Thanksgiving 2024

This year we celebrated Thanksgiving with mission family in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala.  We met at the beautiful ministry center of Roger and Vicki Grossman, who are former IMB missionaries continuing to serve here in Guatemala.  

 

The beautiful fireplace in their dining/ conference room.

 

All of the tables were decorated for Christmas.

 

 

They even had a tree up.

 

 

A group photo of everyone we celebrated with. 

In addition to us, the Stones, the Englishes, and the Grossmans, we also had some other guests.  Charles Collins (former IMB missionary) and his son Paul joined us.  The Stones had a volunteer team serving that week, and the Englishes had family visiting.

 

 

another group photo

 

 

We enjoyed a delicious meal and fellowship time afterwards.

 

Some of the MK's with Charles.

 

 

David, me, Paul, Charles, Lily, Gary, and Lindsay

 

 

our Thanksgiving family photo

 

Rachel snapped this photo of us while we were waiting to take the group photo on the stairs. 

She also captured this fun one.

 

 

That evening we enjoyed supper at McDonald's.

 

and this beautiful sunset view from Xela.

 

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Thanksgiving 2023

David and the boys spent Thanksgiving week in Quetzaltenango (Xela) visiting with our IMB mission family.  We had plans to go as a family, but my dad passed away on November 20, so I flew to the States for his funeral. Here is a look at how David and the boys spent their time there.

 

They dropped me off at the airport on Tuesday mid-morning and then made the drive to Quetzaltenango later that day.  Cruz knows I love sunsets so he took a few photos and videos and sent them to me from their drive.

 

 

beautiful volcano view

 

I love that he saw a sunset and thought of his mama!!

 

David sent me this photo the next morning.  It was the view from their Airbnb.  That's a volcano in the distance.

 

They spent Thanksgiving Day with our IMB mission family and a few other friends that live in the area.  Here are a few photos of their meal and time together-

 

Cruz and Luke

best buds

 

 

 That evening they gathered at the Stones for leftovers, games, and more fellowship.

 

I love having more MK's in our mission family.

 

I had Thanksgiving Day lunch with David's family and spent the evening with my mom. In spite of missing David and the boys, and my dad's funeral being the next day, I had a good Thanksgiving Day.

 

David and the boys stayed in Xela a few days.  While there they were able to squeezed in some fun outings with our mission family. 

 

They went to a trampoline park with the Robertsons.

 

Timothy and Ben

 

sweet little Luke

They went bowling with Gary.

 

They also went swimming at a hot spring. 

 

It was a fun outing with the Stones.

 

 

 

the boys with Lindsay

Here are some more random photos they took-

 

 

lunch with the Stones 

 

another meal with the Stones

 

my three guys

(I was missing them so bad!)

It was our first holiday to be apart.  It was difficult, but we all made the best of it.

Thanksgiving 2022

 

 

Our family on Thanksgiving Day 2022

We took this picture in our front yard before driving to Guatemala City for the day.

 

Every year we gather with our mission family for Thanksgiving. A few years ago we started meeting at our Arkansas Mission House in Guatemala City. This was our group this year.

 

Ready to eat

 

 

We had a wonderful meal as always.  My contrition was ham, macaroni and cheese, deviled eggs, pecan pie, chocolate chess pie, and sweet tea.  It was a meal in itself.

 

 

our group eating lunch

 

 

Lauren and the boys

 

David with the Grossmans

 

The Waldraffs

We are excited that next spring they'll be adding two sweet little girls to our mission family!

 

David and Mark

 

Gary and Lindsay 

(I missed having Lily in the photo)

 

The Elders joined us this year.  They serve with the Grossmans.

 

After our meal we spent the afternoon playing games and visiting with each other.

 

Lauren introduced us to Happy Salmon and it was a big hit.  We all enjoyed playing it.

 

The boys learned to play Ticket to Ride and loved it.

 

That evening we watched the Egg Bowl between Ole Miss and Mississippi State.

 

It was a fun way to end the day.

 

Ben and I were cheering for different teams and you can obviously tell his team won.

 

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day.