Thanksgiving

This is the time of year when we stop and give thanks. Well, the idea is to stop and give thanks. If you watch any television, Thanksgiving is for making the table look as pretty as possible and getting your "game plan" plan ready for Black Friday. Each of the children have asked me "What is Black Friday Mama?" I have never been a Black Friday shopper, nor did I grow up being taught to be a Black Friday shopper much less a shopper. Three of the last four Thanksgivings Scott has been deployed to the Middle East. Once while he was gone, I thought I would give this special Friday a try. Not again and not with two children. Yes, you can get some great deals, if you go out at 3 am and yes I am sure some folks can finish their Christmas shopping. From the ads I have seen the things on sale are things I want, not really things I would give as presents. Maybe that is the idea. Come to our big sales, come buy things for yourself! Go farther into debt, its okay, its for Christmas.

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for the year, the harvest, the food we are eating. Thanksgiving is not running to Old Navy at midnight because their Frost free jackets are $15. I saw a news report that brought tears to my eyes. One food bank at a church was seeing record numbers this year. An elderly couple who had been donors for many many years called the food bank director asking if they could be receivers this year. They each lost their part time jobs and due to some unseen circumstances were finding it hard to make ends meet. Stories like this one are all over. Families who normally gave are the receivers.

I look around at all the wonderful things to be thankful for. I am thankful for my awesome children, my wonderful husband, terrific friends, my family who love me, my health, a roof over my head, being able to live in the Great State of Alaska, the list goes on. I tell the children to think of things to be thankful for. I hear things like, my PSP, my dog, mama and daddy. Then I tell them to look around and to think. Think about even with its faults, we live in a wonderful country where folks can worship freely, read our bibles, THANK GOD for all the things He has allowed us to have and not be thrown in jail for saying we don't agree with the President or for saying we Love Jesus. We can be thankful for the beautiful trees that give us oxygen and recycle our carbon dioxide. We can be thankful for the folks around us, even if we don't know them. If things are not going that well for you this year and you think there is nothing you can be thankful for, I urge you to start small, are you breathing? Are you wearing a shirt, pants? Are you in a place out of the elements? So, this year it may not be ideal, your husband is deployed and you have bronchitis or things look bleak. Look outside yourself, start small and you will see so many things to be thankful for.This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for you! My friends. You make me smile, you make me laugh, you warm my heart. I won't be going at midnight or 3am or probably at all on Black Friday to shop. We are staying as a family with Scott at home. If you can't give money, or things this year try to give yourself. Be there for someone who needs you, offer help to a single mother, recycle clothes (hand me downs), be a mentor, not just at Thanksgiving but all year long.

With a Thankful heart,
Angela
Happy Thanksgiving my friends.

People

I have been fascinated by folks who look different from me since I was a child. One of my best friends a little black girl named Wendy, lived behind us when I was 6. Being a military child, I remember having Asian friends, Indian friends, Native American friends and "brown" friends as I remember saying about Wendy. She said I looked like cotton and she was brown.

Each time we move I try to learn about the culture of the area. Being a Southerner, I didn't have much to learn about Georgia having lived there myself before we got stationed at Robins AFB. However, it is always good to "relearn" what you already know. While living in Iceland I learned of Trolls, elves and Vikings. My orthodontist in Iceland, who spoke some English told me I had a Valkyrie's soul when he looked down into my eyes. (Valkyrie is a female Viking).

I am finding I love the arctic. The arctic attracts different sorts of folks. Being as we are near a military base I figured there would be same sort of varieties that I see most places. To my surprise, there a few I wouldn't have thought would live here. One whole section of Anchorage is a Samoan neighborhood. While eating lunch after church one day, this large group of folks walked in the restaurant wearing the most beautiful clothes. The men and woman were dressed with families coordinating. You would have thought we had gone to Hawaii, a place I have yet to go. They all looked so pretty with the hibiscus flowers printed on the clothes in reds, greens and whites. I wanted to take a picture. Maybe one day I will ask if I can take a picture. They all looked so beautiful.

There is a Chinese restaurant Scott and the children like to eat. That is a cultural smorgasborg. We are generally the only white folks in the place when we go to eat. You can imagine what my bright blond children must look like. We are quite the minority. The food is good and the waitresses are nice so we go every couple of weeks. Sitting in there this past weekend, I was looking around at each group represented and I was struck by the song from my youth, Jesus loves the little children. " Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, red and yellow, black and white they are precious in his sight...." There were Native Alaskan, Samoan, Asian, Black and then there was the Harris family. I smiled to myself, this is America. We look different all live a bit different but we come together over good food and are all God's children.

I am reading an Alaskan series by author Stan Jones. If you like James Patterson you will love Stan Jones. I am into book four and Mr. Jones says there is more to come in the Nathan Active Mystery series. www.sjbooks.com The books follow an Inupiaq Alaska Trooper who was raised in Anchorage when he was adopted by white parents. However, his first assignment was in Chukchi, his birthplace and the place where his birthmother lives. I have been learning Inupiat words and phrases and about the different Native Alaskans, Inupiat, Yupik, and Aleut. Mr. Jones talks of whaling, hunting and all things Inupiat and Alaskan. (You can find these images and more on Mr. Jones' website referenced above. )





Reading these books make me want to know for sure if my great grandmother was a Cherokee. My sweet cousin whom I have just found, has been telling me the story of how our great grandfather's family came from Germany to the NC mountains. Now to find more information about my great grandmother Carrie.

Reading and learning about the differences all over the world I am finding that we are more alike than we think. Family, faith and love.

Look around my friends and see those around you who look different, they may be more like you than you think.

With love,
Angela