For the Lord is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations. Psalm 100I am so thankful to be thankful today! I could write an endless list fo all that I am thankful for: the opportunity and privilege to live in the country and city where I am living right now, to have my eternity secured for me in heaven, an incredibly supportive home fellowship that has loved me to the place where I am today and has encouraged me to take so many baby steps along the way, my roomates that I live with here - they make me laugh every day, my wonderful boyfriend, Michael, who keeps my inbox full while I’m gone and who I also can’t wait to see in 22 days, my precious friends here whom I have been able to share Truth with and labor in prayer for, my friends at home that are an incredible source of encouragement to me, the list goes on and on…
I am several hours ahead and I have celebrated Thanksgiving already when Turkey’s are just barely popped into the oven and everyone at home is dreaming of the incredible meal that they will devour in a few hours…as you get ready on the other side of the world to give thanks today, please don’t forget the price that has been paid so that you may have joy today! Give thanks every day for that precious gift!
p.s. THANK YOU Michael for Skyping with me today!!!
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