Thanksgiving in Grenada

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. It always has been. Growing up Thanksgiving was marked by waking up extremely early (or so it seemed to me- I've never been a morning person a day in my life) and heading downtown to meet up with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to go to the Thanksgiving Day Parade. We'd all meet at big boy and eat lots of yummy breakfast before putting a million layers of clothing and bracing ourselves to fight for a close spot on the street for the parade. Thanksgiving morning always seemed to be one of the coldest Michigan days of the year, but we were armed with hats, gloves, hand warmers, boots, and everything else my parents wisely thought to bring to keep young kids happy (ish)... in -0 temperatures, said kids may have just been crying, cold, handfuls... But, when we were super young we got the perks of having a really tall dad and got a shoulder view, and when we got a little older, we had the fun of weaseling through the crowds, and pushing aside other people to successful get to the street side- in perfect position to high five the parade people, snag some candy, and of course see Santa. It was the best!

As we got older we stopped going to the parade but still the days were marked by other things I loved. No school. Family. Lions football. And lots and lots of food. Who wouldn't love a day filled with those things?

I also love the sentiment surrounding Thanksgiving. I love that this time of year forces us all to focus our attention on what we are thankful for and the many blessings we have in life. It's so easy to get caught up in stress and negativity that it such a nice, and heartwarming change. 

That brings me to this Thanksgiving. My first Thanksgiving away from home EVER. My first Thanksgiving not surrounded by tons of family members. Not curled up watching the Lions game on a real TV. Not picking an outfit that will allow me to over-eat all the delicious Thanksgiving food. Instead, we are here in Grenada, where if it weren't for Facebook updates telling me it is indeed Thanksgiving, I'd never know it. I woke up hot to sun beating in the window. Nick left for classes somewhere around 7:15. And my agenda basically consisted of heading to campus to study with the Lions game on in the background. All in all, it was just a pretty normal day here on the island.

However, whether it feels like Thanksgiving or not, I have SO much to be extra thankful for this year.  I of course am thankful for family, friends, health, opportunity, and adventures of all kinds. In addition to the normal blessings, this year I am thankful for the opportunity to be in Grenada and for Nick to have the opportunity to pursue his dream of becoming a doctor. I am thankful for the life- changing experience of living on this island, which opens my eyes to the importance of the small things in life and where the children warm my heart unconditionally. Although we may yearn for home and to be surrounded with family and friends, there is no denying that Grenada will always be like a second home to us and will always hold a super special place in our hearts.

For a couple of weeks I had been planning on trying to cook us something "Thanksgiving-ish" for today without breaking the bank as the cost of Turkey here can be pricey and without taking too much time away from studying. But then a wonderful opportunity presented itself. Several of the volunteers who work with Limes have put together a fundraiser to help send one of our little girls (Kylie) and her mom to the States so that Kylie can have brain surgery.  Kylie was diagnosed with a tumor and needs to have a shunt put in and while it has been arranged for the surgery to be done pro-bono and her mom will be able to stay at Ronald McDonald House for free, the flights to get them there are not cheap. So of course, our wonderful Limes coordinators put their heads together and came up with an excellent idea of offering a hot, home cooked Thanksgiving meal, on campus! Boy, was it a success! They sold out of all their food in under 10 minutes!! Needless to say, although we did not make it there quick enough to snag a plate, the over-all goal was to help Kylie and they certainly accomplished that! She's such a sweet baby, and so so loved by so many of the volunteers, and it was great to see so many people pull together and help and support her! One of the downsides to studying for my test is that I feel much less able to help with things like this, but my heart is so happy seeing all the hard work of fellow SOs pay off.

And, with some help from some friends, I was able to toss together some mashed potatoes which allowed us entry into a Thanksgiving dinner later on, so we still got our Thanksgiving meal :) 

All in all, a pretty successful Thanksgiving if I do say so myself!

Slacker blogger award

Time is passing SO quickly these days, I can't even believe it!

Life update since my blogging has been less than stellar... Nick survived the second round of exams and once again did awesome! He successfully completed Microbiology and is happy to check yet another class off the list! There is no doubt that the past 7 weeks were the hardest in medical school. They were unbelievably exhausting, but all the hard work and lack of sleep paid off :) I am extremely proud! Since Microbiology is officially done, he has started Nutrition as a replacement, but compared to Micro, it is much easier and so the trade was welcomed with open arms! Nutrition is only a 1 credit class that he has for 2 weeks (his final is already on Monday) and then is done and he will only have Pathology and CPD for the remainder of the term. Although the term is not over yet, and finals promise to be hard as always, I think we can officially say there is a small light at the end of the tunnel!!

Lots of beautiful sunsets these days!!! Since we've both been studying on campus, we've been enjoying dinner in front of them almost every night!!!  I sure don't hate it!

In other news: Nick's parents came to visit, so we had a blast doing some fun things and Nick was able to break away from studying to hang out with them more than we expected, which was great! There was lots of beach time and just hanging out, and the highlight of the trip was easily deep sea fishing! We've been before but did not catch anything so we were excited to go again and try our luck... and this time caught SEVEN FISH! It was SO awesome! All in all we caught 1 Tuna, 2 Rainbow Runners, and 4 Barracuda! This was my first time catching anything ever deep sea fishing so I was pumped! Having visitors is always so nice, especially when you haven't seen anyone from home in 5 months!!!!

Showin' all those fish what is up... Yeah.. wasn't expecting to be handed a slimy fishy though!

Otherwise, life has been a little more boring for me. I haven't been able to go to Limes much at all the past couple of weeks because I have been on house arrest studying for my board exam (that I take in only 20 days... eeek!) It makes me sad to miss out on Limes and definitely makes me realize how much those Limes children have made my life here as great as it is... but unfortunately, for now, studying has to be main priority. Still bums me out though. I miss those kids SO much and am hoping to get there at least a couple times before I leave to head home in 2 weeks!

And lastly, wedding planning is coming along amazingly!! I still love it and enjoy every minute of it! Definitely starting to feel the crunch a little bit (37!!! days!!) and can not wait to be home and more hands on in the getting ready process! Thank goodness for so many people at home helping with calls, setting appointments, and doing a lot of the leg work for us because otherwise this whole planning thing would not have been possible! All in all too, I think we are really on top of things, and everything should continue to run smoothly (Mom, don't think about the number of days left!) Reality that it is so close still has not completely hit me though because the weather here makes me feel like it is still a couple months away, but we are really excited and looking forward to it! It is the perfect way to end this crazy term!

FINALLY got to see our invitation in person!!! You can't even imagine my excitement!!!!