american holidays in jordan

thanksgiving note #1:
jordanians (and for that matter, the entire world) don't care about thanksgiving as a holiday. they're thankful people, but they don't celebrate squanto helping the pilgrims learn how to live off of the land they stole from his people after they all died from diseases brought from the "old world". i don't know why.

thanksgiving note #2:
no amount of turkey, chicken, stuffing, salad, sweet potato casserole, apple crisp, apple pie, or delicious butternut squash soup can make up for the absence of our friends and family at home. not to be down on our friends here, but there's nothing like a game of apples to apples with ty, matt, ali, kent, nikki, lauren, phil, and chris. nothing. there is also nothing like going through advertisements with our family looking for those $3.00 flash drives at circuit city so we can get sweet stocking stuffers at christmas.
there's a huge, sad, gaping, hole of absence in our hearts (and specifically in mine (jeff)).

thanksgiving note #3:
i have been sick for the last week with a cold that won't go away. it doesn't make me any more thankful, just more aware of how nice it is to be healthy most of the year.

here's our list of things we are thankful for this year:
1. knowing that good news is good news to everyone, no matter who you are
2. jobs (stressful jobs, but they are jobs, and they are good)
3. friends/family who got us here on their wallets
4. death cab for cutie (they've been waking us up for 4 weeks straight. thanks guys!)
5. sunshine
6. learning a lifetime of lessons in 3 months
7. our marriage and our friendship
8. God's provision
9. pizza
10. popcorn with hot sauce
11. new friends
12. our bed coupled with our computer and episodes of Alias
13. God's faithfulness, even when we don't have faith ourselves ("i believe. help my unbelief")
14. jafra cafe
15. you

teachery

some things you should know about our new jobs:

1. jeff has to wear a shirt and tie every day
2. we have to leave the house around 6:30am every day
3. it costs us 6JD a day to get to and from work
4. working together has ups and downs (the only down is venting about things that the other can actually relate to, which brings with it empathy but no pity)
5. the school is nuts-o
6. the 2nd graders are literally "of the devil"
7. jessey is determined to win the war with the children "of the devil"
8. we have found another source of darkness that needs light, and we get to shine (insha' allah)
9. we are legal residents of jordan
10. we now have a local bank account that has no money in it

there are other, much cooler things to say, but i can't say them without raising flags (if you know what i mean), so we'll talk in person about the other awesome things that have been happening. so, without further ado, these two busy people are going to grade papers.