How are you? I hope all is well! I'm writing these lines as I'm sitting at the Callaways' living room watching some tv with my laptop on my lap, my dear friend Julia with her laptop on hers and one of her little brothers eating some Brazilian chocolate - Sonho de Valsa - and enjoying the company of his little cousin... the whole environment of having a true, real family around me really amazes me!
Julia and her family have a country house one hour south of Atlanta, with a beautiful lake right by it. Her dad owns a beautiful family store in Social Circle, another small town here in Georgia and they have this beautiful, Godly family. I can't thank God enough for crossing our paths and for the blessing of them adopting me into their lives and making me feel as one more dear family member.
In this holiday, I'm reminded that Thanksgiving is not just a simple holiday - it's a celebration of American history as the pioneers hit the country in the 1600s coming from Europe running away, seeking religious and economic freedom of the abusive England. Thanksgiving is celebrating the lives of these pioneers who stood up for something greater than themselves, a calling greater than themselves - serving their God and making this same God known. The United States are a country founded in Christianity, and still lives up to it. Thanksgiving is about celebrating diversity, the first fruitful crops they had, helped by the indigenous people who were already in the land - respect for their fellow brothers and sisters, who were here before them. Thanksgiving is a family holiday - the students have no classes from Wednesday on in the week so then they can go on road trips to see their families, do some amazing cooking - in my case, awesome Southern food: green beans, mashed potatoes, grave, sweet potato casserole, Turkey (the owner of the holiday, so called 'Turkey Day', with little turkeys spread everywhere across the nation - ham, pumpkin pie, apple pie, peanut pie, blueberries with whipped cream), spend time in community, enjoying good conversations in the kitchen, by the fire, playing board games, Wii and so on.
In this holiday I also experienced the amazing American spirit of serving - for lunch, we went to American Legion of Loganville and helped them serving Thanksgiving meals for people who couldn't afford it. The amazing thing in all this is seeing that we had more volunteers serving than actually people eating - can you believe? I was shocked too! When I hear that American are selfish, cold, I'm reminded of actions like this - I'm not stating that this nation is perfect, but it was founded on good, Godly principles and many wonderful people still strive to live for it - the Callaways are some of these people, and I'm more than blessed in having them in my life!
We got home for a family picture - one more tradition added to the ornaments, something I talked about on a blog entry a few days ago - and that really touched me! I got to see God in all His beauty and fullness, the family as the beautiful institution created by Him right there before me... the family I was praying for, the family I want to form someday with a husband that will love me and respect me, nurture me and always point me to the same God these wonderful friends I have serve. They take a picture together every year, dressed in the color of Christmas to send as a card to their closest relatives and friends with the wishes of wonderful holidays - those same pictures usually are put on their on their fridges, being that way reminded of community and praying for them - more family-oriented people? Impossible. We hear a lot about Latin Americans being more family-oriented than Americans... I really wouldn't put my hands on fire for that. True Americans value their God, their country and their families more than anything! I had the honor of watching the love the Callaways have for each other and taking their picture for this year - I'm SO blessed!
More family-oriented fun followed... Mr. Ted, Julia, Trevor and Nolan decided to teach me shooting - yeah, you read that right, shooting! Can you ever imagine me doing that? I imagine your jaws falling as you read this... haha. The most surprising thing in all this? The fact that I CAN SHOOT! I got the whole family shocked with my shooting abilities - three aims, three hits! Mr. Callaway couldn't believe his eyes and keep putting more targets for me - dead apples, water bottles - and I perfectly hit everything! Yeah, a 22 gun is apparently a good friend of mine and I'm definitely a country girl and a Southerner at heart! We were all talking that I'm a Southerner-country girl disguised in a Brazilian body... haha! We had to be careful not to shoot the cows we could see quite close to us... we tried different shot guns and a pistol - the pistol really scared me in how loud it was!
I easily got used to the country house, to the lake, to the beautiful trees we have around us, to the squirrels, to the wild rabbits, to the geese, to the horses and cows - I have an adventurous, wild, free spirit, and being outdoors enjoying the nature is literally my second skin. God is good! I'm SO blessed!
I got inside the house with Julia still shocked with the whole shooting thing and went straight to the kitchen to cook some Bolognesa pasta and some rice and vegetables casserole, adding some Brazilian cuisine to the traditional American Thanksgiving meal - apparently the family really liked it, and it blessed my heart cooking for them! The Callaways have really become my family! I'm SO thankful for them!
The Thanksgiving meal in itself was wonderful - we had Julia's aunt and her family joining us. We said a blessing over the food and enjoyed an amazingly tasty, beautiful meal with some traditional Southern sweet tea added to it! (I looooove iced sweet tea! Again... I'm a Southern girl at heart!)
In this holiday, we're supposed to give thanks to God for our blessings. Here I have a little list:
*I'm thankful for have finally found home - I have found where I belong... my heart has peace. Georgia is HOME!
*I'm thankful for God's grace and His Spirit of adoption - I arrived here as an orphan and God has given me over 1,000 friends who love me, respect me for who I am - I was invited by many families to spend Thanksgiving with them, which is a huge honor to the culture. Once again... I'm blessed!
*I'm thankful for Julia and the sisterhood/friendship she has open-heartedly offered me. I love you, sister! You're beautiful and you shine Jesus! I cannot wait to see the things God will continue to do in us and through us as we serve Him together!
*I'm thankful for the Callaways, their heart for God and for people! Thank you for being my American family, for loving me with no expectations, and for making me feel so welcome to the point of myself finding in this once lost soul my Southern/country soul! :-D
*I'm thankful for the beautiful friends who became brothers and sisters to me! You all encourage me, uplift me, pray for me and love me for who I am, pointing me always to God. You all are beautiful!
To end this entry, I'm posting a picture of the beautiful and lovely Callaways!
I love you all very much!
I gotta go as I get ready for round two of the Thanksgiving meal! ;-D
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!
Give thanks to the LORD for HE is good! :-D
