A Belated Look at Thanksgiving

December 10, 2010
So I still have a lot to catch up on with my blog entries and before it gets too far away in the past that I forget about it, I went to mention my Thanksgiving here in El Salvador. It was a new experience for me as far as Thanksgivings go. Since Thanksgiving is not a holiday here it is a day like any other and is fair game for events. This year two graduations took place on Thanksgiving Day, one in the morning and one late afternoon. The first was the equivalent of a kindergarten graduation – the kind that are always interesting because of the cute children and their different acts or behaviors. Unfortunately the program started very late and then dragged on, but overall it was okay. It was great to see Agustin’s family there celebrating with him. After the first graduation a co-worker invited me to her house for a Thanksgiving lunch. I already had plans for a 3:00PM Thanksgiving meal but it was with people who I did not really know so I decided to stop by my friend’s house first and enjoy a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal but with friends.
From there I ran over to the other Thanksgiving party which was with persons who work with USAID. I only slightly know the woman who invited me but I ended up having some good conversation with a Christian El Salvadorian woman there. Directly after the meal (and before dessert was served) I had to leave to get to the second graduation of the day. Salvador, one of the boys in the home, was graduating from high school and he actually graduated as the valedictorian. I did not realize he was valedictorian until the next day since I did not know that word in Spanish. I had wondered why such a big deal was being made about this graduation since it was actually the second among the children. When I realized he was graduating with the highest honors, it all made sense. I was just a bit slow. 
After graduation we went for my third Thanksgiving meal of the day (thankfully I ate only a little bit at each meal) at Kentucky Fried Chicken. Not my typical Thanksgiving stop but it was where Salvador wanted to celebrate with his family and staff. During the graduation ceremony it was moving to see his biological dad up front with the housemom and counselor participating in the ceremony of passing on a candle to the graduates. God is at work in the families of the children at La Casa and in several cases bringing about restoration and healing which is very exciting. This Christmas more children than ever are going to be spending time with their biological families instead of going to the homes of the staff.