As I begin to write this blog, I am realizing that this is the first Thanksgiving that I have been away from home without any Americans with me at all. In Africa, I celebrated it with Mary Clare, and we had those delicious thanksgiving gum balls from my sister, Linda. Last year I was here in the Philippines, and I was with Mary Jane Trinkus...I think on Thanksgiving day we were eating a feast on a fishing cage cottage right on the water and had crabs, many kinds of fish, root crops and delicious veggies. Now I realize that those Thanksgivings were so special, because although I was not with my God-given family, I was with such amazing people who knew what it meant to not be home for Thanksgiving, and were happy (I hope) to celebrate it with me. We didn't have turkey and all the trimmings...ours was more like the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving meets Survivor version, but we had each other and that was enough to be thankful for.
I should note that I am writing this blog days after Thanksgiving because of our busyness, and that, for me, the day almost went by without notice of its importance.
I had been in the southern part of Eastern Samar from Monday until Thursday (Thanksgiving) helping Sister Ethel cook meals at the retired priest retreat in Siuginon in Salcedo. It is an absolutely beautiful spot in the mountains where you can see the ocean on one side and mountains on the other. It has simple facilities and a pool filled with fresh water from the mountains. In between cooking meals, I would walk around the property, read my book outside, sleep...it was so quiet there, a real place of retreat and repose. It was chilly there, though, and it did rain quite a bit. On Thursday, our return day, it rained nonstop, and hard.
It wasn't until a few hours after we arrived home in Borongan that I heard about the typhoon. It was about 4pm in the afternoon and the rain hadn't stopped all day, in fact, it was becoming harder. For the past few weeks, the Sisters had been worrying about the river overflowing because of all the rain that was coming. A flood seemed imminent. We were under a typhoon alert as we are in the region where Typhoon Marce was heading. Around 5pm, the power went out. After being through two super typhoons, there is a lot of anxiety here when one is forecasted...I am sure you can appreciate their feelings. So, I began to make dinner in the dark. I made chicken adobo (that is chicken cooked in soy sauce, vinegar and sugar), paksiw (that is fish poached in vinegar, garlic and ginger), rice and a cucumber salad. As I began cooking, more and more people came into our home. Although Nazareth Home is directly across from the river, the residence is on the second floor, so it is pretty safe from flooding...except when Typhoon Ruby hit. Anyways, after I cooked one batch of adobo, I started another, and more rice, and then I made a fried rice with veggies and eggs because more people were coming in. As the night wore on, I made a third batch of adobo!! And pretty much, the food was all gone after everyone ate.
Around 10pm, the rain stopped but the wind remained strong. Our house full of people settled down as visitors found a place on the floor to sleep and candles were blown out. I think some were kept awake by the sound of the rain starting again, of the wind that would pick up every now and then, but for the most part, people were resting soundly. The next morning at breakfast, around 7:30 am, as I began to say the morning pray before we ate, I realized that at that very moment, my family, half a world away from me, was beginning to eat their Thanksgiving meal...and in my prayer I prayed for them. We may have not been together for Thanksgiving, and, because of the power outage, I may have been unable to talk to them, but thanks to the spherical shape of the earth and daylight savings time, we did eat at the same time!! (me breakfast and they dinner...but potato patato, know what I mean??)
I am so thankful for my big, beautiful family, for my friends, for all of the missionaries who have become a part of my life, especially Tom and Paula, and I am also so very grateful for my new Oikos family. So many blessings in one life. Thank you, Lord!
oh yeah....I'm also thankful that Typhoon Marce became a tropical depression and did not plummet Borongan!! Thanks for that too, Abba Father!!
xxoo
