Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving was great. Superb company. Great food. 

Even the planning and cooking was a breeze. Shout out to my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook that outlines day by day how to best prepare for Thanksgiving dinner, I was well prepared and able to prep so many things well in advance. Seriously, Betty Crocker, you the woman! 

That may sound lame, but I'm used to spending Thanksgiving with my family in Hilton Head and not having so many responsibilities for this ever so important holiday rest squarely on my shoulders. It'll take a few years to get into a good groove. I'm on my way though. I implemented some good tips this year and it helped to make the day really restful and stress free. I'm all about less stress during holidays!

Me and Stevie Wonderboy made a Thanksgiving thankful banner while the girls were at school.

And then when the girls got home they helped decorate it too! (International schools don't recognize thanksgiving, so no days off here!)

Today I am thankful for...."Steve spending his first Thanksgiving with his new family" "Sydaleigh and Marvelly!" "that I have great friends" "friends with cool kids" "my daughters smile and laugh" "my husband and his cooking skills" "awesome friends to celebrate with" "Steve became my brother!".......

Truly, so much to be thankful for, this doesn't even crack the surface of the depths of our gratitude.

Some of our favorite people. So blessed by their friendships....and the kids are too! They have truly helped fill the roles in our children's lives while living overseas and not having their aunts and uncles close by to give them piggyback rides. The Brills and Durkee's embrace our kids and spoil them with attention, the thing my kids love best!

Our other guests of honor....the ham and turkey we were blessed to have! Isaak carved up the ham, while Rebecca's parents so graciously carved up the turkey. (I have a rule that she who cooks the turkey does not have to carve the turkey : ) )

Naturally, there was way to much food. I made turkey, ham, crescent rolls, mashed potatoes, sugar glazed carrots, cranberry sauce, gravy, jello, pumpkin pie, chocolate pudding pie and a pumpkin dip for an appetizer. The rest of the crew brought green bean casserole, stuffing, cheese dip, peanut butter pie, squash fritters, corn, sweet potato mashed potatoes, apple crisp dessert, passion fruit and champagne! It. was. so. much!! We were painfully full!!

        

I am not used to eating so much here. I thought I was going to spontaneously combust!

Mmm, it was all so yummy. An absolute treat.

(Not to toot my own horn, but Isaak told me later that night, that that was the best turkey he has ever eaten. *toot toot* Whew! I seriously would have been happy with it just being cooked all the way through!)

Our crew.....Seth, Rebecca, with her parents Frank and Janet who are visiting, Matt, Megan and Mireya, Corrie and our crew all gathered together. It was a joy feasting with them.

Ma famille.

And, random pics by Steve. So much laughing and playing...once we were able to move again after the food settled!

To a wonderful day..... full of laughter, family, good friends, no stress, and blessings overflowing.

Thanksgiving Eve

It's that time of year again.

Thanksgiving. My favorite holiday. I was standing in the kitchen a little while ago and the scent of the pumpkin pie drifted up to me and for a moment I was standing with my mom again. In the kitchen next to her, talking and laughing, as she pulled the pie from the oven....that familiar smell stirring up dozens of memories from Thanksgivings past.

I love those memories. I cherish them, especially having to celebrate Thanksgiving apart from each other.

It is my third Thanksgiving in Burkina Faso. And we are hosting again, for the second year in a row.

Tomorrow at 4pm our doors will flood open with friends, mostly loved ones. Our loved ones here. I can not be in Hilton Head for Thanksgiving. I can not spend it with my massive family, as tradition dictates. But I have the next best thing. I get to spend it with my family here. My real family. And our friends who are as close to family as you can get. We are a close bunch. And it will be a joy to gather with them tomorrow and celebrate together.

I know that no matter what happens, whether the turkey ends up dry, the ham cold, the house a mess, whether we're drinking out of plastic bottles and if there is not a single decoration in sight....it won't matter. It doesn't matter with these people. There is a comfort and an acceptance among us. And I love that.

Tomorrow, that is one of the many things I will be thanking the Lord for.

The incredible gift of friends that He has blessed us with here in Burkina.

My heart is happy tonight.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow.....

My 33rd birthday

I turned 33 years old five days ago.

The day of my birthday was a lovely affair. Quiet. Celebrated with just the family. Isaak and the girls treated me to a delicious red velvet cake, complete with pink cream cheese frosting. Followed by presents picked out by the kids, especially for me, from our favorite little boutique Nuance Gallery.

My sweet friend Jonette brought me over this awesome bouquet as well! This is probably the coolest most unique flower arrangement I've ever been given. I love it!

Marvelly was so excited it was my birthday she started wishing me a happy birthday the day before. When I told her it wasn't my birthday yet, she'd just respond with, "but I want to tell you happy birthday now!" My girl. I adore her enthusiasm for life.

 Sydaleigh picked me out a beautiful red scarf. Which I have big plans to wear once the weather cools off here in the mornings.

Marvelly picked me out these awesome patch pants! How could I leave Burkina without being the owner of a pair of these beauties!

I'll be the best dressed momma in Burkina thanks to these kiddos! My loves. 

And then this was Isaak's gift, this lovely new pearl ring. He has been wanting to get me a new ring for a long time, but I'm not a girl that really has any interest in fancy or expensive jewelry, so I've always dismissed it. For the past 14 years I've worn the ring my mom gave me when we got engaged and I have been so content and happy with that one. It is lovely to me. It has a silver band with a little tiny diamond in the center. It's not showy. It doesn't have that "wow!" factor. But I love it. It's simple. And I like simple things. I would have been satisfied wearing that the rest of my life. But Isaak wanted to buy me one that came just from him. Which I understand, and I love that he wanted to do that. So, I finally obliged and started looking at rings on Etsy, wanting something not expensive, but still pretty and unique. I settled on this one. A pearl with some tiny diamonds on each side. I still wear my mom's ring. I've got all three stacked on my finger right now! I just can't seem to part with it from my hand yet...it's been there for so long. But now I've got one on there from Isaak at least! 

A couple days after my official birthday we had a dinner celebration at Le Verdoyant with the crew (Rebecca, Seth, her parents who are in town!, Ben, Molly, Matt and Megan). Funny thing though. Matt and Megan happen to share the same birthday with each other. How weird is that?! Being born on the same day as your spouse....that's rare! Anyways, they celebrated their dual birthday the week before mine, so the plan was to "trick" them into coming to dinner and dessert afterwards under the guise that it was for my birthday. But then I was led to believe that dinner and dessert afterwards was in celebration of Matt and Megan's birthday. So, unknown to either of us, we were all asked to make a cake for the other. 

Upon arriving at our house after dinner we each had a cake waiting for each other! Ha! Mine had been sitting out on the table, and before dinner Matt got a house key from Isaak, sneaked inside, and put their cake for me in the freezer. They saw their cake sitting on the table but thought someone wanted in on the fun of making me a cake too, and didn't realize it was for them. I'm tellin' ya, we're a quick bunch! Ha ha! It was quite the moment when we all realized we were celebrating the other person! Truly, I have the best people in my life! Ah, good times.

They made me a Pentax camera cake! And I made them a chocolate bundt cake, which Matt saw and thought was a well! Being the well driller that he is. I did not even consider that when making the cake, but yes, it could be a well. Complete with chocolate "dirt" sediment at the bottom of the hole! I love it!

It was a great celebration. My family and friends are a gift and blessed me well. I felt spoiled and loved. I have spent birthdays in the past much quieter than this, with little fan fair and gifts. And then there are years like this one where the celebration is bountiful and overflowing. I have learned to be satisfied with both. Mostly, I appreciate the opportunity to usher in another year. To be here, with my people, and the blessing and deep joy that comes from loving them. 

God is good. 

Life the past few weeks

Our internet has been very unpredictable for the past couple of weeks. It only works intermittently, sometimes for just a couple minutes at a time, so it's been very difficult to get online and update on life. 

The reality of life in Burkina...terrible internet made even more terrible. 

But, with the internet working at the moment, and unsure of how long it will last, I will take some time to quickly bring my blog up to speed. (Ha! The internet just crashed, again! Thankfully this page is loaded and I can keep on typing even though the internet is down....but it may be a while before I can actually post this... aah, c'est la vie)

It's been three weeks since Burkina's revolution. 

Revolution. It's weird to say that word in the context of what transpired, but alas, that's what happened. The people of Burkina, through a very loud and concentrated voice, some through violent and destructive means (which was sad and unfortunate) convinced their president to resign and saw their entire government dissolved in the process.

It has been a rocky past few weeks. In a nut shell...the military seized control in an effort to regain momentary stability, prevent anarchy, and ensure safety. They briefly closed all land and air borders not allowing anyone in or out of the country. But that has since been lifted and flights have resumed. They issued a curfew which is still in effect, but everyone is respecting it and there have not been any major clashes with the police or military for the last two weeks. But, politically, things have been very convoluted. With the international community putting a lot of pressure on the military to relinquish control and hand over power to a civilian- the military, opposition party leaders, and religious leaders have been busy meeting and trying to find some way to move forward and reestablish the government in a way that is acceptable to everyone. Not an easy task.

Thankfully, this week they all came to a consensus, and agreed upon and swore in a man to be the interim president until elections can be held next year. The military has strategically set themselves up to still maintain a lot of power and leverage, but in the end they satisfied the international community to hand over presidential power to a civilian, and for that, many are quite satisfied.

This is a very big step not only for Burkina, but for the entire region. 

In a region where coups, political protests, and collapsing governments are all too common it speaks very highly of Burkina Faso to have successfully agreed to terms of reestablishing their government and maintaining a fair and democratic state in such a short period of time. Burkina has set themselves up to be a prime example of teamwork and compromise in an effort to maintain stability following the downfall of their government, if things continue to go well.

Prayerfully, the next several months leading up to the elections will continue to be peaceful.

So, that's the most recent news of the political situation here. 

As far as life in our family during this time....

Well, we were hanging low for a while, but life has resumed as normal, thank goodness! Americans were ordered to "shelter in place" for nearly a week during this time. 

I gotta say, being locked down in our home with the kids, and not being able to go anywhere, had us all going a little bit stir crazy by the end. But we made the best of it. 

School was canceled the Sunday prior to the protests for the entire week, which followed the Fall break the students had already been on the week before. 

So, the kids had been out of school for over two weeks.

But, it actually turned out to be a blessing that school ended up being canceled another week. Not just to avoid the kids being out during this time of unrest, but because the Sunday that school was reported canceled, Sydaleigh came down with a fever. And she ended up being sick almost all week long.

She had a pretty high fever consistently for four days. Even with ibuprofen and Tylenol it wouldn't seem to go away. She was feeling bad, poor thing. So with the protests that had broken out earlier in the week and Sydaleigh being sick, we were staying home anyways.

 Although, Paris would have been a great alternative too. =)

We swam a couple times. But our pool is pretty chilly right now and the kids just didn't feel like being wet. And Syd was sick for a while. So, we had to come up with other ways to pass the time.

 We had to get creative.

 We were trying to impress each other by doing cool tricks on the chair.

 Errrr, I think we need to work on our tricks!

Most of the time the kids just jumped face first into the cushions! ha!

Marvelly and Steve playing the fishing game she came up with.

Dress up, of course. Marvelly the queen. Sydaleigh her baker? And, I'm not sure what they dressed Steve up to be...an ancient Egyptian? Or, a Mrs. Butterworth bottle?  It's a tie. And, I'm sorry Steve. =) I promise to buy you some really manly monster dress up clothes when we move.

Playing in the refrigerator Sydaleigh made out of her milk carton cardboard box from school.

  
Maps. Ransom stuff. We kept busy. That's all that mattes. And when we exhausted all of our creativity and had no desire to busy ourselves.....we watched movies. Lots and lots of movies.

And that was that. We stayed safe. Kept busy. Waited for life here to quiet back down.  And I'm happy to report that things are moving in the right direction.

Burkina...the story of today.

Forty-eight hours after the events of Thursday, the massive demonstrations that ultimately resulted in the resignation of Burkina's president Blaise Compaore and the ensuing violence, looting and vandalism that erupted.....things in Burkina Faso finally quieted down today.

The situation here is still very fragile. When a government has been completely dissolved and a country is having to start from scratch with its leadership, it is realistic that stability is going to take a while to be restored. The people's confidence in their leadership is not going to be earned overnight. 

The country certainly has a long way to go before they have a better understanding of what their future will look like outside of Compaore's rule. 

But in the meantime, while their future is getting sorted out, and the opposition and military are determining the best course of action to take to move forward.....

....the people decided to go back out on the streets today.

But this time it was not to protest. 

It was not to loot, or destroy. 

But to clean up. 

Because they take great pride in their country. 

These past two days have taught me a lot about the Burkinabé and what national pride really looks like. 

This country is very poor. It is considered one of the poorest most undeveloped and illiterate countries in the entire world. And that's how much of the world sees them. Through the narrow scope of that limited view. 

But that's not what the Burkinabé see. That's not what they see. That's not how they view themselves. 

They see a country worth fighting for. They see poverty but they also see promise. They see illiteracy but they also see the absolute value and necessity of education maybe more than any western country can appreciate. They see a country worth cleaning. A country worth picking up a straw broom, a shovel, and a garbage bag and joining together to restore what was broken. 

(photo courtesy Burkina24)

This country may not look like much through the eyes of the world....but it means a lot to them. They take pride in what they have. Even with all of the world's statistics stacked against them....they have pride in their country. 

Yes, poverty is rampant, they are under developed, and the majority of the population is uneducated. 

All true. 

But what the world sees when it looks at Burkina Faso is only part true, because it's only part of their story. 

It's not their whole story. 

The whole story is that this is a beautiful country. With beautiful people. And a rich deep culture. It may not boast impressive skyscrapers, million dollar mansions, top notch health care, beautiful beaches, a notable education system, or world class tourism.....but they take pride in what they do have. 

And while what they have may not be on the same affluent scale as the rest of the world, it still means a lot to them. 

And so I just want to take a moment to highlight the events that transpired today. The whole story of what's unfolding during this time of  unrest. Something positive and praiseworthy that I found so admirable in the aftermath of the chaos.

                           

(photo courtesy Burkina24)

A story that BBC and France24 and CNN won't cover. Because painting a country out to be full of a bunch of violent impulsive power hungry neanderthals garners a lot more viewers than showing the placid people who went back out on the streets today cleaning up their country out of nothing more than national pride. 

             

(photo courtesy Burkina24)

The same pride that moved them to stand up to the transgression of their government also moved them to pick up a straw broom and clean up their streets.

            

(photo courtesy Burkina24)

And this is noteworthy too. This, is just as relevant as what happened on Thursday. Today's news may not sell like yesterdays, but it speaks volumes about the character of these people as they banded together to clean up the rubble.

Because working side by side in unity to clean up what has been broken is invaluable for restoring a nations weary spirit in times of turmoil, unrest, and fear.

They have a long way to go to rebuild. To restore order. And regain credibility in this region thats been severed due to the events of this week. The situation here is still very delicate. But they are not a lost cause. This country is valuable and worth the effort needed to rebuild. And it is my earnest prayer that peace and stability will return to this nation. That reason and caution will guide people's future actions. That the next generation will set an example and precedence for honesty, hard work, and pride for who they are and what they have. And that they may live up to their name.....

the land of upright people.