Happy Thanksgiving!

This past weekend, Sarah and I celebrated our first Thanksgiving away from family, as well as our first ever Thanksgiving in South Korea.

It is true what they say that being homesick and missing your family is so much more evident and profound around the holidays, and it was definitely an adjustment for us.

This holiday in particular has unique difficulties with it, as Korea doesn't recognize or celebrate the holiday (seeing as it's somewhat America-specific...he he he!). Therefore, you don't see or hear much about it anywhere, on top of the fact that we all had to be at work that day teaching...which makes it especially hard.

Turkey Bowl 2011 in Daegu, South Korea

Thank God for good friends here in Korea, because we had an absolutely INCREDIBLE Thanksgiving weekend, certainly the best it could have been in light of not being around family.

We began the Thanksgiving weekend on Saturday by playing an early morning pickup game of flag football at Duryu Park with a handful of our friends. My team dominated, naturally, with a 110-55 victory...it was quite the high-scoring game!! Haha! Definitely a fun tradition back in the states that we were able to bring to Korea and add a little piece of home to around the holidays.

Our Thanksgiving feast!

After working up an appetite, Sarah and I headed over to Camp George military base on Saturday afternoon, where we gathered with a handful of good friends to have a Thanksgiving potluck meal and spend time hanging out, playing games, and of course...watching football!!

Football!!! Hallelujah!!

We were able to enjoy all the usual fixings around the Thanksgiving table (turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, apple pie, etc.), which featured a very unique sweet potato recipe that included walnuts and bananas....YUM!  

 Thanksgiving 2011 with friends at Camp George in Daegu

As this time of year always reminds us, we have SO much to thank God for this year. From the good friends we have here in Korea, to the amazing support and love of our families back home, not to mention the ability to have community with people from all over the world (in this melting pot known as Korea), there are endless and abundant blessings in our lives to be counted (not to mention food, clothing, shelter, money, etc), and Sarah and I are truly humbled by all that we've been blessed with.

 Happy Thanksgiving! (L-R: Jen, Ann, Sydney, Tom, Lisa, Sarah, me, Kat, & Chris)

From Daegu, South Korea, we wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving season!!! God bless!