Thanksgiving 2009

It is not our first thanksgiving together but it is our first time to actually celebrate it.

Last year’s was only hubby’s third week in this country so we just decided to spend quality time. We drove around town hunting for Black Friday bargains and devoured a lunch buffet at Golden Coral. Nothing much happened the weekend after that except for another amazing Sunday service.

Unlike the previous though, this year is a busy one. I received a text message on a weekend before Thanksgiving asking me about our tentative plan of visiting Iowa for the long weekend. I confronted hubby with a little hesitation but without much ado, we made an impulsive decision of spending this year’s Thanksgiving with our church family there.

We braved the busy interstate highways, narrow motorways, light rain and the wispy snowfall on a cold Wednesday winter night. It was a smooth 10-hour drive until we reached Fairfield when our GPS misbehaved for a little bit. It was twilight when we toured around the campus vicinity. The cold winter breeze caused me to miss the days I spent there and built friendship with crazy but wonderful people. They are the good friends that made it easy for me to fight homesickness.

After introducing hubby to the little university, we headed our way to Agency. It was sort of melancholic driving on the country bounded by vast lands of arid cornfields and some portions of bald sleeping trees. My body was tired but my mind was wide awake, active enough to remember the all those days gone by. My heart was overflowing with gratitude and praise as I thought of where the Lord has brought me from. He is soooo good to me!

Hubby finally met Nay Linda. After the hugs and stories, we went to Crystal’s place for the Thanksgiving dinner. We had a sumptuous turkey banquet and spent the rest of the day with more stories from everyone. Then I finally felt sleepy, I longed to go back to Nay Linda’s place so I can dive to bed.

We went to a Mexican restaurant on Friday and had lunch there. I learned that I don’t like enchilada but loved the hot cheese and salsa mixture for my chips. It was hubby’s first time but I think he was a-okay with the food. The rest of the afternoon through the night was spent at Crystal’s place, decorating her giant Christmas tree.

Saturday was shopping day. We met with Crystal’s friends and ate breakfast at McDonalds. As soon as we got to Des Moines, we hopped from one shop to another and I did my little share of reasonable and affordable shopping. Great bargains in every corner of the shops are too inviting but I was firm enough to avoid swiping. Lunch was at Old Country Buffet which was good food too. We went to a Filipino store to grab some ingredients for our dinner recipes. I and hubby cooked them rice, pancit and chicken curry, to which Patrick and Crystal said were good.

I prepared our stuff early on Sunday. Nay Linda had me choose which of her plants and her white teddy bear collection I want to bring with me. Needless to say, the wagon was stuffed with everything. Then we brought Nay Linda at Riverside Restaurant for breakfast before going to church for the service. I was so happy that Nell finally got to meet most everybody. A little bit of talking after service came the time to leave. It was another 10-hour drive and rain poured more than half of the time. I was a bit worried (as always) but the Lord kept us safe.

We got home past 10PM that night and our apartment is all messy up to now. We’re both still too tired to get anything done….Hohum