Happy Thanksgiving

Two of the the things I am thankful for : my little cuties>>>

Without a real plan for Thanksgiving and with no oven to make turkey, we decided to take refuge in the hotel buffet dinner at the Crowne Plaza which promised to include turkey. If you take a close look at my plate, you can see turkey and cranberry sauce and a roll with butter along side a hearty serving of sushi -- the perfect accompaniment to turkey, if you are me and just love sushi. We all ended up having a wide variety of foods, and the buffet was fun, especially for Thomas, who had a meat fest, and topped it off with fruit and a half loaf of french bread.

I had to take a picture of the dessert side of the buffet..really quite impressive to an ordinary commoner like myself. We shared out meal with Deborah and Kate, who actually ate Italian food..so it was an eclectic Thanksgiving. It was a regular work and school day for everyone. In the morning I went to Helen's class for English, and in my halting Chinese tried to explain that we say thank you on Thanksgiving and eat a big meal with turkey. I taught them the poem "thank you for the food we eat...thank you for the world so sweet...thank you for the birds that sing...thank you for everything" with some motions and printed thanksgiving signs to color. It was a beautiful day here and I was maybe more in touch than I sometimes am in the US amidst all the cooking, of how very humbled and grateful I am by the blessings of my life: mostly obviously the children and Michael of course, but also the dream of living in another country, the chance to travel, study a new language, and the many kindnesses that people show us every day. Not to mention the natural beauty of Xiamen, which really gets in your head and makes you happy to get up each morning.

I am leaving on Wednesday to go to Michigan to be with my mom for her brain surgery she is having a mass (tumor) removed and biopsied), which is Friday the 30th. I know this is just beginning of a long road for my folks in dealing with the uncertainty of her health in the short and long term, and its hard to know just how to feel. I can only go for a week or so, and even that will be tricky for Michael. I feel guilty about the wonderful year I am having while my mother is facing such a terrible situation. I think being there will help and I can take some of the burden off my sister for a few days. In the mean time, our friends are visiting from Xi'an, and it is a joyful reunion for all..enjoying showing off Xiamen to them.