Holidays in Asia

Happy Birthday to Casey!

I know I'm late, but I had to share Casey's birthday with you.

For their birthday the kids get to choose what they want for dinner. My kids are spoiled. Only once have they chosen to go out to eat. They like my cooking! Casey loves Chinese dumplings, also known as jiaozi. She invited over her friend, Emma to help in the makings. We made the dough, the filling and lots of dishes to go with! Marcus is being dramatic, as usual. :)

Here's our VERY happy birthday girl. Spicy tofu, dumplings, Chinese style cucumbers, sushi (I know it's Japanese, but she learned to like it from her Korean friends!) and just out of the pic are spicy spinach and eggs. She's in heaven!

She asked for a pineapple upside-down cake for her cake. I readily agreed. Then she asked for her dad's homemade chocolate cheesecake. I conveniently only remembered the pineapple cake. :)
As you know, Thanksgiving also is in November. Here is our turkey. Our new friend, Sonya (Emma's mom) insisted we take a pic of it.

This year we tried something different, we invited the families of our kids friends over. Joining us are the Millers' and the Fieldgates. Greg (our regular rent-a-kid aka Jordan's friend) and the Elders from our church. It was a WONDERFUL day with much thanks for so many blessings and great friends.

On the actual day of Thanksgiving our kids got to exercise their "American priviledge" and stay home from school! Because our guests for Thanksgiving dinner had to work (it's a regular work day in Malaysia) we celebrated in an unorthodox style. We went rock wall climbing! Here is Benjamin ready to launch. Jordan is our most accomplished climber!

After climbing we went to see Twilight. It was great. And Casey squealed the entire time. :) Then we went and had Chinese! It was almost like home though we were served boiled peanuts as our appetizer! But check this out, they were already peeled for us!! I love this lazy Malaysian life sometimes!

While I was shopping for last minute ingredients at the store I was approached by two young women. They wanted to know if I had a daughter. They were looking for a model for a commercial. Ahh, such is the life. To be sought after merely because of the color of your skin! I sent them a pic of Casey and Marcus (as they were also looking for a male that could ride a bike) but haven't as yet heard back. I guess these opportunities will stop when we move back to the states!

The night before Thanksgiving we went to Mark's boss' home for a Thanksgiving meal. It was wonderful. But had a few non-traditional dishes. Shrimp with an orange cream sauce. (Yum! They even had it deveined with the heads off! What a delicacy!) Japchae (Korean glass noodles) and sushi! We almost made a pineapple pie for our own dinner, but thought we just really wanted traditional dishes. Next time.

This is our LAST Thanksgiving overseas!! We have learned to be sooo thankful for what we have. I don't know what I will do when I will be able to go to the store and get cranberries for less than $5 a bag (if I can find them. Sometimes I buy them a year in advance and freeze them, just so I can have them at the right time!), and we can even afford to make a pecan pie (It costs about $25-$40 in ingredients here), I can buy a turkey bigger than 18 lbs. (That's the biggest I've ever found, and it took me 3 stores to find it! It cost over $50!). I have been blessed though in that I learned how to make my own stuffing from scratch! I have to start the day before to dry out the bread, but mine is now yummier than ANY in the packages in the States.

All in all we have much to be thankful for. Happy Thanksgiving to all! We are truly blessed to be citizens of such a great, God-blessed nation!