Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family, friends and yummy food!
Here in Spain they do not celebrate Thanksgiving but at the kids school they did talk about the holiday during their English classes.  Alec came home from school with a  turkey picture that he colored!  And Lynsey said they watched last years Macy's Day Parade!

We celebrated Thanksgviving on Friday because the kids get out school earlier that day.  We actually picked them up 2 hours before school was finished which made them very happy. They did not have to eat the school food on Friday---I know they were very THANKFUL  for that!!!  Yes, the food still continues to be a big topic at our house, but never-the-less they are surviving.  Lynsey is funny because many days she will ask me  "Is fish good for you", or "Are beans good for you", etc..  She says it better be good for her if she has to eat it!  It is funny how she now appreciates my cooking!

Shopping for Thanksgiving food was a lot of work this year and quite interesting.  Pumpkins, canned pumpkins, canned sweet potatoes, marshmallows, cranberry sauce, and pies were no were to be found!  We almost did not have a turkey but Dave perservered and at 10:00pm Thursday night he finally found a turkey in an English store in Malaga .  They only had two turkeys in their store so we were THANKFUL that we were able to eat turkey this year!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our home with some missionary friends from our church and their son Effy.  Effy was in town  for a week and wanted a traditonal thanksgiving meal.  He is a student at a University in Chicago and plays on the school soccer team.  He is going to try out for the Chicago Fire which is a pro MLS soccer team.  Of course the boys thought that was really cool!  Our friends are from Columbia originally but have lived all over the world including Chicago.  Since they have lived in the U.S they often celebrate Thanksgiving and asked if we wanted to celebrate with them because they knew the Spanish people would not be having a turkey meal.

Our kids were excited to help prepare the meal and get everything ready before our guest arrived.  The younger boys get so excited when we entertain which makes it fun for us adults.  Lynsey was a big help with the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoe casserole (we used the real ones!) and homemade noodles.
I woke up Friday morning thinking about "home" and wishing I were there instead of here.  I woke from a dream that I was back in Indy and was shopping in an American store.  In the dream I was so happy because I could talk to the sales lady and and all the prices were in dollars not Euros!  I miss my family, friends and some of the simplest things...like a large hot water heater!  However, I am so THANKFUL that we  celebrated Thanksgiving because it did  make it seem a little more like home.  And of course once again we all ate way too much food!  Little Alec kept going back for more---he was so happy to have a hearty American meal!

Our thankful list is very full this year---with all of you taking up much of the room.  There is so much that God had done for us and continues to do.  We are THANKFUL for our safety here and the people God has put in our path.  Even though I really like it here I am THANKFUL that we get to return to the States, to our family, friends and our own home.

Last week we were blessed by visitors from the States.  Bill and Vi Goodrich stopped here for a few days before heading to the Ukraine. We toured them around Malaga, Nerja, and they attended a Malaga professional futbol game with us and several other friends.  Bill also met with the leaders of the church and gave the sermon on Sunday.  We were all THANKFUL to hear a sermon in English.  Vi and I were able to sit by the beach and enjoy coffeee, fellowship and sunshine!  The weather was wonderful during their trip here which always makes the time more enjoyable.  Our kids were thrilled to have visitors and had fun showing them their school and our home.  We were all sad when they were gone but so THANKFUL they stopped by to see us!  We are so excited for our next visitors---Our Best friends, The Rosners!  The kids are driving me nuts asking how many days until they will be here!  We are so THANKFUL that they were able to get their passport issues resolved and will be celebrating Christmas with us!.

Dave has been very busy working at the church and the coffee shop/cafe.  I will post photos when the furniture is placed and it is open for business.  The church is also used as community center so the coffee shop will be a great opportunity and outreach to share the message of Christ to those using the facility.

We are very pleased and excited that Lynsey, Joshua and Alec have had great reports form their teachers.  Joshua's  teachers were amazed how much he already comprehends in Spanish.  Lynsey is working hard and  Alec teaches me a new word or two everyday.  We have decided to pull Ethan out of school and try homeschooling the last semester we are here.  We feel good about the decision as he will be able to keep up on his American studies.  He has joined a running club in Nerja with a friend from church and  he will coninue with basketball at school.  Lynsey has decided to run as well because she still is not able to play in her basketball games due to the federation ruling.  Ethan will also be working and serving a few times a week at our church.  He will take spanish lessons at church with a group of American college students who are coming to serve at the church here for six months.  So any prayers with this endeavor would be greatly appreciated !  We hope this will be a blessing in disguise and not the death of us!!

We are planning a trip to London and Paris from December 6th to the 12th.  We have a packed and crazy itinerary so I have been consumed with making all the plans.  Please pray for a safe trip and that we would all enjoy one another and the sites of England.

We are starting to get ready for the Christmas season even though it is warm here!  The stores are putting up decorations but I don't think people decorate their homes here.  We will have to wait and see.  Dave and the boys purchased a $20.00 christmas tree and we decorated it a few days ago.  They had fun finding the decorations at a little chinese store down by the beach.  We laughed at the scrawny tree because as you can see in the photo it is missing limbs on the bottom half!  However, it gets the job done and does make our home feel like christmas is coming.  Lynsey wants cold weather to come so it will seem like christmas!  We all thinks she is crazy!

We have enjoyed hearing from many of you. We appreciate your efforts in keeping us updated and a part of your lives.  We are THANKFUL for you!

And we are THANKFUL for a God that loves us so much that he would send his only Son, to die for us... so that we would have life!  Can you imagine doing such a thing...I  cannot even concieve of giving one of my sons!  but God did!  And if we accept this free gift, realizing that we need a savior, and believe that God raised him from the dead we will have eternal life.  Now that is something to be THANKFUL for!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Until next time,

Much love to you all,

Dave, Karen and Kids

Scroll down for more photos! (I am still working on new photos for this post, so check back later as well)